What Is a SOCKS5 Proxy?
A SOCKS5 proxy is a versatile proxy server that operates at a lower level than traditional HTTP proxies, making it capable of routing various types of traffic, including TCP, UDP, HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP. This adaptability makes SOCKS5 proxies ideal for a wide range of applications, such as online gaming, P2P file sharing, and other non-web-based activities.
Unlike HTTP proxies, which are limited to web traffic, SOCKS5 proxies can manage any type of network traffic, offering greater flexibility and control. Additionally, SOCKS5 proxies include native support for authentication, enhancing security and enabling users to securely access restricted content or services.
In 2025, this functionality continues to make SOCKS5 proxies a preferred choice for users seeking reliable and versatile proxy solutions.
SOCKS5 Proxy IP Types
There are four possible SOCKS5 proxy IP types:
- Residential proxies: Rotating IPs from real-world devices connected to local networks. They offer a high level of reliability as they appear as regular IP addresses from a specific location. This is the most common type of SOCKS5 proxy.
- Datacenter proxies: They use IP addresses coming from servers in datacenters. They are fast and cheap but are less effective.
- ISP proxies: Static IPs from residential devices that have been registered to ISP providers. They are fast and reliable, but there are only a few IPs available.
- Mobile proxies: Rotating IPs from mobile devices connected to local cellular networks. They are very reliable and effective but more expensive than other types of proxies.
Given a type of SOCKS5 proxy, you can use it with any protocol of the transport layer or higher. At the same time, keep in mind that some providers open only ports 80 and 443, allowing SOCKS proxy servers to work only with HTTP and HTTPS traffic. This makes their SOCKS proxies more or less the same as HTTP proxies.
When To Use SOCKS5 Proxies
Here are seven common use cases for SOCKS5 proxies:
- IP protection: Browse the internet anonymously, hiding your real IP address and location.
- Accessing geo-restricted content: Access content or websites blocked in your region by using a connection through a server in a different location.
- Web scraping and crawling: Gather data from websites without being blocked or identified by anti-scraping measures.
- Gaming: Improve gaming performance and reduce latency by choosing proxy servers where gaming servers are located.
- Torrenting: Add an extra layer of anonymity and security while downloading or sharing files through peer-to-peer networks.
Elements to Consider When Evaluating SOCKS5 Proxy Providers
To compare the best SOCKS5 proxy providers on the market, you need to focus on some key elements. These are:
Features:
The capabilities offered by the provider to improve the developer experience and all products that complement its proposal.- Proxy Types: The types of SOCKS5 proxies supported by the provider.
- Open Ports: The server ports that users can connect to via the SOCKS protocol.
Proxy Network:
The number of IPs available and in which location.
Pricing:
The trial and/or refund policy, and the cost of SOCKS IPs. The prices will refer to the plans labeled as “most common” by the provider.
- Concurrency: The number of concurrent requests or sessions you can make to the same proxy server.
- Uptime: The proxy server availability guaranteed by the provider.
- Customers and partners: The provider’s number of customers and a list of its partners.
- Customer support: The willingness to help customers, what contact channels the provider offers, and when these are available.
- Ethics: If the provider discourages illegal activities with a KYC (Know Your Customer) process and complies with data privacy regulations. Another important aspect is their commitment to social causes through nonprofit initiatives.
- Reliability: What paying users think of the service they receive and the awards won by the provider.
Best SOCKS5 Proxy Providers of 2025
Explore the top 8 SOCKS5 proxy services listed and judged based on the aforementioned aspects. Which will be the best SOCKS5 proxy provider? Discover it soon!
Refer to the table below for a quick comparison of the best proxy providers for SOCKS5:
| Provider Name |
|---|
| Bright Data |
| Decodo (Smartproxy) |
| IPRoyal |
| Oxylabs |
| Geonode |
| NetNut |
| PrivateProxy |
| Rayobyte |
| Features | Free Trial | SOCKS5 Proxy Types | Open Ports | Proxy Network | Number of Customers | Customer Support | Ethics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Many | ✅ | Residential, datacenter, mobile, ISP | Only 80 and 443 by default | 150M IPs from 195 countries | 20,000+ | Exceptional | Exceptional |
| Many | ✅ (for residential proxies) | Residential, datacenter, mobile | Various | 55M IPs from 195 countries | Undisclosed | Great | Great |
| Regular | ❌ | Residential, datacenter, mobile, ISP | Any | 32M IPs from 195 countries | Undisclosed | Great | Good |
| Many | ✅ | Residential, datacenter, mobile, ISP | Only TCP or UDP | 100M IPs from 195 countries | 3,500+ | Great | Exceptional |
| Regular | ❌ | Residential, datacenter, mobile | Any | Undisclosed IPs from 160 countries | 1,000+ | Good | Good |
| Many | ✅ | Residential, datacenter, mobile, ISP | Undisclosed | 52M IPs from 195 countries | 2,700+ | Exceptional | Good |
| Very Few | ✅ | Static residential, static datacenter | Any | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | Great | Great |
| Regular | ✅ (only for residential proxies) | Datacenter, ISP | Any | Hundreds of thousands of IPs from 4 countries | Undisclosed | Good | Good |
1. Bright Data
Bright Data has one of the largest, fastest, most reliable, and ethical proxy networks in the world. No wonder it has been the market leader in proxies since 2014.
The provider offers SOCKS5 proxies of all types, but you can only use them through its Proxy Manager. Plus, these proxies support only ports 80 and 443. In other words, they can only route HTTP and HTTPS traffic. To gain access to additional ports, you must go through a dedicated compliance process.
Features:
- Proxy management dashboard in multiple languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and
- Chinese
- Extensive documentation for technical users
- Help center for non-technical users
- All-in-one scraping tools such as Web Scraper IDE, SERP API, Scraping Browser, and Web Unlocker
- 100% uptime feature
- Proxy Manager desktop application to manage proxies at the operating system level
- Browser extensions
- Fully configurable sticky sessions
- IP rotation capabilities
- Two-factor authentication, Google and Okta SSO, and passwordless login
Proxy Types:
- Residential proxies
- Datacenter proxies
- ISP proxies
- Mobile proxies
Proxy Network:
- 150M+ residential IPs in 195 countries
- 1.6M+ datacenter IPs in 98 countries
- 700k+ ISP IPs in 35 countries
- 7M+ mobile IPs in 195 countries
Open Ports: Only 80 and 433 by default
Pricing:
- 7-day free trial
- SOCKS5 residential proxies: Starting at $6.30/GB
- SOCKS5 datacenter proxies: Starting at $0.066/GB
- SOCKS5 ISP proxies: Starting at $9/GB
- SOCKS5 mobile proxies: Starting at $14.40/GB
Concurrency: Unlimited
Uptime: 99.99%
Customers and Partners:
- Number of customers: More than 20,000
- Partners: Microsoft, McDonald’s, United Nations, EPSON, Statista, Shopee, Columbia University, and many others
Customer Support:
- 24/7 live chat, ticketing, and email support
- Sales inquiries to help you find the right plan for your needs
- Dedicated account manager for enterprises
Ethics:
- Strict KYC procedure with ID card verification
- GDP, CCPA, and ISO 27001 compliant
- Users who do not use the proxies ethically are banned
- NGOs, NPOs, and academic institutions have pro bono access to the proxies via Bright Initiative
Reliability:
- Trustpilot score: 4.5/5
- G2 score: 4.6/5
- Many awards from Capterra and G2
To learn more about Bright Data proxy services, read our full Bright Data review.
2. Decodo (Smartproxy)
Decodo (Smartproxy) has recently added to its offerings all types of SOCKS5 proxy servers, except for ISP proxies. Datacenter proxies are usually the cheaper option, but this is not the case since only dedicated servers support SOCKS5.
Although its network is not the largest, the additional features, free trial, and multi-language customer support add much value to the experience. Note that no KYC is required to get started with SOCKS5 proxes.
Features:
- Extensive documentation for both technical and non-technical users
- Free webinars with guides on how proxies work and why to use them
- Many services at an additional fee, including Social Media Scraping API, SERP Scraping API,
- eCommerce Scraping API, No-Code Scraper, and Scraping API
- Proxy Chrome and Firefox browser extensions
- Free proxy checker to verify the quality of a proxy server
- Free Proxy URL generator
- Sticky sessions of 1, 10, or 30 mins and IP rotation
- Google SSO login
Proxy Types:
- Residential proxies
- Datacenter proxies
- Mobile proxies
Proxy Network:
- 55M+ residential IPs in 195+ countries
- 400k+ dedicated datacenter IPs in 6+ countries
- 10M+ mobile IPs in 130+ countries
Open Ports: For “various types of traffic, such as TCP, UDP, SMTP, and FTP”
Pricing:
- 3-day free trial for residential proxies
- 14-day money-back option
- SOCKS5 residential proxies: Starting at $7/GB
- SOCKS5 datacenter proxies: Starting at $2.5/IP
- SOCKS5 mobile proxies: Starting at $15/GB
Concurrency: Unlimited
Uptime: 99.99%
Customers and Partners:
- Number of customers: Undisclosed
- Partners: Undisclosed
Customer Support:
- 24/7 live chat in English
- Support also in Chinese
- Sales inquiries to help you find the right plan for your needs
- Dedicated account manager for enterprises
Ethics:
- KYC at Decodo’s discretion only for suspected fraudulent users
- GDPR and CCPA compliant
- Part of the EWDCI (Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative) group
Reliability:
- Trustpilot score: 4.7/5
- G2 score: 4.6/5
- A few Proxyway awards
To learn more about Decodo (Smartproxy), read our full Decodo (Smartproxy) review.
3. IPRoyal
IPRoyal has a good pool of real SOCKS5 proxies, especially with regard to residential IPs. SOCKS5 support is very important for the company, which mentions it in all pricing tables on this site.
Compared with other providers, the pricing model is quite unique. Another peculiar aspect is Discord support. The recent introduction of KYC systems is certainly positive, but the lack of a truly free trial is still a major limitation.
Features:
- Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox
- Proxy tester to make sure that a server is working
- IP rotation with sticky sessions available
- Accept payments in Bitcoin
- Two-factor authentication login
Proxy Types:
- Residential proxies
- Datacenter proxies
- ISP proxies
- Mobile proxies
Proxy Network:
- 32M+ residential IPs in 195 countries
- Undisclosed number of datacenter IPs in 15+ countries
- Undisclosed number of ISP IPs in 20+ countries
- 2.5M+ mobile IPs in 5 countries
Open Ports: Any
Pricing:
- Trial proxies starting a $1.39 /proxy
- No refunds
- SOCSK5 residential proxies: Starting at $1.75/proxy
- SOCSK5 datacenter proxies: Starting at $7/GB
- SOCSK5 ISP proxies: Starting at $1.8/proxy
- SOCSK5 mobile proxies: Starting at $7 per day
Concurrency: Unlimited
Uptime: 99.9%
Customers and Partners:
- Number of customers: Undisclosed
- Partners: Undisclosed
Customer Support:
- 24/7/365 live chat, email, and Discord support
- Technical support
Ethics:
- Identity verification required for datacenter, static residential, and sneaker proxies
- GDPR and CCPA compliant
Reliability:
- Trustpilot score: 4.7/5
- G2 score: 4.4/5
- Many awards from sites like Crozdesk, Sectigo, SoftwareSuccess, G2, and others
To learn more about IPRoyal proxy services, read our full IPRoyal review.
4. Oxylabs
Oxylabs comes with SOCSK5 proxies, but these are limited to TCP or UPD traffic only. In detail, you cannot use them for routing any type of traffic from a shared server. The price is not the lowest and considering their free trial policy, it is clear that the provider is targeting businesses.
Although ISP and mobile proxies also support SOCKS5, these are not mentioned on the SOCKS5 proxy landing page. That raises some questions about the quality of the SOCKS5 experience with those types of proxies.
Features:
- Free webinars and guides to learn more about proxies
- Proxy management user dashboard
- Extensive documentation for technical users and non-technical users
- Datasets and Scraping APIs at an additional fee
- Configurable IP rotation with also sticky sessions
- Free geo-targeting
- Google SSO login
Proxy Types:
- Residential proxies
- Datacenter proxies
- ISP proxies
- Mobile proxies
Proxy Network:
- 100M+ residential IPs in 195 countries
- 2M+ dedicated datacenter IPs in 188 countries
- 360k+ ISP IPs in 20+ countries
- 10M+ mobile IPs in 130+ countries
Open Ports: Only TCP connections on residential SOCKS5 proxies and both TCP and UDP for dedicated datacenter proxies
Pricing:
- 7-day free for verified companies
- 3-day money-back guarantee for individual
- SOCKS5 residential proxies: Starting at $10/GB
- SOCKS5 datacenter proxies: Starting at $50/month
- SOCKS5 ISP proxies: Starting at $340/month
- SOCKS5 mobile proxies: Starting at $22/GB
Concurrency: Unlimited
Uptime: 99.9%
Customers and Partners:
- Number of customers: More than 3,500 globally
- Partners: Trivago, SEON, Debunk.org, Shopee, Rightlander, Boltive, and others
Customer Support:
- 24/7 live chat and email support
Ethics:
- KYC procedures applied to all customers
- GDPR, CCPA, ISO/IEC 27001:2017 compliant
- Pro bono access for researchers and academics through project 4β
Reliability:
- Trustpilot score: 4.8/5
- G2 score: 4.5/5
- A few awards from G2 and Proxyway
To learn more about Oxylabs proxy services, read our full Oxylabs review.
5. Geonode
Geonode is a low-cost SOCKS5 proxy provider that features several types of proxies. Even though SOCKS5 ISPs are not currently available, the provider recently announced that they will be added soon to the pool.
One of the main advantages of this provider is that its SOCKS5 proxies appear to support any port, and are not limited only to 80 and 443 traffic. However, a paid trial and a questionable refund policy do not help Geonode reach top positions. At least, it offers some useful free tools to get started with proxies.
Features:
- Free proxy list
- Free proxy IP verifier
- Scraping API and Site Unlocker available at a cost
- High-level documentation for non-technical users
- Rotating and sticky IPs
Proxy Types:
- Residential proxies
- Datacenter proxies
- Mobile proxies
Proxy Network:
- Undisclosed number of residential IPs in 160+ countries
- Undisclosed of datacenter IPs in 160+ countries
- Undisclosed number of mobile ISP IPs in 3+ countries
Open Ports: Any
Pricing:
- 3-day trial for $9
- Limited refund policy
- SOCKS5 residential proxies: Starting at $99/month ($4/GB)
- SOCKS5 datacenter proxies: Starting at $1/GB
- SOCKS5 mobile proxies: Starting at $9.99/GB
Concurrency: Limited
Uptime: 99%
Customers and Partners:
- Number of customers: 1,000+
- Partners: Sea, Plurral, Naturlife, and others
Customer Support:
- 24/7 support via email
Ethics:
- KYC required for all users
- GDPR ready
Reliability:
- Trustpilot score: 4.7/5
- G2 score: —
- No awards
To learn more about Geonode proxy services, read our full Geonode review.
6. Webshare
Webshare is a reliable and affordable proxy provider offering a wide range of options for businesses and individuals. Over 80 million residential IPs are available, covering up to 195 locations, ensuring high-speed proxies for web scraping, market research, and bypassing geo-restrictions. The provider offers various proxy types, including residential, ISP, and datacenter proxies, each optimized for seamless integration and efficient data collection. Key features include automatic proxy rotation, sticky sessions, and location-based IP targeting, making it easy to gather regional data.
The SOCKS5 protocol is supported for secure and anonymous browsing. Webshare provides flexible, high-performance services suitable for both small and large-scale projects. Whether for simple tasks or large-scale data collection projects, Webshare delivers fast and reliable proxies to meet your needs.
Features:
- Proxy management dashboard available in multiple languages
- Extensive documentation for both technical and non-technical users
- 24/7 support via email and live chat
- API access for seamless integration
- Unlimited concurrent connections
- Geolocation targeting options including city, ASN, and ZIP code
- No expiration on purchased traffic
- 100% uptime guarantee
- High-speed performance with fast response times
Proxy Types:
- Residential proxies
- Datacenter proxies
- ISP proxies
- Mobile proxies
Proxy Network:
- 80 million residential IPs in 195 countries
- Datacenter IPs and ISP IPs with scalable options
- SOCKS5 protocol support
Pricing:
- Residential proxies: Starting at $3.5 for 1 GB
- Datacenter proxies: Starting at $3 for 100 IPs ($20.08/IP)
- ISP proxies: Starting at $8 for 20 IPs ($0.9/IP)
Performance:
- Uptime: 99.9%
- Response time: Ultra-fast for seamless usage
- Concurrency: Unlimited
Support:
- 24/7 email and live chat support
- Dedicated account managers for larger projects
- Comprehensive documentation and user guides
Ethics:
- Proxies are provided with ethical and legal compliance
- Clear terms of service to ensure responsible usage
Reliability:
- Trustpilot score: 4.3/5
- G2 score: 4.8/5
Proven track record in providing secure and stable proxy services
To learn more about Geonode proxy services, read our full Webshare review.
7. Infatica
Infatica offers affordable, high-quality proxies designed for businesses. It provides a variety of SOCKS5 proxies, including residential, mobile, and rotating datacenter options. The large proxy pool ensures stable performance, even during high traffic. Infatica is recognized for its responsive customer support, which benefits companies with complex needs. The service is scalable and reliable, making it an ideal choice for businesses seeking easy-to-use proxies. Infatica delivers consistent performance, making it a great option for enterprises needing robust proxy solutions and excellent customer service.
Features:
- 24/7 customer support via chat, email, and tickets
- Comprehensive API for easy integration
- Free 3-day trial for $1.99
- Proxy management tools for enterprise needs
- Residential, mobile, and datacenter proxies with SOCKS5 support
- Flexible proxy rotation options, with sticky sessions between 5 and 60 minutes
- Bulk pricing available for enterprises
- Location targeting by country, city, or ASN
- Transparent pricing with no hidden fees
Proxy Types:
- Residential proxies
- Datacenter proxies
- Mobile proxies
Proxy Network:
- 15 million residential IPs across 100+ locations
- 5 million mobile IPs in 50 locations
- 5,000 datacenter IPs with US focus
Pricing:
- Residential proxies: Starting at $4 for 1 GB
- Datacenter proxies: Starting at $15 for 5 IPs ($3/IP)
- Mobile proxies: Starting at $8 for 1 GB
- Flexible pricing based on volume and usage
Uptime: 99.9%
Support:
- 24/7 support through chat, email, and tickets
- API access
- No setup fee for new accounts
- Dedicated support for enterprise clients
Ethics:
- Transparent usage policies for business clients
- Adherence to global privacy and data protection standards
Reliability:
- 99% uptime
- Rotating proxy configurations available for increased reliability
Trustworthy infrastructure with competitive speeds for business use
To learn more about Geonode proxy services, read our full Infatica review.
Are the Best SOCKS5 Proxies Expensive?
As you must have noticed, proxy providers typically offer one plan per proxy IP type. Then, you usually pay a fixed monthly subscription, per GB of usage, or per proxy. Because of the different nature of these offerings, providing a general response to the question is difficult.
At the same time, we can say that SOCKS5 proxies range in price from under $10/GB to hundreds of dollars per month. After all, this is not much relative to the benefits they introduce.
What is important to highlight is that prices generally decrease as GB volume goes up, making larger projects more cost-effective. Enterprises may also qualify for special deals and personalized plans. Contact the sales team for further details.
Final Considerations
While most proxy providers in 2025 focus on HTTP proxies, only a few also offer SOCKS proxy servers.
In this guide, you explored the versatility of SOCKS proxies and the critical factors to consider when selecting the best providers. Rather than investing your time and money testing them individually, we’ve done the comparison for you, simplifying your decision-making process!
SOCKS5 FAQs
SOCKS5 proxies rely on the SOCKS protocol, allowing various types of traffic to be routed. Some supported protocols worth mentioning are TCP, UDP, FTP, POP, IMAP, HTTP, and HTTPS. Instead, HTTP proxies are only limited to web traffic. SOCKS5 provides more versatility, while HTTP proxies are restricted to HTTP and HTTPS requests.
Using a SOCKS5 proxy is legal in that it only involves routing traffic through a proxy server. However, legality issues may arise if you adopt the SOCKS5 proxy service to perform illegal actions. This is why it is important to choose transparent providers with KYC procedures, especially when dealing with shared servers.
A shared SOCKS5 proxy is used by multiple users simultaneously, sharing the same IP address. In contrast, a private SOCKS5 proxy is exclusively assigned to one user, ensuring full control over its usage. Private SOCKS5 proxies offer higher reliability and performance but come at a higher cost compared to shared proxies.
IPRoyal works fine for basic needs, but I did hit a few flagged IPs which interrupted my workflow. Not ideal for time-sensitive projects
I’ve heard SOCKS5 proxies are great for gaming. Has anyone here used them for reducing lag or avoiding IP bans?
I’m using SOCKS5 proxies for COD, and Fortnite, they can definitely help reduce lag if you pick a provider with low latency servers. Its mostly effective for avoiding IP bans, and strict region locks like PUBG or Genshin Impact.