Alternative to Oxylabs / Bright Data / Smartproxy / IPRoyal - Proxya.co
If you do any serious web scraping, ad verification, or multi-account automation, you've run into the same shortlist of proxy providers: Oxylabs, Bright Data, Smartproxy (now Decodo), and IPRoyal. They're all solid. They're also where most "best proxy" listicles stop.
This post is the opposite of a listicle. I'll give an honest read on what each of the big four is genuinely good at, where they get expensive or over-built for smaller projects, and where a leaner alternative — [**Proxya**](https://proxya.co) — actually makes sense. No "this one is the best, buy now." Pick the tool that fits the job.
> TL;DR: The big providers are built for enterprise data teams with enterprise budgets. If you're a developer, a growth team, or a solo operator who wants residential, ISP, and datacenter proxies without a sales call or a $500 minimum, that's the gap Proxya fills.
## The 2026 pricing reality
Residential proxies are the headline product for all of these vendors, so that's the cleanest apples-to-apples comparison. Pay-as-you-go pricing in 2026:
| Provider | Residential (PAYG) | Positioning | Minimum / commitment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bright Data | from ~$4/GB (with promo), higher otherwise | Largest network, most features, steep learning curve | Often pushed toward committed plans |
| Oxylabs | $6/GB (5GB) → ~$2.50/GB (1TB) | Enterprise-grade, premium support | Cheapest tiers need huge commitments |
| Smartproxy / Decodo | from ~$2.20/GB | Mid-market, friendly UX | Lower entry than the top two |
| IPRoyal | from $1.75/GB, non-expiring traffic | Budget-friendly, pay-as-you-go | Low entry |
| [Proxya](https://proxya.co/pricing) | $1.75/GB | Lean, instant setup, no sales call | No minimum commitment |
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