5 Best Free Proxy Lists for Web Scraping (2026)

ScrapingBee is the best option if your goal is reliable web scraping without the headaches of free proxy lists. In this article, we benchmark five proxy list websites to see which ones still provide usable free proxies, scoring them by response time, error rate, and success rate on real targets like Google and Amazon.

We'll also show how to evaluate a free proxy before you use it (protocol support, anonymity, uptime, and geolocation) and why "free" often comes with tradeoffs: public proxies can be slow, unstable, shared by thousands, and sometimes operated by parties that log traffic, inject ads, or tamper with responses—fine for quick tests, not for anything sensitive.

If you're scraping and want consistency at scale, a dedicated scraping API like ScrapingBee will outperform proxy lists. If you just need occasional IP rotation for a one-off job, the benchmark below will help you pick the least-bad free proxy source.

1. ScrapingBee

If you're going to use a proxy for web scraping, consider ScrapingBee. While some of the best features are in the paid version, you can get 1,000 free credits when you sign up. This service stands out because even free users have access to support and the IP addresses you have access to are more secure and reliable.

The features ScrapingBee includes in the free credits are unmatched by any other free proxy you'll find in the lists below. You'll have access to tools like JavaScript rendering and headless Chrome to make it easier to use your proxy scraper.

One of the coolest features is that they have rotating proxies so that you can get around rate-limiting websites. This helps you hide your proxy scraper bots and lowers the chance you'll get blocked by a website.

You can also find code snippets in Python, NodeJS, PHP, Go, and several for web scrapers. ScrapingBee even has its own API, which makes it even easier to do web scraping. You don't have to worry about security leaks or the proxy running slow because access to the proxy servers is limited.

You can customize things like your geolocation, the headers that get forwarded, and the cookies that are sent in the requests, and ScrapingBee automatically block ads and images to speed up your requests.

Another cool thing is that if your requests return a status code other than 200, you don't get charged for that credit. You only have to pay for successful requests.

Even though ScrapingBee's free plan is great, if you plan on using scraping websites a lot you will need to upgrade to a paid plan. Then of course, if you have any problem you can get in touch with the team to find out what happened.

With the free proxies on the lists below, you won't have any support. You'll be responsible for making sure your information is secure and you'll have to deal with IP addresses getting blocked and requests returning painfully slow as more users connect to the same proxy.

Results (full benchmark & methodology)

2. ProxyScrape

If you're looking for a list of completely free proxies, Proxyscrape is one of the leading free proxy lists available. One really cool feature is that you can download the list of proxies in various formats such as TXT, CSV, or JSON for offline access. This can be useful if you want to run a lot of proxy scrapers at the same time on different IP addresses.

You can even filter the free proxy lists by country, level of anonymity, and whether they use an SSL connection. This lets you find the kind of proxy you want to use more quickly than with many other lists where you have to scroll down a page, looking through table columns.

ProxyScrape even has different kinds of proxies available. ProxyScrape offers frequently updated HTTP, SOCKS4/5, and residential proxies. Free proxy lists often include both HTTP and SOCKS5 proxies for compatibility with different applications. You still have access to HTTP proxies, and you can find lists of Socks4 and Socks5 proxies. There aren't as many filters available for Socks4 and Socks5 lists, but you can select the country you want to use.

The ProxyScrape API currently works with Python and there are only four types of API requests you can make. ProxyScrape provides an API URL for easy integration, and many free proxy services provide extensive API documentation for easy integration. The API URL can be used to import proxies directly into your tools or scripts. An important thing to remember is that none of the proxies on any of the lists you get from this website are guaranteed to be secure. Free proxies can be hosted by anyone or any entity, so you will be using these proxies at your own risk.

They do have a premium service available where they host datacenter proxies. These are typically more secure than the free ones. They do more monitoring on these proxies to make sure that you have consistent uptime and that the IP addresses don't get added to blocklists.

Another nice tool they have is an online proxy checker. This lets you enter the IP addresses of some of the free proxies you've found and test them to see if they are still working. When you're trying to do web scraping you want to make sure that your proxy doesn't disconnect in the middle of the process and this is one way you can keep an eye on the connection.

Results (full benchmark & methodology)

3. free-proxy.cz

Free-proxy.cz is one of the original free proxy list sites. There hasn't been much maintenance on the website so it still has the user interface of an early 2000's website, but if you're just looking for free proxies it has a large list. One thing you'll find here that's different from other proxy list sites is a list for free web proxies.

Web proxies are usually run on server-side scripts like PHProxy, Glype, or CGIProxy. The list is also pre-filtered for duplicates so there aren't any repeating IP addresses. Also, the list of other proxy servers in their database is unique.

On the homepage there is a table with all of the free proxies they have found. You can filter the proxies by country, protocol, and anonymity level. You can sort the filtered table by the proxy speed, uptime, response time, and the last time the status was checked. The table shows paginated results, so taking advantage of the sort function will save you some time.

There's also a "proxies by category" tool below the table that lets you look at the free proxies by country and region. This makes it easier to go through the table of results and find exactly what you need. This is the best way to navigate this list of free proxies because there are thousands available.

Another useful tool on this site is the "Your IP Address Info" button at the top of the page. It will tell you everything about the IP address you are using to connect to the website. It'll show you the location, proxy variables, and other useful information on your current connection. It even goes as far as showing your location on Google Maps. This is a good way to test a proxy server.

This site doesn't offer any premium or paid services, there is no guarantee that the free proxies you find here are always online or have any security measures to protect your proxy scraping activities.

Results (full benchmark & methodology)

4. GatherProxy

GatherProxy is another great option for finding free proxy lists. It's a bit more organized than many of the lists you'll find online. You can find proxies based on country or port number. There are also anonymous proxies and web proxies. Plus, they have a separate section for socks lists.

The site also offers several free tools like a free proxy scraper. You can download the tool, but it hasn't been updated in a few years. It's a good starting point if you are trying to build a proxy scraper or do web scraping in general. There is also an embed plugin for GatherProxy that lets you add a free proxy list to your own website if that would be useful for you.

If you want to check your IP address or browser information, they also have a tool to show you that information. It's not as detailed as the IP address information you see on free-proxy.cz, but it still gives you enough information to find what you need.

Another tool you can find on this site is the proxy checker. It lets you find, filter, and check the status of millions of proxies. You can export all of the proxies you find using this tool into a number of different formats, like CSV. There are some great videos on GatherProxy that show you how to use these tools.

The main difference between this site and a lot of the others is that you have to enter an email address before you can browse through their lists of free proxies. It's still a completely free service, but you have to sign up and get login credentials. Once you do that, you'll be able to see the tables of free proxies and sort them by a number of parameters.

You also have the option to download the free proxy lists after you sort and filter them based on your search criteria. One nice feature is that they auto-update the proxy lists constantly so you don't have to worry about getting a list of stale IP addresses.

Results (full benchmark & methodology)

(At the time of writing, this service was down)

5. freeproxylists.net

Freeproxylists is simple to use. The homepage brings up a table of all of the free proxies that have been found. Like many of the other sites in this post, you can sort the table by country, port number, uptime, and other parameters. The results are paginated, so you'll have to click through multiple pages to see everything available.

It has a straight-forward filtering function at the top of the page so you can limit the number of results shown in the table. If using a proxy from a specific country is a concern, you can go to the "By Country". It'll show you a list of all of the countries the free proxies represent and the number of proxies available for that country.

One downside is that you won't be able to download the proxy list from this website. This is probably one of the more basic free proxy lists you'll find online for your web scrapers. However, this service does have a good reputation compared to the thousands of other lists available, and the proxies you find here at least work.

(Even for free proxy list sites with a decent reputation as a site for free proxy lists, always remember that there is a risk involved with using proxies hosted by entities you don't know.)

This list seems to be updated frequently, but they don't share how often it's updated. You'll find free proxies here, but it would be best to use a different tool to check if the proxy you want to use is still available.

There is an email address available on the site if you have questions, although you shouldn't expect a fast response time. Unlike some of the other free proxy sites, there aren't any paid or premium versions of the proxy lists or any additional tools, like proxy scrapers.

Results (full benchmark & methodology)

Proxy Servers and Safety

Proxy servers are essential tools for anyone looking to stay anonymous online, access blocked websites, or hide their IP address during web activity. Acting as intermediaries between users and the internet, proxy servers reroute your internet requests through a different IP, making it harder for websites to track your real location or identity. This is especially useful for web scraping, market research, or bypassing geo restrictions in countries with strict internet controls, such as South Korea.

However, while free proxies offer a convenient way to access the web without a credit card or sign-up, they come with significant safety concerns. When you use a free proxy server, you are essentially trusting a third-party provider with your internet traffic. This means any sensitive information you send—such as login credentials or personal data—could potentially be intercepted by hackers or malicious actors running the proxy. Public proxies, which are often listed on free proxy server lists and available to anyone, are particularly risky because their reliability and security are not guaranteed. Users operate at their own risk, and there is always the possibility that a proxy server could log your web activity or inject unwanted ads or malware into the data you receive.

Free HTTP proxies are popular for tasks like web scraping and accessing blocked websites, as they allow you to hide your IP address and appear as if you are browsing from another location. However, these proxies may not offer the same level of security or anonymity as paid services. For example, HTTP proxies do not encrypt your data, making it easier for hackers to intercept sensitive information. SOCKS5 proxies, on the other hand, offer more flexibility and can handle different types of traffic, but even these should be used with caution if they are free and public.

To minimize risks, it's important to choose a reliable free proxy server list from a reputable provider. Look for lists that are regularly updated and include details about the type of proxy (HTTP, SOCKS5), country, and level of anonymity. Many providers also offer proxy scraper tools that help you find, test, and verify proxies before using them. These tools can check if a proxy is online, how fast it responds, and whether it truly hides your IP address—helping you avoid unreliable or compromised servers.

In regions with heavy internet censorship, such as South Korea, proxy servers are invaluable for accessing blocked websites and maintaining online anonymity. But regardless of your location, always consider the security protocols supported by the proxy (such as HTTPS for encrypted connections) and avoid sending sensitive information through free proxies whenever possible.

Ultimately, while free proxies can be a powerful tool for web scraping, market research, and bypassing geo restrictions, users should always weigh the benefits against the potential risks. By selecting a trustworthy provider, using proxy scraper tools to test reliability, and being mindful of what data you transmit, you can join thousands of users who safely leverage free proxy servers to protect their online identity and achieve their specific needs. Remember: when it comes to free proxy servers, a little caution goes a long way in keeping your data secure and your browsing anonymous.

Benchmark

Now that we have looked at the different free proxies available on the market, it is time to test them against different websites. The benchmark is simple.

We made a script that collects free proxies from each (it has to be dynamic and get the latest proxy, since the lists change every few hours on these websites). Then, we have a set of URLs for some popular websites like Instagram, Google and Amazon and 300 URLs from the top 1,000 Alexa rank. We then go to each URL using the proxy list and record the response time/HTTP code and eventual blocking behavior on the website.

For example, Google will send a 429 HTTP code if they block an IP, Amazon will return a 200 HTTP code with a Captcha in the body, and Instagram will redirect you to the login page.

You can find the script here: https://github.com/ScrapingBee/freeproxylist-blogpost

We ran the script using each proxy list with the different websites, 1,000 requests each time and found the following results:

Instagram

Google

Using our Google Scraping API

Amazon

Top 300 Alexa Rank

Analysis

The biggest issue with all of these proxies was the error rate on the proxy: timeouts, network error, HTTPS...you name it.

Then, especially for Google and Instagram, most of the requests were blocked with the "working" proxies (meaning proxies that don't produce timeouts or network errors). This can be explained by the fact that Google is heavily scraped by tools like the Scrapebox/Screaming Frog spider.

These are SEO tools used to get keyword suggestions, scrape Google, and generate SEO reports. They have a built-in mechanism to gather these free proxy lists, and lots of SEO people use them. So, these proxies are over-used on Google and often get blocked.

Overall, besides ScrapingBee of course, Freeproxylists.net seems to have the best proxies, but as you can see it's not that great either.

Conclusion

When you are trying to use web scraping to get information about competitors, find email addresses, or get other data from a website, using a proxy will help you protect your identity and avoid adding your true IP address to any blocklists. Proxy scrapers help you keep your bots secure and crawling pages for as long as you need.

While there are numerous lists of free proxies online, not all of them contain the same quality of proxies. Be aware of the risks that come with using free proxies. There's a chance you could connect to one hosted by a hacker or government agency or just someone trying to insert their ads into every response that is returned from any website. That's why it's good to use free proxy services from websites you trust.

Having a list of free proxies gives you the advantage of not dealing with blacklists because if an IP address gets blocked, you can move on to another proxy without much hassle. If you need to use the same IP address multiple times for your web scraping, it will be worth the investment to pay for a service that has support and manages its own proxies so you don't have to worry about them going down at the worst time.

💡 If you're looking for paid proxies, check out our guide to choosing a proxy for web scraping API

Before you go, check out these related reads:

• The 6 Best mobile and 4G proxy providers for web scraping
• Top 5 Rotating and Residential Proxies for Web Scraping