Side by side
| Rayobyte | Webshare | |
|---|---|---|
| Free start | No-card trial on several products | Permanent free plan: 10 datacenter proxies, 1 GB a month |
| Simplest paid start | Pay-as-you-go residential | 100 datacenter proxies for $2.99 |
| Product range | Very wide | Three core products |
| Learning curve | More choices | Simpler |
At the time of writing. See best proxies for beginners.
Webshare for beginners
Webshare's free plan is the easiest way to learn: real proxies, no card, no time limit, ready-to-copy details in the dashboard. Its three-product lineup is easy to understand. See Webshare free proxies.
Rayobyte for beginners
Rayobyte's trial lets beginners try residential, ISP and datacenter for free, which teaches you which type a site needs. The wider catalog takes more reading; start with our guide to choosing a Rayobyte product.
A first project
- Get a free Webshare proxy and fetch
https://httpbin.org/ipthrough it. - Try a site you care about; if it blocks datacenter IPs, try Rayobyte's residential trial on the same URL.
- Compare results and you've learned the most important lesson in proxies.
See Rayobyte with Python.
Residential tip: Both sides of this comparison can be tested at no cost: Rayobyte has a free trial with no card, and Webshare has a permanent free plan with 10 datacenter proxies. See choosing the right Rayobyte product.
Mistakes to avoid
- Buying big plans before testing.
- Using residential where datacenter works.
- Rotating IPs on logged-in accounts.
- Forgetting that free plans have small bandwidth limits.
A real-world example
A first-time scraper wants to track prices on five shops. Using Webshare's free plan, they write a Python script and confirm three shops work through datacenter proxies. The other two block them. With Rayobyte's free trial, they confirm residential proxies work on those two. They keep the Webshare free plan for the three easy shops and buy a few GB of Rayobyte residential for the other two, spending under $20 in the first month.
Terms to know
- Datacenter proxy: a cheap, fast IP from a hosting company.
- Residential proxy: an IP from a home connection, billed per GB.
- Static residential or ISP proxy: a home-ISP IP hosted on a server.
- Rotating vs sticky: a new IP per request versus the same IP for a while.
See proxy glossary.
Pros and cons for beginners
Rayobyte
- Free trial covering residential and ISP.
- Many products to learn.
Webshare
- Permanent free plan.
- Simple three-product lineup.
Budget tip: If the job only needs a fixed list of IPs, Webshare sells datacenter and static residential proxies by the IP, often for less than a per-GB plan would cost. More in our complete Webshare guide.
Bottom line
Learn on Webshare's free plan, then use Rayobyte's trial to see which targets need residential IPs.
If you're still shortlisting, compare these options with the wider market in our best proxies guide, and use our cheap proxies guide to estimate a sensible budget.
Proxy tip: For a second opinion on hard targets, run the same test through Geonode residential proxies, which support sticky sessions up to 24 hours and ASN targeting. We compare the two in Rayobyte vs Geonode vs Webshare.
Key takeaways
- Webshare's permanent free plan is the easiest start.
- Rayobyte's trial is the best free way to compare proxy types.
- Start with both for free.
- Learn which proxy type each target needs before spending.
FAQ
Which is easier for complete beginners?
Webshare.
Can I learn residential proxies for free?
With Rayobyte's trial.
How much should a beginner spend?
Nothing at first.
Can I use proxies without coding?
Yes, through browser extensions and antidetect browsers, though code unlocks much more.
Are proxies legal?
Using proxies is legal in most places; what you do with them must follow the law and site terms. See are proxies legal.
What's the first thing to learn?
The difference between datacenter and residential IPs, and which your targets need.
Editorial note: Proxy providers change their pools, features and prices often, so treat any figures here as typical ranges at the time of writing and confirm current terms with the provider before you buy.