Top 7 PacketStream Alternatives and Competitors

Introduction

There’s no doubt that PacketStream is a capable proxy provider, but like any other service, it has its own limitations and drawbacks.

For many users, the low $1/GB price tag is the main attraction. Yet once you start scraping at scale or need more advanced features, you will quickly notice some issues, including:

• Limited targeting options
• Inconsistent speeds
• Lack of proxy options beyond residential proxies

PacketStream still remains a popular residential proxy network thanks to its affordability. However, it’s not always the best fit for every use case. Let’s see why you may want to look for PacketStream alternatives and what options are out there.

TLDR: Top PacketStream Alternatives

For those of us in a hurry, here’s a quick comparison of the PacketStream alternatives we discussed:

Provider	IP Pool Size	Locations	Proxy Types	Targeting Options	Starting Price (Residential)	Best For
FloppyData	65M+ IPs	195+ countries	Residential, Mobile, Datacenter, ISP	Country, city, ASN	$1/GB	Best overall PacketStream alternative
SquidProxies	Not disclosed	10 countries	Datacenter, Residential	Country-level	$1.5/IP	Affordable datacenter proxies
NetNut	85M+ IPs	195 countries	Residential, Mobile, Datacenter	Country, state, city	$3.53/GB	Enterprise-grade scraping
Toolip	70M+ IPs	195 countries	Residential, Datacenter, ISP	Country-level	$3.80/GB	Simple interface with global IPs
ProxyMarket	22M+ IPs	100+ countries	Residential, Mobile, Datacenter, IPv6	Country-level only	$2/GB	Russian proxies at low cost
RapidSeedBox	6.9M+ IPs	100+ countries	Residential, Mobile, Datacenter	Country-level only	$3/GB	One-on-one support
Gologin	20M+ IPs	180 countries	Residential, Mobile, Datacenter	Country-level only	$7/GB	Integrated proxies for multi-account use

Brief overview of PacketStream

PacketStream is a unique peer-to-peer residential proxy network that allows users to share their bandwidth in exchange for earnings.

As a result, the company offers customers access to a large pool of real residential IP addresses at very low cost. PacketStream is built on a consent-based network, so all IPs are ethically sourced from users who opt in to earn money by sharing bandwidth.

The service then routes your web traffic through these real user IPs, helping bypass geo-blocks and giving you legitimate residential footprints online.

PacketStream is a pretty decent option regardless of whether you’re looking to buy or sell bandwidth. However, the service is arguably better for sellers, since selling bandwidth on PacketStream pays up to $0.10/GB, which rounds up to $15 per month for the average seller, though that’s outside the scope of proxy usage.

This peer-to-peer model also means that speeds and reliability are inconsistent, as performance depends on the peers’ internet connections.

Customer support is another area where PacketStream isn’t doing too great, unfortunately. At this time, you can only contact the company via email. No phone, live chat, or even a ticket system, which is quite underwhelming by today’s standards.

Pricing

The price is the main reason most people may want to consider joining this provider. PacketStream offers a very simple price of $1 per GB of bandwidth, which is very attractive to lots of budget-conscious users.

However, the caveat with PacketStream is that you can’t actually buy $1 worth of bandwidth to test things out before investing further. The minimum amount of bandwidth you can purchase is 50GB.

This is higher than many providers, who will let you start off for less than $50.

If you can’t spare $50 right away, you can request a free trial, but you’ll need to email support, and approval isn’t guaranteed.

Pros Vs. Cons

Pros	Cons
Reseller API to resell proxies	Only residential proxies
Affordable	Limited customer support
User friendly	Only rotating proxies
Clean, real-user IPs	Smaller IP pool
No city-level targeting
Inconsistent speeds

Top 7 PacketStream Alternatives

Having briefly looked at PacketStream, let’s explore seven top alternatives that offer improvements in various aspects like network size, proxy types, targeting options, support, and overall value.

1. Floppydata – Best Overall PacketStream Alternative

FloppyData is our top recommendation for users looking for PacketStream alternatives, and here’s why.

With FloppyData, you get access to a 65 million+ IP proxy infrastructure, backed by reliable uptime and fast performance. Their proxies are located in more than 195 locations, which is an impressive coverage.

FloppyData goes beyond PacketStream by offering datacenter, mobile, and ISP proxies, all accessible through a clean, user-friendly interface. The dashboard also includes built-in analytics, giving you real-time insights into your usage and spending, so you’re always in control.

Beyond proxy access, its high-quality proxy infrastructure enables users to collect clean, structured, real-time or historical web data. This data can be used to train LLMs, fine-tune models, or power AI agents.

When it comes to performance, FloppyData is best-in-class. With its improved pricing of $1 per GB, it now matches PacketStream while delivering up to 4x faster response times and some of the lowest fraud scores per GB of data in the industry.

But pricing aside, what really sets FloppyData apart is its premium network quality and advanced targeting. You can target proxies by country, region, city, and even ASN/ISP at no extra cost while scaling confidently for any size of project.

Key features

Features	Details
Total Available IPs	65+ million
Proxy Types	Residential, Mobile, Datacenter, ISP, Residential static (beta)
Geographic Distribution	195 countries
IP Targeting Features	Country, state, city
Unlimited bandwidth	Yes
Rotation Flexibility	Automatic/Sticky
Average response times	0.3s
ASN/Coordinates Targeting	Available
Supported Protocols	HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5
Customer Support	24/7 with live chat
Free Trial	No free trial, but low-cost entry
Aggregator rating	4.3

 

Pricing

FloppyData starts at just $1 per GB for residential and mobile proxies. There are no monthly minimums or subscriptions, and unused traffic never expires.

This pricing makes it one of the lowest-cost premium providers, undercutting many competitors while delivering far better performance than PacketStream. Let’s explore the pricing:

• Residential proxy: Starts at $1/GB
• Mobile proxy: Starts at $1/GB
• Datacenter proxy: Starts at $0.60/GB
• ISP Proxies: Starts at $5/IP

Pros Vs. Cons

Pros	Cons
Huge IP pool	No completely free tier
Very affordable pricing
Country, state and city level targeting
24/7 support and simple dashboard
Great for LLM training
Non-expiring bandwidth
All Proxy Types Supported

2. SquidProxies – Affordable Datacenter Proxies

If you’re looking for a datacenter proxy alternative to PacketStream, SquidProxies is a solid option.

The company has been in the proxy business since 2010 and has built one of the more extensive global datacenter proxy networks.

Unlike PacketStream, which only provides rotating residential IPs, SquidProxies does one better by providing static datacenter IP addresses for better session flexibility. They also provide shared datacenter proxies at lower cost if exclusivity isn’t a priority. However, the trade-off is that datacenter IPs are generally easier to detect compared to residential IPs.

SquidProxies also recently added residential proxies to its lineup, making it a more versatile option than before. The total IP pool is not publicly disclosed, but SquidProxies supports more than 40 locations worldwide.

While that’s a smaller spread compared to some providers like Floppydata, Netnut or even Packetstream, it’s usually sufficient if your target falls within those supported regions.

It’s not the most advanced service, but it’s reliable and budget-friendly enough for most basic proxy needs. We wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for big enterprises or collecting data for training LLMs, but if you’re someone who needs some cheap datacenter proxies for bypassing geographic restrictions, SquidProxies is worth considering

Key Features

Features	Details
Total Available IPs	Not publicly disclosed
Proxy Types	Datacenter & Residential proxies
Geographic Distribution	40+ locations across 10 countries
IP Targeting Features	Country and city-level on request
Unlimited bandwidth	No
Rotation Flexibility	Static & Rotating
Average response times	Fast only on datacenter proxies
ASN/Coordinates Targeting	Not supported
Supported Protocols	HTTP, HTTPS only
Free Trial	No (only enterprises)
Aggregator rating	4.7

 

Pricing

SquidProxies offers a limited free trial, but it’s only reserved for qualified business customers. To receive the trial, you must contact their sales team to discuss your use case and determine if you qualify.

The company also offers a 7-day money-back guarantee if the proxies don’t work for your purpose. However, this refund is conditional, as you need to demonstrate that there’s an unfixable technical issue.

Paid plans start at:

• Datacenter Proxies: $15 per month for 10 private proxies ($1.5 per IP)
• Residential Proxies: $15 per month for 15GB ($1 per GB)

Pros Vs. Cons

Pros	Cons
Great value	Fewer enterprise features
Easy to set up	Smaller IP pool
Long track record	Undisclosed IP size
Refund option available	No native AI integration
Responsive support	Fewer locations
Conditional free trial

3. NetNut – Enterprise-Grade Residential Proxies

NetNut is a high‐performance proxy solution offering 85 million residential IPs across 195 countries

NetNut provides a full-stack platform for acquiring, processing, and delivering web-scale data optimized for AI models, agents, and data pipelines. It includes proxy access, automated data extraction, and structured data delivery.

NetNut’s architecture is unique in its ability to provide rotating proxies with one-hop connectivity, preventing bottlenecks in the traffic flow. Using NetNut’s proxy infrastructure, you can power your own scrapers or even leverage their prebuilt datasets for a head start.

The company provides a professional dashboard with real-time usage stats, an API for pulling your proxy lists, and an account manager for business clients. This enterprise-focused approach makes it attractive to companies with large-scale data needs.

It’s worth noting that NetNut often provides a free trial to business users to let them evaluate the proxies. But as you’ve probably figured out, you need to contact their sales team and fill out a request, which may or may not be approved.

The downside of this enterprise focus is that their tools aren’t exactly plug-and-play, so you’ll likely need some technical experience to make the most of them.

If you’re looking for a NetNut alternative that offers more accessible pricing or a simpler setup, there are other solutions worth considering.

Key features

Features	Details
Total Available Residential IPs	85 million
Geographic Distribution	195 countries
IP Targeting Features	Country, State, City
ASN/Coordinates Targeting	Not supported
API integration	Yes
Customer Support	24/7 technical support
SOCKS5	Supported
Supported Protocols	HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS
Free Trial	7-day free trial
Aggregator rating	4.6

 

Pricing

• Rotating Residential: Starts at $3.53/GB
• Static Residential (ISP): Starts at $3.53/GB
• Mobile Proxies: Starts at $3.82/GB
• Datacenter Proxies: Starts at $0.45/GB

Pros Vs. Cons

Pros	Cons
One-hop architecture for better speed	Trial requires approval from sales
Global IP coverage	Not beginner-friendly
City-level targeting available	Higher entry pricing
Strong uptime and reliable support	Complex learning curve
Offers multiple proxy types

4. Toolip – Simple Proxy Service

Next up on the list of PacketStream alternatives is Toolip.

Toolip is super easy to set up, and its dashboard is quite simple and pleasing on the eye. The company also offers over 70 million proxies in more than 195 countries, which is quite impressive given it’s a newer provider.

Another feature that impressed us during testing was the range of proxy types available. Toolip offers Dedicated Datacenter Proxies, Rotating Residential Proxies, Shared Datacenter Proxies, Search Engine ISP Proxies, and Global ISP Proxies.

They also provide a 3-day free trial with 100MB of credits. You even get to choose the type of proxies you want for the trial, which is very commendable, as most providers just lock you into a single proxy type.

Every service has its drawbacks, and Toolip is no exception. We were quite disappointed by the provider’s lack of support channels, as there’s no live chat or phone option, just email. If you’ve ever gotten in a pickle before, you know how frustrating it gets when you need immediate help with time-sensitive projects.

Also, the Search Engine ISP Proxies are only available in the U.S. at the moment. If you’re targeting other countries, you might need to fall back on residential proxies, which can still get the job done but may come with slightly higher block risks.

Key Features

Features	Details
Total Available IPs	70 million
Proxy Types	Residential, ISP, Datacenter (Dedicated & Shared)
Geographic Distribution	195+ countries
Unlimited bandwidth	Available
Rotation Flexibility	Supports both rotating and static IPs
Refund policy	2-day refund window
ASN/Coordinates Targeting	Not available
Supported Protocols	HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5
Free Trial	100 MB for 3 days
Authentication	Username: Password
Aggregator rating	4.1

 

Pricing

Toolip is focused on professional-grade quality, and its pricing reflects that. While not the cheapest option, its reliability, feature depth, and proxy variety make it worth the price for serious users.

Toolip also supports weekly and monthly billing. Here’s a quick pricing breakdown:

• Dedicated Datacenter Proxies – starts at $3.2 per IP

• Rotating Residential Proxies – starts at $3.80 per GB

• Shared Datacenter Proxies – starts at $1 per IP

• Search Engine ISP Proxies – starts at $4.99 per IP

• Global ISP Proxies – starts at $2.99 per IP

Pros Vs. Cons

Pros	Cons
Huge IP pool of 70 million proxies	No live chat or phone support
Easy-to-use dashboard	Unproven at scale
Flexible weekly and monthly billing options	Lacks ASN targeting
3-day free trial	No native AI integration
Multiple proxy types

5. ProxyMarket – Affordable Russian Proxies

ProxyMarket is known for its cheap, high-quality russian proxies.

This provider claims an IP pool of over 22 million proxies, distributed across a specialized Russian proxy infrastructure. If you need Russian datacenter or mobile proxies, this is one of the best providers for the job.

ProxyMarket also offers highly competitive rates while also giving you access to various proxy types from a single platform. However, outside of Russia, ProxyMarket falls short when it comes to granular location targeting. While it supports many countries, most of them lack city-level precision.

Commendably, the platform offers a 100MB free test and also sells IPv6 proxies at very cheap rates. But the service lacks enterprise-grade features, and unless your workflow specifically demands Russian proxies, it may not be the right fit.

Key Features

Features	Details
Total Available IPs	22 million
Proxy Types	Residential, Mobile & Datacenter proxies
Geographic Distribution	100+ countries, strongest in Russia
IP Targeting Features	Country-level targeting only (limited city support)
Rotation Flexibility	rotating and static
Average response times	Fast in Russia, moderate globally
ASN/Coordinates Targeting	No
Supported Protocols	HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5
Free Trial	100MB free test
Aggregator rating	4.5

 

Pricing

• Datacenter proxies – $0.64 per month (10 IPs)
• Residential proxies – from $2/GB
• Mobile proxies – from $3.45/GB
• Mobile dedicated – from $15.33/IP

Pros Vs. Cons

Pros	Cons
Flexible rental terms	Limited city-level targeting outside Russia
Supports all major protocols	Mixed IP quality
Free test plan	Expensive mobile proxies
Excellent Russian Proxies	English support is sometimes slow
No ASN or ISP targeting
No unlimited bandwidth options

6. RapidSeedBox – High-Speed Proxies from a Seedbox Provider

RapidSeedbox might be a familiar name if you’ve used seedboxes (servers for torrenting), but they’ve expanded into the proxy market in recent years.

It’s a great PacketStream alternative if you value ease of use, straightforward pricing plans, and strong support.

RapidSeedBox provides residential, mobile, and datacenter proxies. Their residential proxy pool includes around 6.9 million IPs across 100 countries, which is solid for a provider that originally focused on seedboxes.

The company’s main selling point is user experience. RapidSeedBox offers a clean dashboard, plenty of tutorials, and even one-on-one support to help new customers get started with proxies.

They also advertise features like automatic IP rotation, unlimited concurrent sessions, and 24/7 customer support. You also get some peace of mind with a 24-hour money-back guarantee in case you don’t like the service

On the downside, RapidSeedBox is not transparent about its IP sourcing methods. The provider likely partners with other networks or resells access from larger proxy services. Also, there’s no free trial, so you’ll need to pay upfront to test the service.

Key Features

Features	Details
Total Available IPs	6.9 million residential IPs
Proxy Types	Residential, Mobile, Datacenter
Geographic Distribution	100+ countries
IP Targeting Features	Country-level only
Unlimited bandwidth	unavailable
Rotation Flexibility	Automatic rotation + sticky sessions
ASN/Coordinates Targeting	Not supported
Supported Protocols	HTTP/HTTPS, SOCKS5
Free Trial	None
Aggregator rating	4.5

 

Pricing

• Datacenter Proxies: From $0.9 /GB
• Residential Proxies: From $30 for 10 GB ($3/GB)
• Mobile Proxies: From $9 /GB

Pros Vs. Cons

Pros	Cons
Great for beginners	No free trial
Supports all major proxy types	Limited transparency on IP sourcing
24-hour money-back guarantee	Smaller IP pool
One-on-one support available	Lacks enterprise features
PAYG pricing	Unproven at scale
More expensive than budget providers

7. Gologin Proxies – Built-in Proxies for Anti-detect Browsers

Last on our list today is Gologin proxies

Gologin is popularly known as an anti-detect browser for multi-account management. It also offers its own proxy service integrated into its browser, called Gologin Proxies.

Many PacketStream users are involved in things like social media management, e-commerce account creation, or web automation, which are basically scenarios where you might run multiple accounts and need each to have a fresh residential IP.

Gologin recognized this and started offering proxies directly in their app. The main advantage here is convenience. If you’re already using Gologin’s anti-detect browser, the built-in proxies mean you don’t need a separate subscription or to copy-paste proxy credentials.

But you’re probably wondering if these proxies will work outside the app. The short answer is yes. Gologin proxies can be used externally; just copy the credentials and use them wherever you need.

That said, the drawbacks are the lack of enterprise-grade features and performance. Gologin proxies aren’t the fastest solution, and they don’t yet match the advanced targeting or scale of dedicated proxy providers.

Key Features

Features	Details
Total Available IPs	20 million
Proxy Types	Residential, Mobile, Datacenter
Geographic Distribution	180+ countries
IP Targeting Features	Country-level only
Unlimited bandwidth	Not supported
Rotation Flexibility	Rotating + static options
ASN/Coordinates Targeting	Not supported
Supported Protocols	HTTP/HTTPS, SOCKS5
Free Trial	Not available

 

Pricing

• Residential Proxies – From $7 per GB
• Mobile Proxies – From $8 per GB
• Datacenter Proxies – From $2 per GB

Pros Vs. Cons

Pros	Cons
Integrated directly into the Gologin browser	No free trial
Clean UI	Expensive pricing
Large pool of 20M IPs	Limited ASN/city-level targeting
Supports all major proxy types	Lacks enterprise-grade scalability
Proxies work both inside and outside the app	Performance can be average
Lack of usage analytics

Final Thoughts

When you come across a $1/GB proxy like PacketStream, it’s easy to get pulled in by the price tag. But if you’re serious about scraping, automation, or scaling your proxy usage, you’ll quickly detect its insufficiency.

The alternatives we’ve reviewed show that you don’t have to trade off reliability or premium features to stay within budget.

If you want a provider that combines cost efficiency with scale, coverage, and premium performance, then look no further than FloppyData. Sign up today and start scraping in minutes.

FAQ