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Choose PacketStream if…
Choose PacketStream over Oxylabs for
- A far lower price per GB — $1.00 against $6 (Starter), $5, $4 and $2.50 (Enterprise, $2,500+/month) at Oxylabs.
- No subscription — Buy once and use it when you need it. Oxylabs is subscription-only.
- Traffic that carries over — PacketStream’s balance never expires; Oxylabs plans expire monthly.
- A refund window — PacketStream refunds the remaining balance if you ask within 24 hours of purchase. Oxylabs self-service purchases are non-refundable.
- Occasional Google searches without a plan — PacketStream’s Search API is pay-as-you-go at $2.50 per 1,000 successful searches; Oxylabs’ Web API needs a subscription.
Oxylabs sells residential proxies by subscription only: Starter $30/month ($6/GB), Basic $100 ($5), Flexible $500 ($4) and Enterprise from $2,500 ($2.50/GB at 1 TB+). Plans expire monthly, and self-service purchases are non-refundable.
PacketStream undercuts every Oxylabs tier at $1.00/GB, needs no subscription and never expires. Since 13 October 2026 Oxylabs, Decodo and Webshare share a parent company, Source.ai.
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
Oxylabs
- Entry price
- $6/GB (Starter, $30/mo) [VERIFIED 2026-10-17]
- Volume price
- $5 (≤20 GB), $4 (≤125 GB), $2.50 (1 TB+, Enterprise $2,500+/mo)
- Minimum
- $30/mo subscription
- PAYG
- No — subscription only
- Expiry
- Monthly
- Targeting
- Country, city, ZIP, coordinates, ASN
- Sticky
- 24 hours
- SOCKS5
- Yes (plus HTTP/3)
Prices as of October 2026 from the PacketStream and Oxylabs pricing pages. “n/v” = not verified on the official page. Ownership: Part of Source.ai since 13 Oct 2026 (with Decodo, Webshare, ScrapingBee, Honeygain).
Side by side
| Criterion | PacketStream | Oxylabs |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $1.00/GB | $6/GB (Starter, $30/mo) |
| Price at 20 GB | $1.00/GB | $5/GB (Basic, $100/mo) |
| Price at 125 GB | $1.00/GB | $4/GB (Flexible, $500/mo) |
| Price at 1 TB+ | $1.00/GB | $2.50/GB (Enterprise, $2,500+/mo) |
| Billing model | PAYG; never expires | Subscription only; expires monthly |
| First payment | $50 once | $30 per month |
| Refunds | Remaining balance within 24 h | Self-service purchases non-refundable |
| Trial | Discretionary credits on request | $5 welcome credit |
| Targeting | Country | Country, city, ZIP, coordinates, ASN |
| Sticky sessions | Included; rolling 60-min idle timeout | Up to 24 h |
| Protocols | HTTPS, SOCKS5, HTTP | SOCKS5 plus HTTP/3 |
| Measured pool | — | 3,241,404 unique IPs measured (Proxyway); 175M+ claimed |
| Measured performance | — | 99.93% success, 0.60 s (Proxyway) |
| Google SERP API | $2.50 per 1,000, pay-as-you-go | $1.00 → $0.50 per 1,000, subscription |
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 | Oxylabs |
|---|---|---|
| 5 GB / month | $50 up front once ($5 used) | $30 / month (Starter) |
| 20 GB / month | $20 of balance ($50 first purchase) | $100 / month (Basic) |
| 125 GB / month | $125 | $500 / month (Flexible) |
| 1 TB / month | $1,000 | $2,500 / month (Enterprise) |
Oxylabs plans expire monthly, so unused traffic is lost; PacketStream balance carries over indefinitely.
For cost per page at different page weights, use the bandwidth calculator.
Bottom line
At 125 GB a month PacketStream costs $125 against Oxylabs’ $500, and nothing expires. For irregular or growing spend, pay-as-you-go means never paying for a plan you don’t use up.
For PacketStream’s full review and ratings, read the PacketStream review. Other head-to-heads: vs Evomi , vs Decodo , vs IPRoyal , vs Webshare , vs Bright Data .
Sources
- PacketStream pricing and terms of service (checked 17 Oct 2026)
- Oxylabs pricing (checked 17 Oct 2026)
- Proxyway on Oxylabs: Proxyway: 99.93% success, 0.60 s (test date not stated in our sources)
- Proxyway Proxy Market Research 2026
- Oxylabs Web API pricing (checked 17 Oct 2026)
- Proxyway: Oxylabs, Decodo, Webshare and others form Source.ai
- Synthient PacketStream profile