Five Secrets of the Proxy Industry

Save time, money and headaches by choosing the right proxy network for your needs

Hi guys, Julia here, back again with another deep dive into the world of proxies. For those who don’t know me, I’m the co-owner and CRO of PlainProxies.com, the only provider in the industry offering unlimited GB plans for residential rotating IPs with geo-location targeting. I also lead DataPulse.services, your go-to source for data and access to all the major proxy networks at a fraction of the cost you’re likely paying now.

With a career that includes stints as a former sales executive at Bright Data and VP of Sales for Asia and Eastern Europe at NetNut, I’ve seen the proxy industry from every angle—inside and out. Today, I’m here to pull back the curtain and expose five secrets of the proxy industry.

My goal? To save you time, money, and headaches when choosing the right proxy network for your needs.

Let’s dive in.

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1. The “Millions of IPs” Myth: Why Big Numbers Don’t Mean Much

Proxy companies love to throw around big numbers: “25 million IPs!” “50 million IPs!” “70 million IPs!”But here’s the truth: these numbers are meaningless. Why? Because they don’t reflect how many IPs are actually online and available for you to use at any given moment.

What these numbers might represent is the total number of unique IP addresses a provider has seen over a day, week, month, or even a year. But here’s the kicker: it has zero correlation with the number of IPs you can actually access when you need them.

So, what should you do instead? Ask your proxy provider for the number of active IPs online per country or the number of unique daily active users (DAU.) This is the metric that matters. Most companies won’t want to share this because they’re hoping that their pool of, say, 1,000 IPs in Taiwan is enough to scrape Shopee effectively and you won’t go elsewhere just because another company has more.

Now, to be fair, 1,000 IPs might be sufficient for some use cases. But when your scraping success rate suddenly drops, you’re left wondering: Is it me? Is it the website? Or are the IPs getting banned, forcing me to wait for them to rotate? The truth is, it’s probably a mix of all three. Knowing how many IPs you have to work with daily is crucial for maximizing success rates.

Here’s a pro tip: in a residential rotating network, about 50-70% of IPs will change in a day, which is due to your local ISP changing every 24 hours or so. Mobile IPs rotate even faster. Static ISP and datacenter IPs don’t change, but they could be temporarily banned and require a “cooling-off” period before they’re usable again.

The bottom line? Ask the right questions.

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2. Overlap Between Proxy Pools: The Industry’s Best-Kept Secret

This one is a big secret, but not that difficult to check. Here’s what I’ve learned running tests on 50+ different proxy companies: there are only about 7 or so truly unique proxy networks in the market. And no, the biggest companies with the most employees don’t always own them. Shocking, right?

There are two types of overlap to watch out for:

1. Resellers of a network: Many companies simply white label another proxy network or add someone else’s proxy pool into their own because their own IP source doesn’t provide enough IPs.

2. Shared Publishers: Some companies unknowingly use the same apps (publishers looking to monetize their apps) to deploy their proxy SDKs, resulting in overlapping IP addresses.

What does this mean for you? You could be paying a premium for a network that’s just a repackaged version of another, marketed as superior. For a woman, the best example is like buying makeup: one parent company might own three different brands, each catering to a different price point, but the ingredients are identical. (For the guys, think of it like buying different brands of power tools—they might look different, but they’re often made in the same factory.)

The takeaway? Do your homework. Make sure you’re not paying extra for the same network under a different name.

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3. Resellers: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

There are hundreds of resellers, and while some are great, others are downright sketchy. How can you spot a reseller? They’re usually vague about where their IPs come from and they aren’t willing to give large trials unless their marketing budget allows it.

At PlainProxies.com, we’re upfront—our IPs come from our ByteConnect SDK, ethically deployed on devices worldwide. Companies like BrightData and JoinMassive are also transparent in that they source their IPs via SDK with “opt-in” for users.

Resellers can sometimes offer lower prices, especially on smaller packages, because they buy in bulk. For example, Rampageproxies.com, Proxiware.com, and DataPulse.services (shameless plug) can often undercut the big players because we have direct access to major networks.

But there’s a catch. Some smaller resellers struggle to keep their servers up and running, leading to downtime and frustration.

Before choosing a reseller, check their uptime and reliability:

• Read reviews in scraper and proxy communities like BlackHatWorld or Telegram proxy groups.

• Look for resellers that provide direct legal accounts. If there are servers in between, ask the reseller about their uptime guarantee and what they offer if the service goes down.

A reseller can save you money, but only if their service is stable.

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Note from Pier: speaking about prices, I’ve created this Proxy Price Comparison Tool so you can get the best deals for your use case. In case you see some errors in the prices shown or want to add new proxy vendors, just write me at pier@thewebscraping.club

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4. Pricing: The Unfair Game & How to Get the Best Deal

Pricing in the proxy industry is wildly inconsistent.

Here’s what I’ve learned from worldwide customers while working at DataPulse.services:

• Customers in Asia (China, India, Bangladesh) get the lowest prices at the major proxy companies—often half of what customers in the U.S. and Europe pay.

• Flexibility varies by region—customers in Asia and Eastern Europe often get better deals on renewals and extensions.

So, what can you do? Negotiate hard.

• Use a company email. Proxy companies take you more seriously when you reach out with a professional email address.

• Don’t reveal your exact usage needs upfront. Let them assume you’re a high-volume user to get better pricing.

• Push for a 50GB free trial. This helps you evaluate quality and possibly see if they are a reseller before committing.

Proxy prices are constantly dropping, so don’t lock into long-term deals unless absolutely necessary.

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5. Exclusive IPs: The Marketing Gimmick

Last but not least, let’s talk about exclusive IPs. If a company promises you exclusive IPs, take it with a grain of salt. The truth? It’s almost impossible to provide truly exclusive IPs at scale.

Most companies don’t have enough residential rotating IPs or ISP IPs to offer exclusivity. And if they do, they’ll run out quickly. I’ve even seen companies sell “exclusive” IPs while allowing other enterprise customers to use the same IPs via their main DNS. This goes for both ISP IPs and Residential Rotating IPs (P2P.)

The bottom line? Don’t fall for the exclusive IPs pitch. It’s usually a marketing ploy, plain and simple.

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Now You Know

There you have it—5 secrets of the proxy industry. My hope is that this post has armed you with the knowledge to make smarter, more informed decisions when choosing a proxy network. If you found this helpful and want to continue the conversation—or if you’re ready to access the best proxy networks, including unlimited GB packages—add me on LinkedIn. Let’s save you some time and money on your next proxy purchase.