Proxy servers are so easy to use you can forget you are paying for one in the first place. You get your proxy credentials and enter them into the needed software, and that’s it. The problem is that leaving your proxy provider unchecked can get you into trouble.

You might not get the best price and performance, risk your data, or even have legal issues by using the same provider. Here are five things you should consider when deciding whether to change your proxy provider.

Better deals

It might sound counter-intuitive with all the inflation going on in the world, but premium proxy prices have steadily fallen in the past couple of years. Residential and mobile proxies are getting cheaper because internet connections and devices are improving. Everyone now has a smartphone in a pocket that can act as a proxy server.

If you are paying for a long subscription to a pool of proxies, you might lose on such market shifts. You might also lose on proxy improvements, such as IPv6 proxies and SOCKS5 protocols.

A great strategy for getting the best possible deal is to contact the sales team of a proxy provider and directly inform them of better prices or functions elsewhere. They will most likely get you a better deal just to avoid letting you go to the competition.

Location count

It might not seem so from the user’s perspective, but the proxy server market is constantly changing. Servers are bought and sold, proxy configurations are changed, ad campaigns fail, and many other moving parts influence the quality of proxies.

It’s tough for a user to notice such changes regarding performance, but location choice is much more easily measurable. If your provider does not support locations it previously did, it’s an immediate sign to jump ship. But things can be much more subtle.

Those who use custom scrapers and rotate proxies with their own software will notice that the number of available IPs in certain locations will also change over time. If you need dozens of IP addresses, it will affect your tasks.

You might not need to drop the provider immediately, but using another one, at least for part of your proxies, is definitely necessary. It’s especially true when you must perform tasks that will likely get your IPs banned.

Data protection

Proxy providers are required by law to follow Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures – verify user identity, gather data about the purpose of using proxies, monitor his activity, and other means.

If a proxy provider is known not to enforce such rules, you might get in trouble by using such a service. However, providers who follow the process should also be evaluated. If they aren’t keeping your data safe, a data leak might do much damage.

Even worse is when proxy providers appear in court battles for gathering private data off the internet. Bright Data, for example, is notorious for being sued by various companies, most notably Meta, because of this.

It’s a valid reason to look into some Brightada alternatives. How can you ensure your data isn’t scraped when using their proxies?

Unethical IP address sourcing

The most common way to source IP addresses for proxies is to set up a server in a data centre and allow customers to route their traffic there. However, residential and mobile proxies cannot be set up in such a way.

To obtain the best legitimacy, an actual homeowner must allow his connection to be used as a proxy server. Since these proxies are becoming more popular, proxy providers are looking for new ways to source them.

A legal and ethical way is to use various benefit programs where people can willingly agree to use their devices as proxy servers and get paid. Usually, the bandwidth they share is priced as long as they keep a device on.

However, many proxy providers are unethically sourcing such IPs. Websites, apps, or other software can include clauses in terms and conditions allowing the use of the device for proxy connections.

Technically, it’s legal as the user has accepted the terms. But it’s also clear that no one expects a game, e-commerce app, or other application to use bandwidth for proxies. Even if it’s legal, it’s highly unethical.

The worst part of such wrongful schemes is that they are considered partnerships with third-party companies or small app developers. Companies engaging in them face virtually no consequences.

As a user, you should also be concerned as you are incentivizing providers to commit such questionable practices. The best way to avoid this is to use providers that are honest about where their proxies come from. For example, IPRoyal is well known for using the Pawns.app to source its IPs.

Free trials

If nothing else convinces you to pursue new proxy providers, you should at least consider trying other sources because of free trials. There are dozens of well-respected providers on the market, and each has at least a week-long free trial.

If you don’t mind switching to a new proxy every now and then, trial periods can be a great source if you want quality IP addresses without any costs. Usually, premium proxies are advertised with free trials.

Besides, you will get to experience and actually measure the performance of many of the providers. Most likely, the differences in speed, IP count, and customer support you’ll get will encourage you to switch to a different provider.

Wrapping up

No proxy provider will always be good for all of the above points. You should be ready to go to a different brand when the deal isn’t good enough. Switching providers might be inconvenient in the short term, but the market will improve overall.