Bright Data Alternatives: What to Choose Instead

Over the past three years, we've tested more than 20 providers on real projects. Here's what actually affects results, not just what sounds nice in marketing materials.

1. Where IP Addresses Come From

This is fundamental. Server proxies from data centers cost pennies but get detected instantly. Facebook blocks them even at the registration stage. We had a client who was an affiliate marketer — he burned through 47 ad accounts in one week precisely because of cheap datacenter proxies.

Residential IPs are addresses from real people. When a platform checks, it sees a regular user with history, not a bot. The difference in blocking percentage is massive. With proper residential proxies, accounts live for months.

Important point — you need the ability to choose a specific provider (ISP), not just a country. For targeted advertising, this is critical because the IP needs to match your audience's location.

2. Speed Performance

If latency is over 500 milliseconds, you can safely subtract 40% from your parser's productivity. We measured on Amazon scraping, and providers with 250-350 ms ping processed almost one and a half times more pages per hour than those with 600+.

Success rate below 97% means every 30th request fails. At large volumes, this isn't trivial anymore — you have to write retry logic, monitor errors, waste time.

3. How to Pay and How Much

Subscription with expiring traffic only works if you have stable consumption. Pouring traffic every day consistently? Then okay. But if projects come in waves, or you're testing new funnels, half your paid gigs burn for nothing.

In our experience, for uneven load, perpetual traffic saves up to 35% of budget. Buy a package, use what you need, the rest doesn't disappear.

Another point about entry threshold. Bright Data requires minimum $500. For a freelancer or startup, that's serious money for testing. Normal alternatives let you try for $30-50.

4. KYC or Not

Identity verification includes passport, proof of address, business model description. Verification takes from one day to a week. If you work in gray areas or simply value confidentiality, it's a deal-breaker.

Services without KYC give access 30 seconds after registration. Sign in through Google and you're working.

5. How Easy to Integrate

API documentation with 500 pages is painful. One developer we know spent two weeks hooking up corporate API to his parser. Then switched to another service with regular REST and JSON, did it in an evening.

Ready SDKs for Python, Node.js, PHP aren't luxury, they're necessity. Copy the example from docs, insert your token, everything works.

6. Support

Ticket system with 12-hour response doesn't cut it for commercial projects. When active campaigns with several thousand dollar budgets are falling, every minute counts, not days.

Live chat or Telegram with response under 5 minutes — that's what you need. And not a bot with templates, but a real person who can actually help.

We compared main parameters of popular services. Here's what we got.

1. GonzoProxy

The service runs on a P2P network of 20+ million real devices worldwide. Unlike server solutions, here every IP is a real person with their own internet usage history. For antifraud systems, such an address looks completely natural.

What Makes It Stand Out

Traffic never expires, period. Buy gigabytes, they're on your account forever. Use them in six months, use them in a year. For projects with uneven load, this saves about 40% of budget compared to regular subscriptions.

Proxies are created for free, as many as you want. Pay only for traffic you actually used. Need one proxy per one account scheme? Make a thousand of them, it costs nothing.

Google registration, and in 30 seconds everything works. No documents, no waiting for verification, no explaining what you're going to do. Critical for quick start and working in sensitive niches.

Sticky sessions up to 7 days allow holding IP as long as possible. If the donor device disconnects, the system automatically picks a similar address from the same city and same provider. For long-term account work, this matters.

Technical Details

Ping 250-400 milliseconds thanks to smart routing. Traffic goes through the server closest to you. In practice, this gives 35-50% parsing speed increase compared to competitors.

ISO 27001 certification, 99.6% uptime. Problematic IPs are automatically filtered in real time, so successful connection percentage stays stable at 99%.

From Practice

A media buying team of 8 people migrated after a series of Facebook Ads blocks. In the first month, number of blocked accounts dropped from 15-20 to 2-3. The deciding factor was ability to choose specific provider for each targeting region.

SEO agency parses SERP for 500+ queries every day. Bought annual package with discount, traffic is perpetual, no need to think about balance. Rotation through API, no manual monitoring of blocks.

2. Oxylabs

Corporate solution with one of the largest pools, over 100 million addresses. Work mainly with large businesses, have advanced analytics and detailed control.

Strong Points

99% uptime with distributed infrastructure and redundancy. For critical processes, there's SLA with financial guarantees. Support is 24/7 with priority for corporate clients.

SDK for Python and Node.js with ready modules for error handling, automatic retry and load balancing. Documentation is detailed, all edge cases covered.

What's Wrong

Minimum check from $300 per month. Testing is expensive. Corporate pricing is discussed individually. For startups and freelancers, threshold is high.

KYC is mandatory, includes company verification, incorporation documents, task description. Takes 2 to 5 business days. Won't be quick.

3. SOAX

Specialize in mobile and residential proxies for marketing. Simple interface, clear dashboard, suitable for teams without strong technical expertise.

What's Good

Rotation is flexibly configured from a couple minutes to several hours. Convenient for tasks needing periodic IP change without manual work. System picks new address itself.

Geo-targeting works stably for main regions like USA, Europe, Asia. Pool of 8.5 million covers most tasks. For exotic locations, choice is limited.

Money back within 7 days allows testing on real projects without risk. Support responds in a few hours.

Drawbacks

98% success rate means every 50th request drops. At large volumes, this creates extra load on error handling.

API is limited in functionality. Can't choose specific provider or set custom rotation parameters programmatically.

4. NetNut

Focus on premium-quality static ISP proxies. Main audience is SEO specialists who need stable addresses without rotation.

Static Advantages

IPs from internet providers hold for months. Perfect for website promotion because one address is assigned to project for entire period. 98.5% success rate thanks to ISP connection stability.

Ping 200-350 ms. When working with search engine APIs or parsing, this directly affects performance.

Limitations

No proper rotation, doesn't suit multi-accounting. Static addresses quickly link together.

Mandatory verification plus pricing from $300. Expensive for small teams.

Alternative advantages are visible in daily work, from start speed to economics.

1. Instant Access vs Week of Waiting

Bright Data asks for passport, proof of address, business model description. Verification takes 3-7 days. During this time, competitors already launched campaigns. GonzoProxy and similar services open access in 30 seconds, Google account login, that's it.

One affiliate marketer told how Bright Data registration took 5 days, during which the drop closed. After switching to service without KYC, no more such situations.

2. Save 35-40% on Wave-like Load

Subscription with expiring traffic only works with stable consumption. If projects come in waves like tests, seasonal campaigns, rare parsing, part of gigs is lost. With $500-1000 monthly budget, losses are $200-400.

Perpetual traffic solves this completely. Buy package, use 30%, rest is available whenever. For agencies with unpredictable load, annual savings are several thousand dollars.

3. Targeting Without Markups

Bright Data charges extra for choosing city or provider. Premium geo-targeting costs +50-100% to base. GonzoProxy and others include ISP targeting for free. For niche regions, difference is noticeable.

E-commerce team tested purchasing limited drops. With Bright Data had to pay extra for targeting US cities. After switching, same settings became free, proxy expenses dropped 45%.

4. Simple API vs Corporate Monster

Bright Data documentation is hundreds of pages with all possible scenarios. Just to launch residential IP rotation through Python, need to study dozens of sections. Alternatives give REST API with JSON and ready examples. Integration in hours, not days.

SaaS startup shared that their developer spent a week integrating Bright Data API. After switching to GonzoProxy, similar integration took one evening — copied example, inserted token, launched.

5. Fast Support Instead of Tickets

Bright Data corporate support works through tickets with 12-24 hour SLA. When campaigns with thousands of dollars in budget get blocked, such speed doesn't work. Telegram or live chat solve issues in 3-7 minutes.

Media buyer told how Friday evening 12 FB Ads accounts blocked with total daily budget of $8000. Ticket response came Monday morning. Switched to service with Telegram support, now any problems solved in minutes, even at night.

6. Transparent Pricing vs Negotiations

Bright Data pricing published only after filling form and sales manager call. Final price depends on volumes, region, negotiation skills. Alternatives show pricing openly, see cost per gigabyte, discounts, calculator. Saves time, can compare without sales pressure.

Market divides into three levels by price and quality.

• Why Free Doesn't Work?

Public proxy lists are used by hundreds of people. IP ends up in blacklists within hours. Platforms with antifraud block such addresses instantly.

No encryption, risk of data leak. Free proxy owners can log all traffic including passwords and tokens. For commerce, it's a hole.

Unpredictable disconnections disrupt automation. Parser stops, accounts lose sessions, transactions don't go through. Saving a couple dollars turns into hours of lost time.

• When Basic Is Enough?

One-time tasks with small volume don't require premium. Parsing couple sites, checking availability from different countries, single purchase — datacenters handle it.

Testing new funnels is better on cheap plans. If it doesn't work, losses are minimal. After validating idea, move to quality infrastructure.

• When Premium Is Needed?
  
  

1. Managing multiple accounts requires clean residential IPs. Each profile must look like separate person. Datacenters link together and raise suspicions.
   
   
2. Advertising with budgets from $1000 per day needs maximum protection. Losing account means stopping traffic and lost profit. 90% ban protection pays for premium in days.
   
   
3. Constant automation requires 99%+ stability. When parser depends on price updates or competitor monitoring, downtime is unacceptable.

By our stats, clients with turnover above $5000 per month always choose premium. Cost of downtime many times exceeds proxy savings.