Explainer
How Much Do Proxies Cost? Per GB, Per IP or Per Month
Proxies bill by the GB, the IP or a monthly allowance. Here's how each adds up at 1, 10 and 100 GB, and the expiry, renewal and fair-use rules to check.
How much proxies cost depends on what you reserve and what gets metered: GB of traffic, assigned IPs or a monthly allowance. I would compare the total payable amount and expected utilization before a bulk “from” price, then include expiry, renewal, fair use and access conditions. Decodo residential, Bright Data ISP, Webshare pricing.
A per-GB proxy is transport, not a delivered-record or successful-page price. The worked figures below are hypothetical bandwidth budgets; no traffic, invoices or provider account was inspected.
Short on time?
Here's my take
- Variable traffic
- Compare eligible GB pricing
- Use actual metered bytes and total payable, including unused minimums and tax.
- Persistent assigned exits
- Compare per-IP terms
- Shared/dedicated, term and fair-use traffic are separate parts of the bill.
- Before recurring purchase
- Review expiry and renewal
- A nonexpiring claim on one product does not extend to every subscription or IP SKU.
Prices verified . Sponsors cannot buy a verdict or a position.
Which unit are you buying? #
Choose whether you need metered GB, a monthly traffic allowance or assigned IPs; a managed request/record API buys a different output contract. Prices and specifications verified: 2026-11-11. These categories are my buying framework, not a normalized success or performance ranking.
| Model | What is purchased | What I would verify |
|---|---|---|
| GB/PAYG | Metered or prepaid traffic | Upload/download, headers, failures, expiry, minimum top-up |
| Monthly GB allowance | Committed balance for the period | Unused capacity, renewal, excess and rollover |
| Per-IP | Assigned shared/dedicated exits | Exclusivity, reassignment, term and traffic limits |
| Managed request/record API | A different output contract | Success/record definition, selected features and validation |
Sources illustrating the first three: Decodo GB, Bright Data per-IP, datacenter options, NodeMaven PAYG. The managed output row is a separate decision, not free residential traffic hidden in API credits.
Which bytes do you pay for? #
NodeMaven documents upload plus download billing, while Bright Data residential counts request/response headers and bodies. I would measure the chosen path rather than use HTML body size alone; rotation itself is not a separate traffic charge in NodeMaven’s description. NodeMaven metering, Bright Data product.
Assets, redirects and client retries can change traffic without changing the number of intended URLs. A response containing a block or error may still transfer bytes, and this research did not establish an invoice-level exemption for every failed transfer.
I would define whether the workload needs plain HTTP or browser assets, its allowed targets and output acceptance, then separately record provider bytes and validated records. GB cannot be converted into a guaranteed page count without those inputs.
What would 1, 10 or 100 GB cost you? #
Assume one, ten or 100 GB of purchased/consumed traffic, not equal successful-page workloads. Figures exclude VAT/taxes, client compute, browsers/models, storage, retry overhead and unverified discounts/access conditions. Prices verified: 2026-11-11.
| Product / price scenario | 1 GB consumed | 10 GB consumed | 100 GB consumed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decodo residential PAYG at $4/GB | $4 | $40 | $400 |
| Decodo monthly allowance | $11.25 for 3 GB | $35 for 10 GB | $275 for 100 GB |
| Webshare monthly residential (10 and 100 GB shown discounted) | $3.50 / 1 GB | $27.50 / 10 GB | $225 / 100 GB |
| Bright Data residential list PAYG | $8 | $80 | $800 |
| Bright Data conditional RESIGB50 coupon | $4 | $40 | $400 |
| Decodo datacenter monthly allowance | $6 for 10 GB | $6 for 10 GB | $54 for 100 GB |
Sources: Decodo residential, Webshare residential, Bright Data pricing, Decodo datacenter. Decodo remains documentation-only in this project; these are public inputs, not an activated trial or benchmark.
The one-GB Decodo monthly case consumes only one of three purchased GB. Its effective consumed-unit cost is $11.25, versus $4 PAYG under the documented rate assumptions; I would compare utilization rather than the monthly plan’s lower nominal unit figure. Pricing.
Webshare’s SAVE figures are volume discounts: its promo terms say renewals bill the standard price “including any quantity discount that then applies”, and only the separate 25% CYBER26 code is limited to the first month (verified 2026-11-12). Bright Data’s $4 coupon is conditional against $8 list, and its monthly quota/headline arithmetic is not resolved here; actual product access also needs approval rather than inference from a general trial credit. Webshare, Webshare promo terms, Bright Data pricing, general trial FAQ.
This page explains how the billing models work. For a provider-by-provider residential comparison from 1 GB to 1 TB, see the cheapest residential proxies I could price; for one vendor’s full catalog, read Bright Data pricing or Decodo pricing.
Datacenter and residential rows are different transport pools, not interchangeable successful-output alternatives. I would choose type and allowed scope first, then use that product’s capacity and traffic assumptions.
Paying per IP? Check traffic and exclusivity too #
Bright Data shared ISP monthly examples are ten/100/1,000 IPs for $18/$145/$1,300, versus dedicated $35/$275/$2,500. Shared datacenter equivalents are $14/$100/$900, versus dedicated $22/$170/$1,300; local-currency displays are indicative and USD is the billing basis. Prices verified: 2026-11-11. ISP, datacenter.
Each IP has 100 GB monthly fair-use allocation, aggregated across purchased IPs, with possible excess charges. I would not relabel that unlimited bandwidth or compare shared and dedicated access as the same reserved resource. ISP terms on product page, datacenter terms.
Decodo dedicated ISP examples are three IPs/$9.99, ten/$29 and 100/$260 monthly excluding VAT; its per-IP, per-GB and enterprise tabs differ. Webshare’s default datacenter offer is 100 proxies/$2.99 monthly with bandwidth/exclusivity configuration separate, while its FAQ gives an ISP example of 20 IPs/$6 with 250 GB. Decodo ISP, Webshare pricing, FAQ.
A bulk per-IP headline does not establish dedicated entry cost. IPRoyal now identifies its $1.80/proxy starting offer as 24 hours, while its 30-day offer starts at $2.70/proxy. The selected country/quantity checkout still needs confirmation; $1.80 is not a confirmed monthly quote. ISP pricing.
Should you trust the headline price? #
IPRoyal residential pricing shows a subscription 5%-off toggle and two visible blocks: one GB at $7 or $7.35, and ten GB at $5.25 or $5.51 per GB. The text view did not reliably pair the blocks to billing modes, so neither is my confirmed selected checkout price. Pricing.
Its $1.75/GB headline requires ten TB/10,000 GB, not a one-GB purchase, and the nonexpiring-traffic claim belongs to the residential product. I would keep both scenarios visible until the actual quote resolves the mode and term. Residential pricing.
NodeMaven shows a discounted 40-GB monthly total of $138 and PAYG $164, plus a “from $2.20/GB” headline. I did not establish that bulk rate for one/ten/100 GB; the current sample offer is paid $3.50/750 MB, not a free traffic grant. Residential pricing, sample/trial FAQ.
What about expiry, renewals and refunds? #
NodeMaven PAYG is prepaid/nonexpiring with no automatic charges; monthly subscription rollover requires staying on the subscription. Card subscriptions renew automatically, lapsed traffic freezes until another subscription, and switching to PAYG forfeits leftover subscription traffic. Subscriptions, PAYG.
Webshare has automatic renewal and conditional/discretionary refund rules; its fair-use policy can throttle under specified plan thresholds. I would read that policy before repeating an unlimited headline or treat cancellation timing as a separate payment decision. Terms, fair use. I worked through what a Webshare plan costs once it renews in Webshare pricing, explained.
Refunds are not free trials. Decodo’s first self-service refund path has a 14-day window, payment/plan/trial exclusions and consumption capped at 20% or one GB, whichever first; IPRoyal has short service/renewal windows and a 100-MB threshold, while Bright Data fees are noncancelable/nonrefundable under its licence. Decodo refunds, IPRoyal refunds, Bright Data licence.
Bright Data documents usage/spend controls in its residential configuration, but checks zone limits every 15 minutes, so usage can overshoot before enforcement. These are selected-product settings, not an immediate hard stop or an account limit I inspected. Configuration.
I would confirm selected renewal, consumption, eligibility and decision authority before purchasing. No refund request, cancellation or account setting was performed for this research.
So which way of paying would I pick? #
I would compare GB/PAYG for variable traffic, monthly allowances when utilization justifies a commitment, and per-IP when a permitted job needs persistent assigned exits. Keep total payable, effective consumed cost, fair use, exclusivity and expiry next to the price.
There is no measured speed, country availability, invoice or useful-record winner here. The missing inputs are the actual traffic and output, selected product entitlement and complete checkout/contract terms.
The proxy pillar connects these choices. Trial offers, residential versus datacenter, ISP versus residential and API versus proxies help identify the product before spending. Any cost estimate needs truthful workload inputs rather than assumed page counts.
FAQ #
Does the cheapest bulk rate apply if I only buy a little? #
Not automatically. Minimum volume, billing period, exclusivity and promotional eligibility can change total payable; IPRoyal’s $1.75 figure requires ten TB. Pricing.
Can I turn GB into a page count? #
No. Count metered upload/download, headers, assets and retries separately from validated distinct records. Metering, Bright Data bandwidth.
Are per-IP plans unlimited? #
Not universally. The Bright Data examples have 100-GB/IP monthly fair-use allocation and possible excess charges. ISP, datacenter.
Can pay-as-you-go beat a monthly plan? #
Yes in the stated one-GB arithmetic: $11.25 paid allowance versus $4 PAYG, with product eligibility/tax assumptions explicit. That is not an observed invoice. Decodo.
Can I count on a refund if it doesn’t work out? #
No. Time windows, consumption, payment exclusions and discretion apply, and no refund was requested here. Decodo, IPRoyal, Webshare terms.
Sources
25 sources, accessed to .
Official pricing, docs, changelogs and status pages 25
- Residential pricing
- Residential proxies
- ISP product and pricing
- Datacenter product and pricing
- Residential configuration
- General billing/trials FAQ
- Licence
- Residential product and pricing
- ISP product and pricing
- Datacenter product and pricing
- Refund FAQ
- Datacenter pricing
- Residential product/pricing
- FAQ
- Terms
- Cyber Month promotion terms (renewal pricing)
- Fair use
- Residential pricing
- ISP pricing
- Residential refunds
- Residential pricing
- Trial FAQ
- Traffic usage
- Subscriptions
- PAYG
