Being a new player in the game, it’s interesting to see how well this proxy service performs.
SOAX was established in 2019 in the UK to provide its users with millions of whitelisted IPs. Like other proxy solutions, SOAX includes a few scrapers to help you extract data more easily.
With more than a few types of proxies and competitive pricing, SOAX positioned itself appropriately among much more popular rivals.
Is SOAX as good as many claim? Let’s answer this burning question in our in-depth test of SOAX.
If you’re too lazy to read the entire review, here’s an overview of SOAX’s pros and cons.
It’s a stellar proxy service with plenty to offer that’ll surely excite even more experienced users. Its advantages and shortcomings are divulged below.
Pros
Fast residential proxies
It’s easy to set up and use
AI Scraper simplifies scraping immensely
Web Unblocker’s success rate is way over 97%
Data Center proxies are included
Cons
The lack of pay-as-you-go plans makes SOAX mildly expensive
The service offers more than 30M+ IPs in 195+ countries. Let’s go through its proxies and see what you can find in its web-based app.
Residential Proxies
Users who want the most affordable option will pick residential proxies. They’re rotating proxies with features like SOCKS5 and HTTP support, geo-targeting, and customizable rotation.
Users can Whitelist up to 100 IPs as well, with the option to select from a variety of ports.
Another perk of SOAX is the simplicity of setup. It allows you to choose the authorization method from login/password or whitelisted IP filters.
SOAX then lets you select a specific location by targeting a specific country, city, region, or ISP. From here, it’s easy to use the IP you want.
Its residential proxies are quite fast – at least that was in our SOAX test. No connection issues were present, although, on a few occasions, we had connection problems.
The screenshot below shows poor download/upload performance when using an IP from Stockholm, for example.
That was remedied by selecting another IP or ISP from the same or another location.
Mobile Proxies
If you’re looking to bypass restrictions on mobile-only platforms, SOAX is there for you. Its rotating mobile proxies let you use millions of mobile-only 3G/4G/5G IP addresses.
On top of that, SOAX allows for sticky sessions, which is a pleasant addition, especially in cases of connection drops.
You can use a sticky IP address that will work even if the connection drops. This prevents your original IP from being exposed, allowing you to hide behind a proxy at any moment.
Best of all, mobile proxies perform well, albeit slightly slower than residential proxies.
US ISP Proxies
US ISP proxies are great for scraping US websites that you can’t access otherwise. Users can select from a variety of ISPs in all states, except for Texas.
US ISP proxies are relatively affordable too and they come with a rotating IP function to ensure total anonymity.
DC (Data Center) Proxies
With close to 100% success rate and rapid response times of under 0.6 seconds, data center proxies are great for more demanding users.
They’re much faster in data extraction and allow for faster speeds and more bandwidth, resulting in a higher price. The available countries are below.
However, in our SOAX test, they proved to be worthy and much better than residential proxies. Besides, they handle hundreds of requests simultaneously without a hitch for a superb experience.
If you’ve read our SimplyNode review, we criticized it for the lack of data center proxies – that’s why.
Web Unblocker
SOAX offers the web unblocker tool like Oxylabs. It’s made for scraping the most difficult sites and extracting information promptly.
With geo-targeting, JS rendering, and the auto-retry function, the web unblocker works reliably for any kind of request, as we had the chance to test in our review.
Scraper APIs
SOAX offers a gamut of scrapers to aid your information-gathering process. Unlike some of its rivals, SOAX is surprisingly “broad” and thorough with its offerings. The selection of scrapers includes:
SERP Scraper API: great for scraping search engines like Google, Yahoo, YouTube, and others.
eCommerce Scraper API: nifty for extracting product-related information from the largest marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, eBay, etc.
Social Media Scraper API: this one scrapes data from social networks and fetches information like profile pictures, job listings, URLs, groups, and other tidbits
AI Scraper: we found this one the most useful. You can use it by describing the data you need, letting it run, and enjoying its swiftness.
Interface and Ease of Use
As said previously in this SOAX test, the tool is pretty simple to set up and use. Once you subscribe, you’ll be greeted by this intuitive interface for setting up a proxy or the selected scraper.
As you can see, we’re using a Residential plan with 15 gigs of traffic, which is clearly shown.
From here, we can set up the aforementioned parameters, such as target location, IP refresh rate, and other factors.
We prefer using SOAX’s proxies on our computer, using Windows 11’s built-in Proxy function. By using the required login data, proxy address, and port, you can connect in no time.
SOAX Price Review
SOAX offers a flagship-level experience with a scraping success rate of over 96% and well-performing proxies.
You’ll have to pay for this level of performance. There aren’t pay-as-you-go plans here, sadly, and the service has a short 3-day trial. If you don’t mind that, here’s the minimal price of SOAX:
Residential/Mobile/US ISP Proxies: $6.6/GB or $99/mo (Residential 15)
DC Proxies: $0.65/GB or $49/mo (Datacenter Shared 75)
Web Unblocker: $99/mo for 10 GB
SOAX isn’t expensive per gigabyte but its fixed plans mean you have to pay a hefty price at the start. As you can see, the cheapest Residential/Mobile/US ISP plan is $99/mo.
Customer Support of SOAX
The customer support team of SOAX is as helpful as it’s responsive. With live chat support available almost 24/7, help is on the way whenever you need it.
Additionally, FAQs and guides on the site provide plentiful information regarding the setup and other nitpicks – quite an experience.
Summary
SOAX carved its name in the ever-growing proxy market. With quality, ethically sourced IPs, you can enjoy scraping, getting over geo-blocks, and gathering various data uninterruptedly.
We like almost everything about it, except for the lack of dedicated proxies and slightly higher prices.
It also offers a smaller number of IPs compared to Bright Data (72M+) or Oxylabs (100M+). However, SOAX has yet to progress to be compared with those.
For the price, SOAX’s ease of use and overall performance shine brighter than a freshly polished car under the relentless summer Sun.
Marcus is a cybersecurity analyst with a focus on VPN and proxy services. As the founder and driving force behind a prominent VPN and proxy website, Private Proxy Guide, Marcus has emerged as a trusted authority in the digital realm. With a passion for staying ahead of evolving cyber threats, he has played a pivotal role in educating and empowering individuals and businesses to safeguard their online presence.
