An arbitrageur sees on one provider's website "2$ per GB," and on another "5$ per GB" — and chooses the first one. A week later, it turns out that the cheap plan is limited in the number of streams, has a minimum package of 50 GB, and does not allow IP rotation more often than once every 10 minutes. As a result, the actual cost of operation is higher than that of the "expensive" option. Let's figure out what to look for when comparing proxy providers, besides the number on the main page.
Why the price per GB is a poor indicator by itself
The price per gigabyte of traffic is a marketing metric that can easily be made attractive on paper. A provider can state the minimum price per GB when purchasing the largest package (for example, from 500 GB), while for those who need 10-20 GB, the price may be 2-3 times higher. This is a classic "fork" — a small package is always more expensive per unit of traffic than a large one.
For a seller who monitors prices on Wildberries and Ozon, traffic consumption is predictable — usually 5-15 GB per month for one project. For an arbitrageur who drives traffic on Facebook Ads through 30 accounts, consumption can fluctuate from 20 to 200 GB depending on the volume of creatives and geo. Therefore, one should look not at the minimum price per GB in the price list, but at the price per GB in the package that fits your actual consumption volume.
The second point is that the type of proxy directly affects how much traffic you will actually spend on the task. Datacenter proxies usually deliver pages faster and consume less traffic on repeated requests during scraping, while residential proxies sometimes require more attempts due to more frequent captchas and timeouts. As a result, a cheap GB on paper may end up costing more in real work.
What lies behind the attractive price: real expenses
Besides the direct cost of traffic or ports, many providers have additional expenses that are not prominently displayed on the main page:
- Charge for unused traffic. Some providers sell packages with a strict 30-day expiration — if you do not use the entire volume, the remainder expires, and the actual price per GB increases.
- Extra charge for geo-targeting. The base price is often stated for a general pool of IPs, while precise selection of a country or even a city may cost 20-40% more.
- Charge for the number of threads. If the plan limits the number of simultaneous connections, to run 20-30 accounts in an anti-detect browser, you will have to purchase a more expensive plan, even if there is plenty of traffic available.
- Payment method fee. Some services add 3-7% for payments by card or cryptocurrency, which can add up to a significant amount over the year for regular purchases.
- Priority support fee. Basic support may take days to respond, while quick replies in chat may require a separate paid plan.
To fairly compare two offers, you need to bring them to a unified "cost of ownership" — add the cost of the package, probable extra charges for geo and streams, and divide by the actual required traffic volume per month. Only such a figure shows who is actually cheaper.
Minimum package: a trap for beginners
The minimum purchase volume is one of the most underestimated parameters. If a provider's minimum package starts from 100 GB, and your project (for example, managing 5 Instagram accounts through Dolphin Anty) needs 15-20 GB per month, you are overpaying for a volume that you will never use.
For comparison, it is worth looking at the minimum entry threshold in three aspects:
| Parameter | What to check | Consequences of ignoring |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum traffic volume | How many GB need to be purchased at once | Overpayment for unused remainder |
| Minimum subscription term | 1, 3, or 12 months of mandatory payment | Inability to quickly switch providers in case of problems |
| Minimum number of ports/IPs | Cannot buy 3 IPs, only a package of 10 | Inflated budget at the start of testing |
For small projects — for example, monitoring competitors' prices on Avito in one city — it is wiser to choose a plan with payment based on actual usage and a low entry threshold, rather than a fixed large package. This is especially relevant at the start, when the actual traffic consumption is still unknown.
Hidden limits: streams, rotation, geo, speed
The price per GB says nothing about the technical limitations that directly affect the results of work. Here is a list of limits that should be clarified before payment, not after the first account ban:
- Limit on simultaneous streams (concurrent connections). If you run 20 profiles in AdsPower or GoLogin simultaneously, and the plan allows only 5 streams, some sessions will be interrupted.
- IP rotation frequency. For working with Facebook Ads and TikTok Ads, a sticky session (sticky session) for 10-30 minutes is often needed, rather than rotation on every request — not all plans support this.
- Accuracy of geo-targeting. The difference between "US proxy" and "proxy from a specific state or city in the US" can be critical for local advertising or checking Google Ads results.
- Speed limitation (throughput throttling). Some providers intentionally cut speed on cheap plans, which increases session time and, consequently, traffic consumption for the same task.
- Limit on the number of unique IPs per month. Critical for SMM agencies that manage client accounts and need a constant pool of new addresses, rather than reusing the same IPs.
For tasks where session stability and low ban rates are important — for example, warming up and managing advertising accounts — mobile proxies are often chosen mobile proxies, despite the higher price per GB, because they are less likely to fall under the platform's anti-fraud algorithms and ultimately reduce costs for recreating banned accounts.
Comparison of proxy types by price and tasks
For a fair comparison, it is necessary to correlate not abstract numbers, but the price per GB in relation to the task for which the type of proxy is actually suitable. Below is a guideline used by arbitrageurs, SMM specialists, and sellers when making a choice.
| Type of Proxy | Typical price per GB | For which tasks it is justified |
|---|---|---|
| Datacenter | Low | Scraping Wildberries, Ozon, speed is more important than anonymity |
| Residential | Medium | Instagram account farming, TikTok, multi-accounting |
| Mobile | High | Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads — minimum bans on moderation |
The logic is simple: a more expensive per GB type of proxy may turn out to be cheaper when calculated on the "cost of one live account," if it reduces the ban rate. For scraping marketplaces, where speed and volume of requests are important, rather than the platform's trust in the IP, it is wiser to keep datacenter proxies and not overpay for residential or mobile ones.
How to calculate the real cost for your task
To avoid relying on the numbers from the provider's advertising banner, you should run the selected plan through a simple formula for calculating the real monthly cost:
- Determine the actual traffic consumption for the previous month (or test with a trial volume).
- Find the price per GB specifically in the package that covers this volume, not the minimum price from the price list.
- Add the cost of extra charges: geo-targeting, additional streams, priority support.
- Add the "hidden cost of bans" — the average cost of recreating an account (time, documents, SIM cards) multiplied by the expected ban rate for this type of proxy.
- Divide the total amount by the number of processed accounts, ads, or requests — this is the real "price for results," not per gigabyte.
For an SMM agency managing 40 client accounts, a difference of 1$ per GB may be insignificant compared to a difference of 5-10% in bans between a cheap and a quality IP pool. For scraping marketplaces, on the contrary, the price per GB is often more important, as the ban rate is lower, and the volume of requests is higher.
Checklist of questions for the provider before purchase
Before paying for the plan, it is worth asking the provider (through support or checking the documentation) the following questions — this removes most surprises after the purchase:
- Does unused traffic expire at the end of the period or carry over to the next month?
- Is there a limit on simultaneous streams and how much does it cost to expand it?
- Is precise geo-targeting (city, operator) included in the base price or is it an extra charge?
- What is the minimum subscription period and is there an option to downgrade the plan without penalties?
- What is the frequency of IP rotation available and can a sticky session of the desired duration be configured?
- Is there a trial period or trial traffic volume for testing for a specific task?
Practical advice:
Before switching to a new plan, test a small package on a real task — for example, on 5-10 accounts in an anti-detect browser or on one price scraper — and only then scale up your traffic purchase.
Common mistakes when choosing a plan
In practice, most overpayments and disappointments when working with proxies are related to the same mistakes when comparing offers:
- Comparing the minimum price per GB without considering the volume. The minimum price applies only when purchasing the largest package, which is rarely needed at the start.
- Ignoring the stream limit. For parallel work with dozens of profiles in Dolphin Anty or Multilogin, the stream limit is more important than the traffic price.
- Choosing a cheap type of proxy for a task that requires platform trust. Saving on the type of IP when working with Facebook Ads often results in costs for new accounts and documents.
- Lack of a trial period. Purchasing a large package without prior testing of speed and ban rates on a specific platform.
- Focusing only on price, without considering support. During mass bans or technical problems, the speed of support response directly affects the downtime of campaigns and budget losses.
Conclusion
A fair comparison of proxy providers is not based on a single figure "price per GB" on the main page, but on comparing the real cost of ownership: the volume of the package according to your actual consumption, limits on streams and geo, traffic expiration conditions, and — especially important for arbitrage and SMM — the ban rate on the chosen type of IP. Only such a calculation shows which provider is truly cheaper for your specific task.
If you are scraping marketplaces and speed is important with a large volume of requests, it makes sense to start with datacenter proxies. For farming and managing accounts on Instagram, TikTok, or VK, it is better to look at residential proxies — they reduce the ban rate due to real IPs of home users. And for launching ads on Facebook Ads and TikTok Ads, where the cost of mistakes is particularly high, it is worth testing mobile proxies and comparing the final cost of results, not just the price per gigabyte of traffic.