Best Proxy Providers: ProxyEmpire, Oxylabs, Bright Data, Decodo, Residential Proxies and Official Plan Details to Guide Your Choice

Advertising has moved onto phones and into apps, and the way teams check it has had to follow. Verifying that an ad appears in the right place used to mean loading a web page from a different city. Now it often means seeing what a particular mobile carrier's subscribers see inside an app, on an actual handset.

Automation has changed in a similar way. Teams that once ran a single scraper now run dozens of browser profiles and scripts at once, each needing its own IP and session.

Both shifts put new demands on proxy providers: precise mobile and residential targeting, many simultaneous connections, and tools that work on phones as well as desktops. Billing matters too, because verification work follows campaign calendars rather than a steady monthly rhythm. This guide explains how four well-known providers meet those demands, using the plan details each one publishes.

Quick picks

Provider	Best for
ProxyEmpire	Ad verification and automation teams
Bright Data	Large enterprise verification programs
Decodo	Developers building automated pipelines

Plan detail	ProxyEmpire	Oxylabs	Bright Data	Decodo
Mobile carrier targeting	Yes, included	Not itemized	Listed on services page	Not itemized
Parallel sessions	No cap (approved use cases)	No cap on residential	Unstated	Unstated
Android app	Yes	Yes	Not stated	Not stated
Residential entry	$3.50 a GB, no commitment	Starter subscription, $30	$4 a GB with code	3 GB for $11.25
Test option	$1.97, two networks	$5 credit	Free trial	Free 3-day trial

#1 ProxyEmpire

ProxyEmpire makes in-app ad checks practical on a real phone. Its free Android proxy manager routes a handset's traffic through ProxyEmpire's mobile or residential IPs, so a verification specialist can open an app and see the ads a chosen carrier's subscribers would see. Mobile targeting covers country, city and carrier, and residential filters reach postcode, ASN and OS/TCP level, with no surcharge for any of them.

For automation, parallel sessions are uncapped for approved use cases, and each connection can keep an IP for a set time, hold it for a session or switch on every request. A public API and endpoint generator let scripts request locations and sessions directly, and integration guides cover antidetect browsers such as Multilogin, Dolphin Anty and GoLogin.

Mobile costs four fifty a gigabyte and residential three fifty without a contract, and unused gigabytes stay in the account indefinitely. The company reports more than 4 million mobile and 30 million residential IPs.

The limit to know: all sales are final, so the $1.97 trial, which includes both mobile and residential traffic, is the sensible first step.

#2 Oxylabs

Oxylabs suits teams that want mobile verification and scraping tools in one subscription. Mobile addresses are sourced from genuine handsets in over 140 countries, can stay put for a full day and are tracked in a usage dashboard.

Residential subscribers can run as many parallel sessions as they need, choose sticky or rotating IPs and filter by location at no cost, with three proxy logins and ten whitelisted addresses per plan. Oxylabs also publishes an Android app and a Chrome extension for hands-on checks.

Subscriptions start at $30 a month and can be spent on proxies, the Web API, an unblocker or an agent browser. There's no pay-as-you-go option, and a $5 credit lets you test first.

For agencies, the published sourcing handbook and KYC policy are useful when clients ask where verification traffic comes from. Support comes through email, developer docs and a Discord community, and a public status page shows network health.

#3 Bright Data

Bright Data is built for large, compliance-heavy verification programs. Its residential network tops 400 million IPs a month across 195 countries; postcode and ASN filters are free, and carrier selection is mentioned on its services page.

Automation teams get a management API with ready-made code examples, the company's own Proxy Manager tool, a browser extension and per-zone daily spending caps. Its compliance page names several security certifications, which helps when clients audit verification vendors.

Current menus no longer feature a mobile product, and identity checks, sometimes over video, come before residential access. Unused monthly commitments don't roll over.

A free trial needs no card, and the first deposit is matched up to $500, which helps when piloting a verification program. Billing can also run through AWS Marketplace or Azure, convenient for enterprises with existing cloud budgets.

#4 Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)

Decodo is a strong fit for developers automating data collection. Its data API handles scraping, searching, site mapping and crawling, and it ships with language SDKs, a command-line tool and an agent connector for AI workflows.

Residential plans reach 115M+ IPs with free targeting down to postcode and ASN, and mobile access spans more than 160 locations, every generation from 3G to 5G, starting at $2.25 a gigabyte. Integration guides cover 50+ tools, including antidetect browsers.

Sticky sessions last up to 30 minutes according to its FAQ, which may be short for longer verification flows. The free trial converts to a paid plan unless cancelled.

Residential subscriptions start small, at 3 GB for $11.25, and Chrome and Firefox extensions make quick manual checks easy. Live chat support runs around the clock, and first purchases carry a conditional 14-day refund.

Features That Matter for Verification and Automation

Carrier targeting. For mobile ad checks, you need to choose the carrier, not just the country. Check that it's included and not an add-on.

Concurrency. Automation means many connections at once. Look for unlimited or high concurrent session limits.

Session control. You'll want rotation for quick checks and sticky sessions for flows that follow an ad through to a landing page.

Phone tools. An Android app lets you route a real handset through the proxy, which is the most realistic way to verify in-app ads.

APIs. Automation depends on requesting sessions and locations from code rather than a dashboard.

Billing that suits client schedules. Verification work often follows campaign calendars, so traffic that doesn't expire keeps quiet months from wasting budget.

Testing for Free or for a Small Fee

Decodo's free trial gives 100 MB of residential traffic for 3 days, and Bright Data's free trial needs no credit card. Oxylabs offers a $5 credit toward any product.

ProxyEmpire's trial costs $1.97, which the company says filters out abuse, and includes both residential and mobile traffic without converting to a plan. For ad verification teams that need to test mobile, that combination matters.

Paid plans add scale: larger allowances, unlimited concurrency where offered and access to enterprise features. For verification teams, the key question is whether the test covers mobile as well as residential, since in-app campaigns depend on it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I verify in-app ads with a proxy?

Yes, if you route a phone's traffic through mobile proxies. Of the four, ProxyEmpire and Oxylabs publish Android apps that make this straightforward.

Which provider offers carrier targeting?

ProxyEmpire lets you pick the carrier on mobile at no extra charge, and Bright Data mentions carrier selection on its services page.

How many concurrent sessions can I run?

There's no cap at ProxyEmpire for approved use cases, and Oxylabs' residential plans are also uncapped. The other two don't state a limit.

Which provider has the best tools for developers?

Decodo offers a Web Data API, SDKs, a CLI and an MCP server. ProxyEmpire provides a public API and endpoint generator, and Bright Data offers a proxy management API. The right choice depends on whether you need raw proxy control or ready-made scraping endpoints.

Do these providers sell mobile proxies?

Three of the four do: ProxyEmpire, Oxylabs and Decodo. Bright Data references mobile only in FAQ text now.

Is there a free way to test?

Decodo and Bright Data offer free trials, and Oxylabs offers a $5 credit. ProxyEmpire's trial costs $1.97 and includes mobile.

Final Verdict

ProxyEmpire is the overall pick for ad verification and automation teams: free carrier and ZIP targeting, unlimited concurrent sessions, an Android proxy manager for in-app checks and a public API for scripts, all on one account. For large programs that need certifications above all, Bright Data is the best alternative.