# Proxy and web data providers for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "proxy network" and as "residential proxy provider for web scraping", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Added to the October 2026 Edition on October 4, 2026; its answers are read by the distilled judge (ai-indexes-judge-qwen3-14b-run3), not the claude-opus-5 judge of the earlier categories. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/it-data/proxy-networks/enterprise/

**Standing:** Oxylabs (tied with Bright Data) leads with 42% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 50 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oxylabs | 42% | 6% | 63 |
| 2 | Bright Data | 42% | 8% | 60 |
| 3 | Decodo | 2% | 12% | 17 |
| 4 | Zyte API | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 5 | SOAX | 0% | 18% | 17 |
| 6 | Smartproxy | 0% | 23% | 13 |
| 7 | NetNut | 0% | 29% | 24 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Bright Data; alternatives Decodo, Live Proxies, Oxylabs, Proxidize
- GPT-5.4 mini: Bright Data; alternatives Decodo, Oxylabs
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Oxylabs; alternatives Bright Data, Decodo, NetNut, Proxidize
- Perplexity Sonar: Oxylabs; alternatives Bright Data, Decodo
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Bright Data; alternatives Decodo, NetNut, Oxylabs, SOAX
- Mistral Small: Oxylabs; alternatives Decodo, Live Proxies
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Bright Data; alternatives Oxylabs
- Llama 4 Maverick: Decodo, Oxylabs
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Bright Data, Oxylabs; alternatives GeoSurf, Smartproxy
- Kimi K2: Bright Data, Oxylabs; alternatives SOAX, Smartproxy
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Oxylabs; alternatives Bright Data, Decodo, IPRoyal, SOAX
- MiniMax M2.5: Bright Data, Oxylabs; alternatives Proxy-Seller
- GPT-6 Luna: Bright Data, Oxylabs; alternatives Decodo
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Oxylabs; alternatives Bright Data

## Sources the answers cite

79 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- brightdata.com: 52 answers, 105 citations
- thunderbit.com: 41 answers, 50 citations
- aimultiple.com: 38 answers, 44 citations
- proxyway.com: 34 answers, 53 citations
- decodo.com: 29 answers, 34 citations
- dataimpulse.com: 27 answers, 36 citations
- oxylabs.io: 20 answers, 31 citations
- proxidize.com: 20 answers, 23 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://thunderbit.com/blog/best-enterprise-proxy-services (41 answers)
- https://brightdata.com/blog/proxy-101/best-enterprise-proxy-providers (24 answers)
- https://decodo.com/blog/best-proxy-providers (21 answers)
- https://aimultiple.com/enterprise-proxy (18 answers)
- https://liveproxies.io/blog/best-enterprise-proxies (18 answers)
- https://dataimpulse.com/blog/best-enterprise-proxies (16 answers)
- https://proxyway.com/best/proxy-service-providers (16 answers)
- https://me.pcmag.com/en/proxy/22143/the-best-proxies-for-2024 (15 answers)
- https://brightdata.com/blog/comparison/bright-data-vs-oxylabs (14 answers)
- https://brightdata.com/blog/proxy-101/best-proxy-providers (13 answers)

## Warned against

- NetNut: 7 of 24 labels negative. "Enterprises are generally advised to avoid or apply enhanced due diligence to providers that: ... have been publicly linked to botnet abuse, malware SDKs, or non-consensual device enrollment such as NetNut/Popa." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- 911 S5: 5 of 5 labels negative. "The 911 S5 case is the historical precedent cited for the current enforcement trend: residential proxy botnets build their IP pools by infecting consumer devices" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Bright Data: 5 of 60 labels negative. "it carries significant historical and ongoing controversy that enterprises should weigh carefully" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Oxylabs: 4 of 63 labels negative. "Oxylabs - Named in the Reddit vs. Perplexity lawsuit (October 2025), exposing legal liability for proxy providers" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.