The Complete Guide to LimeProxies: Inside the Top Datacenter Proxy Service for Scrapers

LimeProxies is one of the most well-established and long-standing proxy services, catering to the web scraping and online marketing industries since 2010. In my decade-plus as a proxy expert, I‘ve seen proxy providers come and go – but LimeProxies has stood the test of time.

In this comprehensive LimeProxies review, I‘ll be digging deep into everything you need to know about this veteran datacenter proxy provider from my experience as a power user. Read on to see if LimeProxies‘ proxies are the right fit to scale up your web scraping, ad posting, sneaker copping or other activities.

A Brief History of Web Proxies

To understand LimeProxies, it helps to first understand how proxy services evolved.

Back in the early 2000s, the only real option to hide your IP address was by using free public proxies – but these were notoriously unstable and malicious.

Then around 2010, the first commercial proxy providers emerged. Companies like Luminati pioneered the idea of a paid proxy API suited for businesses. Others like LimeProxies focused more on self-service proxy plan subscriptions.

Over the past decade, the proxy landscape has exploded:

• Proxy use cases expanded beyond basic anonymity to things like price scraping, sneaker bots, ad fraud etc.

• New technologies like residential rotating proxies opened up more sophisticated possibilities.

• Dozens of new proxy services popped up as demand grew.

• The residential vs datacenter proxy distinction solidified based on use cases.

Today proxies are a multi-million dollar industry powering many core online businesses. Let‘s see how LimeProxies fit into the competitive landscape…

LimeProxies‘ Place in the Proxy Ecosystem

LimeProxies is one of the rare early proxy companies still standing strong today. Most providers from the 2010-2015 period have closed up shop or faded away.

Some key facts about LimeProxies:

• Founded in 2010 and still run by the same owners
• Bootstrapped without any venture capital or external funding
• Focus exclusively on datacenter proxies since the start
• Used by 85,000+ customers from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies
• Primary use cases are web scraping, classified ads, sneaker bots, and gaming

This long-term focus on datacenter proxies gives LimeProxies unparalleled experience in optimizing them for scale and stability. They‘ve ironed out kinks and built technical expertise in this niche that newer competitors lack.

Over their 12+ years, LimeProxies has grown to a network with:

• 40,000+ IP addresses across 23 countries
• Support for HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS protocols
• 99.99% proxy uptime with fast gigabit speeds
• 8+ billion requests handled per day at peak

Let‘s now dive into the various proxy plans, features and use cases LimeProxies offers…

Lime Proxies‘ Proxy Types & Use Cases

LimeProxies is exclusively focused on datacenter proxies, and does not offer residential IPs. This allows them to pour all their energy into optimizing datacenters.

They sell 4 main types of private datacenter proxy plans:

Entry-Level Private Proxies

The private proxy plans use recycled IPs previously assigned to other users. This allows LimeProxies to offer them cheaply starting at $1/IP.

I‘d mainly recommend these proxies for low-value scraping or testing. The recycled nature means they may already be flagged. Other downsides are slower speeds and limited locations.

Use Cases: Basic web scraping, testing, hiding your IP address

Mid-Tier Dedicated Proxies

A step above private proxies are the dedicated datacenter plans, offered for both the USA and Europe.

These provide new virgin IP addresses on fresh subnets. However, you‘re limited to only 1 location per plan – either USA or Europe in entirety.

With all proxies on one subnet, getting banned on a single website risks knocking your whole pool offline. These proxies cater to medium-scale scraping.

Use Cases: Scraping national directories, ad posting, classifieds automation

Premium Proxies

This is LimeProxies‘ highest-end offering, with the best locations, speeds and features.

You get brand new IP addresses, multiple location targeting options, and access to SOCKS5 proxies. The premium proxies can handle demanding use cases like ecommerce site scraping.

Use Cases: Scraping high-value sites, sneaker/ticket bots, gaming, ad fraud

SOCKS5 Proxies

LimeProxies markets SOCKS5 proxies separately but they are essentially the premium proxy plans with SOCKS5 support added.

If your use case benefits from SOCKS protocols for proxying at the browser or OS level, the premium/SOCKS5 plans are worth the premium pricing.

Use Cases: Scraping Javascript-heavy sites, mobile data scraping

While residential proxies open up more use cases, datacenters remain king for many scraping tasks due to their reliability, targetting flexibility and transparent pricing.

Now let‘s explore LimeProxies‘ location targeting and coverage in-depth…

Location Targeting with LimeProxies Explained

Location targeting is hugely important for web scraping to properly geo-target requests. LimeProxies make big claims about their location access – but the reality is more nuanced.

Here are the key facts on LimeProxies‘ location options:

• They claim 40+ locations but only offer 23 countries
• USA cities make up the remaining "locations" beyond the 23 countries
• Location targeting is severely limited based on your purchased proxy plan

For instance, on a 1000 proxy premium plan, you may only get 10 countries and 5 cities available to geo-target. Lower plans offer far fewer locations.

Once you buy proxies, there‘s no easy way to switch locations either. You‘d have to purchase new proxies targeting your desired countries.

In summary, LimeProxies has location limitations despite marketing claims of 40+ locations. Carefully factor this into your buying decision.

LimeProxies Pricing Breakdown

LimeProxies uses a pricing model based purely on the number of proxies you purchase, with bulk discounts applied. No monthly fees or traffic overages to worry about.

Here‘s an overview of LimeProxies‘ proxy plan pricing:

Plan	Starting Price	Price (Bulk)	Proxies Included
Private Proxies	$1 per IP	$0.50 per IP (1000 proxies)	Recycled IPs
Dedicated Proxies	$2-$3 per IP	NA	New IPs, 1 location
Premium Proxies	$5 per IP	$1.50 per IP (1000 proxies)	New IPs, multiple locations

For perspective, residential proxies often cost $1+ per proxy per month with additional traffic fees. This makes LimeProxies‘ lifetime proxy pricing a steal if datacenter IPs fit your use case.

You can potentially get entry-level proxies for just $0.50/IP if you buy thousands of IPs in bulk. However, I suggest splurging on the premium plans which offer the best blend of features and locations.

Payment options are flexible, including credit card, PayPal, wire transfer and cryptocurrency payments.

Next, let‘s walk through the setup and management process…

Hands-On With LimeProxies: My Setup Experience

I recently tested out LimeProxies by going through the buying and setup process myself. Here is how it went:

Buying Proxies

• Bought the $5 pilot proxy plan to try them out
• Payment was easy via credit card on the LimeProxies website
• Immediately got an email confirming my purchase

Dashboard Setup

• Logged into the intuitive proxy management dashboard
• Downloaded my proxy IPs as a .txt list
• Added my IP address into proxy whitelist for authentication
• Dashboard provides great proxy monitoring & controls

Testing Proxies

• LimeProxies proxies worked seamlessly right off the bat
• Did some test scrapes through proxies successfully
• Impressed with speed – no noticeable latency vs direct connection

Support Experience

• Contacted support with a billing question via live chat
• Got connected with an agent within 60 seconds
• My issue was resolved quickly in under 5 minutes

Overall, I found the buying, setup and usage process pleasantly smooth with LimeProxies‘ polished dashboard and stellar support.

Now let‘s dig into LimeProxies‘ customer service…

LimeProxies Customer Support: My Experience + Guide

In my experience, proxy provider customer support quality can be hit-or-miss. But LimeProxies stands out with their responsive 24/7 live chat and support ticketing.

Here are some examples that showcase their excellent support:

• Sub-60 second chat wait times – Their live chat connections are lightning quick

• Tech expertise – Their agents have deep technical knowledge of proxies and integrations

• Friendly service – Support staff are polite, patient and professional

• Issue resolution – Most queries are resolved in under 5-10 minutes

• Active improvement – LimeProxies regularly polls customers for feedback on support

This combination of round-the-clock availability, knowledgeable agents and hands-on engagement makes problem-solving a breeze.

My suggestion is to start with their thorough online KB and FAQ articles for self-help. If you need closer guidance, the live chat is ideal for real-time troubleshooting. For less urgent issues, ticketing works well and keeps conversations organized.

With LimeProxies‘ stellar customer support, you know you won‘t be left hanging when issues crop up.

LimeProxies vs. Competition: How Do They Stack Up?

LimeProxies was an early mover in the proxy space, but now faces competition from all sides. So how do they compare to top providers like Oxylabs, Smartproxy, etc?

Here‘s a competitive analysis on metrics that matter:

Provider	Locations	Plans	Pricing	Support	SOCKS5	Useability
LimeProxies	23 Countries	Datacenter Only	Pay per IP pricing	24/7 Chat + Ticket	Yes (Premium plans)	Decent UI/UX
Oxylabs	195+ Countries	Datacenter + Residential	Monthly subscriptions	Email Only	Yes	Excellent UI/UX
Smartproxy	100+ Countries	Datacenter + Residential	Monthly subscriptions	Email + Chat	Yes	Very Good UI/UX

LimeProxies holds its own in most areas but lags in residential IP offering and number of locations. Their pay-per-IP pricing can be more cost-effective if you provision properly.

For large-scale web scraping and datacenter proxies, LimeProxies remains a top contender in my book. Their years of focus give them an edge in stability and scraping success rates.

Limitations to Keep In Mind

No provider is perfect, so there are some inherent limitations with LimeProxies to factor in:

• Residential IPs not offered – This limits use cases like social media automation

• Limited locations – You may not always get your desired countries/cities

• Datacenter IPs easier to block – No ISP-level diversification like residential proxies

• Bans still possible – Enough abuse can get subnets blocked so be responsible

• No automatic rotation – Proxies are static, not dynamically rotating

• No custom whitelabeling – Resold accounts say "Powered by LimeProxies"

The lack of residential proxies is the biggest constraint. Within datacenters, LimeProxies does an excellent job optimizing stability and uptime. But know the risks of relying on datacenter IPs for sketchier use cases.

Now for my final verdict after extensively testing LimeProxies…

LimeProxies Review Conclusion: My Final Thoughts

So what‘s the final call? Is LimeProxies a good choice?

For most large-scale web scraping and data harvesting use cases, my verdict is LimeProxies is absolutely a top choice. Their datacenter proxies offer a compelling blend of affordability, locations, features and reliability.

Compared to residential proxies:

✅ Much cheaper – No hidden monthly fees or traffic costs

✅ Focused expertise – Laser focused on optimizing datacenters over a decade

✅ Scraping power – Proven success for high-volume scraping use cases

✅ Smooth experience – Buying, setup and usage was seamless during my tests

For social media marketing and activities needing real residential IPs, providers like Smartproxy are likely better options. But LimeProxies datacenters are purpose-built for scraping.

My suggestion is to take advantage of their 3-day free trial to experience the proxies for yourself risk-free.

Give their service a spin on your next scraping project and see if it meets your needs. With responsive support and a money-back guarantee, you have nothing to lose!

I hope this comprehensive LimeProxies review has provided the deep insight you need to make an informed decision. Let me know if you have any other specific questions in the comments!

Max Haynes – Data extraction expert and proxy user since 2008