PacketStream vs Webshare
PacketStream
packetstream.ioWebshare
webshare.ioSide by side
| Figure | PacketStream | Webshare |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $1/mo | $2.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 20 |
| Spec score · Proxy Software | 8.4 (#11) | 8.6 (#8) |
| Spec score · Residential Proxy Services | 8.3 (#27) | 9.1 (#5) |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Integrations | The maker provides setup guides for cURL, Wget, Python Requests, Node.js, PHP Guzzle, Go, Scrapy, Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, Firefox, and Chrome. | Webshare publishes more than 50 setup guides covering browsers, scrapers, bots, automation tools and anti-detect browsers. |
| Protocols | The proxy gateway supports HTTPS, SOCKS5, and HTTP, with HTTPS recommended. | Proxy endpoints support HTTP and SOCKS5 connections. |
| Support | PacketStream says its team monitors support email around the clock, though response times can vary. | Webshare advertises 24/7 expert support and dedicated account managers. |
| Use cases | Listed use cases include ecommerce price monitoring, product availability, market research, travel fare comparison, public web data collection, ad verification, localized search tracking, brand monitoring, localization QA, and website testing. | Webshare identifies market research, price comparison, data aggregation, malware analysis, ecommerce scraping, SEO, and reputation management as use cases. |
| What it does | PacketStream provides a peer-to-peer residential proxy network that routes customer traffic through household connections, with country targeting. | Webshare provides proxy infrastructure for lawful public-data collection, market research, price comparison, aggregation, malware analysis and related business uses. |
Plans
PacketStream
- Residential Proxies$1 a month
- Reseller API$1 a month
- Reseller APIFree
- Residential ProxiesFree
Webshare
- Free Proxy ServerFree
- Proxy Server - 100 proxies$2.99 a month
- Proxy Server - 250 proxies$7.47 a month
- Proxy Server - 500 proxies$14.95 a month
- Proxy Server - 1,000 proxies$29.90 a month
- Proxy Server - 2,500 proxies$74.75 a month
- Proxy Server - 5,000 proxies$149.50 a month
- Static Residential - 20 proxies$6 a month
- Static Residential - 100 proxies$30 a month
- Free Proxy ServerFree
In their own words
PacketStream
PacketStream provides a peer-to-peer residential proxy network that routes customer traffic through household connections and supports country targeting. For each new proxy connection, its gateway selects a residential exit, so applications can distribute requests without maintaining proxy lists. A session ID can retain the same exit for up to 60 minutes; if the Packeter disconnects, the session fails rather than changing exits. Country targeting uses ISO two-letter codes, and a request fails if no exit is available in the selected country. The gateway supports HTTPS, SOCKS5 and HTTP, with HTTPS recommended. Setup guides cover tools and languages including cURL, Wget, Python Requests, Node.js, PHP Guzzle, Go, Scrapy, Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, Firefox and Chrome. Listed uses include public web data collection, market research, price monitoring, ad verification and localized search tracking. Test credits can be requested, but support decides whether to approve them and how much credit to grant. Residential Proxies is $1 a month, metered at the gateway, with a $50 minimum purchase. PacketStream does not guarantee a particular exit, response time, success rate, availability or uninterrupted session.
Webshare
Webshare provides enterprise proxy services for businesses collecting, aggregating, and analyzing publicly available data. Its products include proxy servers, static residential proxies, and rotating residential proxies, with HTTP and SOCKS5 endpoints. The network is described as more than 80 million IPs in 195 countries, with targeting by country, state, city, or ZIP code. Listed uses include market research, price comparison, data aggregation, malware analysis, ecommerce scraping, SEO, and reputation management. More than 50 integration guides cover browsers, scrapers, bots, automation tools, and other software. The REST-based API uses JSON request and response bodies with token authentication, and includes Python and JavaScript examples. Webshare lists Android, iOS, macOS, web, Windows, extension, and API access. The free plan includes 10 proxies and 1 GB of bandwidth per month. Paid plans start at $2.99 a month for 100 proxies and 250 GB bandwidth. Proxy-server bandwidth ranges from 250 GB to unlimited and 500 to 3,000 threads, subject to its Fair Usage Policy.