How to read a proxy price sheet

Proxy pricing looks simple: a number, a unit, maybe a discount. In practice the number on the page and the number on your invoice can be far apart. Before comparing two proxy vendors, ask the same six questions of both.

1. Per what, exactly?

Residential traffic is usually sold per GB. Datacenter and ISP proxies are usually sold per IP, sometimes per port, sometimes per day. A “$1” per-IP product and a “$1” per-GB product are not comparable until you know how much traffic one IP will carry for you.

2. What is the minimum, and what is the step?

A low unit price with a large minimum purchase can cost more than a higher price you can buy in small steps — especially while you are still testing whether the network works for your targets.

3. When does it expire?

Traffic that expires after 30 days is worth less than traffic that lasts 90 if you won’t use it all. Divide the price by what you will actually consume before expiry, not by what you buy.

4. What is added at checkout?

Payment processing fees, tax and currency conversion all land somewhere. A fair quote shows each one before you pay. If the checkout total surprises you, the price sheet was incomplete.

5. What counts as usage?

Ask whether failed requests, retries and response headers are metered. Two networks with the same price per GB can bill very differently for the same job.

6. What does a successful request cost?

This is the number that matters, and no price sheet can tell you. Run a small, lawful test against your real targets, count successful responses, and divide the total spend by that count.

• Unit and quantity
• Minimum and step
• Expiry
• Fees and tax at checkout
• What is metered
• Cost per successful request, measured by you