About Bright Data
Web Data Collection has become a must-have for all types of businesses and sometimes for freelancers as well. Bright Data offers the industry-leading public web data collection tools that allow businesses to scrape public web data in the most efficient and reliable way, so they can research, monitor, analyze data, and ultimately make better decisions.
Bright Data makes data extraction simple with no-code SaaS solutions like its Data Collector, Web Unlocker, and Datasets.
The technological basis of all of Bright Data’s web data collection tools lies in its Proxy Network, with over 72 million rotating residential IPs in every country and city in the world.
Contents
Why use a proxy service?
Using a proxy can be a powerful tool for businesses that want to be in touch with real-time consumer needs and competitor activities. Proxies can help you view data as an end-user would in any geolocation helping you make better decisions; also, a proxy service can help facilitate your proxy needs by adding a layer of technology, security, and automation ensuring that you get accurate data in record time, therefore, helping you streamline and automate data collection processes helping shorten the ‘time from collection to insight’.
Understanding what proxies are and deciding which are right for you can be difficult. So let us help you learn to leverage proxies and use them effectively in your business.
There are four main proxy network types.
Different types of proxies
There is a large variety of proxy types, which can be very confusing. The first thing you need to know is that there are major differences between the various proxy network types – this includes how they are priced, what they can accomplish for you as well as how effectively they can do this based on your specific industry/use case. In the following section we will breakdown each and every proxy type so that you can make smarter business decisions:
Datacenter proxies
These are IPs that are located in Datacenters and not assigned to any individual person or business. These IPs are not affiliated with a specific Internet Service Provider (ISP) and they are batched for server processing.
Key Datacenter benefits include IP consistency, precise geolocation targeting, as well as being one of the most cost-effective proxy options available.
Data Center is a good option for businesses looking to target sites with simple site architecture and with no major blocking mechanisms based on robotic/non-human behaviors.
Residential proxies
These are unique IP addresses that belong to real individuals located in different geo-locations across the world.
Key Residential proxy benefits include being able to access sites with sophisticated site architectures using real users’ IPs. This ensures that competitive pricing, and marketing data, for example, are highly accurate. Also, Residential proxy network users can send unlimited concurrent requests without compromising their web scraping speeds as requests can be routed through millions of peers.
Residential is a good option for businesses in the AdTech, travel intelligence, and brand protection spaces among others. These use cases can significantly benefit from a geo-targeted user-first data collection approach. For example, dynamic flight pricing strategies based on consumer location, monitoring the correct use of a language in international marketing campaigns, and cross-border trademark squatting.
Mobile proxies
These are real 3G/4G cellular connections that belong to various people and carriers across the globe. This is the most expensive type of proxy network to use but it also can be extremely effective in certain instances.
Key Mobile proxy benefits include performing mobile-first tasks from the comfort of a desktop [e.g. Quality Assurance (QA), and User Experience (UX) testing], as well as a unique capability of being able to keep competitor analyses and market research ‘below the surface’. Additionally, it offers businesses complete ASN, carrier, and mobile network targeting capabilities.
Mobile proxies are a good option for businesses looking to perform desktop-based mobile app testing, ad verification, app promotion/direct billing tracking. Mobile proxies are also especially effective when looking to obtain GPS-sensitive data.
ISP proxies
These are proxies leased/bought from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for commercial use. They are hosted by servers like Datacenter proxies but in contrast, are identified by target sites as having originated from ‘real places of residence’.
Key ISP proxy benefits include enjoying a hybrid approach – on the one hand, using proxies routed through a Datacenter (increasing speed), while on the other hand having requests treated as if they had originated from a ‘real Residential IP’.
ISP proxies are a good option for businesses looking to manage international retail promotion, investing, and geolocation-specific web data extraction. For example, a vendor with digital outlets in multiple geo-locations could greatly benefit from managing those Points of Sale (PoS) using ISP proxies.
ISP / Datacenter proxies Vs. Residential proxies: Which one should you choose?
ISP, as well as Datacenter proxy networks, are further differentiated from Residential proxies in that they consist of static IPs, meaning that businesses that need to manage multiple accounts (such as eCommerce sites, social networks, etc) can benefit from them by assigning an IP to each individual profile without the fear of getting blocked (for example, signing into the same account from different IPs can in some cases cause bans on certain target sites).
Also, Residential IPs are ‘rotating’, meaning it’s hard to ensure that the same IP will always be available if needed. This may happen as these are real peer IPs who are free to opt-in, and out of the proxy network at their own discretion.
Whether you need data center proxies, residential proxies, or mobile proxies, Bright Data offers some of the best proxy servers around, and you can connect to them using their chrome extension, proxy manager, or API.
With features such as preset configurations for proxy manipulations, random header generator, and built-in captcha solving, they are a one-stop shop for all your proxy needs.
Read more here to Find out why Bright Data is the #1 category leader for web data collection.
