Head-to-Head Proxy ComparisonVerified Public Specifications (Oct 2026)

ProxiesThatWork vs Shifter

Side-by-side comparison of ProxiesThatWork and Shifter across supported proxy types, residential pricing per GB, datacenter & ISP pricing, geographic coverage, protocols, session rotation, authentication, platform features, and pros & cons.

Editorial Rankings & Factual Comparison Notice: ProxiesThatWork (Rank #—) and Shifter (Rank #—) are compared below using verified public documentation (our editorial rankings feature 2Captcha Proxy at #1). Missing specifications are marked Not available.

Provider 1Cataloged

ProxiesThatWork

Est. 2023 • Monthly Subscriptions

Datacenter

Budget bulk datacenter proxy provider offering high-volume HTTP/HTTPS proxy packages ($3/mo for 150 IPs, $20/mo for 1,000 IPs, $50/mo for 2,500 IPs; ~$0.02/IP effective) with IP allowlisting, unmetered bandwidth, and automated health monitoring.

Residential / GBNot available

Starting Price / IPFrom $0.02 / IP

Geographic Coverage1+ Countries

ProtocolsHTTP, HTTPS

Read ProxiesThatWork Review →Visit Site ↗

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Provider 2Cataloged

Shifter

Est. 2012 • payg and subscription

ResidentialISP

Active Global Residential & Static ISP Proxy Network with 205M+ IPs

Residential / GB$0.75 / GB

Starting Price / IPFrom $1.40 / IP

Geographic Coverage195+ Countries

ProtocolsHTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5

Read Shifter Review →Visit Site ↗

Network Coverage

Supported Proxy Network Types

Side-by-side availability across Residential, Datacenter, Static ISP, and Mobile proxy pools.

Proxy Network Type	ProxiesThatWork	Shifter
Residential Proxies (Rotating & Sticky) Household ISP-assigned IPs supporting automatic rotation and sticky sessions	Not available	✓ Supported
Datacenter Proxies (Dedicated & Shared) High-speed IPv4/IPv6 cloud server subnets for bulk concurrency	✓ Supported	Not available
ISP / Static Residential Proxies Static consumer ASN-registered IPs hosted on server backbones	Not available	✓ Supported
Mobile Carrier Proxies (3G / 4G / 5G / LTE) Cellular gateway IPs routed through carrier CGNAT pools	Not available	Not available

Pricing Comparison

Residential Pricing per GB, Datacenter & ISP Rates

Verified pricing across residential bandwidth per GB, datacenter and static ISP per-IP/bandwidth plans, and minimum account outlays.

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Pricing Category	ProxiesThatWork	Shifter
Residential Starting Rate (per GB)	Not available	$0.75 / GB
Published Pricing Summary	Bulk Datacenter Packages from $3.00 / month (150 IPs, ~$0.02 / IP effective) • 1,000 IPs for $20.00 / month • 2,500 IPs for $50.00 / month • Custom Bulk Quotes Available • Unmetered Bandwidth • Disputed 3-Day vs. 7-Day Refund Policy	Rotating Residential from $0.10–$0.75/GB; Static ISP from $1.26–$2.50/IP/month ($12.50/mo min for 5 IPs) with unmetered bandwidth
Datacenter Proxy Pricing	Bulk Datacenter Proxies (Monthly Packages): 150 IPs: $3.00/mo ($0.02/IP effective, $3.00 minimum entry) • 1,000 IPs: $20.00/mo ($0.02/IP effective) • 2,500 IPs: $50.00/mo ($0.02/IP effective). Monthly recurring billing; unmetered bandwidth within fair-usage limits; IP allowlisting authentication; static IP lists for the billing term.	Not available
ISP (Static Residential) Pricing	Not available	Static ISP (5 Dedicated IPs): $12.50 / month ($2.50 / IP) • Static ISP (10 Dedicated IPs): $20.00 / month ($2.00 / IP) • Static ISP (50 Dedicated IPs): $77.00 / month ($1.54 / IP) • Static ISP (100 Dedicated IPs): $140.00 / month ($1.40 / IP) • Static ISP (250+ Dedicated IPs): From $1.26 / IP / month
Mobile Proxy Pricing	Not available	Not available
Starting Rate per IP	$0.02 / IP	$1.40 / IP
Billing Structure	Monthly Subscriptions	payg and subscription
Minimum Outlay / Deposit	$3.00	$12.50
Accepted Payment Methods	Credit CardStripe	Credit / Debit CardsCryptocurrency (BTC / USDT)PayPal

Technical Capabilities

Locations, Protocols, Session Rotation & Authentication

Side-by-side comparison of geo-targeting granularity, supported connection protocols, sticky session durations, authentication methods, and platform tooling.

Technical Dimension	ProxiesThatWork	Shifter
Geographic Coverage & Targeting	United States (multiple regional datacenter nodes); accessibility tested across 100+ global locations; custom regions via quote	195+ Countries Globally (205M+ IPs)
Documented Country Count	1+ Countries	195+ Countries
Supported Protocols	HTTPHTTPS	HTTPHTTPSSOCKS5
Rotation & Sticky Sessions	Static bulk datacenter IP lists (IP:Port) delivered per subscription term; does not feature per-request rotation, residential session sticky hold, or mobile network targeting	Dynamic per-request rotation & configurable sticky sessions (up to 60 min via TTL or sid-XXX)
Authentication Methods	IP Whitelisting	Username/PasswordIP Whitelisting
Documented Platform Features	Bulk Datacenter Capacity: Tiered monthly packages delivering 150, 1,000, or 2,500 shared datacenter IP addressesLow Entry Threshold: Starter tier available at $3.00/month for 150 IPs (~$0.02 effective price per IP)Unmetered Bandwidth: No metered gigabyte billing or per-GB data caps on active datacenter subscription tiersIP Allowlisting Authentication: Access authenticated by whitelisting client IP addresses directly in the control panelAutomated Health Verification: Provider tests proxies continuously and reports system state on status.proxiesthatwork.comHTTP/HTTPS Protocol Support: Native compatibility with web scraping frameworks and HTTP client librariesCustom Enterprise Quoting: Bespoke volume packages and regional options available through dedicated sales quotesStrict Classification Scope: Classified strictly under Datacenter proxies; no Residential, Static ISP, or Mobile poolsDocumented Refund Policy Discrepancy: Highlights conflicting 7-day marketing claims versus 3-day binding Terms of Service	Massive 205M+ Residential IP pool spanning 195+ countries and worldwide regionsThree specialized residential targeting pools: Full Geo (city/ASN), Country Geo, and Non-GeoConfigurable sticky sessions up to 60 minutes via session ID parameters (sid-XXX) and dynamic rotationDedicated Static ISP proxies on Tier-1 consumer broadband ASNs with 100% unmetered bandwidthSingle unified backconnect endpoint (p.shifter.io:443) supporting HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5Affordable static ISP entry starting at $12.50/month for 5 dedicated residential IPs ($2.50/IP)Dual authentication support via username/password credentials and IP whitelistingHistorical Heritage: Originally established as Microleaves (2012) before evolving to modern cloud-native Shifter architecture
Integration Tools & Clients	PythonNode.jsGocURLPlaywrightPuppeteer	Python (Requests / HTTPX)cURLNode.js (Puppeteer / Playwright)Go
Ranking Placement	Not available	Not available
Official Documentation Source	https://www.proxiesthatwork.com/pricing ↗	https://shifter.io ↗

Trade-Offs Breakdown

Verified Pros & Cons: ProxiesThatWork vs Shifter

ProxiesThatWork

Rank #null

✓ Verified Strengths (Pros)

Extremely accessible entry pricing: $3.00/month for 150 IPs and $20.00/month for 1,000 IPs (~$0.02/IP effective rate)
Flat-rate monthly billing with unmetered bandwidth and zero metered per-GB consumption charges
Simple setup via IP allowlisting, avoiding credential parsing issues in multithreaded scrapers
Public operational status monitoring tracking API and network segment availability at status.proxiesthatwork.com

✕ Documented Limitations (Cons)

Shared bulk datacenter IP architecture: IPs are shared across users, making them unsuitable for sites with strict bot-detection (Cloudflare, Akamai)
Direct contractual conflict between marketing page (advertised 7-day guarantee) and official Terms of Service (3-day conditional defect refund)
Strictly Datacenter only: does not provide Residential, Static ISP, or Mobile cellular networks
No SOCKS5 protocol support, no IPv6 addresses, and no automatic per-request IP rotation

Shifter

Rank #null

✓ Verified Strengths (Pros)

Enormous global pool of 205M+ residential IPs across 195+ countries
Aggressive high-volume residential rates starting from $0.10/GB (non-geo) up to $0.75/GB (full city/ASN)
Dedicated Static ISP proxies with unlimited monthly bandwidth starting at just $12.50/mo for 5 IPs
Native SOCKS5 and HTTP/HTTPS protocol support on standard gateway ports

✕ Documented Limitations (Cons)

No standalone public mobile cellular proxy tier or carrier CGNAT pool
Full Geo city/ASN residential packages require a $99 monthly commitment
Static ISP addresses do not rotate dynamically per request

Selection Verdict

How to Choose Between ProxiesThatWork and Shifter

Selecting between ProxiesThatWork and Shifter depends on the proxy network types, billing model, and session duration required by your workflow:

When to Choose ProxiesThatWork

High-volume scraping on lenient target sites, SERP tracking, open directory aggregation, price monitoring on non-protected endpoints, and automated testing tasks where cheap bulk IPv4 datacenter proxies with unmetered bandwidth are required.

Look elsewhere if: Accessing websites protected by sophisticated anti-bot systems (Cloudflare, Akamai, Datadome), sneaker or ticket drops requiring residential/ISP ASNs, workflows requiring SOCKS5 or IPv6, or operations demanding unconditional 7-day refund guarantees.

Read ProxiesThatWork Review →

When to Choose Shifter

High-volume e-commerce scraping, localized SERP tracking, brand protection, and long-lived authenticated sessions requiring unmetered static residential ISP addresses.

Look elsewhere if: Workloads requiring dedicated mobile carrier CGNAT modems or micro-transactions under $10.

Read Shifter Review →

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