Residential proxies cost between $0.27 and $8.00 a gigabyte
18 Aug 2026 · 3 min read
Point in time. The figures below were read on 15 Aug 2026 and are not updated after publication. For current numbers see the comparison table.
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Across 169 priced residential plans from 24 providers, read on 15 August 2026, residential proxies cost between $0.27 and $8.00 per gigabyte, with a median of $2.50. That is a thirtyfold spread for what is nominally the same product, and most of it is explained by one thing.
The spread, and what actually causes it
| Per GB | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest rate anywhere in the market | $0.27 | Geonode, at 100 TB |
| Median across all 169 priced plans | $2.50 | |
| Dearest rate anywhere | $8.00 | Massive, 10 GB starter |
The instinct is that this is a quality gap between providers. Mostly it is not. It is a volume gap inside them, and you can see it by comparing each provider's own entry tier against its own deepest tier:
| Median | Range | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry tier, the smallest allowance a provider sells | $3.50/GB | $0.79 to $8.00 |
| Deepest tier, the largest allowance a provider sells | $2.04/GB | $0.27 to $4.48 |
Those two extremes are not really competitors. Geonode's $0.27 and Massive's $8.00 are the same product priced for different buyers, thirty times apart, because one of them is selling 100 TB and the other is selling 10 GB.
So the honest answer to "what does it cost" for a first purchase is around $3.50 a gigabyte, not the $0.27 on somebody's marketing page.
The volume discount is real and smaller than advertised
The median provider gets 1.7x cheaper between its entry tier and its deepest one. Geonode spans the widest ladder we track, $0.79 down to $0.27, and the bottom rung is a 100 TB commitment. That is a genuine saving and it is not the order-of-magnitude curve the landing pages imply, because the landing page quotes the bottom rung and the signup form sells you the top one.
Two consequences worth holding onto:
A cheap rate on a tier you cannot fill is not cheap. Buying 1 TB at $0.50 to use 80 GB works out at $6.25 a gigabyte. The rate you should compare is the rate at the volume you will actually buy, which is why working out your volume first changes the answer more than shopping does.
Unlimited plans do not escape this. Five providers sell one, and every one of them meters something else instead: speed, threads, ports, or how many addresses you rent. They are worth it above a break-even that is higher than most people's usage.
Why residential costs what it does
The question behind the question is usually why this is not datacenter pricing.
A datacenter address is a line item in a rack. A residential address is somebody's home connection, which has to be recruited, compensated and kept, usually through an app that pays them or a bundled SDK that gives them something in return. That supply chain is the cost, and it is why the two product lines sit where they do. Comparing like with like, entry tier against entry tier, the median datacenter rate is $0.58 per GB against residential's $3.50. Six times, for an address that comes out of a rack instead of a living room.
It is also why the ethics question is a pricing question. A provider that pays its suppliers properly has a floor under its costs. A provider that does not is cheaper for a reason, and where the addresses come from is worth reading before you take the lowest number on the board.
What to actually do with this
- Estimate your monthly gigabytes first. Every rate on this page is conditional on volume, so the estimate is the input, not an afterthought.
- Compare at your volume, not at the headline. Find the rung you would actually buy on each provider's ladder.
- Check the date on every figure, including ours. This market reprices weekly and a six-month-old comparison is decoration.
- Price the alternatives at your page weight. Below a certain response size the per-request model beats per-gigabyte entirely.
The thing to take away is that the thirtyfold spread is mostly not a quality signal. It is a volume signal. A provider looks expensive at 10 GB and cheap at 10 TB because that is how the ladder is built, so the question worth asking is not who is cheapest but what does my volume cost on each ladder, and those are different providers more often than not.
Questions
How much do residential proxies cost per GB?
Across 169 priced residential plans from 24 providers, read 15 August 2026, the range is $0.27 to $8.00 per GB with a median of $2.50. Where you land depends far more on the volume you commit to than on which provider you pick.
What is a normal price for residential proxies?
For a first purchase, expect a median around $3.50 per GB, with entry tiers ranging from $0.79 to $8.00. Anything advertised near $0.27 is the bottom rung of a very large commitment, not a price a small buyer can reach.
Why are residential proxies so expensive?
Because the addresses belong to real households that have to be recruited and paid, which datacenter addresses do not. Comparing entry tier against entry tier, the median datacenter rate is $0.58 per GB against $3.50 for residential, which is six times for an address that comes out of a rack.
Do residential proxy prices drop with volume?
Yes, and by less than the marketing suggests. Comparing each provider's entry rate to its deepest tier, the median discount is 1.7x. Geonode runs from $0.79 down to $0.27, but reaching that bottom rung means buying 100 TB a month.
Is the cheapest residential proxy the best value?
Not on its own. A cheap per-GB rate attached to a tier you cannot fill is more expensive than a higher rate you use fully, and unlimited plans meter something else instead. Work out your monthly volume before comparing rates.
How current are these prices?
Every figure is read from the provider's own pricing page and carries the date it was read. Prices in this market move weekly, so check the date on any proxy price you see, including ours.