What Webshare is
Webshare is a self-serve proxy provider best known for low-cost datacenter proxy lists and a free plan that anyone can sign up for without a credit card. Over time it has added static residential (ISP) proxies and a rotating residential network, so today it covers the three proxy types most buyers need.
This page is the hub of our Webshare section. It explains each product, how it's billed, where it's strong and where it isn't, and links to our detailed guides. A quick disclosure first: Team of Monkeys is a Webshare affiliate (and a Geonode affiliate), and links to Webshare on this site are referral links. We've written this the way we'd want to read it as buyers, including the limits.
Webshare's products at a glance
| Product | What you get | Billing model | Typical uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 10 shared datacenter proxies, 1 GB of bandwidth a month | Free, no card, no time limit | Learning, testing code, light personal use |
| Proxy Server (datacenter) | A list of datacenter IPs, shared, private or dedicated | Per proxy per month, with chosen bandwidth and threads | Lenient sites, monitors, bulk easy scraping |
| Static Residential (ISP) | ISP-issued IPs hosted on fast servers that never change | Per proxy per month | Accounts, long sessions, checkouts, whitelisting |
| Rotating Residential | Access to a large pool of residential IPs through a gateway | Per GB on monthly plans | Protected sites, geo-targeted checks |
At the time of writing (October 2026), Webshare lists shared datacenter proxies from $2.99 a month for 100 proxies, static residential proxies from $6 a month for 20 IPs, and rotating residential traffic from $3.50 per GB on a 1 GB plan, falling to $1.40 per GB at 3,000 GB. Prices change, so check Webshare's pricing page before you buy. We break the numbers down in Webshare pricing explained.
What people use Webshare for
- Getting started for free: the free plan is the easiest way to learn how proxies behave.
- Data collection: web scraping, price monitoring, e-commerce scraping, Amazon data, travel fares, real estate data and job market data.
- Search and ads: SEO rank tracking and ad verification.
- Accounts: social media management, Instagram, antidetect browsers, sneaker bots and gaming.
- Research and protection: market research, brand protection, academic research, cybersecurity research, website monitoring, localization testing and AI training data.
- Tools: Python, Scrapy, Node.js, Puppeteer, Playwright, Selenium, cURL, the Chrome extension and automation tools.
How Webshare is different from most providers
Most proxy companies sell residential bandwidth first and treat datacenter proxies as a side product. Webshare grew the other way round. Its core product is a configurable list of datacenter proxies, and its checkout lets you choose:
- How many proxies you want, from 100 to 100,000 on paid shared plans.
- Which countries they come from.
- How much bandwidth the plan includes, from a few hundred GB up to unlimited under a fair usage policy.
- How many concurrent threads you can run.
- Whether the IPs are shared, private or dedicated.
That makes it unusually easy to buy exactly what a small project needs without paying for a large residential plan. We explain the three access levels in shared vs private vs dedicated Webshare proxies, and the bandwidth and thread options in Webshare bandwidth and threads.
How you connect
Webshare supports two connection modes, covered in backbone vs direct connection:
- Direct: you download a list of IP:port pairs and connect to each proxy yourself. Your code handles rotation.
- Backbone: you connect to a single gateway and Webshare picks the exit IP. Adding a rotate suffix to the username gives a new IP per request; adding a session number keeps the same IP, as explained in Webshare sticky sessions.
Both modes support HTTP and SOCKS5, and you can authenticate with a username and password or by authorizing your own IP address. Webshare also has an API for downloading proxy lists, managing authorized IPs and replacing proxies.
Budget tip: Before scaling, run a short pilot with Webshare on your real targets and record success rate, latency and bandwidth per result. Our Webshare vs Geonode explains which Webshare product fits which job.
Strengths
- Very low entry price. A real proxy list for less than the cost of a coffee, and a free plan below that.
- Configurable plans. Pay for the proxies, bandwidth and threads you need, not a fixed bundle.
- All three main proxy types. Datacenter, static residential and rotating residential under one account.
- Developer-friendly. Code samples for Python, Node.js, cURL, PHP, Go, Java and C#, plus a documented API.
- Detailed residential targeting. Country, state, city, ZIP and ASN targeting on the rotating residential network.
Limits to know about
- Residential is priced higher per GB than some rivals. At small volumes, providers such as Geonode list lower per-GB rates. Compare in Webshare vs Geonode pricing.
- Monthly residential plans. Residential bandwidth is sold as a monthly plan, so check whether unused GB carries over before you buy a large one.
- Some sites are restricted. Webshare restricts access to certain targets on residential traffic and can unlock some after a KYC check. See restricted sites and KYC.
- Datacenter IPs are datacenter IPs. Cheap lists work well on lenient sites but get blocked on heavily protected ones. That's a limit of the proxy type, not of Webshare.
- No managed scraping API. Webshare sells proxies, not a scraper that renders pages for you.
How to test Webshare
- Sign up for the free plan and run your real code against your real targets.
- Measure success rate, latency and bandwidth per page. Our guide to testing Webshare proxies has a simple test plan.
- If datacenter IPs get blocked, try a small rotating residential plan on the same targets.
- Compare cost per successful request, not price per proxy or per GB.
If you want a second provider for comparison, see our full Webshare vs Geonode comparison.
Which Webshare product to buy first
Most buyers waste money by starting with the most expensive product "just in case". A better order:
- Free plan. Build and test your code, and find out whether your targets accept datacenter IPs at all.
- A small shared or private datacenter list if they do. For many monitoring and scraping jobs, this is all you'll ever need.
- A handful of dedicated static residential IPs if you manage accounts or need a fixed, trusted IP.
- A small rotating residential plan only for the targets that block datacenter traffic.
Each step answers a question before you spend more. If you skip straight to residential, you'll pay per GB for traffic a $3 list could have handled.
A 30-day evaluation plan
| Week | What to do | What you learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Free plan on every target | Which targets accept datacenter IPs |
| 2 | Small paid datacenter list on the passing targets at real volume | Throughput, threads and bandwidth you need |
| 3 | Smallest residential plan on failing targets | Residential success rate and GB per page |
| 4 | Compare cost per 1,000 results, optionally against a second provider | Whether Webshare alone covers your needs |
At the end, you'll know exactly which plans to keep and at what size. If residential traffic turns out to be a large share of your spend, run week 3 against another provider too; our Webshare vs Geonode residential comparison explains what to look for.
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.
Who Webshare is best for
- Developers and hobbyists who want real proxies without a contract.
- Small businesses monitoring prices, stock or rankings on a fixed budget.
- Agencies that need many cheap account IPs.
- Data teams that run high volumes against lenient sites.
It's a weaker fit if almost all of your traffic needs residential IPs, if your usage is highly seasonal, or if you want a managed scraping API.
A real-world example
A two-person e-commerce analytics startup tracks 40 competitor stores. On Webshare's free plan they discover that 34 stores accept datacenter traffic. They buy 500 shared datacenter proxies for about $14 a month to handle those, and a small rotating residential plan for the six large retailers that block datacenter IPs. Two client accounts on a marketplace each get a dedicated static residential IP. Total spend stays under $60 a month, and every target is covered. When residential usage grows past 50 GB a month, they compare per-GB prices with a second provider rather than simply buying a bigger plan.
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 sells a free plan, per-IP datacenter lists, per-IP static residential (ISP) proxies and per-GB rotating residential traffic.
- Its biggest strengths are very low per-IP prices, configurable plans and a permanent free plan with 10 proxies.
- Residential traffic is sold as monthly plans at higher per-GB list prices than some rivals, so size it carefully.
- Start free, add datacenter, then static or residential only where your targets need them.
- For residential-heavy or seasonal work, compare a per-GB provider such as Geonode. See Webshare vs Geonode.
FAQ
Is Webshare legit?
Yes. Webshare is an established proxy provider with a large customer base, public pricing, documentation and a status page. As with any provider, use the proxies within the law and the target sites' terms.
Is Webshare good for beginners?
It's one of the easiest places to start, because the free plan needs no card and the dashboard shows ready-to-use proxy details. See best proxies for beginners.
Does Webshare sell residential proxies?
Yes. It sells rotating residential traffic per GB and static residential (ISP) proxies per IP. See Webshare rotating residential proxies and Webshare static residential proxies.
How does Webshare compare with Geonode?
Webshare is usually cheaper for per-IP products such as datacenter lists and static residential IPs, while Geonode is usually cheaper per GB for residential traffic and offers non-expiring bandwidth and scraping APIs. See Webshare vs Geonode.
Can I use Webshare for web scraping?
Yes. Datacenter lists suit lenient sites at low cost, and rotating residential traffic handles protected ones. See Webshare for web scraping.
Does Webshare support SOCKS5?
Yes. Webshare proxies support both HTTP and SOCKS5, with username and password or IP authorization.
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.