The short version · saves you 6 min
Pool size is the metric everyone quotes and the one that matters least. Here is what actually determines whether a provider works for your job.
Jump to
Every provider leads with pool size, and it is close to meaningless on its own. A 100-million-IP pool that is 90% dormant will underperform a well-maintained 20-million pool on the same target.
Start with the target, not the provider (link to this section)
The only question that matters is whether a provider's IPs succeed against the specific sites you need. A network that sails through a retail site can fail badly against a search engine. Before committing, run a trial against your real targets and measure success rate and cost per successful request — not per gigabyte.
Cost per success beats cost per gigabyte (link to this section)
A $4/GB provider with a 70% success rate is more expensive in practice than an $8/GB provider at 98%, because every failure still consumes bandwidth. Work out the real number before you sign anything.
Match the proxy type to the job (link to this section)
Residential for protected targets, datacenter for permissive ones at volume, ISP where a session must persist, mobile where nothing else gets through. Most teams overbuy: if datacenter proxies work for your target, using residential is simply wasted budget.
Check sourcing and compliance (link to this section)
Ask how the provider obtains its residential IPs. Reputable networks document consent and pay their peers. This is both an ethical question and a business-continuity one — networks built on undisclosed SDK bundling attract regulatory attention.
What to test in a trial (link to this section)
Success rate against your targets, response time under concurrency, geographic accuracy where it matters, and how quickly support answers a technical question. That last one predicts your experience during an incident better than any benchmark.
Frequently asked
No. Pool health matters far more than raw size. A smaller, well-maintained pool routinely beats a larger dormant one on success rate.
Entry pricing generally runs from about $1.75/GB at the budget end to $8/GB at the enterprise end, with volume commitments reducing the rate substantially.
Get the next guide before it ranks
One email a month: new tests, pricing changes worth knowing about, and the deals that are actually deals. No spam, unsubscribe in a click.
Written by
The ProxyRaw editorial team
We buy the plans, run the tests and publish the numbers. Nothing on ProxyRaw is ranked by who pays us — here is exactly how we score.
Published July 25, 2026 · Last reviewed July 30, 2026