In this article, we are going to discuss the best SOCKS5 services available right now. But first, let’s see what topics we are going to cover.
Table of Contents
What Are SOCKS5 Proxies?
SOCKS5 proxies are proxies that utilize the “socket secure” internet protocol that allows devices to communicate with each other. If we are adding a 3rd device to that communication chain, it’ll be called a SOCKS proxy. Easy, right?
With a SOCKS5 proxy, you can send and receive data for various types of traffic, including webpages, email, torrents, video streaming, or even games. It’s an all-purpose proxy solution that can handle almost any protocol or program. In conclusion, those proxies are a powerful tool that allows you to stay secure on the web without revealing your IP and with reduced chances of getting blocked when you are scraping a website. But are those better than HTTP proxies?
SOCKS5 vs. HTTP Proxies
HTTP Proxies
SOCKS5 Proxies
Protocol
HTTP/HTTPS
All protocols
Application
Mostly web
All applications
Authentication
Basic, NTLM
Username/Password
Performance
Fast
Slower than HTTP
Use case
Web browsing
Torrents, games, email, video streaming
Encryption
No
Yes
Bottom line is that even though SOCKS5 proxies are slightly slower than HTTP/S ones, they provide a much wider range of use cases and work with many different protocols – HTTP, SMTP, and FTP for example. Now, what exactly are those use cases?
Popular SOCKS5 Use Cases
Now that we saw what are the exact advantages of SOCKS5 proxies over regular HTTP/S proxies, let’s take a look at some of the popular use cases.
Secure torrenting – when you are using torrents, your IP is exposed to all the other seeders and leechers. Using SOCKS5 proxies keeps you safe.
Web scraping – SOCKS5 proxies can be easily used with web scraping tools to improve the scraping results.
Chat platforms – Apps like Telegram and Skype let you use proxies. You can use SOCKS5 proxies to stay fully anonymous.
Bypassing firewalls – We won’t elaborate on this one.
Remote network connection –
Advantages and Disadvantages of SOCKS5 Proxies
As with all the other proxy types, SOCKS5 proxies aren’t perfect either. Let’s take a quick look at the advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Supports both TCP and UDP protocols
Usually slower than HTTP/S
Offers greater security than SOCKS4 proxies
Bad reputation
Can bypass firewalls and geo-restrictions
May require additional configuration to use
Allows for more customization and control over proxy settings
Usually fewer proxy types available than HTTP/S
Does not encrypt traffic, which can be beneficial for certain use cases
When it comes to SOCKS5 proxies, IPRoyal offers a great solution. All of their proxy types support the SOCKS5 protocol and the response time is really good, less than 1.2s for most requests, with some requests reaching a response time of 300ms!
IPRoyal has more than 8M proxies in total and all those IPs come from 195 countries, allowing you to target specific countries with ease. If you are going with their residential proxies, you will be able to target specific cities and states.
The prices are very attractive too, making IPRoyal the best overall choice for SOCKS5 proxies.
Features and advantages – IPRoyal
Live chat support
Great prices
SOCKS5 available in all locations
All proxy types available
Great response time(DC even faster)
City-targeting available
2. Bright Data
Best premium service
Total rating: 8.5/10
Bright Data doesn’t openly advertise its SOCKS5 proxies, but it does have those. Bright Data is considered the largest proxy provider in the world, serving clients of all sizes, including fortune 500 companies. Their performance is the best when it comes to SOCKS5 proxies, but there are a few things to consider before choosing this option. Their prices are higher than most of the competitors, even up to X2 higher. If your use case is shady, you can forget about SOCKS5 residential and mobile proxies; they have a strict KYC process and even if you choose DC proxies, they’ll block any unauthorized usage.
Bright Data’s support team is superb and won’t rest until your issue is solved. There’s no live chat available though, which is upsetting. Prices are quite high, but the biggest advantage is that Bright Data has a pay-as-you-go plan, allowing you to use its services for small projects too.
Features and advantages – Bright Data
A huge pool of proxies
Fast response time
Great customer support
Amazing reputation
All proxies are ethically sourced
City-targeting available
3. Smartproxy
Great for US use cases
Total rating: 8/10
Smartproxy is one of the biggest proxy providers in the industry. When it comes to SOCKS5 proxies though, they don’t offer all the proxy types with that protocol. You will be able to use only datacenter proxies with the SOCKS5 protocol, meaning that if your use cases require IPs of higher quality, this option isn’t for you.
They have a huge pool of datacenter IPs in the US(only), therefore if your project is related to the US it’ll be a good choice. In terms of prices, Smartproxy is really affordable and won’t drain your wallet. You can’t rotate the DC proxies, but you can replace the IPs that were assigned to your account once a month, of course, free of charge.
As we mentioned in our previous reviews, Smartproxy has great support that’s available 24/7 via chat or email and that’ll solve any issue you have in minutes!
Features and advantages – Smartproxy
Great customer support
Lots of DC IPs in the US
Affordable prices
Fast connection
Change IPs
Dedicated IPs, private to you
4. Oxylabs
Perfect ISP solution
Total rating: 8/10
Oxylabs is another proxy giant that has earned its good reputation through offering great products and customer support. In terms of SOCKS5 proxies, Oxylabs provide the best solution for use cases that require ISP proxies. They don’t offer mobile or residential proxies with SOCKS5, although we believe that it’ll change someday.
If you decide to go with this option, you’ll discover more than 2M SOCKS5 IPs, both dedicated DC and ISP ones. You can choose between a certain number of US-only IPs or a lower number of worldwide ones, based on your use case and needs. Oxylabs also offer great customer support and their prices are similar to Bright Data(both considered premium solutions) but are still quite cheaper.
A big disadvantage in addition to missing residential and mobile proxies(SOCKS5) is that their pricing plan for SOCKS5 starts from $180, which isn’t perfect for small projects.
Features and advantages – Oxylabs
Top-notch support
ISP and dedicated DC proxies available
More than 2M SOCKS5 proxies
A choice between US-only and worldwide IPs
All domains are allowed
Unlimited concurrent sessions
5. Rayobyte
Great for small projects
Total rating: 8/10
Rayobyte, formerly known as Blazing SEO, offers SOCKS5 proxies of different types: residential, ISP, and datacenter. They have IPs available in 26 countries when it comes to datacenter ones, while residential proxies have much wider global coverage, allowing you to target US states and almost any city in the world.
Rayobyte offers great support and the representatives are very nice and patient. We had an issue with the ISP(had an issue with using a specific ASN), and they helped us solve it quickly. In general, their ISP and DC proxies are very fast and of course, both can be used with SOCKS5.
Their pricing plans are affordable and flexible and can fit even the smallest projects(starting from $2.5/mo). Overall, this is one of the best choices for smaller businesses.
Features and advantages – Rayobyte
Clear pricing
Dedicated DC SOCKS5 proxies available
Millions of SOCKS5 IPs
24/7 support via chat and email
IPv6 available
Easy-to-use dashboard
6. ProxyEmpire
Best datacenter SOCKS5 solution
Total rating: 7.5/10
ProxyEmpire has more than 71K datacenter IPs and is offering city targeting, which is a rare thing when it comes to datacenter proxies. Their datacetner proxies are available in 10 countries, making it a better solution than all the other providers above.
Their datacenter proxy plans are starting from $25/mo, allowing you to use an unlimited number of IPs, again something that other providers don’t allow. Similar to residential proxies, here you’ll pay per GB and not per IP, which can be both an advantage and disadvantage.
ProxyEmpire’s chat support is helpful, using quite simple free chatting software(tawk.to, which doesn’t look too professional). Bottom line is that it’s the best solution for SOCKS5 datacenter proxies, but not for residential SOCKS5 proxies.
Features and advantages – ProxyEmpire
Unlimited datacenter IPs
24/7 support
10 countries
Starts from only $25/mo
Rollover bandwidth
Conclusion
This detailed article went through an easy explanation of what SOCKS5 proxies are, what their advantages and disadvantages are, and of course, covered the best SOCKS5 proxy providers to choose from. If we missed a great provider, feel free to write to us and we’ll consider adding it.
There are some providers that we decided to keep out and we prefer not to mention them by name because of different reasons, but as long as you stay with the providers mentioned in this article you should receive great service and high-quality SOCKS5 proxies.
It really depends on the provider. Usually, the pricing for HTTP and SOCKS5 proxies is the same and the prices change based on the proxy type. Residential proxies will be more expensive than datacenter for example.
Yes, but you should avoid using those. By using those publicly available SOCKS5 proxies you are exposing yourself to malicious activity. The owner of the free proxy can easily monitor your requests and then make illegal use of the collected data.
