PacketStream sells residential proxies at a flat $1.00 per GB with a $50 minimum, and targets by country only. QuantumProxies Residential Basic starts at the same $1.00 per GB, falls to $0.80 at 1 TB, and targets by country, state, city and ASN, with datacenter, ISP, mobile and IPv6 proxies on the same balance.
The entry rate is the same; what surrounds it is not. QuantumProxies targets down to city and network, gets cheaper at volume, supports IP whitelist authentication and sells every proxy type from one balance. PacketStream sells one residential product at one rate.
| What you actually pay | QuantumProxies Residential Basic | PacketStream |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price per GB | $1.00 / GB | $1.00 / GB |
| Minimum to start | $5 (5 GB, no subscription) | $50 (50 GB, minimum purchase) |
| Pay-as-you-go without a plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest advertised rate | $0.80 / GB | $1.00 / GB |
| What that cheapest rate requires | A 1 TB purchase ($800). No monthly contract. | no volume tier: $1.00/GB flat at any size |
Competitor prices verified 2026-09-08. PacketStream figures are advertised prices for residential proxies from its public pricing page, recorded in our residential proxy pricing index on the verification date shown above; we read the page again on 28 October 2026 and the prices were unchanged. QuantumProxies figures are from our live plan catalogue. All prices in USD, excluding VAT.
The entry rate is the same, so the comparison is about what the gigabyte can do. These are the terms both providers publish for residential proxies, each taken from the provider's own pages and documentation.
| What each provider publishes | QuantumProxies Residential Basic | PacketStream |
|---|---|---|
| Targeting | Country, state, city and ASN | Country only |
| Rate at 1 TB | $0.80 / GB | $1.00 / GB |
| Protocols | HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 | HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 |
| Session types | Rotating and sticky | Rotating and sticky |
| Authentication | Username and password, or IP whitelist | Username and auth key |
| Other proxy types | Datacenter, ISP, mobile and IPv6 | None: residential only |
PacketStream column read on 28 October 2026 from its pricing, residential proxy and documentation pages, which describe country as the supported targeting boundary; the provider is named here, not linked. QuantumProxies column from our Residential Basic page. Published terms, not an independent test.
Switching away from PacketStream usually means shortlisting three or four providers, not one. This is the rest of our pricing index: every residential provider we track, the rate a new account pays, the cheapest rate each one advertises, and what that cheapest rate costs to unlock. We name them and we do not link to them — the index itself records a source page for every figure, so any of it can be checked without taking our word for it.
| Provider | Pay-as-you-go per GB | Cheapest advertised rate | Minimum to start |
|---|---|---|---|
| QuantumProxies — Residential Basic | $1.00 | $0.80 | $5 minimum, no subscription |
| DataImpulse | $1.00 | $0.80 | $5 (5 GB); $0.8/GB from 1 TB, custom pricing from 5 TB |
| Webshare | $3.50 | $1.40 | monthly plan, no PAYG top-up (1 GB plan at $3.50/GB); $1.40 tier requires a 3,000 GB/mo plan |
| Proxy-Seller | $3.50 | $2.20 | $220/mo (100 GB plan) for $2.20/GB; page advertises 'From $1.30/GB' for custom/enterprise volumes via sales ('save up to 30% on large projects') |
| Decodo | $4.00 | $2.00 | $11.25/mo (3 GB at $3.75/GB); $2.00 tier requires the 1,000 GB/mo enterprise plan |
| SOAX | $5.00 | $0.85 | none (Sandbox $0/mo at $5.00/GB); $0.85 tier requires the $3,000/mo Enterprise plan |
| NodeMaven | $5.00 | $2.20 | none (PAYG from 2 GB at $5.00/GB); $2.20 tier requires the 1,000 GB monthly plan (PAYG 1,000 GB is $2.45/GB) |
| ProxyEmpire | $7.00 | $3.00 | none (PAYG 1 GB); $3.00/GB list ($1.50 with EMPIRE50) requires the 1,000 GB Enterprise plan at $3,000/mo list ($1,500 promo); custom 5 TB+ 'From $0.75/GB' |
| IPRoyal | $7.35 | $1.75 | none; $1.75/GB only on subscription from 10 TB (PAYG bulk is $1.84/GB from 10 TB) |
| Bright Data | $8.00 | $2.50 | none (PAYG) / $1,999-mo (798 GB plan) for $2.50 tier |
| Oxylabs | No pay-as-you-go rate | $2.50 | no PAYG; $30/mo (5 GB Starter at $6/GB); $2.50 tier requires $2,500/mo (1 TB Corporate) |
Competitor prices verified 2026-09-08. Sorted by pay-as-you-go rate, lowest first. That is an arithmetic order, not a ranking: providers publishing no pay-as-you-go rate appear last, and nothing here scores quality, success rate or support. Figures are advertised list prices taken from each provider's own public pricing page on the verification date shown above, in USD, excluding VAT.
PacketStream runs a peer-to-peer residential network: its exits are people running the PacketStream desktop app, who are paid for the bandwidth they share. It sells that network at one flat rate, $1.00 per GB, with a $50 minimum purchase. At the entry point that is the same rate as our Residential Basic, so the comparison comes down to what the gigabyte can do.
PacketStream charges $1.00 per GB whatever you buy, with a $50 minimum and no published volume discount. Residential Basic is $1.00 per GB up to 100 GB, $450 for 500 GB ($0.90 per GB) and $800 for 1 TB ($0.80 per GB). On a terabyte that is $800 against $1,000.
PacketStream's documentation describes country as its supported targeting boundary: no state, no city, no network, and a request fails when the chosen country has no exits. Residential Basic targets by country, state, city and ASN at the same $1.00 rate, which is what local SERP checks, store-level pricing and city-specific ad verification need.
PacketStream authenticates with a username and an auth key; its documentation describes no IP whitelisting, and it sells residential bandwidth only. On QuantumProxies the same account authenticates by username and password or by whitelisted IP, and the same balance buys datacenter, ISP, mobile and IPv6 proxies.
TechRadar's review, last updated in September 2026, rates PacketStream 3 out of 5, noting residential proxies only, no state or city targeting, email-only support with replies of up to 48 hours, and Microsoft Defender blocking the installer during testing. In Proxyway's benchmarks, published in 2024, it had the lowest success rate of the providers tested. In 2023 AhnLab's security researchers documented attackers installing PacketStream's bandwidth-sharing client on compromised servers without the owners' consent, so some exits can come from hijacked machines. These are third-party accounts, not our tests; each one is linked in the sources below.
Real ISP-assigned residential addresses in 200+ countries, from Residential Basic's own pool, with rotating and sticky sessions, HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5, and country, state, city and ASN targeting with no per-location surcharge. Authentication is by username and password or IP whitelist, concurrent sessions are unlimited, and proxy strings come from the dashboard or the REST API.
The rate falls with the size of the plan and nothing recurs: $1.00 per GB up to 100 GB, $450 for 500 GB ($0.90 per GB) and $800 for 1 TB ($0.80 per GB). Each plan is a one-off purchase. Nothing renews, and nothing is charged again unless you buy again.
Card, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay are supported, along with Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, Monero and around 300 other cryptocurrencies. Crypto and account-balance payments carry no VAT, while card, PayPal and Stripe add 22%.
Generate a Residential Basic proxy in the dashboard with the country you were using, or narrow it to a state, city or ASN, and pick a rotating or sticky session; then replace the PacketStream host, port and credentials in your scraper or tool. Send a sample of your real URLs through it before you move all of your traffic.
PacketStream is an operating provider. The concerns raised are about performance and sourcing: TechRadar rates it 3 out of 5, Proxyway's 2024 benchmarks found the lowest success rate among the providers it tested, and AhnLab documented its client being installed on compromised servers.
TechRadar reports that Microsoft Defender blocked the PacketStream installer during its testing, and AhnLab documented attackers installing the client on compromised servers without the owners' consent. If you are buying proxies, that sourcing is worth weighing alongside the price.
$1.00 per GB for rotating and sticky residential traffic, with a $50 minimum purchase and no published volume discount, as read on its pricing page on 28 October 2026.
No. Both start at $1.00 per GB; QuantumProxies falls to $0.80 per GB at 1 TB, while PacketStream stays at $1.00 at any volume.
No. Its documentation describes country as the supported targeting boundary. QuantumProxies Residential Basic targets by country, state, city and ASN at $1.00 per GB.
For the same entry rate with more control, QuantumProxies Residential Basic: $1.00 per GB, $0.80 at 1 TB, targeting down to city and ASN, IP whitelist authentication, and datacenter, ISP, mobile and IPv6 proxies on the same balance.
Create an account, buy a Residential Basic plan and generate a proxy string in the dashboard with the country you need, or a state, city or ASN. Replace the PacketStream host, port and credentials in your tools with it; rotating and sticky sessions work the same way.
For residential proxies, yes. The entry rate is the same, but QuantumProxies falls to $0.80 per GB at 1 TB, targets down to city and ASN, accepts IP whitelisting and sells every other proxy type from the same balance. Run your own targets through it before you decide.
Skip the marketing. QuantumProxies.io publishes a machine-readable site map, Markdown for every page, a free MCP server, and APIs billed from the same balance as your proxies.
Connect in one command: npx -y quantumproxies-mcp