Best SOCKS5 Proxies of 2025

Whether you’re new to using proxies or looking to upgrade, this guide will help you navigate the world of SOCKS5 proxies and enhance your online experience.

In a hurry? Here is a list of the top SOCKS5 proxies and their advantages:

Bright Data: Vast proxy pool, excellent targeting, high success rates, flexible pricing.
Smartproxy: Large pools, global locations, great support, user-friendly tools.
Webshare: Strong infrastructure, powerful API, customizable, reasonable prices.
Oxylabs: Premium proxies, large pool, high success rates, excellent support.
IPRoyal: Affordable, flexible types, large pools, city-level targeting.

What Is a SOCKS5 Proxy?

SOCKS stands for “socket secure.” It’s an internet protocol that lets one device send data to another through a third device. This third device is called a SOCKS server or a SOCKS proxy.

SOCKS proxies are versatile and can handle nearly any protocol, program, or type of traffic. Whether you’re dealing with webpages, email, torrents, video streaming, or games, SOCKS proxies can manage it all. They were designed to be a comprehensive proxy solution for various online activities.

How Does a SOCKS5 Proxy Work?

A SOCKS5 proxy server routes your connection through itself using a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection. While doing this, it hides your real IP address and location, similar to a regular proxy server.

Comparing SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 Proxies

SOCKS5 is an updated version of the protocol with several important features. It offers more authentication options, supports IPv6 addresses, allows remote DNS queries, and works with both UDP and TCP protocols. These features are especially useful for activities like video streaming and gaming, where real-time data transfer is crucial. If these tasks are your focus, SOCKS5 proxies are the better choice. They also support user

authentication, simplifying the setup process.

SOCKS Proxies vs. HTTP Proxies

HTTP proxies are designed to work with HTTP(S) protocols, mainly for websites. They usually have only ports 80 and 443 open, limiting them to web traffic.

In contrast, SOCKS proxies are more versatile. They can handle various types of data and unblock content. However, ensure your provider has the necessary ports open. Some providers restrict their SOCKS proxies to only ports 80 and 443, making them function like HTTP proxies.

Choosing the right SOCKS5 proxy provider can significantly enhance your online experience. Whether you need it for streaming, gaming, or web scraping, the best providers offer reliable and secure connections. Here are the top five SOCKS5 proxy providers that stand out for their performance, features, and user satisfaction.

1. Bright Data

Bright Data is a top-notch proxy provider offering SOCKS5 with its residential, datacenter, ISP, and mobile proxies. It has a vast proxy pool with excellent targeting and filtering options.

Bright Data maintains a reliable proxy network, ensuring impressive performance. Most services have a high success rate and quick response times.

The provider stands out for its numerous features, customization options, and proxy management tools, like the open-source Proxy Manager. If other providers lack something, you’ll likely find it with Bright Data.

Pricing with Bright Data is flexible. You can choose monthly plans or pay as you go. However, expect to pay slightly above the market rate for this premium experience. Some features might also cost extra. Bright Data is ideal if you need a versatile and reliable SOCKS5 proxy provider.

Key Features:

Locations: Available in up to 195 locations.
Extras: API, Proxy Manager, browser extension, extensive documentation.
Free Trial: 7-day free trial for businesses; includes up to 15 datacenter IPs and 2 GB/month for free.

Pricing:

Starts from: Residential — $5.29 for 1 GB, Datacenter — $0.069/GB + $0.5/IP, ISP — $9.75 for 1 GB + $0.5/IP, Mobile — $5.29 for 1 GB.

2. Smartproxy

Smartproxy offers residential, dedicated datacenter, and mobile IPs with SOCKS5 support. It stands out for its award-winning customer support, detailed documentation, and user-friendly proxy management tools, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced users.

Smartproxy has large residential and mobile proxy pools with global locations. The proxies rotate with each request, but you can hold sticky sessions for up to 30 minutes. Dedicated datacenter addresses are available only in the US.

Performance-wise, Smartproxy offers an almost perfect success rate and fast response times. Its robust infrastructure is maintained at mid-range prices, providing good value.

However, the datacenter proxies have some limitations, such as fewer location options and targeting features. Despite this, Smartproxy remains a reliable choice for anyone needing versatile and efficient SOCKS5 proxies.

Key Features:

Location: More than 195 countries

Extras: API, browser extension, anti-detect browser, extensive documentation

Free Trial: 3-day trial for residential, 14-day money-back option for datacenter and mobile

Pricing:

Starts from $7 per GB for Residential, $2.50 per IP for Datacenter (minimum 3 IPs), and $8 per GB for Mobile.

3. Webshare

Webshare offers residential, ISP (shared and dedicated), and datacenter (shared and dedicated) proxies with SOCKS5 support. The prices are reasonable, and the service includes a powerful API and excellent user experience.

Webshare’s IPs cover from 20 to 195 countries, depending on the product. They provide lists of static addresses, with the option to rotate proxies with each connection request. You can also set the list to refresh automatically every five minutes.

Webshare stands out with its strong infrastructure. Its datacenter and ISP proxies are fast and stable. The self-service model gives you full control over your subscription. You can choose the number of proxies, their locations, and customize the service by adding traffic, concurrency, or reserving network priority.

However, the extensive customization options affect pricing. Webshare charges for most features, so plan your project carefully to manage costs.

Key Features:

Location: Up to 195 countries
Extras: API, basic documentation
Free Trial: Free plan with 10 shared addresses

Pricing:

Starts from $7 per GB for Residential, $0.20 per IP for Datacenter (minimum 100 IPs), and $0.40 per IP for ISP (minimum 20 IPs).

4. Oxylabs

Oxylabs is ideal if you need premium SOCKS5 proxies. They offer residential, mobile, dedicated datacenter, and semi-dedicated ISP proxies, letting you choose the best fit for your project. With one of the largest proxy pools in the market, Oxylabs ensures you can scale your project without issues. Their proxies are well maintained by an experienced team that provides advice and 24/7 support.

Oxylabs covers over 200 locations worldwide. Their proxies are fast, with high success rates and quick response times.

However, Oxylabs mainly targets business customers, so their plans might be pricier if you only need a few IPs. Despite the higher cost, the quality and support you receive make Oxylabs a top choice for those needing reliable and scalable SOCKS5 proxies.

Key Features:

Locations: Over 200 locations
Extras: API for proxy management, browser extension, extensive documentation
Free Trial: 7-day free trial for businesses, 3-day refund for individuals

Pricing:

Starts from $8 per GB for Residential, $2.75 per IP for Datacenter (minimum 3 IPs), $2.10 per GB for ISP (minimum 10 GB), and $9 per GB for Mobile.

5. IPRoyal

For affordable SOCKS5 proxies, consider IPRoyal. They offer all proxy types: dedicated datacenter, mobile, ISP, and residential, providing flexibility for various projects.

IPRoyal has a pool of 32 million residential proxies and 2.5 million mobile IPs, targetable up to the city level. These proxies rotate with every request, or you can create sticky sessions lasting from 1 second to 24 hours. Their ISP proxy pool includes 500,000 IPs across over 30 locations. Datacenter IPs are primarily from Asia, but there are also many in the US and Western Europe.

However, there are concerns about IPRoyal’s IP reputation. Their proxies have a high fraud score and are often abused, leading to lower success rates and slower response times compared to other providers. Additionally, their residential proxies have a low number of unique IPs.

Key Features:

Locations: Up to 195 locations
Extras: Proxy tester, browser extension, extensive documentation
Free Trial: None

Pricing:

Pricing starts from $1.75 per IP for Datacenter, $1.80 per IP for ISP, $7 per GB for Residential, and $130 per month for unlimited Mobile bandwidth.

Conclusion

Free SOCKS5 proxies might sound appealing, especially if your needs are small or you’re just experimenting. They are a safer choice than free HTTP proxies, which come with serious security risks, but I still wouldn’t recommend them.

You’ll have to share these free proxies with many other users. This makes them slow and unreliable. The provider probably won’t put much effort into maintaining the service, leading to frequent downtime and instability. That’s far from ideal.

Instead, consider checking out some proxy providers from our list. You can find both premium and affordable SOCKS5 proxies. Many offer a free trial or a money-back guarantee, so you can experience the quality of good proxies at no risk. Trust me, it’s a much better experience than dealing with unreliable free proxies.