Cheapest Residential Proxies in 2026 (Ranked by Price per GB)

Residential proxies used to be a premium product — but in 2026 the price war has pushed the cheapest options under $1/GB. If you’re running accounts or scraping on a budget, that’s great news, with one catch: the cheapest proxy isn’t always the cheapest result, because a bargain pool full of flagged IPs costs you in banned accounts and retries. This guide ranks the cheapest residential proxies by real price per GB, and is honest about where budget makes sense and where it doesn’t.

(For the full field including premium picks, see our best residential proxies guide.)

Note: Prices verified late July 2026 — proxy pricing moves fast, so reconfirm on each provider’s site.

The cheapest residential proxies

Short version: DataImpulse (~$1/GB, non-expiring) and Evomi (~$0.49/GB) anchor the absolute bottom; IPRoyal and NodeMaven offer the best value once you factor in non-expiring traffic and pool quality; Webshare’s free plan is the cheapest way to test at all.

The cheapest options explained

Evomi — cheapest headline rate

Evomi’s Core tier posts one of the lowest advertised rates in the market at around $0.49/GB. If pure price-per-GB is your only metric, it’s hard to beat. As always with the cheapest tier, test the pool against your targets first — the lowest number and the best success rate aren’t always the same provider.

DataImpulse — cheapest with no commitment

DataImpulse offers ~$1/GB pay-as-you-go with no subscription and non-expiring traffic — a 90M+ ethically-sourced pool across 195 countries, HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5, rotating and sticky sessions, and a $5-for-5GB entry with a 7-day money-back window. It’s the cheapest option that doesn’t lock you into a plan, and its non-expiring model makes it genuinely economical for light or occasional use.

IPRoyal — cheapest effective cost for uneven usage

IPRoyal reaches $1.75/GB at bulk (closer to $5–7/GB for a few GB), but its non-expiring traffic often makes it the cheapest real cost when your usage is bursty — you don’t lose prepaid GB to a monthly reset. Add SOCKS5, a full proxy stack, and no-KYC signup, and it’s the value pick most account operators land on. (See our full IPRoyal review.)

NodeMaven — cheapest once you count lost accounts

At ~$2/GB NodeMaven isn’t the rock-bottom rate, but its IP Quality Filter (~95% clean IPs) changes the math: fewer banned accounts and less retry time mean the effective cost for account work is often lower than a cheaper provider’s flagged pool. For sensitive accounts, “cheap and clean” beats “cheapest.” (See our full NodeMaven review.)

Decodo — cheapest big pool at volume

Decodo’s ladder bottoms out at $2/GB at 1TB (from $3.75/GB at 3GB) on a 115M+ pool with top-tier success rates — the best value if you buy volume, though monthly traffic expires (no rollover). (See our full Decodo review.)

Webshare — cheapest way to test (free plan)

Webshare posts among the lowest subscription rates (~$3/GB) and, crucially, offers a genuinely free plan (10 proxies) — the cheapest possible way to test residential proxies before paying a cent. Great for evaluation and light use.

The trade-offs of going cheap

The lowest price often comes with costs that don’t show on the pricing page:

• Dirtier pools. Budget providers filter less, so more IPs are already flagged — which means more CAPTCHAs, blocks, and (for account work) more bans. A ban costs far more than a few cents of traffic.
• Slower speeds and less uptime. Cheaper networks can be slower and less stable, especially in less-common geos.
• Thinner support. Budget tiers often mean slower or self-serve-only support when something breaks.
• Smaller or less diverse pools. Fewer IPs in a given city/country means more overlap and reuse.

The honest rule: for non-sensitive scraping and light tasks, go as cheap as works. For accounts you can’t afford to lose, pay slightly more for a cleaner pool (NodeMaven) — it’s cheaper in the end. And always test a provider’s trial against your actual targets before committing; check the IPs are genuinely residential (here’s how to check if a proxy is really residential).

How to choose (by budget priority)

• Absolute lowest price per GB: Evomi (~$0.49) or DataImpulse (~$1).
• Cheapest with no commitment: DataImpulse — PAYG, non-expiring.
• Cheapest real cost for uneven usage: IPRoyal — non-expiring traffic.
• Cheapest for sensitive accounts (factoring bans): NodeMaven — clean pool.
• Cheapest big pool at volume: Decodo — $2/GB at 1TB.
• Cheapest way to test: Webshare — free plan.

FAQ

What are the cheapest residential proxies in 2026? Evomi (~$0.49/GB) and DataImpulse (~$1/GB) have the lowest rates. IPRoyal ($1.75/GB bulk, non-expiring) and NodeMaven (~$2/GB, clean pool) offer the best value, and Webshare has a free plan to test.

Are cheap residential proxies worth it? For non-sensitive scraping and light use, yes. For accounts you can’t afford to lose, a slightly pricier clean pool (NodeMaven) is cheaper overall because it causes fewer bans. Always test before committing.

What’s the cheapest proxy with no subscription? DataImpulse at ~$1/GB pay-as-you-go with non-expiring traffic, or IPRoyal’s pay-as-you-go (also non-expiring).

Is there a free residential proxy? Webshare offers a free plan (10 proxies) — the cheapest way to test. Treat free/cheap tiers as evaluation, not production, for anything sensitive.

Why do cheap proxies get my accounts banned? Budget providers filter their pools less, so more IPs are already flagged. A flagged IP trips a platform’s defenses and gets the account banned — which costs far more than the traffic saved.

Do cheap residential proxies work with antidetect browsers? Yes, if they offer SOCKS5 and sticky sessions. But the proxy is only the IP half — pair it with a quality antidetect browser regardless of price.

Bottom line

The cheapest residential proxies in 2026 start under $1/GB (Evomi, DataImpulse), and Webshare’s free plan lets you test for nothing. But cheapest-per-GB isn’t always cheapest-in-practice: for accounts, IPRoyal’s non-expiring value or NodeMaven’s clean pool usually win once you count lost accounts and retries. Match the budget to the stakes — cheap for non-sensitive work, clean for accounts — test every provider’s trial first, and pair whatever you pick with a quality antidetect browser. See the full field, premium included, in our best residential proxies guide.

Written for WarmRig — tested tools and infrastructure for traffic arbitrage and performance marketing. Independent, not sponsored.