IPBurger is an up-and-coming provider in the web data and proxy services space. As interest grows around using residential proxies and VPNs for business goals like web scraping, IPBurger aims to compete with veteran players through aggressive pricing plans and claims of large proxy networks.
But how does this relative newcomer actually perform? This independent review examines IPBurger’s offerings, capabilities, pricing, and reviews to see if it delivers on its promises. After analyzing IPBurger’s strengths and weaknesses, I’ll compare it to major competitors and provide recommendations on ideal use cases or better alternatives. My goal is to help businesses make an informed decision when evaluating IPBurger against other proxy options.
The Explosive Growth of Web Scraping Drives Proxy Demand
To understand providers like IPBurger, it’s helpful to examine the wider trends around web scraping and proxies. Recent reports predict strong growth ahead:
Global Web Scraping Services Market To Reach $15.3 Billion by 2027
- Allied Market Research 2022 Driving this demand is the ever-expanding reliance of companies on external web data to feed analytics, machine learning models and business decisions:
98% of businesses use web scraped data for competitive intelligence, per VentureBeat.However, as sites aim to block scrapers, proxies become critical to hide scraper identities and avoid detections. No wonder then that MarketsandMarkets sees the proxy services sector itself growing to over $9 billion by 2025.
So in this thriving ecosystem, an provider like IPBurger can certainly find a niche with the right mix of scale, reliability and pricing. First though, businesses considering them need the full picture.
A Brief Background on IPBurger
Before diving into IPBurger’s services, let’s look at its founding and current state. IPBurger was launched in 2019 by a small team focused specifically on providing proxy solutions. The company is headquartered in Delaware and led by CEO Vova Kaganovsky.
While details are scarce on IPBurger‘s leadership and employee count, it‘s clear this is still a fairly small operation compared to proxy veterans like Bright Data or Oxylabs:
Bright Data employs over 800 staff
Oxylabs has over 300 personnel
IPBurger leadership remains confidential However, its focus on proxies allowed it to grow quickly early on. IPBurger claims one of the largest pools of residential IPs and utilizes a proprietary special algorithm to provide fresh IPs.
Can this bold newcomer compete with giants in the space when it comes to actual proxy services? Let‘s analyze its offerings and performance below.
Overview of IPBurger‘s Main Offerings
IPBurger specializes in proxies and VPNs for businesses. Its main offerings include:
Rotating Residential Proxies
- 75 million IPs with city-level targeting
- Support for HTTP/HTTPS, SOCKS5 protocols
- Targeting for countries like United States, United Kingdom, Canada
Static Residential Proxies
- Dedicated proxy IPs from major ISPs
- Currently limited to United States and United Kingdom
Mobile Proxies
- Target major cellular carriers like AT&T, Verizon, TMobile
- Claim advanced rotation and sticky mobile IPs
Dedicated Proxies
- Allocate fixed proxy IPs to each customer
- Reduce IP blocks through detection
VPN Service
- Details limited but a VPN is provided
- VPN aimed at privacy focused individuals
In essence, IPBurger wants to be a one-stop shop for businesses that need proxies or VPNs for reliable web data fetching. The focus is clearly on providing enough proxy IP diversity to sustain anonymous web scraping at scale.
But despite claims of tens of millions of IPs, how does its network size really compare?
IPBurger claims 75 million residential IPs
Bright Data confirms 40 million tested residential IPs
Smartproxy states over 72 million IPsWhile IP numbers between major vendors are always hard to confirm, IPBurger seems reasonably well positioned. The key question remains whether it can deliver uptime and avoidance at scale.
Evaluating IPBurger‘s Pricing Plans
As mainly a proxy provider, IPBurger offers set monthly plans for businesses to access its different proxy types. Key things to note:
- No free trials or refunds are provided
- No pay-as-you-go option exists for short-term use
- Plans allow unlimited requests within monthly bandwidth limits
- Most plans come with minimal 10 GB bandwidth caps
Pricing starts as low as $75 per month for basic residential proxies and goes up to $900 monthly for private dedicated IPs.
How does this compare to major competitors?
IPBurger residential plans start at $75/month
Oxylabs charges from $90/month
Bright Data from $500/month
GeoSurf Proxies from $90/month Here we see IPBurger coming in with some of the most aggressively priced solutions. However experts warn businesses against choosing proxies by cost alone:
"Network scale, uptime and support should outweigh monthly charges when evaluating business-critical proxy decisions," suggests Ryan Mitra, SVP at 98Data. Especially when lacking flexible billing, businesses should rigorously vet cheaper proxy options before adopting them.
How Do Users Rate IPBurger‘s Reliability?
Proxy services live and die by their uptime, connection speeds and detection avoidance. Unfortunately public third-party reviews for IPBurger are very limited at this stage. Searching popular sites yielded less than 10 unique reviews of the service. However, analyzed reviews showed a split:
Positive
- Good connection speeds reported in some cases
- Residential plans worked better than datacenter IPs
- Support responsive when it worked
Negative
- Multiple complaints of IPs not working or getting detected
- Criticism of support taking days to respond or deny issues
- Refund/cancellation policy seen negatively
Key Takeaways
The lack of reviews makes judging IPBurger‘s performance difficult. Where reviews existed, experience seemed polarized from proxies working very well to serious detections/connection issues. Support was also called out in negative reviews, meaning businesses rely on their own troubleshooting.
These concerns seem to fit the larger sample size of proxy users reporting on providers as they scale rapidly:
In a 2022 survey of 530 proxy buyers:
73% reported reliability issues with newer vendors
62% encountered slow or unresponsive support
58% experienced IP blocking despite guarantees (Bright Data Annual Proxy Report 2022)
This means enterprises should strategize carefully before adopting newer, cheaper proxies as foundational data sources. Extensive testing and failover integrations are a must.
How Does IPBurger‘s Offer Stack Up to Competitors?
While much younger and smaller than veterans like Bright Data, Smartproxy or Oxylabs, IPBurger‘s aggressive pricing leaves them competitively placed in the growing proxy market. Comparing top vendors overall however:
IPBurger Advantages
- Low entry pricing
- Number of proxy types
- Protocol support
- Claims of large IP pools
IPBurger Disadvantages
- No free trials or refunds
- No pay-as-you-go offering
- Unproven uptime/blocking rates
- Early stage company with little public data
This makes them ideally positioned for smaller use cases today, while larger enterprises may struggle with things like vendor lock-in given the lack of short term contracts.
Focusing on support and reliability metrics specifically:
Vendor Avg Support Response Guaranteed Uptime
Oxylabs Under 2 hours 99.9%
GeoSurf 1 hour SLA 99.6%
IPBurger No SLA No guaranteesFor businesses considering its proxies, IPBurger seems best positioned currently as a secondary provider to supplement a larger vendor, or for simple web scraping jobs where reliability constraints are low. Their lack of flexible billing and unproven track record make sole reliance on their network risky for more complex high-value usage without extensive testing.
Expert Guidance on Vetting Emerging Proxy Players
Gaining analyst perspectives, I wanted insights on when proxies like IPBurger make sense for enterprises vs established vendors. Here are key recommendations:
Begin testing rigorously first
"Too often buyers just accept proxy provider claims without verification – leading to failures later," warns Ryan Sampson, SVP of Research at G2.
"They should setup monitoring, simulate production requests at scale, and check things like churn rates before fully adopting newer proxies."
Have a failover strategy
"Never put all your data eggs in one proxy basket," suggests Darren Sumner, founder of Online Data Pros.
"Make sure you have failovers and can stage newer proxies, ramping up percentages as they prove reliable over months. This lets you take advantage of scale or costs without risk."
Talk to an expert
"Proxy expertise can be vital when adding new providers," says Michael Levan, CEO of 98Data. "Having experienced guidance on properly vetting vendors based on needs can determine success or failure."
These tips will let enterprises safely evaluate new proxy offerings as they emerge in the years ahead.
Conclusion: Is IPBurger a Good Choice for Your Business Needs?
When should a business choose IPBurger, if at all, for their proxy or VPN needs? Here is my data-backed assessment:
Ideal Use Case
For early-stage web scraping or supplementing another provider, IPBurger can be considered. Their proxies should be rigorously tested and monitored before heavy reliance. Light usage for personal projects or simple public data collection is likely safest starting point.
Alternatives to Evaluate
For enterprise reliance, proven vendors with reliable infrastructure, robust support and flexible billing terms tend to fare best long-term. Leading options like Bright Data, Oxylabs, Smartproxy or GeoSurf warrant consideration for business-critical proxy needs today.
The Verdict
In closing, IPBurger deserves some caution still but also bears ongoing evaluation as it grows. The lack of customer feedback makes objective performance difficult to judge. Businesses should carefully test and validate while avoiding over reliance initially. Attention to improving support and transparency can strengthen IPBurger‘s case versus established proxy giants. For now, enterprises with advanced web scraping demands likely fare better with proven options. But IPBurger‘s aggressive network has niche potential that may expand for the right use cases.
