Proxy Cheap Cons

Proxy-Cheap is well known for providing cheap proxy solutions with a user-friendly dashboard from a pool of over 6 million IPs. They offer 3G/4G mobile proxies, datacenter proxies, and residential proxies. Proxy-Cheap has a lot of cool features, but just like every other company in the proxy business, it has some downsides too. We will discuss the Proxy-Cheap cons in this article so that you can decide whether it’s the right choice for you or not.

Just as the name implies, Proxy-Cheap is one of the cheapest proxy solutions you can get your hands on for your project or any other proxy-related task. The provider offers residential proxies starting at just $4.99/GB and gives users massive discounts for purchases above 200GB. Sounds great, right? Well, despite its cheap rate, Proxy-Cheap might not actually be the best option for everyone.

Limited Trial Period 

The first point I would want to address is the trial period provided by this service. Before making any commitments, you should evaluate your proxy’s performance to determine whether they can assist you in fulfilling your task. As a result, several companies offer free trials for new consumers to test their goods.

Other providers also require users to make a down payment and then guarantee to return their funds if they are not satisfied within a time limit. Users generally have a trial period of between 3-7 days, with some providers offering a trial period of as long as 2 weeks.

Unlike these providers, Proxy-Cheap’s trial policy is a bit inadequate. They grant users free access to their mobile and datacenter with unlimited features for just an hour. While the trial period is free, it may not be enough time to make a solid decision on whether the service is worth the cost.

The cheapest package offered by Proxy-Cheap is capped at $4.99/GB. The price is cheap enough to consider it for a test run.

If you are unsure of the type of proxy you need for your project or would like to test the proxies, you might want to check out NetNut, which provides a free 7-day trial period. SmartProxy also guarantees to refund purchases within 3 days if the user is not satisfied.

Strict Refund Policy

Apart from a one-hour trial period, Proxy-Cheap offers an uncomfortably restrictive and extremely tight return policy. This is why their refund procedure ranks high on our list of Proxy-Cheap drawbacks. In addition, the only time a purchase is refunded is if the IPs are not provided after payment has been made. According to their FAQ, reimbursements might take up to 14 days to complete and heavily depend on their management team.

You can always check on SmartProxy but expect to pay a higher price for their plans. Oxylabs also offers refunds to users who can meet their refund terms. 

Not The Fastest Provider

When it comes to speed, Proxy-Cheap is not breaking or setting any records. It is moderately fast and can help you with your project with little or no hassle at all. Then why is this a con? When it comes to heavy-duty scraping and use cases like sneaker coping, you would want to get your hands on faster proxies to have an edge over other coppers rather than an average-performing one.

I recommend that you consider other providers, even if they are more expensive, if you need to buy a faster proxy for your project. You can check Oxylabs, SmartProxy, and Bright Data.

Limited Geo-Targeting

Proxy-Cheap has IPs from over 127 countries. This means users have access to a wide range of proxies from all over the world. However, geo-targeting with Proxy-Cheap is limited to countries. It does not support city or even state targeting and, therefore, might not be the best choice if your project or task demands that you connect from a specific city. This is why we listed limited geo-targeting on our list of Proxy-Cheap cons.

No need to worry. You can always check out alternatives like ProxyRack. Bright Data allows users to select their preferred city or state as well as the mobile carrier. You can also target some major cities by purchasing residential proxies from SmartProxy. 

Small Pool Size

Proxy-Cheap is not doing anything exceptional in terms of pool size. They boast close to 7 million IPs worldwide, which is far from impressive. Sharing IPs from a smaller pool with other users increases the chances of bans and blocks. With such a large pool size, the chances that other users might have caused the IPs to be flagged for suspicious activities increase. This might cause your account or IP to be banned.

For example, the great thing about Oxylabs is that it has more than 100 million IP addresses worldwide. Bright Data also holds over 72 million proxies to its name, which is very impressive.

Limited Bandwidth

Although Proxy-Cheap offers lower-cost proxy solutions than Bright Data and Oxylabs, it is not the cheapest alternative if your project or job requires more GBs. For most users, this may not be a significant problem. If your project requires more GBs, you may prefer a less expensive option. Choose a service that offers limitless bandwidth if you want to cut your expenses even more.

StormProxies has 70K rotating residential IPs with unlimited bandwidth. They charge per port instead of per GB, and you can purchase the service for $50 per month.

Conclusion

Among the most affordable proxy services, Proxy-Cheap offers proxies that can handle a wide range of proxy use cases. The proxies on offer are averagely fast, and they have a pool of around 7 million IPs available from approximately 127 countries across the world.

That notwithstanding, some Proxy-Cheap cons might not make it the right choice for every user. It is up to you to decide whether these cons may or may not affect your work. Check out our carefully selected alternatives if you think Proxy-Cheap is not the right choice for you.