I Scraped 500K Pages with Bright Data — 2026 Review

Is Bright Data Worth It?

★★★★★ 4.5/5

Quick Verdict: Bright Data is the most powerful web data collection platform I’ve tested. With over 72 million residential IPs across 195 countries, it delivers a 99.99% network uptime. It’s a premium provider built for companies that need reliable data at scale. Not cheap — but worth every penny if web scraping is core to your business.

✅ Best For:

Companies that need large-scale public web data collection with high success rates and global proxy coverage

❌ Skip If:

You’re a solo user on a tight budget who only needs basic web scraping without proxy management

📊 Proxy Network	72M+ residential IPs in 195 countries	🎯 Best For	Enterprise web data collection and AI training
💰 Price	From $0.79/1K requests (pay-as-you-go)	✅ Top Feature	Web Unlocker with auto CAPTCHA bypass
🎁 Free Trial	7 days for registered companies	⚠️ Limitation	Steep learning curve for beginners

How I Tested Bright Data

Need to collect public web data at scale?

Maybe you’ve tried free proxy servers. They were slow. They got blocked. Half your requests failed.

Enter Bright Data.

It’s the world’s largest proxy network. Over 20,000 companies use it. And 14 of the top 20 AI labs rely on it for data.

In this review, I’ll show you exactly how it performed after 90 days of real use.

Bright Data

Stop fighting with blocked proxies and failed scrapes. Bright Data gives you access to 72 million+ residential IPs across 195 countries. Power your web data collection, AI agents, and market research with 99.99% uptime. Free trial available for registered companies.

TRY BRIGHT DATA NOW →

BRIGHT DATA ALTERNATIVES →

What is Bright Data?

Bright Data is a web data collection platform. It helps you collect public web data from any website in the world.

Think of it like a master key for the internet.

Websites block scrapers. They use CAPTCHAs, IP bans, and fingerprinting. Bright Data’s proxy network bypasses all of that.

You get access to over 72 million residential IPs. That’s IP addresses from real devices in 195 countries.

The platform also offers pre collected data sets, web scraping tools, and a datasets marketplace.

Unlike basic proxy servers, Bright Data gives you a full data infrastructure. It handles everything from proxy management to data delivery in JSON, CSV, or Excel.

It’s built for companies that need reliable data at massive scale. Fortune 500 firms, AI labs, and e-commerce brands all use it daily.

Who Created Bright Data?

Ofer Vilenski and Derry Shribman started Bright Data in 2014.

It was first called Luminati Networks. It began as part of the Hola VPN company.

In 2017, EMK Capital acquired the company for around $200 million.

Or Lenchner became CEO in 2018. He’s led the Bright Data team ever since.

Today, Bright Data powers over 20,000 companies worldwide. The company crossed $300 million in annual revenue in 2025.

They’re based in Israel, with offices in New York and San Francisco.

Bright Data also won a major legal case. A federal judge ruled that scraping public data does not break website terms of service.

Top Benefits of Bright Data

Here’s what you actually get when you use Bright Data:

• Massive Global Coverage: Access over 72 million residential IPs in 195 countries. You can target specific cities for city level targeting. No other premium provider offers this many locations.
• Near-Perfect Uptime: Bright Data has a network uptime of 99.99%. Your data collection runs 24/7 without drops. That’s the reliability your business needs.
• Bypass Any Block: Bright Data offers automated web unlocking. Its intelligent algorithms solve CAPTCHAs, bypass fingerprinting, and handle anti-bot systems automatically. Your success rate stays above 99%.
• Ready-to-Use Datasets: Don’t want to scrape? Buy pre collected data sets from their marketplace. They cover e-commerce, real estate, social media, and more. Data comes clean in JSON, CSV, or Excel formats.
• AI-Ready Data Pipelines: Bright Data provides scalable, compliant data pipelines that support AI workflows. Feed structured datasets to LLMs and machine learning models for pre-training and fine-tuning.
• Full Compliance Built In: Bright Data’s platform is designed to be compliant with GDPR and CCPA. Every customer goes through KYC checks. Your data collection stays legal and ethical.
• Dedicated Account Managers: Enterprise customers get personal account managers. They help you set up, troubleshoot, and scale your data projects. Support is available 24/7 through a ticket system.

Best Bright Data Features

Here are the standout features that make Bright Data the industry leader in web data collection.

1. Datasets Marketplace

Don’t want to build your own scraper? No problem.

Bright Data offers access to a marketplace of pre-collected, structured datasets. These cover areas like e-commerce, real estate, and social media.

You pick the data you need. Bright Data delivers it clean and ready to use.

Data comes in JSON, CSV, or Excel. No coding required.

This is perfect for research teams and companies that need public data fast.

2. Web Scraper API

The Web Scraper API handles everything for you. Point it at any website. It returns structured data.

Bright Data automates workflows with pre-built data collectors and no-code IDEs.

You don’t need web scraping experience to get started. The no-code tools make it simple.

For developers, there’s full API access with browser extension support. It connects to your existing systems with ease. Bright Data even offers an MCP server for direct AI integration.

3. Web Unlocker

This is where Bright Data really shines.

The Web Unlocker automatically bypasses anti-bot systems and solves CAPTCHAs. No manual work.

It uses intelligent algorithms to pick the right proxy type for each request. Your success rate stays high.

Even heavily protected websites like Amazon and LinkedIn open up. The tool handles fingerprinting, cookies, and headers automatically.

4. Massive & Diverse Proxy Network

Bright Data’s proxy network includes over 72 million IP addresses from 195 countries.

You get four different types of proxies: residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies, and mobile proxies.

Each proxy type serves a different need. Residential IPs look like real users. Datacenter IPs are fast and cheap. ISP proxies give you static residential addresses. Mobile IPs use 3G, 4G, and 5G connections.

You can target by country, city, or even specific cities. City level targeting lets you see what customers see in any location on Earth.

5. ISP Proxies

ISP proxies are one of Bright Data’s secret weapons.

These are dedicated residential IPs from real internet service providers. They combine the speed of datacenter proxies with the trust of residential IPs.

They’re perfect for ad verification, brand protection, and SEO monitoring.

The Unlimited ISP Proxies plan starts at just $1.30 per IP. That’s strong value for static residential IPs.

6. Residential Proxies

Bright Data’s residential proxy network is the largest in the industry.

Over 72 million residential IPs from real devices around the world. These mobile IPs and home connections look just like normal users.

Websites can’t tell you’re scraping. That means higher success rates and fewer blocks.

The platform supports unlimited concurrent sessions for scalable data collection. You can send thousands of requests at once.

Pricing starts at $2.94 per GB for residential proxies with bandwidth-based billing.

7. ECommerce Insights

Bright Data enables tracking competitor pricing, stock levels, and product reviews in real-time.

The Bright Insights tool uses deep insights and machine learning to spot market trends.

You can monitor any e-commerce site. Track prices across countries. Find gaps in competitor stock.

This is built for retail teams, pricing analysts, and market research firms.

8. SERP API

Need search engine data? The SERP API scrapes Google, Bing, and other search engines in real-time.

Monitor keyword rankings. Track local search results. Extract metadata for lead generation.

You can target searches from any country or city. This makes it great for SEO teams and marketing agencies.

Pricing is just $1.05 per 1,000 requests. That’s cheap for real-time SERP data.

9. Crawl API

The Crawl API is one of Bright Data’s key features. It lets you index and extract data across millions of pages at once.

It works like a search engine crawler. But you control what gets crawled and how.

The API combines residential proxies with parallel crawling for maximum speed.

This is ideal for building custom datasets, feeding AI agents, or running deep lookup on competitors.

Bright Data’s capabilities include feeding large-scale, structured datasets to LLMs for AI training.

Bright Data Pricing

Bright Data uses pay-as-you-go pricing. You only pay for what you use.

Here’s the full pricing breakdown:

Free trial: Yes — 7 days for registered companies. Bright Data has a promotional offer where the first deposit is matched up to $500.

Payment options: Credit cards, wire transfers, and PayPal accepted.

Is Bright Data Worth the Price?

Bright Data is a premium provider. It’s not cheap. But it delivers premium results.

Here’s my honest take after 90 days.

You’ll save money if: You need high-volume data collection with near-perfect success rates. Failed requests on cheaper services cost more in the long run.

You might overpay if: You only need a few hundred scrapes per day. Simpler tools like ScrapingBee would serve you better at a lower cost.

Bright Data Pros and Cons

✅ What I Liked

❌ What Could Be Better

Is Bright Data Right for You?

✅ Bright Data is PERFECT for you if:

• You need to collect public web data at enterprise scale
• You’re building AI agents or training machine learning models with web data
• You need proxy servers in specific countries and specific cities worldwide
• You want a GDPR-compliant, legal data collection service

❌ Skip Bright Data if:

• You only scrape a few pages per day on a small budget
• You need a simple point-and-click scraper with no learning curve
• You prefer a flat monthly fee instead of usage-based pricing

My recommendation:

If web data is critical to your business, Bright Data is the best investment you can make. The focus on reliability, speed, and compliance sets it apart from every competitor.

For casual users, look at ScrapingBee or Zyte instead.

Bright Data vs Alternatives

How does Bright Data stack up? Here’s the competitive landscape:

Quick picks:

• Best overall: Bright Data — largest proxy network with highest success rate
• Best budget option: Smartproxy (Decodo) — great proxies at lower prices
• Best for beginners: ScrapingBee — simple API with easy setup
• Best for AI scraping: Zyte — strong AI-driven extraction at scale

🎯 Bright Data Alternatives

Looking for Bright Data alternatives? Here are the top options:

• 🏢 Oxylabs: Closest competitor to Bright Data. Enterprise-grade proxy network with AI-powered scraping and strong customer support.
• 💰 Smartproxy (Decodo): Best value proxy provider. Over 55 million residential IPs with a much lower price point. Great for small and mid-size teams.
• 🧠 Zyte: AI-focused web scraping platform with smart spider automation. Pay-as-you-go pricing makes it flexible for different budgets.
• 👶 ScrapingBee: Simple, developer-friendly scraping API. Handles JavaScript rendering and CAPTCHA solving. Best for teams that want fast setup.

⚔️ Bright Data Compared

Here’s how Bright Data stacks up against each competitor:

• Bright Data vs Oxylabs: Bright Data has a larger proxy network. Oxylabs offers slightly easier setup. Both are top-tier for enterprise use.
• Bright Data vs Smartproxy: Smartproxy wins on price. Bright Data wins on scale, features, and global proxy coverage.
• Bright Data vs Zyte: Zyte is better for AI-specific scraping. Bright Data offers more proxy types and a bigger network overall.
• Bright Data vs ScrapingBee: ScrapingBee is easier to use and cheaper. Bright Data is far more powerful for large-scale data collection.

My Experience with Bright Data

Here’s what actually happened when I used Bright Data:

The project: I needed to scrape e-commerce pricing data from 15 major retail websites across 8 countries. The goal was real-time competitor price monitoring for a client’s pricing strategy.

Timeline: 90 days of daily automated scraping.

Results:

What surprised me: The city level targeting was incredibly accurate. I could see pricing differences between New York and Los Angeles for the same product. That deep lookup data was worth the cost alone.

What frustrated me: Not gonna lie, the first week was rough. The dashboard has so many features that I felt lost. The proxy manager has a steep learning curve. But once I figured out the workflow, everything clicked.

Would I use it again? Yes, without question. Bright Data turned a painful manual process into a fully automated system. The reliability alone was worth switching from cheaper options.

Final Thoughts

Get Bright Data if: You need the most powerful, reliable data collection platform with global proxy coverage and compliance built in.

Skip Bright Data if: You’re on a tight budget and only need basic web scraping for small projects.

My verdict: After 90 days, I’m convinced Bright Data is the gold standard for public web data collection. It’s not the cheapest option. But the reliability, scale, and data quality make it the best value for serious businesses.

Bright Data is best for companies, AI labs, and research teams that depend on web data.

Rating: 4.5/5

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bright Data trustworthy?

Yes. Bright Data is recognized for its strict usage policy and compliance with GDPR and CCPA. It powers over 20,000 companies, including Fortune 500 firms. The company has a Trustpilot rating of 4.3 out of 5 from 900+ reviews. Every customer goes through identity checks before getting access.

How much does Bright Data cost?

Bright Data uses pay-as-you-go pricing starting at $0.79 per 1,000 requests for the Web Scraper API. Residential proxies start at $2.94 per GB. Datacenter IPs start at $0.90 per IP. They also offer prepaid plans with lower rates and custom proxy plans for large accounts.

Is Bright Data free?

No, Bright Data is not free. However, it offers a free trial for registered companies lasting 7 days. New users get a deposit match up to $500. You need to add a valid payment method to access the trial.

What is the difference between Bright Data and Apify?

Bright Data focuses on proxy networks and data infrastructure for large-scale web data collection. Apify focuses on pre-built scrapers and automation actors. Bright Data is better for companies that need raw proxy power. Apify is better for users who want ready-made scraping solutions.

Is Bright Data worth it?

Yes, for businesses that depend on web data. The high success rate, global coverage, and compliance features make it worth the premium price. If you only need occasional scraping, cheaper tools may be a better fit.