As someone new to proxies, you‘re probably drawn to IPRoyal by their affordable residential plans starting at just $7 per GB. When you‘re on a budget, low prices sound great!
But I want to make sure you have the full picture before you decide if IPRoyal‘s proxies are the right fit.
In this detailed review, I‘ll break down IPRoyal‘s key strengths while also shining a light on where they still have room to improve. You‘ll get an unbiased assessment of their network quality, features, pricing, and more based on my years of experience in the proxy space.
Let‘s dive in!
Contents
IPRoyal‘s Proxy Offerings At a Glance
First, a quick overview of the proxy products IPRoyal provides across datacenter, residential, ISP, and mobile types:
Datacenter Proxies
- Dedicated proxies optimized for general web scraping or sneaker bots
- Offered in both shared and private plans
- Over 30 location options
- Unlimited threads and bandwidth
Residential Proxies
- Sourced through IPRoyal‘s Pawns residential peer-to-peer network
- Claimed to have 2M IPs globally
- Pay-as-you-go model starts at $7/GB
ISP Proxies
- Leased directly from Internet Service Providers
- "High anonymous" proxy plans promoted
- Available in 10 countries
Mobile Proxies
- 4G/LTE mobile data connections
- Coverage across 5 countries currently
- Shared and private plans offered
Right away you can see the main appeal lies with the residential proxies. The pay-as-you-go model with rates starting at just $7 per GB is extremely competitive.
But as we‘ll explore next, you should take a closer look at the network itself beyond just the low pricing.
Assessing IPRoyal‘s Residential Proxy Network Quality
The big question mark around IPRoyal is whether their residential proxy network can actually deliver on its promises. According to their site, the pool includes 2 million global IPs sourced through their Pawns app.
That would place them among the largest residential proxy providers out there. But does reality line up with the marketing claims?
Let‘s examine some key benchmark tests on IPRoyal‘s network size and performance:
Pool Size and Composition
- In large-scale sampling of over 1 million requests, around 153,000 residential IPs were observed globally.
- Major locations showed decent residential composition (90-98% range), but total size remains small.
- When comparing to leading proxy providers, IPRoyal‘s network ranked 5th out of 6 tested in size.
Infrastructure Performance
- Connection success rates were lackluster, with failures approaching 10% even under ideal test conditions.
- Latency was very slow, averaging 7x higher than top providers like Luminati and Bright Data.
Speed Test
- Download speeds via IPRoyal proxies saw an over 3x slowdown compared to a direct connection in benchmarks.
So while IPRoyal‘s network actually does deliver residential IPs with decent composition, independent testing reveals it lags far behind rivals in scale and performance.
The pool can still work for personal use cases, but power users will quickly hit limits. And IPRoyal‘s claims around total size seem questionable.
If you plan to use proxies heavily, established providers like Bright Data and Smartproxy are a safer bet. But for small personal projects, IPRoyal can be an affordable starting point to test the waters.
IPRoyal‘s Pricing and Plans Breakdown
Alright, let‘s dig into one of IPRoyal‘s biggest differentiators – their pricing and plan options across proxy types.
Datacenter Proxy Pricing
- General purpose plans start at $9 for 5 IPs
- Sneaker proxies carry a 10-20% premium over general datacenters
- Discounts offered for longer 3 or 6 month subscriptions
- Max discount caps pricing at 100 proxies for $90
Residential Proxy Pricing
- Pay-as-you-go model with rates starting at $7 for 1GB of data
- Bulk discounts kick in at higher amounts, similar to mobile phone plans
- Unused proxy data does not expire for outstanding flexibility
ISP and Mobile Proxy Pricing
- Entry-level plans start at $10-12 for 5 IPs
- Offers bulk discounts for more IPs or larger subscription plans
- Private proxy plans also available at increased cost
When it comes to pricing, there‘s no doubt IPRoyal shines. The pay-as-you-go model and bulk discounts in particular make their residential proxies highly affordable.
Just keep the network limitations from earlier in mind – you get what you pay for, so don‘t expect the scale and performance of premium providers.
But for personal projects, IPRoyal‘s rates can be downright hard to beat if you don‘t need massive amounts of data.
Pricing and networks aside, your day-to-day experience using a proxy provider also matters. Here are some key notes on using IPRoyal:
Dashboard Experience
- Simple layout separated by each proxy type
- Provides basic proxy management functionality
- Very limited usage tracking and analytics
Residential Proxy Configuration
- Excellent location targeting and rotation granularity
- Easy widget for generating proxy lists on demand
Account Management
- Smooth signup process and identity verification via online form
- Can fund account wallet or pay directly for subscriptions
- Invoicing available but reports basic text-only usage data
Support & Documentation
- 24/7 live chat and Discord provide quick responses
- Documentation improving but still lacks some key details
The main takeaway is IPRoyal covers the proxy management basics without going overboard on extra features. The residential proxy configuration options stand out as a particular bright spot though.
Compared to competitors, you sacrifice conveniences like intuitive usage stats and tracking. But for casual users, IPRoyal checks the core boxes you‘ll need.
And their responsive 24/7 support via live chat is fantastic for troubleshooting any issues.
How Do IPRoyal‘s Residential Proxies Compare?
To put IPRoyal‘s residential proxies in context, let‘s see how they stack up against two leading competitors:
| IPRoyal | Bright Data | Smartproxy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $7/GB | $10/GB | $12/GB |
| Pool Size | ~150k IPs | 40M+ IPs | 40M+ IPs |
| Performance | Slower speeds & reliability | Very fast & reliable | Very fast & reliable |
| Features | Basic | Advanced | Advanced |
It‘s clear IPRoyal competes well on pricing against the top residential proxy providers. But Bright Data and Smartproxy justify their higher rates by offering significantly larger pools, better performance, and more advanced features.
So the extra several dollars per GB are worth it for power users and large-scale projects. But for simple personal use, IPRoyal gives you an affordable starting point.
Their residential proxies aren‘t perfect, but can prove very useful within certain limits.
When Are IPRoyal‘s Residential Proxies a Good Fit?
Based on this full evaluation, here are the ideal use cases where IPRoyal‘s residential proxies make sense over pricier competitors:
Good Fit
- Light web scraping or data collection projects
- Accessing limited sneaker/shoe sites
- Testing or trial uses for learning proxies
- Small-scale personal use cases
Not Ideal
- Heavy usage at scale (hundreds of GBs+)
- Mission-critical business applications
- Fast-paced data intensive projects
- Highly demanding performance needs
The bottom line is IPRoyal‘s residential proxies are best suited for introductory personal use where you don‘t need massive amounts of data or top-tier performance.
Advanced users and enterprises may encounter frustrating limitations that warrant paying up for a more capable provider.
But don‘t let the small size of their network dissuade you from giving IPRoyal a try if your needs are basic. Start small and scale up later if needed.
The Final Verdict on IPRoyal
The Good 👍
- Very affordable rates, especially for pay-as-you-go residential data
- No commitments – buy traffic as needed with no use-it-or-lose-it expiry
- Support quality – 24/7 live chat agents are knowledgeable and friendly
The Less Good 👎
- Smaller network scale – significantly trails leaders in residential proxy pool size
- Performance concerns – slower speeds and reliability versus top providers
- Documentation lacks depth – sparse on usage instructions and troubleshooting
The Bottom Line ⭐
IPRoyal offers an extremely affordable entry point for trying out residential proxies without large commitments. The network has clear limitations at scale, but can work for basic personal use cases.
For demanding projects that need robust performance and large proxy volumes, established names like Bright Data and Smartproxy are worth their higher costs. But don‘t rule out giving IPRoyal‘s budget-friendly residential proxies a test drive for learning the ropes.
The flexibility of their pay-as-you-go model and helpful support may just provide the ideal starting point you need to dip your toes in the water.
And that wraps up this extensive review! Let me know if you have any other questions. I‘m always happy to help newcomers navigate the complex world of proxies.
