Bright Data is the most complete web data platform on the market, and that is exactly why people look for alternatives. Its residential proxies start around $8.40 per gigabyte pay as you go, and the full platform of scraper products and enterprise features carries a price and a complexity that many teams do not need. If your job is collecting web data reliably without paying top of market rates, several providers deliver comparable proxy performance for a fraction of the cost.
I have tested proxies across these providers. Below is the honest breakdown of which Bright Data alternative wins for which need, and what each costs per gigabyte. Our Bright Data review covers when the original platform is still worth the premium.
Quick picks:
Best value residential proxies: Thordata
Best enterprise grade alternative: Oxylabs
Best developer friendly mid market: Decodo
Best for clean, filterable pools: SOAX
Best budget pay as you go: IPRoyal
What actually separates a good proxy provider
Pool size and quality. A large, clean pool in the regions you target drives your success rate. Raw IP counts matter less than performance on your specific sites, so test before you trust.
Price per gigabyte at your volume. Rates drop steeply with commitment. Price the plan against your real monthly traffic, not the entry tier, since the gap between pay as you go and volume pricing is large.
Product range. Beyond residential proxies, you may need datacenter, ISP, mobile, or ready made scraper APIs. Broader providers cover more use cases from one account.
Ease of integration. Clear documentation, endpoints, and dashboards save real engineering time. A slightly pricier provider that integrates in an hour can beat a cheaper one that costs you a day.
Sourcing and compliance. How a provider sources its IPs matters legally and ethically. Favor providers with compliant, ethically sourced pools and clear acceptable use policies.
Bright Data alternatives compared at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Residential price | Product range | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thordata | Value residential proxies | About $1.40 to $3.50/GB | Residential, datacenter, scraper | 4.4/5 |
| Oxylabs | Enterprise grade scale | About $4 to $8/GB | Broad, strong scraper APIs | 4.5/5 |
| Decodo | Developer friendly mid market | About $2 to $4/GB | Residential, datacenter, ISP | 4.4/5 |
| SOAX | Clean, filterable pools | About $3 to $6/GB | Residential, mobile, ISP | 4.3/5 |
| IPRoyal | Budget pay as you go | From about $1.75/GB | Residential, datacenter | 4.2/5 |
Prices drop with volume and change often, and pool quality varies by target, so trial each on your real workloads before committing. Confirm current pricing on each provider's site.
1. Thordata: Best Value Residential Proxies
Thordata is the value leader among Bright Data alternatives. Its residential proxies run from about $1.40 per gigabyte at high volume to roughly $3.50 at a single gigabyte, around $1.75 with the current discount, well below Bright Data and Oxylabs, backed by a large pool and covering residential, datacenter, and scraper products. There is a first purchase cashback offer of up to 100 percent capped near $900, which sweetens the trial.
Thordata wins when you want strong residential proxy performance without paying premium rates. For teams running meaningful scraping volume where price per gigabyte drives the budget, the savings against Bright Data are substantial. The refund policy is on the restrictive side, so test during the trial, but on price to performance it is the standout. Our Thordata review has the full test.
Pros
- Residential traffic far cheaper than Bright Data
- Large pool with solid success rates
- Residential, datacenter, and scraper products
- Generous first purchase cashback
Cons
- Not as broad a platform as Bright Data
- Restrictive refund policy
- Brand less established than the majors
2. Oxylabs: Best Enterprise Grade Alternative
Oxylabs is the other premium provider alongside Bright Data, and the closest like for like alternative when reliability at scale matters most. It offers a large, high quality pool, strong scraper APIs, and enterprise support, with residential proxies around $4 to $8 per gigabyte at entry tiers and better rates on commitment.
Oxylabs wins for demanding, large scale scraping where consistency and the hardest targets justify a premium. It is not the cheapest, but for a team that needs enterprise infrastructure and would otherwise use Bright Data, Oxylabs delivers comparable capability, often at a somewhat lower price. If budget is secondary to reliability, it is the safe pick.
3. Decodo: Best Developer Friendly Mid Market
Decodo, formerly Smartproxy, is the mid market favorite, with residential proxies around $2 to $4 per gigabyte, clear documentation, and a dashboard that developers find easy to work with. It covers residential, datacenter, and ISP proxies and aims squarely at teams that want strong performance without enterprise pricing or complexity.
Decodo wins for developers and mid sized teams who want a smooth integration and fair pricing. It sits comfortably between the budget and premium tiers, offering much of the reliability of the majors at roughly half the residential cost. For a team scaling up from a small operation, it is a natural step.
4. SOAX: Best for Clean, Filterable Pools
SOAX is known for clean, well managed pools with granular targeting by country, region, and carrier, spanning residential, mobile, and ISP proxies, at roughly $3 to $6 per gigabyte. The filtering and pool hygiene appeal to teams that need precise geo targeting and consistent quality.
SOAX wins when your work depends on fine grained targeting and a clean pool rather than the lowest possible price. For location sensitive scraping and verification tasks, its controls are a real advantage. It is a mid market option that leans on quality and targeting to differentiate from the budget providers.
5. IPRoyal: Best Budget Pay as You Go
IPRoyal rounds out the list as a budget friendly provider, with residential traffic from around $1.75 per gigabyte and flexible pay as you go pricing that never expires on some plans. It covers residential and datacenter proxies and appeals to smaller projects and cost sensitive users.
IPRoyal wins for hobbyists, smaller teams, and anyone who wants low cost proxies without a commitment. The pool is smaller than the premium providers, so test on your targets, but for light to moderate use at a low price, it is a practical entry point and a genuine saving over Bright Data.
How to choose the right Bright Data alternative
You want the best price to performance on residential proxies: Thordata, the value leader.
You need enterprise grade reliability at scale: Oxylabs, the premium alternative.
You want a developer friendly mid market option: Decodo, easy to integrate and fairly priced.
You need clean pools and precise geo targeting: SOAX.
You want the cheapest flexible pay as you go: IPRoyal.
The most common mistake is choosing on price per gigabyte alone and skipping a real trial. Pool quality and success rate on your specific targets decide whether a cheap proxy is actually cheap once you factor in retries. Test two providers on your real workloads, then commit to volume with the one that performs. For the wider field, see our best residential proxy providers guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Bright Data alternative in 2026?
For most teams it is Thordata, which delivers residential proxies at a fraction of Bright Data's price, roughly $1.40 to $3.50 per gigabyte against Bright Data's $8.40 pay as you go, with a large pool. If you need enterprise grade infrastructure and the widest product range, Oxylabs is the closest premium alternative. For a developer friendly mid market option, Decodo is strong, and IPRoyal is the budget pick.
Why is Bright Data so expensive?
Bright Data is the most complete web data platform, with one of the largest proxy pools, extensive scraper products, and enterprise compliance, and its residential proxies start around $8.40 per gigabyte pay as you go, dropping toward $3 on commitment. You pay for breadth and scale. If you do not need the full platform, cheaper providers deliver comparable residential proxy performance for far less per gigabyte, which is why so many teams look for alternatives.
Which alternative is cheapest per gigabyte?
Thordata and IPRoyal sit at the budget end, with residential traffic from around $1.40 to $1.75 per gigabyte at volume, well below Bright Data and Oxylabs. Decodo and SOAX occupy the mid market at roughly $2 to $6 per gigabyte. Remember that the cheapest price per gigabyte only matters if the pool quality and success rate are high enough for your target sites, so test on your real workloads before committing to volume.
Is Oxylabs a good Bright Data alternative?
Yes, if you want enterprise grade infrastructure. Oxylabs is the other premium provider alongside Bright Data, with a large pool, strong scraper APIs, and reliable performance, priced around $4 to $8 per gigabyte at entry tiers. It is not the cheapest, but for demanding, large scale scraping where reliability matters more than squeezing the price, it is the closest like for like alternative to Bright Data.
Are cheaper proxies lower quality?
Not necessarily, but you have to test. Budget providers can deliver excellent success rates on many targets while costing far less, and the market has matured so that mid market and budget pools are much better than they were. That said, the largest premium pools still tend to win on the hardest targets and on consistency at massive scale. Run a trial on your actual sites and measure success rate and speed before judging on price alone.
What should I look for in a proxy provider?
Pool size and quality for your target regions, price per gigabyte at your real volume, the range of products such as residential, datacenter, ISP, and scraper APIs, ease of integration, and the ethics and compliance of how the IPs are sourced. Match these to your use case. A team scraping a few sites has very different needs from one running large scale data collection, so weight the criteria accordingly.
Is web scraping with these proxies legal?
Scraping publicly available data is generally permitted in many jurisdictions, but the legality depends on what you collect, how you use it, and the terms of the sites involved. Reputable providers like these emphasize compliant, ethically sourced IP pools and acceptable use policies. Understand the rules for your use case and jurisdiction, respect site terms and personal data laws, and choose a provider that takes sourcing and compliance seriously.