India is a rapidly growing economy with a significant digital presence of over a billion active users. Indian culture is more popular than ever, especially considering how popular Bollywood movies have become. Startups and companies are increasingly interested in this thriving market as well. How can you access the Indian network like a local without moving there? Through India proxies!
In this guide, you will understand what India proxies are, when they come in handy, and then explore the top India proxy providers of the year.
What Are India Proxies?
India proxies, or IN proxies, are proxy servers located within the Indian Internet network infrastructure. They channel your web traffic through servers based in India, making it appear as if your device is connected to a local Indian Wi-Fi.
Here is how an India proxy works:
- A user sends a request for a webpage or online content to access a specific website via an India proxy.
- The request is initially directed to the proxy server located in India.
- The proxy server transmits the request to the target website on the user’s behalf.
- The target website’s server replies with the requested data to the proxy server.
- The proxy server then relays the response back to the user.
This way, the destination site will believe that the request is coming from an Indian IP and location.
When To Use IN Proxies?
These are some of the most common use cases for India proxies:
- Watch Bollywood content: Most Bollywood movies and shows are restricted to viewers in India, and only available on platforms like Hotstar, ZEE5, SonyLIV, or Netflix India. To access them, such as popular TV channels like Star Plus and Colors TV, you can use an IN proxy to geolocate yourself in India.
- Explore local e-commerce sites: Explore deals, products, and services on Indian e-commerce platforms like Flipkart, Amazon India, and Myntra. This is useful for collecting data and performing market research.
- Access Indian sports streaming services: Watch cricket matches and other sports events broadcasted exclusively on Indian platforms via a proxy.
- Take advantage of deals for online courses on educational platforms: Harness region-specific deals for educational content and courses offered to Indian users.
Best India Proxy Providers
Time to unveil the top 6 India proxy providers, exploring what they offer and analyzing their pros and cons.
Want to know which are the best proxy providers for India? Jump ahead and take a look at the summary table below:
Proxy Provider | IN IPs | Proxy Types | Free Trial |
Bright Data | 5.4M+ | Residential proxies Datacenter proxies ISP proxies Mobile proxies | Yes |
Oxylabs | 6.9M+ | Residential proxies Datacenter proxies ISP proxies Mobile proxies | Yes |
IPRoyal | 1.7M+ | Residential proxies Datacenter proxies ISP proxies Mobile proxies | No |
Smartproxy | 9.4M+ | Residential proxies Mobile proxies | Yes |
ProxyEmpire | 885K+ | Residential proxies Datacenter proxies Mobile proxies | No |
Infatica | 100K+ | Residential proxies | No |
1. Bright Data
As the leading proxy provider in the market, Bright Data India’s proxy network is also one of the most reliable and fastest. It covers all types of proxy servers, including residential, mobile, ISP, and datacenter servers. These expose more than 5.4 million IN IPs that users can access through city and ZIP code level targeting. A free trial is available for all plans.
π Pros:
– More than 5,400,000 IN IPs
– Support for residential proxies, mobile proxies, ISP proxies, and datacenter proxies
– City and ZIP code geo-targeting
– Highly scalable India proxy infrastructure optimized for web scraping
– Pay-as-you-go plans and free trials
π Cons:
– Undisclosed number of covered Indian cities
Learn more about Bright Data in our full Bright Data review.
2. Oxylabs
Oxylabs controls a large proxy network in India covering all four types of proxies, including also SOCKS5 and static proxies. Residential proxies can be tested with a free trial by both individual users and companies.
π Pros:
– Almost 7,000,000 IN IPs
– Support for residential proxies, mobile proxies, ISP proxies, and datacenter proxies
– ASN, ZIP, city, state, and country targeting
– Support for SOCK5 proxies
– Thousands of datacenter proxies from India
π Cons:
– Only 656 IPs in New Delhi
– Cheapest non-pay-as-you-go residential proxy plan costs over $100/mo
Read our full Oxylabs review to learn more about Oxylabs
3. IPRoyal
IPRoyal has an Indian proxy network that provides over 1.7 million IN IPs and covers over 423 cities. This extensive infrastructure of servers supports SOCKS5 traffic and includes all types of proxies. At the same time, the provider does not offer a free trial or refund policy.
π Pros:
– Over 1,700,000 IPs in India
– More than 420 cities
– Support for residential proxies, mobile proxies, ISP proxies, and datacenter proxies
– Support for HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5
– List of covered Indian cities publicly available on the site
π Cons:
– Undisclosed success rate
– No free trial or refund policy
Learn more about IPRoyal in our IPRoyal review.
4. Smartproxy
Smartproxy provides the largest residential proxy network in India in terms of number of IPs. This infrastructure includes only residential and mobile IPs, with no datacenter or ISP proxies. The provider offers a free trial option, and you can take advantage of a money-back guarantee.
π Pros:
– Over 9,400,000 India residential IPs
– 14-day money-back option and 3-day free trial
– Up to 30 min sticky sessions
– HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 traffic
– 99.99% uptime
π Cons:
– No datacenter proxies or static residential proxies in India
– No IPv6 support
Want to learn more about Smartproxy? Read our Smartproxy review
5. ProxyEmpire
The ProxyEmpire provider offers more than 885k IN IPs from residential, datacenter, and mobile proxies. Users can use these proxy servers for various purposes, such as web scraping and ad verification. The trial costs $1.97, so it is not free.
π Pros:
– Over 885,000 India IPs
– 5+ major Indian cities covered
– Focus on bot detection bypass
– Pay-as-you-go plans available
– 4.7/5 on Trustpilot and 5/5 on G2.com
π Cons:
– No ISP proxies in India
– No free trial
6. Infatica
Infatica controls an Indian proxy network that spans over 15 cities and has over 100,000 IPs. These contain only residential IN proxies, with no support for ISP or datacenter proxies. You can try these proxies with a $1.99 trial to get 100 MB of traffic to spend over 3 days of service.
π Pros:
– Over 100k India IPs
– 15+ Indian cities available
– 99.9% uptime
– Configurable sticky IP sessions
– Strict no-bot policy to ensure clean IP addresses
π Cons:
– No mobile, datacenter, or ISP proxies
– No free trial
Learn more about Infatica in our full Infatica review.
Final Thoughts
In this guide, you had the opportunity to find out which the best India proxy providers are. In detail, you learned what IN proxies are, how they work, and when they are useful. Now you know that Bright Data, Oxylabs, IPRoyal, Smartproxy, ProxyEmpire, and Infatica are the six best proxy providers in India.
An India proxy server is a server situated in India that serves as a middleman between your device and the internet. It provides anonymity, helps bypass geo-restrictions and access blocked content, facilitates web scraping, and allows for the enforcement of content filtering policies.
Yes, it is generally legal to buy India proxies. India proxies are commonly used for legitimate purposes such as enhancing online privacy, improving security, and accessing geo-restricted content. However, using proxies for illegal activities may violate laws or terms of service. Itβs important to ensure that your use of proxies complies with all applicable regulations.
Using free India proxies is not recommended due to several risks and limitations. Free proxies often lack security, making your data vulnerable to hackers, malware, and tracking. They may also have slow speeds, unreliable connections, and limited server options. Additionally, some free proxies log your activity and sell your data to third parties. For better security, privacy, and performance, it’s safer to use a reputable paid proxy service.
Im using Iproyal proxies for my scraping projects in India for a few months now. Most days they work fine, but I noticed that there are occasional slow periods that force me to adjust my scraping schedule. Itβs not perfect but it generally gets the job done.
Accessing Indian websites from abroad is difficult with the increasing restrictions and geo-blocks. I noticed that even some proxies struggle with CAPTCHAs and verification prompts. Finding a reliable Indian IP that works smoothly for long sessions is getting trickier.