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Choose PacketStream if…
Choose PacketStream over Bright Data for
- A far lower price per GB — $1.00 against $8 PAYG list and $7–$5 on Bright Data’s $499–$1,999 monthly plans.
- Individuals, freelancers and small teams — Bright Data’s residential network is for verified companies only. PacketStream’s terms describe no up-front verification.
- No subscription — PacketStream’s rate needs no plan. Bright Data’s list rate drops below $8/GB only on $499+/month plans or with a time-limited promo.
- A balance that never expires — PacketStream’s purchased balance does not expire. (We could not verify Bright Data’s expiry terms.)
Bright Data lists residential traffic at $8/GB pay-as-you-go ($4 for three months with promo code RESIGB50) and $7, $6 and $5/GB on its $499, $999 and $1,999 monthly plans. Its residential network is available only to verified companies after a human-reviewed KYC process: a corporate email address (Gmail and Outlook are rejected), possibly ID and a video call, with decisions “within 48 hours”.
PacketStream costs $1.00/GB, an eighth of Bright Data’s PAYG list price and a fifth of its best published plan rate, with no subscription, a balance that never expires, and terms that describe no up-front verification.
Reasons by use case, not an overall ranking. Both providers’ published facts are in the side-by-side table.
Spec sheets
PacketStream
- Entry price
- $1.00/GB [VERIFIED 2026-10-17]
- Volume price
- $1.00/GB (no tiers)
- Minimum
- $50
- PAYG
- Yes
- Expiry
- Never
- Targeting
- Country
- Sticky
- Included; rolling 60-min idle
- SOCKS5
- Yes
Bright Data
- Entry price
- $8/GB PAYG list ($4 with promo code RESIGB50 for 3 months) [VERIFIED 2026-10-17]
- Volume price
- Stated list rates $7 / $6 / $5 per GB on $499 / $999 / $1,999 monthly plans; custom 1 TB+
- Minimum
- None on PAYG; plans from $499/mo
- PAYG
- Yes
- Expiry
- n/v
- Targeting
- Country, city, ZIP, ASN, carrier
- Sticky
- n/v
- SOCKS5
- Yes
Prices as of October 2026 from the PacketStream and Bright Data pricing pages. “n/v” = not verified on the official page.
Side by side
| Criterion | PacketStream | Bright Data |
|---|---|---|
| PAYG price | $1.00/GB | $8/GB list ($4 with RESIGB50 for 3 months) |
| Best published plan rate | $1.00/GB | $5/GB list ($1,999/mo Scale); custom 1 TB+ |
| Minimum spend | $50 | None on PAYG; plans from $499/mo |
| Traffic expiry | Never | Not verified |
| Onboarding | No up-front verification in the terms; may “require additional information” when investigating (ToS §7) | Verified companies only; corporate email; possible ID and video call |
| Free trial | Discretionary credits on request | Free trial, no card; first deposit matched up to $500 |
| Targeting | Country | Country, city, ZIP, ASN, carrier |
| Measured pool | — | 885,512 unique IPs measured (Proxyway); 400M+ monthly IPs claimed |
| Measured performance | — | 98.96% success, 1.12 s (Proxyway residential test, Mar 2024) |
| Product range | Residential proxies; Search, Fetch and MCP APIs | Residential, ISP, datacenter, Web Unlocker, SERP API, Scraping Browser, scraper APIs |
Third-party measurements are Proxyway’s, with test dates where our sources give them. “—” means there is no current figure for PacketStream. See the methodology.
Cost at different volumes
| Scenario | PacketStream | Bright Data |
|---|---|---|
| 10 GB | $50 up front ($10 used) | $80 PAYG list ($40 with promo) |
| 100 GB | $100 | $800 PAYG list ($400 with promo) |
| Per GB on the largest self-serve plan | $1.00 | $5.00 list (Scale, $1,999/mo) |
| 1 TB+ | $1,000 | Custom pricing |
Bright Data’s plan arithmetic on its pricing page does not reconcile with its stated per-GB rates, so we quote the stated rates only.
For cost per page at different page weights, use the bandwidth calculator.
Bottom line
For buyers to whom price and easy access matter most, PacketStream’s $1.00/GB, with no subscription and no up-front verification in its terms, is the simpler route. At 100 GB it is $100 against $800 at Bright Data’s PAYG list price ($400 with its promo).
For PacketStream’s full review and ratings, read the PacketStream review. Other head-to-heads: vs Evomi , vs Decodo , vs IPRoyal , vs Webshare , vs Oxylabs .
Sources
- PacketStream pricing and terms of service (checked 17 Oct 2026)
- Bright Data pricing (checked 17 Oct 2026)
- Proxyway on Bright Data: Proxyway residential test, March 2024: 98.96% success, 1.12 s
- Proxyway Proxy Market Research 2026
- Bright Data residential network access (KYC)
- Synthient PacketStream profile