Webshare Review:
Can 64,000+ Users and $2.99 Proxies Really Deliver?
Our Webshare proxies review covers real benchmark data, all pricing tiers, and feature gaps — is this budget proxy provider worth it in 2026?
⚡ Quick Verdict
Webshare is one of the most affordable proxy providers you’ll find, with shared datacenter proxies starting at just $2.99/month and a permanent free plan that requires no credit card. Founded in 2018 and backed by Oxylabs since late 2022, it has grown to over 64,000 customers handling 650 billion+ monthly requests. The pricing is genuinely low, the dashboard is clean and self-service, and the benchmark numbers are solid for the price range. The trade-offs are real though: residential proxies lack city-level targeting, shared datacenter IPs struggle against hardened targets like Google, and you can only run one proxy type per account at a time.
Developers, scrapers, and price-sensitive teams who need reliable datacenter or ISP proxies without enterprise pricing
You’ve been burned by a proxy provider before. You sign up, pay $50 or more for a plan, and spend the first week fighting authentication errors, blocked IPs, and a support ticket queue that replies in three days. All you wanted was a clean list of working IPs for your scraper or your market research tool.
Webshare promises something different: low prices, self-service setup from day one, and a free tier you can try with no credit card. The pitch sounds almost too good for the proxy industry, where even entry-level plans from premium providers can run $100+ per month.
So we put together this Webshare proxies review by digging into real benchmark numbers, pulling apart the pricing model, and examining what 64,773 customers are actually getting. Here’s the full picture.
The short version: Webshare is genuinely cheap and genuinely functional. For scraping commodity targets, SERP monitoring, price tracking, and ad verification, the value is hard to beat. Webshare residential proxies are also competitively priced — but for scraping Google at scale or geo-targeting at the city level, you’ll hit walls faster than you’d expect.
What Is Webshare?
Webshare is a US-based proxy provider offering three product lines — datacenter, static residential (ISP), and rotating residential — at some of the lowest published prices in the industry. The platform is built entirely for self-service: you sign up with an email (or Google), pick a plan, download your proxy list, and start using IPs within minutes. No sales call, no custom quote, no waiting for account approval.
The platform handles:
- Datacenter proxies (shared, private, and dedicated flavors) from 500,000+ IPs across 35+ countries
- Static residential / ISP proxies from AT&T, Sprint, Cox, Comcast, and RCN — stable IPs that look like real home connections
- Rotating residential proxies from a pool of 80 million+ IPs covering 195 countries
- HTTP(S) and SOCKS5 protocols on all product types
- A full REST API for programmatic proxy management, sub-user creation, and traffic monitoring
- A permanent free tier with 10 datacenter IPs and 1 GB/month — no expiry, no card required
Company Background & Growth
Webshare was founded in 2018 by Utku Zihnioglu in Silicon Valley. In late 2022, Oxylabs acquired the company, though Webshare continues to operate as a separate brand with its own pricing and infrastructure. The Oxylabs connection is relevant: Webshare’s residential pool likely benefits from that larger network while keeping a much cheaper price point.
By the numbers, Webshare has scaled fast. The company now serves over 64,773 total customers, with 120,000 monthly active users processing 650 billion+ requests per month. Their team grew 69% year-over-year as of mid-2025. The 4.0/5 Trustpilot rating from 1,240 reviews reflects a customer base that is largely happy with what they’re getting — particularly the price-to-performance ratio at the entry level.
Who Is Webshare For?
✓ Ideal Users
Webshare works particularly well for these profiles:
- Solo developers and indie scrapers — You want working proxies without a $200+/month commitment. The $2.99 entry plan and free tier let you validate your setup before spending real money.
- SEO and market research teams — Pulling SERP data, monitoring competitor pricing, or tracking ad placements across regions. Datacenter proxies handle most of these use cases well at a fraction of premium provider costs. (If you also need a managed scraping layer, our best SERP API providers guide covers tools that pair well with a proxy plan.)
- Ad verification professionals — Checking how ads appear in different geos. Webshare’s 35+ country datacenter coverage covers the main markets you’ll want to verify.
- Social media account managers — Running multiple accounts that need separate, stable IPs. Private or dedicated datacenter proxies (or ISP proxies) are clean enough for platform trust systems at this price range.
- Startups and small agencies — Teams that need a cost-effective proxy supplier before they can justify enterprise contracts. Webshare’s modular billing — pay only for what you use — suits variable workloads.
- Developers testing integrations — The permanent free plan is genuinely useful for testing proxy rotation logic, authentication setups, and scraper configurations without burning through a paid trial.
✗ Not Ideal For
Look elsewhere if you need:
- City-level or ASN-level targeting on residential proxies — Webshare only supports country filtering
- High Google success rates — benchmarks show only 9.02% success on shared datacenter IPs against Google
- Running multiple proxy product types (datacenter + residential) under one account simultaneously
- 24/7 live human support — agents are available 24/5 only; chatbot covers overnight hours
- Strict data compliance requirements (GDPR audit trails, SOC 2 certification) — not documented on-site
Features & What You Get
Webshare is built around flexibility and self-service. Every feature is configurable without contacting sales, and most settings are exposed through both a dashboard UI and a documented REST API.
Core Proxy Features
- Three connection modes: Direct IP list (static), backconnect gateway (rotating per request), or sticky sessions — all available on the same plan
- Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 (TCP only; no UDP support) across all product types
- Authentication: Username/password credentials or IP whitelisting — your choice
- Default bandwidth: 250 GB/month included on datacenter and ISP plans; upgradeable to 1 TB, 5 TB, or unlimited as a paid add-on
- Default threads: 500 concurrent connections, upgradeable to 3,000+ via add-on purchase
- Sub-users: 3 slots by default; can be expanded to hundreds for team or multi-client setups
- Network priority: A purchasable add-on that prioritizes your requests over shared-plan users during peak traffic
Supported Proxy Types
- Datacenter Shared: Pool shared with 2+ users. Cheapest option ($0.03/IP at base). Best for price comparison, SERP monitoring, and ad verification on non-hardened targets. For a full market overview, our best datacenter proxy providers guide covers 10 options side by side.
- Datacenter Private: Shared with at most 1 other user. Cleaner IPs, better for social media account management and brand monitoring.
- Datacenter Dedicated: Exclusively yours. Highest reliability; suitable for eCommerce platforms and targets that blacklist heavily shared IPs.
- Static Residential (ISP): Residential-quality IPs from AT&T, Sprint, Cox, Comcast, and RCN. Stable, sticky, and identified as residential by most detection databases. Benchmark speed: 23.77 MB/s average with 85.97% real-world success rate on Amazon and Google. See our best ISP proxy providers roundup for how Webshare compares across the full market.
- Rotating Residential: 80M+ IPs across 195 countries. Pay-per-GB. Best for large-scale scraping of heavily-guarded targets. Real-world combined success rate: 92.19% with 5.44s average response. If budget is your primary concern, check our guide to cheap residential proxies for a broader comparison.
IP Replacement & Refresh Controls
This is one of Webshare’s more distinctive features. Every plan includes:
- 10 individual free IP replacements per cycle (swap specific dead IPs on demand)
- Automated replacement on downtime or when country confidence drops
- Paid add-ons for automatic list refresh (from every 5 minutes to monthly intervals)
- Up to 50 manual refreshes and 5,000 individual replacements as premium add-ons
- Replacement restrictions by same IP range, same ASN, or same country — so you stay in the right geo
What is sticky session? A sticky session keeps your requests routed through the same IP for a defined window, rather than rotating on every request. Webshare supports sticky sessions on both datacenter and residential proxies. For residential proxies, duration is controlled by session number rather than a custom time window — a limitation worth knowing if you need precise session control.
Dashboard & Observability
- Proxy list download in plain text, with format selectors (direct IP:Port, gateway, rotating)
- Country filtering and per-IP activity statistics
- Bandwidth, Errors (with troubleshooting guidance), and Activity pages
- Up to 3 months of request-level historical data
- Code samples for Python, Node.js, and other languages directly in the dashboard
Developer & Integration Options
- Full REST API: documented at apidocs.webshare.io — covers proxy config, sub-user management, traffic limits, and registration
- Chrome extension available on the Web Store
- Compatible with Selenium, Puppeteer, and most HTTP clients
- Works with Windows, Linux, macOS, Safari, and Opera
- Integration guides and Python/JavaScript scraping tutorials via the Webshare Academy
How Webshare Works (Step-by-Step)
Getting from signup to working proxies takes under five minutes. Here’s the exact process:
Step 1: Create Your Account
Go to webshare.io and sign up with an email address or click “Sign in with Google.” No credit card is required. You’re immediately placed on the permanent free plan — 10 datacenter IPs and 1 GB of bandwidth — so you can test the integration before spending anything.
Step 2: Choose Your Proxy Type and Plan
From the dashboard, navigate to the subscription section. Pick your proxy type: datacenter (shared, private, or dedicated), static residential, or rotating residential. Use the slider to select the number of IPs (for datacenter/ISP) or the bandwidth amount (for residential). You’ll see the per-IP or per-GB price update in real time. Switch between monthly and annual billing to see the savings — annual plans run 33–60% cheaper depending on volume.
Step 3: Configure Add-ons
Before checkout, you can add extra bandwidth, additional threads, IP refresh schedules, manual replacement credits, network priority access, or extra sub-user slots. Only add what you genuinely need — the base plan includes 250 GB bandwidth and 500 threads, which is enough for most small-to-mid workloads.
Step 4: Authenticate and Download Your Proxies
Once payment processes, your proxy list is available immediately. Choose your authentication method — username/password credentials or IP whitelisting. Download the list as a plain text file, or copy the gateway URL for rotating access. Format options include direct IP:Port (static) and gateway strings (rotating or sticky). The dashboard shows code snippets for integrating with Python, Node.js, and other tools.
Step 5: Monitor Usage and Replace IPs as Needed
The dashboard’s Activity, Bandwidth, and Errors sections give you per-IP and aggregate visibility into what’s happening. If an IP goes down or gets blocked, use an individual replacement or trigger an automated refresh. Set refresh schedules if your use case needs fresh IPs regularly (every 5 minutes through to monthly).
Bottom line: Webshare is one of the fastest proxy providers to go from sign-up to running requests. The self-service setup, instant proxy delivery, and real-time dashboard remove the usual friction of waiting for account approval or contacting a sales rep.
Webshare Pricing & Plans
Webshare uses a modular, pay-per-component model. You pay separately for IP count (or bandwidth), and can add extra bandwidth, threads, IP refreshes, network priority, and sub-users on top. There are no bundled enterprise tiers — everything is self-service via sliders. Below are the key price points across all three product lines.
Datacenter Proxies (Shared) — Pay Per IP
Base includes 250 GB bandwidth, 500 threads, and 10 IP replacements per cycle.
| Plan Size | Monthly Price | Price Per IP | Annual (Monthly Equiv.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free (10 IPs) | $0 | $0 | $0 forever |
| 100 IPs | $2.99 | $0.030/IP | $1.99/mo (save 33%) |
| 1,000 IPs | $26.91 | $0.027/IP | $17.95/mo (save 40%) |
| 5,000 IPs | $119.60 | $0.024/IP | $79.77/mo (save 47%) |
| 60,000 IPs | $1,076.40 | $0.018/IP | $717.96/mo (save 60%) |
Static Residential (ISP) Proxies — Pay Per IP
Includes 250 GB bandwidth. ISPs: AT&T, Sprint, Cox Communications, Comcast, RCN.
| Plan Size | Monthly Price | Price Per IP | Annual (Monthly Equiv.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 IPs | $6.00 | $0.30/IP | $4.00/mo (save 33%) |
| 100 IPs | $30.00 | $0.30/IP | $20.01/mo (save 33%) |
| 500 IPs | $142.50 | $0.285/IP | $95.05/mo (save 37%) |
| 1,000 IPs | $270.00 | $0.27/IP | $180.09/mo (save 40%) |
| 10,000 IPs | $2,250.00 | $0.225/IP | $1,500.75/mo (save 50%) |
Rotating Residential Proxies — Pay Per GB
Access to 80M+ IPs across 195 countries. A sitewide promotional discount was active at time of writing — verify current pricing before purchasing.
| Plan Size | Monthly Price | Price Per GB | Annual (Per GB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | $3.50 | $3.50/GB | $2.45/GB (save 30%) |
| 10 GB | $27.50 | $2.75/GB | $1.93/GB (save 30%) |
| 100 GB | $225.00 | $2.25/GB | $1.58/GB (save 30%) |
| 500 GB | $875.00 | $1.75/GB | $1.23/GB (save 30%) |
| 3,000 GB | $4,200.00 | $1.40/GB | $0.98/GB (save 30%) |
Important pricing notes:
- The free plan is permanent — 10 datacenter IPs and 1 GB/month with no expiry and no card required.
- Dedicated datacenter proxies start at approximately $1.33/IP ($26.60/month for 20 IPs). Private proxies start at $0.74/IP.
- Dedicated ISP proxies start at approximately $2.10/IP; private ISP at $0.93/IP.
- A “50% OFF Residential Proxies” promotion was active sitewide at time of research — the $3.50/GB entry price may already reflect this discount. Check the current pricing page before committing.
- No refund policy is stated on-site. The free plan is the intended try-before-you-buy mechanism.
- Payments accepted: Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, Google Pay, Apple Pay.
Sample total cost breakdown (monthly, no add-ons):
- 100 shared datacenter IPs: $2.99/mo
- 100 ISP proxies (shared): $30.00/mo
- 25 GB rotating residential: $65.00/mo
- 1,000 dedicated datacenter IPs: ~$1,330/mo (at $1.33/IP)
Pros & Cons
Pros ✓
- Lowest entry price in the industry: 100 datacenter IPs at $2.99/month is hard to match anywhere
- Permanent free plan: 10 IPs and 1 GB/month with no credit card, no time limit — genuinely useful for testing
- Strong benchmark performance: 98.61% datacenter success rate and 98.27% ISP success rate in independent testing
- ISP proxies are fast: 23.77 MB/s average download speed; 0.42s average response time — competitive with providers charging 3× more
- Fully self-service: No sales calls, instant activation, everything configurable through the dashboard or API
- Granular IP replacement: Per-IP swaps, automated refresh schedules, locked replacement to same range/ASN/country
- Oxylabs infrastructure backing: Residential pool benefits from a top-tier parent network
- Full REST API: Every function available programmatically — ideal for developers building automated proxy workflows
- Good annual discounts: 33–60% savings on annual plans, making long-term costs very competitive
Cons ✗
- Residential proxies: country-level targeting only: No city, ASN, or ZIP filtering — a significant gap for geo-targeted scraping
- One proxy type per account: You can’t run datacenter and residential proxies under the same account simultaneously
- Shared datacenter IPs struggle on hardened targets: Only 9.02% Google success rate in benchmarks; not suited for Google-scale scraping — see our best proxies for Google scraping guide for providers purpose-built for that use case
- Residential speed is slower than premium providers: 5.28–5.59s for 2 MB pages vs faster alternatives at roughly half the time
- No 2FA or team account security features: Dashboard lacks two-factor authentication and role-based access controls
- Support is 24/5 for humans: Live agents aren’t available overnight on weekends; chatbot handles those hours
- ISP coverage is limited geographically: Only ~11 countries vs 35+ for datacenter; mostly US-heavy
- Sticky sessions lack custom duration: Session control on residential proxies is number-based, not time-based
Bottom Line: Webshare punches well above its price point on standard scraping workloads. The cons are real but predictable — shared datacenter IPs behave like shared datacenter IPs, and budget residential proxies are slower than premium ones. If your use case fits inside those boundaries, you’ll be hard-pressed to find better value elsewhere.
Webshare vs Decodo vs IPRoyal: Head-to-Head Comparison
Webshare occupies the budget-to-mid tier of the proxy market. The two most common comparisons buyers make are Webshare vs Decodo and Webshare vs IPRoyal — here’s how each head-to-head breaks down:
Webshare vs Decodo (Smartproxy)
| Feature | Webshare | Decodo |
|---|---|---|
| Datacenter entry price | $2.99/mo (100 IPs) | ~$7.50/mo (shared) |
| Residential entry price | $3.50/GB | ~$8.50/GB |
| Residential pool | 80M+ IPs, 195 countries | 100M+ IPs, 195+ countries |
| Residential targeting | Country only | Country, city, ASN |
| ISP proxies | Yes — $0.30/IP | Yes — higher priced |
| Free plan | Yes (10 IPs, permanent) | Trial only (limited) |
| Residential real-world success | 92.19% | ~95%+ (top tier) |
| Residential response speed | 5.44s avg (US targets) | Faster (premium tier) |
| One account, multiple proxy types | No | Yes |
| Overall rating | 4.1/5 | 4.6/5 |
Winner for price: Webshare | Winner for targeting granularity: Decodo | Winner for residential speed: Decodo | Winner for free plan: Webshare
Webshare vs IPRoyal
| Feature | Webshare | IPRoyal |
|---|---|---|
| Datacenter entry price | $2.99/mo (100 IPs) | ~$1.39/proxy (pay-as-you-go) |
| Residential entry price | $3.50/GB | $1.75/GB (at higher volumes) |
| Residential pool | 80M+ IPs | 32M+ IPs |
| ISP proxies | Yes — from $0.30/IP | Yes — from $2.40/IP |
| Free plan | Yes (permanent) | No |
| Residential targeting | Country only | Country, city, ASN |
| Trustpilot score | 4.0/5 (1,240 reviews) | 4.5/5 (1,500+ reviews) |
| Customer base | 64,000+ customers | Smaller user base |
| Annual discount | Up to 60% off | Moderate discounts |
| Overall rating | 4.1/5 | 4.2/5 |
Winner for residential pool size: Webshare | Winner for ISP pricing: Webshare | Winner for residential targeting depth: IPRoyal | Winner for Trustpilot rating: IPRoyal
🏆 Choose Webshare When:
- You want the lowest possible entry price for datacenter proxies
- You need a permanent free tier to test proxy integrations
- Country-level geo targeting is enough for your use case
- You want ISP proxies at below-market rates ($0.30/IP)
- You’re running high-volume, cost-sensitive scraping workloads
- You prefer fully self-service setup with no sales interaction
🔍 Choose Competitors When:
- You need city or ASN-level residential targeting (Decodo, IPRoyal)
- You need to scrape Google at scale with high success rates
- You want multiple proxy types under one account
- Response speed on residential proxies is a hard requirement
- You need 24/7 live human support
- Enterprise compliance documentation is required
Ratings Breakdown
Here’s our scoring based on benchmark data, pricing analysis, feature audit, and user feedback from 64,000+ customers:
| Category | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & Value | 4.8/5 | $2.99 datacenter entry and free permanent plan are genuinely best-in-class for budget buyers. |
| Performance & Speed | 3.9/5 | ISP proxies hit 23.77 MB/s — strong. Residential is slower at 5.4s for 2 MB pages. Shared DC struggles on Google. |
| Features & Flexibility | 4.0/5 | Granular IP replacement, full API, add-on model. Loses points for no city targeting and single-account product limitation. |
| Ease of Use | 4.5/5 | Clean dashboard, instant self-service activation, code samples built in. One of the easiest setups in the market. |
| Customer Support | 3.7/5 | 24/5 live agents with 24h response SLA. Chatbot overnight. No 2FA, no team accounts. |
| Reliability & Trust | 4.0/5 | 99.97% claimed uptime. 4.0/5 Trustpilot from 1,240 reviews. Oxylabs parent company adds credibility. |
| Overall Rating | 4.1/5 | Best-value proxy provider in the budget-to-mid tier. Strongest for datacenter and ISP use cases. |
Rating Summary: Webshare earns its highest marks for pricing and ease of use — the two things budget buyers care about most. Performance is solid in synthetic benchmarks and holds up well in real-world tests for most scraping targets. The gaps in residential targeting granularity and the single-plan-per-account limitation prevent a higher overall score, but for the price, few providers come close.
Is Webshare Worth It? Legitimacy, Safety & Verdict
Legitimacy & Safety
- ✓ Established company with real backing: Founded 2018, acquired by Oxylabs in late 2022. Over 64,000 paying customers and 650 billion+ monthly requests. This is not a fly-by-night operation.
- ✓ Transparent pricing, no hidden fees: Every price tier, add-on cost, and billing model is published on the pricing page. No “contact sales for pricing” games at entry level.
- ✓ No KYC by default: Account verification is only triggered by unusual activity or financial site access — most users sign up and start in minutes without any identity verification process.
- ✓ Compliance policy published: The company maintains a compliance policy at webshare.io/compliance-policy. Residential IP sourcing claims to be ethically managed, consistent with Oxylabs’ stated sourcing practices.
- ✓ Independent benchmark validation: Real third-party performance data confirms that the advertised success rates are genuine — not just marketing copy. Datacenter at 98.61%, ISP at 98.27%, and residential at 92.19% real-world are all verified numbers.
Long-Term Reliability
The Oxylabs acquisition provides infrastructure and financial stability that most budget proxy providers lack. Webshare has been growing its customer base consistently — from a startup to 64,000+ customers in roughly seven years — and has kept pricing competitive rather than inflating it post-acquisition. The 4.0/5 Trustpilot score from over 1,240 reviews reflects a largely satisfied customer base.
On the technical side, the 99.97% uptime claim is backed by a public status page at status.webshare.io, and the platform’s bandwidth and activity dashboards give you real visibility into what’s happening with your IPs at any time.
Reality check: At $2.99/month for shared datacenter proxies, you are getting shared IPs. Some will be burned by other users on your pool. For high-stakes targets or production scraping of hardened sites, you’ll want to step up to private or dedicated tiers — or use the ISP proxies for a cleaner IP reputation. The free plan and entry-level shared plan are genuinely useful for testing and low-intensity scraping, not for scraping Google at 10,000 requests per minute.
Worth It? Final Verdict
✓ YES — Webshare Is Worth It If:
- You need cheap, working datacenter proxies and country-level geo targeting is enough
- You want to test proxy integration before committing to a paid plan (free tier)
- You’re doing SERP monitoring, price tracking, ad verification, or competitive research
- You need ISP proxies at under $0.30/IP — this is a genuinely good price for the quality
- You want a fully self-service experience with no sales friction
- You’re cost-sensitive and need a provider that delivers solid value at scale via annual discounts
✗ NO — Look Elsewhere If:
- Your scraping targets include Google, Bing, or other heavily-protected search engines at scale
- You need city or ASN-level targeting for residential IPs
- You need to run both datacenter and residential proxies under one account
- Speed on residential proxies is critical (5.4s response times may be a bottleneck)
- Your compliance requirements need documented SOC 2 or formal GDPR certifications
Our recommendation: Start with the free plan to validate your integration. If your use case is datacenter-based scraping or ISP proxies for account management, Webshare is one of the best-value options in the market — period. For demanding residential scraping with granular targeting, consider pairing Webshare’s datacenter plan with a specialized residential provider for the targets that need it.
Webshare Proxies: Frequently Asked Questions
What is Webshare, and is it a good proxy provider?
Webshare is a US-based proxy provider founded in 2018 and owned by Oxylabs since late 2022. It offers three main proxy product lines: datacenter proxies (shared, private, and dedicated), static residential/ISP proxies (from AT&T, Sprint, Cox, Comcast, and RCN), and rotating residential proxies from a pool of 80M+ IPs across 195 countries. Based on this Webshare proxies review, it scores 4.1/5 overall — a strong choice for budget buyers, with genuine limitations on residential targeting. All product types support HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 protocols.
Does Webshare offer free proxies, and what’s included?
Yes — Webshare free proxies are real. The permanent free plan gives you 10 datacenter IPs and 1 GB of bandwidth per month, with no expiry and no credit card required. It includes the same dashboard features and API access as paid plans. Few proxy providers match this with a genuinely no-strings-attached free tier for testing and low-volume use.
What is Webshare pricing and how much do proxies cost?
Pricing varies by product type:
- Datacenter shared: From $2.99/month for 100 IPs ($0.03/IP); as low as $0.018/IP at high volume
- ISP/static residential: From $6.00/month for 20 IPs ($0.30/IP shared); dedicated from ~$2.10/IP
- Rotating residential: From $3.50/GB (entry tier); down to $1.40/GB at 3,000 GB/month
- Annual plans save 33–60% across all product lines
Is Webshare good for web scraping?
Yes, for most scraping use cases. Independent benchmarks show a 98.61% synthetic success rate on datacenter proxies and 92.19% real-world success rate on rotating residential proxies across targets like Amazon, Google, and Instagram. The main caveat: shared datacenter IPs have a low success rate (~9%) against Google specifically due to CAPTCHA detection. For Google scraping at scale, ISP or residential proxies are a better fit.
Can I target specific cities or ASNs with Webshare residential proxies?
No. Webshare’s rotating residential proxies support country-level targeting only. You can specify multiple countries in a single connection string (e.g., US + DE + FR), but you cannot filter by city, ZIP code, or ASN. If your use case requires that level of precision, you’ll need to look at providers like Decodo or Oxylabs, which offer city and ASN-level targeting.
Can I run datacenter and residential proxies on the same Webshare account?
Not at the same time. Webshare currently allows only one active proxy product plan per account. If you need both datacenter and residential proxies simultaneously, you’ll need to use separate accounts (different email addresses). According to their documentation, multi-plan support is reportedly in development.
How fast are Webshare’s proxies?
Speed varies by proxy type based on benchmark data:
- ISP proxies: 23.77 MB/s average download speed, 0.42s average response time — very fast for the price
- Datacenter proxies: 6.23 MB/s average download speed, 0.75s average response time
- Rotating residential: 5.28–5.59s for a 2 MB page — slower than premium residential providers but acceptable for most scraping tasks
Is Webshare legitimate and safe to use?
Yes. Webshare is a legitimate proxy provider with over 64,000 paying customers, a 4.0/5 Trustpilot rating from 1,240 reviews, and backing from Oxylabs — one of the most reputable names in the proxy industry. The company publishes its terms of service, privacy policy, and compliance policy. It has been operating since 2018 and processes 650 billion+ monthly requests, confirming it is not an experimental or unreliable service.
What payment methods does Webshare accept?
Webshare accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. Account credits can also be purchased and applied against subscription costs. Invoices are downloadable from the dashboard transaction history for accounting purposes.
Does Webshare offer refunds?
No refund policy is stated on the site. The permanent free plan is designed as the risk-free trial mechanism — you can use 10 IPs and 1 GB of bandwidth to fully validate your use case before spending any money. If you are evaluating Webshare for a large purchase, test on the free plan first and scale up only after confirming compatibility with your targets and tools.
How does Webshare compare to Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)?
Webshare wins on price — datacenter proxies are cheaper, ISP proxies are cheaper, and the free plan is permanent vs Decodo’s limited trial. Decodo wins on residential targeting (city and ASN-level filtering), overall residential speed, and the ability to run multiple proxy types under one account. For budget datacenter and ISP proxy needs, Webshare is the better choice. For demanding residential scraping with precise geo targeting, Decodo has the edge. You can read a full breakdown in our Decodo proxies review.
What are good alternatives to Webshare?
The best alternatives depend on your use case:
- For premium residential scraping: Oxylabs (Webshare’s parent) or Decodo offer city/ASN targeting and faster residential speeds
- For budget ISP proxies: IPRoyal offers competitive ISP pricing with more geo coverage
- For pay-as-you-go datacenter: Proxy-Seller offers flexible per-proxy purchasing without monthly commitments
- For residential with city targeting: NodeMaven offers granular targeting with a quality-focused residential pool
Final Verdict
Webshare delivers on what it promises: affordable, self-service proxies with solid performance benchmarks and a pricing model that respects your budget. The permanent free plan is a genuine competitive advantage — no other major proxy provider gives you working datacenter IPs with no time limit and no payment details required. For developers, scrapers, and small teams doing commodity data collection, SERP monitoring, price tracking, or ad verification, Webshare is one of the most sensible choices in the market right now.
The limits are clear and honest. Shared datacenter IPs will struggle against heavily-guarded targets. Residential proxies are slower than premium alternatives and lack city-level targeting. You can only use one proxy type per account. None of these are dealbreakers for the majority of use cases, but they matter if your workflow depends on them. Know what you need before signing up — and use the free plan to find out.
✓ What We Love
- Permanent free plan — 10 IPs, no card, no expiry
- $2.99/month entry price for 100 datacenter IPs
- ISP proxies at $0.30/IP with 23.77 MB/s speed
- 98%+ success rates on datacenter and ISP products
- Full self-service — no sales calls, instant activation
- Complete REST API and granular IP replacement controls
- Annual plans save up to 60%
✗ What Could Be Better
- No city or ASN targeting on residential proxies
- Can’t run datacenter + residential on same account
- Shared DC struggles on Google (~9% success rate)
- Residential speed lags behind premium providers
- No 2FA or team-level security features
- Support is 24/5, not 24/7, for live agents
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