Best Cheap Proxies 2026: Under $3/GB That Actually Work
By Elena Park · 2026-02-09 · 7 min read · Reviews
Cheap proxies don't have to be junk. Here are the providers offering sub-$3/GB residential that still deliver in 2026.
Cheap that's actually cheap
The price floor for ethical residential bandwidth in 2026 is around $1.50/GB. Anything below that is either (a) a botnet pretending to be a business, or (b) a heavily-overcommitted pool where success rates collapse at peak hours.
Top picks under $3/GB
**IPRoyal Royal Residential** — $1.75/GB, ethical sourcing, no minimum spend.
**Decodo Residential** — $2/GB at 100GB volume, premium-grade quality.
**Webshare Rotating Residential** — $2.99/GB, simple flat pricing.
**Infatica** — $3/GB, honest budget option.
**Proxy-Cheap** — From $2/GB on volume plans.
Where cheap stops working
Akamai-protected airlines and ticketing. Aggressively-managed e-commerce. Sites with rotating anti-bot challenges (Cloudflare Turnstile, hCaptcha). For those, pay 2–3× more for a managed Web Unlocker.
FAQ
Is $1.75/GB sustainable for a real proxy business?
Yes, on volume. IPRoyal's economics work because they own their peer-SDK distribution and run efficient infrastructure.