Proxy Bandwidth Explained: Understanding Data Usage
Residential proxies are typically priced by bandwidth (data transferred), which can be confusing if you're used to per-IP pricing. This guide explains how bandwidth works, how to estimate usage, and how to optimize costs.
Bandwidth refers to the amount of data transferred through the proxy connection. It's measured in bytes – typically gigabytes (GB) for pricing purposes.
When you load a web page through a proxy, data flows in both directions:
Request (upload): Your request to the server, usually small (1-10 KB)
Response (download): The server's response, typically larger (100 KB - 10 MB per page)
Both directions count toward your bandwidth usage. For most operations, the download (response) dominates usage since pages, images, and data are larger than requests.
Estimating Your Bandwidth Needs
Typical page sizes to help estimate usage:
API response: 1-50 KB (JSON data)
Simple HTML page: 50-200 KB
E-commerce product page: 500 KB - 2 MB
Full page with images: 2-10 MB
Heavy media page: 10-50 MB
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For scraping, you can reduce bandwidth dramatically by not loading images, CSS, and JavaScript. API-only requests are most efficient.
Example calculation: Scraping 10,000 product pages at 1 MB each = 10 GB of bandwidth needed.
Optimizing Bandwidth Usage
Reduce costs by minimizing data transferred:
Disable images: Add headers to prevent image loading
Use API endpoints: When available, APIs return smaller JSON instead of full HTML
Request only what you need: Use specific selectors rather than full pages
Compress requests: Enable gzip/deflate compression in your client
Cache responses: Don't re-request data you already have
These optimizations can reduce bandwidth usage by 50-90% for scraping operations, dramatically lowering costs.
Bandwidth vs Per-IP Pricing
Different proxy types use different pricing models:
Residential: Per GB bandwidth (~$0.65-5/GB). Access to full IP pool.
ISP: Per IP (~$2-5/IP). Unlimited bandwidth per IP.
Datacenter: Per IP (~$1-3/IP). Unlimited bandwidth per IP.
Bandwidth pricing is better when you need many IPs but light usage. Per-IP pricing is better for heavy, sustained usage through fewer IPs.
For account management with heavy traffic, ISP proxies (unlimited bandwidth) often cost less than residential (metered). For light scraping, residential is usually more economical.
Key Takeaways
Bandwidth is total data transferred (upload + download) through proxies
Page sizes range from kilobytes (APIs) to megabytes (media-heavy pages)
Estimate needs by multiplying request count by average page size
Optimize by blocking images, using APIs, and caching responses
Choose pricing model based on usage pattern: bandwidth for light/varied, per-IP for heavy/focused
Ready to Get Started?
Not sure how much bandwidth you'll need? Start with a small plan and scale based on actual usage. Our dashboard tracks consumption in real-time.
Find connection settings, plan comparisons and checks you can run with your own pages before a larger order. Open the guide to choose a topic or follow the setup steps.
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Before and after: a saved proxy setup
These examples show which settings and checks to keep when you want to use the same setup again.
What to save
Before
After
Settings
An endpoint is pasted without notes.
Save the country, protocol and session settings with the application.
Page check
Only the connection status is checked.
Open the page and check its location and required fields.
Errors
The full page list is rerun after an error.
Save failed URLs and retry the ones that need another attempt.
How do you compare the total cost of proxy plans?
List what the job needs before comparing prices: the countries or cities, whether the IP must stay fixed, the number of profiles or applications, and the traffic expected each month. Standard residential pricing is based on traffic. Static ISP and datacenter products use allocated IPs, while unlimited residential plans use speed tiers. Those pricing units answer different needs, so start with the products that support your setup.
Run the same small test on the options you are considering. Check how many pages return the information you need, how much traffic the test consumes and how often you have to retry or inspect a result manually. For a product check, require the correct variant, price and currency before counting it as complete. Include the cost of the planned usage and any extra allocations in your monthly estimate. Check current prices, duration and stock in the order form before buying. Keep the date and the selected terms with your comparison so it remains clear which offer you used. If you need a stable IP for an allowlist, include that requirement from the start; a cheaper rotating connection would require a different setup.
Use the same page list and settings when comparing the amount you would spend on each option.
How much proxy traffic will your project use?
The amount of traffic depends on what your application downloads. A browser may load the page, images, fonts, scripts and background requests. A script that only retrieves the HTML can use much less. To estimate your standard residential plan, run a small batch with the same client and settings you intend to use later, then check the change in traffic usage in your dashboard.
As a calculation example, if 100 completed page checks use 20 MB, 10,000 similar checks would use about 2,000 MB, or 2 GB. This is an example of the arithmetic; measure your own pages because a photo-heavy page and a short text page can differ considerably. Include repeat visits and retries in the estimate. If you only need text, check whether your browser tool can skip unnecessary images or video, then confirm that the required text still loads. Keep images enabled for visual checks such as banner or layout reviews. Review traffic again after a website redesign or a change in your script, since either can alter how much gets downloaded on every visit.
Test a small batch, check its traffic use in the dashboard, then scale the estimate to your planned run.
When is an unlimited residential plan useful?
An unlimited residential plan can suit regular, high-volume work where a fixed plan price is easier to budget than charging each gigabyte. Fusion Proxy's unlimited plans use speed tiers and country targeting. Choose a tier based on how much data your job needs to transfer during its running hours. Standard residential plans are a separate option with metered traffic and country, state and city targeting.
Start with a typical job and measure how long it takes, how much it transfers and whether it runs steadily or in short bursts. Remember that Mbps means megabits per second: divide by eight to convert it to megabytes per second before allowing for connection overhead and pauses. For example, a theoretical 8 Mbps transfer equals 1 MB per second before those factors. Your website and application can also limit the rate, so a higher proxy tier may leave some capacity unused. Compare the current plan price with the metered traffic cost for the same schedule. A job that runs every day may benefit from different terms than a one-off check that uses only a small amount of data.
Compare the speed you need and the hours your job runs when choosing an unlimited plan.
Which proxy type should you choose?
Residential proxies provide household IPs with rotating connections or sticky sessions. Fusion Proxy's standard residential product supports country, state and city targeting and is billed by traffic used. Static ISP proxies provide assigned ISP-registered addresses, while datacenter proxies provide assigned server-network addresses. For both static products, check the countries and any city options currently offered in the order form.
Start with the requirement that would be hardest to change. For an IP allowlist, that is usually the fixed address. For a regional website test, it may be the country or city. For a large collection job, traffic usage and the site's response to the chosen IP type matter. Test a small set of actual target pages with the options that meet those requirements. Check the content returned, session behavior and cost for the expected run. Compare current plan duration and stock before ordering. If you need steady high-volume residential traffic with country targeting, also look at the unlimited speed-tier plans. Keep product differences visible in the comparison so you can see which setup the monthly price would actually provide.
Choose rotating residential access for changing household IPs, or a static allocation when the IP needs to stay assigned.
When should you choose residential proxies?
Choose residential proxies when you need to view a website through a household connection in a selected country, state or city. Common examples include checking a regional product catalogue, reviewing your localized landing pages and collecting permitted public product information. Fusion Proxy's standard residential plans are billed by traffic used. In the endpoint generator, select the location and decide whether each new connection should rotate or keep a sticky session.
For separate product checks, rotating connections can be convenient. For a login or a sequence of connected pages, a sticky session keeps the same exit IP while you complete the steps. Fusion Proxy offers sticky durations from 1 to 120 minutes. The underlying household connection can go offline, so your application should be able to reconnect and resume safely. Before a large run, try the pages you expect to visit and check the transferred data in your dashboard. Keep the website's language, delivery location and account settings consistent during the test. For a project that needs the same IP on different days, compare the static ISP product and its current allocations.
Residential proxies connect through household IPs and offer rotating or sticky sessions.
How do you keep the same proxy IP between visits?
Use a static ISP or datacenter allocation when a service needs a fixed outbound IP. This can be useful for an IP allowlist, a business account you manage regularly or a scheduled job that should keep the same connection settings. Both products provide static addresses, with different network origins. ISP proxies use ISP-registered addresses, while datacenter proxies use server networks. Check the destination with the product you intend to order.
After ordering, save the assigned address and connection details in the relevant browser profile or application. Record the renewal date where your team tracks subscriptions. If the destination has an IP allowlist, add the assigned address before running the job and test that access works. Keep the same browser profile for returning account visits, because cookies and login state are stored by the browser. A static IP does not preserve those settings when you switch profiles or clear storage. If you replace an address, update every application and allowlist that uses it, then run a short connection check. This is particularly useful when several scheduled jobs share one configuration.
Keep the assigned IP, browser profile and account settings together for returning visits.
Is a datacenter proxy suitable for your website or script?
Datacenter proxies are a useful starting point for scripts, website checks and permitted collection jobs that work with server-hosted IPs. Fusion Proxy's datacenter product provides static allocations. Check current country stock and any city choices in the order form, then test the pages your application needs. A site may return different content, ask for verification or reject a datacenter connection, so include a few typical pages in the first test.
For example, test a category page, a product page and the next page of a paginated list. Confirm that your script can read the fields it needs on each page. Check the response body as well as the status code: a page can return HTTP 200 while showing a login screen or a challenge. If you are comparing datacenter and residential proxies, use the same page list and application settings for each. Note the data used, completed pages and any requests that need attention. Start with a small number of simultaneous requests and follow the destination's access limits. You can increase the batch after the application returns complete results reliably.
Try your actual target pages before choosing the size of a datacenter order.
What should you check during a proxy trial?
Choose a few pages and the locations you want to check before activating a trial. Read the selected offer's traffic allowance, validity and eligibility so you can use it within the available time. If the work involves logging in or moving through several connected pages, include that sequence and select a suitable sticky session. For independent product checks, include several products and a page that requires pagination.
Start with the endpoint settings and an IP-check request. Once the connection works, visit the target pages and check the fields or screen behavior you need. Use the dashboard's traffic usage to estimate how a larger run would fit a paid plan. Keep the test short enough that you can inspect the results yourself. If a page fails, save the error and check whether the same problem appears in a minimal client before changing several settings at once. Try a second required location if the project spans more than one market. At the end, you should have working connection details, a list of the pages that were checked and a practical estimate of the traffic or static allocations needed for the next step.
Use your own target pages and check the allowance and expiry shown for the trial offer.
Which pages should you test before a larger order?
Choose a short list of pages that reflects your project. For a shopping-site check, include a category page, a product with several variants and a product that is unavailable. For a localized website, include the homepage and a page where language or delivery options change. If you need several countries, run the same checks in each one. These examples show whether the setup handles the parts of the site your project actually uses.
Write down the fields you expect before running the test. Open a few results manually and compare them with the values saved by the script. Look for missing prices, unexpected currencies, duplicate products and pages that show a login prompt. Repeat a small part of the test after changing just one setting, such as the requested city or session type, so you can see its effect. Save the working endpoint configuration with the password removed. Also try a deliberately unavailable page to check that your application records the error and moves on. Once the sample works, use its traffic consumption and completion time to estimate the size and schedule of the full run.
Include the kinds of pages your application will visit, including one that shows how it handles an error.
Before and after: save a setup you can use again
Before saving a setup, a team may paste a proxy into a browser, open a page and leave the settings in that one window. The next person then has to find the endpoint, choose a location and repeat the checks. A saved setup is easier to use again: give the profile a clear name, keep the credentials in protected settings and record the country, session type and test page beside it.
For example, a shop team checking its German catalogue could save a German residential endpoint, a browser profile with German language settings and a delivery postcode used for the test. Keep a product URL and the fields to check, such as price, currency and stock status. On the next visit, open that profile and repeat the same check before starting the full product list. If a result differs, you can inspect the saved settings and the page instead of guessing which connection was used. Update the notes when the shop changes its page layout or the team changes its test location. This also gives a colleague enough information to continue while the original operator is away.
Save the settings with a tested page so your next run starts from a configuration you already know.
Need help choosing or connecting?
Check current plans and available locations before ordering. For setup help, use the connection documentation or tell support which application and website you want to connect. Include any error message and the selected protocol, with the password removed.
