How Webshare bills
Webshare sells subscriptions. You build a plan (product, proxy count or GB, bandwidth, threads, locations), choose monthly or yearly billing, and the plan renews automatically at the end of each period until you cancel or change it.
| Product | What you subscribe to |
|---|---|
| Proxy Server (datacenter) | A number of proxies with chosen bandwidth and threads |
| Static Residential | A number of static IPs with chosen bandwidth and threads |
| Rotating Residential | A monthly amount of GB |
Monthly vs yearly
Yearly billing is discounted on many plans (up to about 30% on datacenter plans at the time of writing). It makes sense once your usage is stable. Before committing, run at least a month on monthly billing to learn your real bandwidth, thread and IP needs. See Webshare pricing explained.
Renewals
Plans renew automatically. Good habits:
- Put the renewal date in your calendar.
- Review usage before renewal. If you used 30% of a residential plan, size down.
- Cancel unused plans rather than letting them roll over.
Residential plans are monthly amounts of bandwidth. Third-party reviews report that unused residential GB resets each cycle rather than carrying forward, so check current terms and size plans to real use. If your usage is spiky, consider a provider with non-expiring bandwidth for that part of your workload; see Webshare vs Geonode bandwidth expiry.
Upgrades and downgrades
You can change plans from the dashboard as needs change, for example adding proxies, raising bandwidth or changing countries. Changing a plan's locations or size may replace some IPs, so be careful with plans that hold account IPs.
Payment methods
At the time of writing, Webshare accepts major cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and others), plus Google Pay and Apple Pay on mobile. Check checkout for the current list.
Refunds
Webshare offers refunds only within a short window and under usage limits. Its residential page describes refunds within 2 days of purchase when little bandwidth has been used (under 0.1 GB for rotating residential) and the plan has fewer than 1,000 proxies. Exact conditions change, so read the current refund policy before you buy.
What this means in practice:
- Test on the free plan first. It's the real way to "try before you buy".
- Buy the smallest plan first when testing a product that isn't in the free plan, such as residential.
- Decide quickly if you think you'll want a refund.
Budget tip: Before scaling, run a short pilot with Webshare on your real targets and record success rate, latency and bandwidth per result. Our our complete Webshare guide explains which Webshare product fits which job.
Avoiding wasted spend
- Measure usage on the free plan.
- Start monthly, small, and grow.
- Use datacenter where it works; reserve residential for targets that need it.
- Review plans monthly and remove capacity you don't use.
- Switch to yearly billing only for stable workloads.
See also proxy buying mistakes.
Invoices and business use
Invoices are available in the dashboard. If you're buying for a company, keep plans for different clients or projects separate so costs are easy to allocate.
A monthly billing review
Spend ten minutes a month on this checklist:
- List active plans and what each is for.
- Check usage: bandwidth, threads and residential GB.
- Cancel or downsize plans with low usage.
- Upsize plans that ran out of bandwidth or threads.
- Move stable plans to yearly billing.
- Check upcoming renewal dates.
It's the easiest way to keep proxy spend aligned with real needs.
Budgeting for growth
If your usage is growing, budget for the next tier rather than the current one, and set an internal approval threshold. Proxy costs can jump when a target forces you from datacenter to residential, so keep some headroom for that.
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 Webshare vs Geonode.
Business purchasing tips
- Use a company card or invoicing where available, and keep invoices organised by project.
- Assign an owner for each plan so someone is responsible for renewals.
- Store credentials in a shared secret manager rather than with the person who bought the plan, so access survives staff changes.
Combining providers without double paying
Teams that use two providers sometimes pay for overlapping capacity. Assign each job to one provider, review both bills together, and remove overlaps. For irregular residential needs, a non-expiring balance with another provider (for example Geonode) can replace a monthly residential plan you don't fully use.
A real-world example
A freelancer buys a 25 GB residential plan for a one-off client project, but finishes after using 9 GB. With a monthly plan, the remaining 16 GB is unlikely to carry over, so they cancel renewal straight away to avoid paying for another month. For future one-off projects, they keep a small non-expiring residential balance with a second provider and use Webshare for their ongoing datacenter list, which renews monthly without waste.
Webshare and Geonode are two options among many. Our best proxies in 2026 guide explains how to match a proxy type to each task, and cheap proxies that work shows where budget providers fit.
Key takeaways
- Webshare plans are subscriptions that renew automatically, monthly or yearly.
- Yearly billing is discounted but only suits stable workloads.
- Refunds are limited to a short window with low usage, so test on the free plan first.
- Review usage before each renewal and remove unused capacity.
- Some plan changes can replace IPs, so change account-IP plans carefully.
FAQ
Can I cancel Webshare anytime?
You can cancel renewal at any time; the plan stays active until the end of the paid period.
Does Webshare offer a free trial?
It offers a permanent free plan with 10 datacenter proxies and 1 GB a month, rather than a time-limited trial.
Will I lose my IPs if I change plans?
Some changes, like locations or size, can replace IPs. Make changes to account-IP plans carefully.
Does Webshare send renewal reminders?
Check your account notification settings, and keep your own calendar reminders as a backup.
Can I pause a Webshare plan?
Plans run on billing cycles; cancelling renewal stops the next charge. Check the dashboard for current options.
Are prices shown with tax?
Tax depends on your location and account details; check the checkout summary.
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.