Top 10 Best Proxy Providers for Selenium to Buy 2024

Data is the currency in today’s digital realm. It powers everything from websites to systems, and its value creates the need for web scraping. Simply put, it is the process of gathering data from websites by implementing automated tools.

In other words, web scraping depends on automation, and while there are several tools for this task, Selenium is one of the most popular. 

That said, this article will briefly introduce Selenium, show you why you need proxies for the platform, and finally, list some of the best Selenium proxy service providers out there.

Top 10 Best Proxy Providers for Selenium to Buy In 2023 – Quick Summary

1. IPRoyal – Best overall proxy provider for Selenium
2. Bright Data – Good for large-scale Selenium proxy needs
3. Smart proxy – Best value for money
4. Oxylabs – The most powerful infrastructure
5. MarsProxies – Fast and private IPV4 IPs 
6. PrivateProxy – Optimum performance at affordable prices
7. Rayobyte – Good datacenter proxy servers
8. Froxy – High-performing, moderately expensive servers
9. Shifter – Exclusive residential proxies
10. Webshare – High-speed datacenter proxy servers

What Is Selenium?

This popular open-source, portable software testing framework is designed to automate web browsers across different operating systems. The platform allows users to create testing scripts using various programming languages like Java, C#, and Python. 

Selenium offers a host of tools designed for automating web browsers. They include the Selenium Integrated Development Environment (IDE), WebDriver, and finally, Selenium Grid. 

The application is primarily used to automate web applications for testing, although the use cases extend beyond that. For instance, you can use it for web scraping and web-based administration tasks. 

Selenium allows users to simulate everyday web tasks such as clicking buttons, navigating different pages, and filling out forms. This way, developers can test applications as if they were already deployed in a real-world scenario. 

What Are Selenium Proxies?

Selenium proxies are regular proxies that have been fine-tuned to work for Selenium. This means such servers will reroute your Selenium requests through their IPs. 

Tasks such as web testing, automation, and web scraping will no longer use your regular IP address but the one provided by the proxy provider. We will get to why you need these servers a bit later. For now, let us review the best Selenium proxy service providers. 

Full Providers Review

Below is a detailed list of some of the best companies you can choose for your Selenium needs. These companies offer stellar performance and have a positive reputation among customers. 

Let’s start with one of the best options out there.

1

IPRoyal.com

Excellent customer support

Starting off our list is IPRoyal, a company known for its premium-grade proxy packages that sell for low prices. IPRoyal positions itself between medium/low-level customers and enterprise-class consumers, as evidenced by the pricing and proxy performance. 

This provider currently has over 8 million IPs in more than 195 countries. It is a perfect contender for the top spot on our list of the best Selenium proxies since it balances performance and price. 

The catalog comprises residential, datacenter, sneaker, ISP, and mobile servers, all with great features. They include precise geo-targeting, sticky and rotating sessions, impressive uptime for uninterrupted web scraping, and an easy-to-use dashboard.  

We must mention the ethically-sourced residential IPs, which are highly reliable and extremely hard to detect. These proxies have very competitive prices and great discounts if you order bulk traffic, which by the way, never expires.

2

Bright Data

Useful web scraping tools

If you are looking for a large-scale Selenium proxy service provider, Bright Data might be the perfect solution. The renowned provider is synonymous with Fortune 500 companies and other enterprise-grade clients from all over the world. 

Bright Data’s supreme service can be evidenced by its IP pool, which, at the time of this writing, stood at over 72 million in countries all over the world. The company offers residential, ISP, datacenter, and mobile proxy servers under various pricing plans allowing unlimited scalability. 

Finally, Bright Data has geared its service towards web scraping and data collection. It has a collection of datasets ready for download and utilization. It also offers tools similar to Selenium, including a web scraper IDE.

3

Smartproxy

Ideal for web scraping

Next up is Smartproxy, a company that, similar to IPRoyal, has successfully balanced performance and price. And given the fact that the service is suited to web scraping, it can be a fantastic option for your Selenium proxy needs. 

You can choose between residential, datacenter, mobile, and ISP proxy servers that come in different packages and features. The IP pool is also impressive, with over 40 million IPs from over 195 countries across the globe. With such stats, routing your requests through the sizeable pool will likely be a walk in the park. 

To finish it off, Smartproxy also offers several tools with similar functionality to Selenium. Its web scraping APIs fit various use cases, such as eCommerce and social media.

4

Oxylabs

Perfect for large-scale operations

Our list would be incomplete had we failed to give Oxylabs a mention. It is one of the most powerful providers on the internet. Like some of the providers on our list, Oxylabs has a service tailored to data collection and web scraping.

It has a collection of scraping APIs under its catalog (note that this differs from the proxy subscriptions.) On top of that, everything about Oxylabs screams premium, from amazing customer support to high-performing servers and above-average prices. 

Oxylabs’ IP pool currently stands at over 100 million, spread out across more than 195 countries. This allows for great rotation, allowing your Selenium requests to be undetectable, resembling regular traffic.

5

MarsProxies

Fast private IPv4 proxies

Here’s a provider quite different from the others on our list. The main difference is that its proxies are designed for sneaker copping. However, this means they are incredibly fast, reliable, and highly anonymous, which is always helpful. 

In fact, MarsProxies has many features that make it a worthy contender for our top 10 Selenium proxy service providers. 

This company has over 550,000 unbanned private IPV4 proxies from US and EU locations. They come with dual authentication, SOCKS5 support, sticky and rotating sessions, and instant activation. 

On top of that, the prices are very affordable compared to the companies we have reviewed so far. It also offers a 24-hour money-back guarantee on all purchases and traffic that never expires.

6

PrivateProxy

Great location support

Next up is PrivateProxy, a veteran provider with over a decade in the business. The company has a near-perfect score on Trustpilot which indicates top-notch service and satisfied customers. 

The company specializes in datacenter and residential proxies, preferred for activities requiring high-speed connections, such as web scraping. And, PrivateProxy’s IPs are known to have high speeds and low pings, making them a good fit for Selenium users. 

The pricing is also quite affordable, with packages starting at only $4.05 a month. You also get free trials on the private and rotating proxy service but not on the datacenter one, which can be disappointing for some users.

7

Rayobyte

High-performing datacenter IPs

Formerly known as Blazing SEO, Rayobyte is a good option for Selenium users, having packages suited to data collection. The prices are on the lower end, meaning they fit most users’ needs. 

Currently, the datacenter proxy network has over 330,000 IPs spread across 20,000 c-class subnets and 9 different ASNs. Despite the small IP pool, this is still a relatively robust infrastructure, which is why this provider has made it to our list. It also offers a free scraping bot.

Not much can be said about the other packages you get from this provider. Residential, ISP, and mobile proxy services are still relatively new, and the total number of IPs is unknown. However, the datacenter proxies are well-polished and can meet your Selenium proxy needs.

8

Froxy

Good location coverage

Next up is Froxy, a company with an impeccable online reputation which is extremely important to consider when looking for a provider.

Froxy’s IP pool currently has over 8.5 million IPs in over 200 locations. While there are many other companies with more extensive proxy networks, it’s still large enough for all Selenium needs.

This means you can confidently perform your Selenium tasks with Froxy without worrying about detection. Some of the most valuable Froxy features include high uptime, automatic rotation, and detailed geo-targeting. The packages are a bit expensive, but still not as costly as some other premium providers on our list.

9

Shifter

High-quality residential proxies

Similar to other companies on our list, Shifter has focused on data collection despite offering general-purpose proxies. For this reason, it’s a good option for your Selenium proxy needs. 

The company offers residential proxy servers in two forms – basic backconnect and special backconect proxies. These are sourced from an IP pool spanning more than 50 million residential IPs from locations all over the world.

On top of that, Shifter offers a web scraping API, which shows that the proxies are suited toward web scraping applications. Finally, the pricing is pocket friendly, but the session control is limited since you can’t customize how you want your request to rotate.

10

Webshare

Quality datacenter proxies

We end our list of best Selenium proxy providers with Webshare. This provider may not be as popular as companies like Bright Data or IPRoyal, but it still offers impressive features with a good balance between pricing and performance. 

The provider specializes in quality datacenter proxy servers, a good option for activities that require high-speed connections, such as Selenium web scraping. The servers from this provider are cheap and come with high speeds that do not falter even when under high loads. 

Webshare has a user-friendly interface that makes navigation smooth. With affordable pricing and good location support, it may be your ideal Selenium proxy companion.

Why Do You Need Proxies With Selenium?

There are several reasons why you should use proxies with Selenium. A few of them are listed below: 

• IP address management

Websites and online services often impose restrictions or bans based on IP addresses. By using proxies, you can mask your actual IP address and appear as if you are accessing the website from a different location. This can be helpful in bypassing certain IP-based restrictions.

• Scraping and automation

Selenium is commonly used for web scraping and automated testing. Proxies allow you to distribute your requests across multiple IPs, making it more difficult for websites to detect and block your activities. By rotating proxies, you can simulate different users or locations, enabling you to scrape data more efficiently and avoid IP-based limitations.

• Privacy and anonymity

Proxies provide an additional layer of privacy and anonymity. When using Selenium, your web browsing activities can be traced back to your original IP address. By routing your traffic through proxies, you can protect your identity and maintain anonymity.

• Performance optimization

Some proxies offer features like caching and content delivery networks (CDNs) that can improve the performance of Selenium scripts. By utilizing proxies strategically, you can reduce network latency and improve response times, leading to faster and more efficient automated interactions with websites.

How to Set up Proxies on Selenium?

Setting up a proxy on Selenium generally involves configuring the WebDriver with the proxy settings. Here is a brief outline of how to do it: 

• Import the required module from your language of choice 
• Create a proxy object with the proxy settings 
• Configure the WebDriver with the object (this will depend on your language of choice)

That’s it! Remember, the module you import and the specific process you use to configure the WebDriver will vary depending on the language you use on Selenium. 

Conclusion

Proxies are extremely useful for any software testing or web scraping application on Selenium. You can use them to overcome restrictions, balance Selenium traffic load, and boost privacy. 

Our list contains some of the best companies you can use with Selenium. These proxy providers have a proven track record of offering above-average prices and fit into different budgetary scales depending on your unique use case.

FAQs