It isn’t easy to justify spending on digital products. Companies tend to pay money for results – data collected online, access to accounts, or increased worker productivity. Those who make purchasing decisions aren’t always the most tech-savvy in the company. So, explaining the technical nuances is also off the table.
That’s why most specialists are left with a tiny budget and a headache when looking for ways to save money. Proxy servers are a common purchase in this category. Before rushing to purchase something sub-par for your needs, I suggest looking into five common methods of saving money on proxy servers.
Why Proxies are so expensive?
All reliable proxy services are built around a vast global network of servers and other devices, allowing customers to route their traffic. From the user’s point of view, it’s just a device that you use as an intermediary. However, the provider must navigate legal restrictions and maintenance costs and design supplementary tools.
A mobile proxy service, for example, may cost well over $100 each month, and that’s just one IP address. The provider must ensure speed and source mobile IPs ethically (and legally) while compensating people who participate in programs to provide their IPs. Cheap or free proxy providers will come with issues from one of these aspects.
Choose residential proxies
A lot depends on how the IP addresses used for proxies were sourced. Some IPs are created with virtual machines for commercial purposes. Such proxies are called datacenter. Other IPs arise from physical devices running in ordinary households. At first glance, datacenter proxies may seem like a cheaper solution.
A month of rotating datacenter proxies can cost less than $2 dollars. Many companies choose such proxies because they are that cheap. That is an often mistake as it’s only after some time you understand that such IPs are unwelcome on most websites. It’s better to go with residential proxies.
A cheap residential proxy will cost you closer to $3 per month, but it will grant you IPs that are much more reliable. Unlike with datacenter IPs, your tasks will not be interrupted by CAPATCHAs or blocks. Some tasks, such as social media management, don’t even work with datacenter proxies.
Shared proxies
Most providers sell shared proxies as a default option. It simply means that your connection to the proxy pool is shared with multiple other users. It’s the most common way to save money on proxies. If paired well with rotation, there isn’t much loss to performance as well.
A shared proxy server can be two or even three times cheaper than a private alternative. It’s more economical to go with a shared proxy server in most cases, but you must consider your use case.
Sharing a proxy server with others involves a much higher risk of IP bans and performance drops. If you want to visit popular websites or scrap large amounts of data, shared proxies might become a bottleneck.
Bulk purchasing and annual plans
It’s inefficient to commit to one provider longer than needed or, even worse, pay for proxies you won’t use. That’s why it’s essential to understand your own demand first. Not just current demand but the demand of the future. That’s what bulk purchasing is all about.
Every project where proxy servers are required is bound to scale in the future. For example, if you are collecting data about competitors and if such data is useful, you will likely need more of it. Analyzing new competitors and new markets will require new tools. It shouldn’t be too difficult to explain to a project manager.
So, the strategy to save money by purchasing proxies with bulk or annual plans goes as follows. Do some testing and determine your proxy needs for a longer period than a few months. Assume that your project will grow and you’ll need more proxies, then buy them upfront for a better price.
Such a saving strategy carries some risk, but it also gives you more incentives to motivate your team to be successful. If your project goes off, the profits will be higher, and that’s what most companies care about anyway.
Compare and negotiate
The proxy market is saturated with providers offering similar products at wildly different prices. Not all providers are worth the money they need, but you can still use it to your advantage. Comparing the prices of multiple providers and then contacting their sales team for special offers is a great practice to get a better deal.
I must admit it’s an unorthodox thing to do, and some providers, especially smaller ones, will deny you from the beginning. Therefore, you must do your homework before bargaining with a proxy provider. First, you must evaluate whether you are, or can potentially become, a big customer.
If you only need one or two IPs per year, don’t bother. The offers they have on the website are probably the best that they can do. In such cases, it’s best to scout for deals or coupons online and try to lower the price this way.
However, if you have a big demand for proxies, you can start comparing prices with competitors and presenting your findings to sales teams. Sales teams are likely to give you a better deal just because it means you won’t take your business elsewhere.
The best strategy I have found is to be upfront about your use case and simply tell the sales team that you have found a competitor that is offering lower prices. Revealing your use case is crucial as it denies them marketing some additional things you aren’t likely to use.
Conclusion
The best part of these tips for saving money on proxies is that they can be combined. In fact, the way proxies are marketed encourages such purchasing habits. The first few times you purchase proxies might be more difficult, but after you understand the needs of your project better, you can save a lot of money with these tips.