Bright Data (formerly Luminati founded in 2014) – is the largest Western service providing mobile, residential and server proxies along with other related services like search engine results parsing. It also sells ready-made datasets for specific business niches and categories.
Luminati was rebranded as Bright Data in 2021. Currently, the company servers are based in Israel yet the company has its servers in other countries – the United States, the United Kingdom and Ukraine. Its sales points are also spread worldwide, with representatives in China, India and Brazil.
The service mainly targets clients including legal entities and specialized technical professionals. The estimated pool of IP addresses exceeds 72 million. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Let’s check out what the system offers now before you make the final decision.
Bright Data is considered a trusted proxy provider with lots of features users appreciate. It’s high time to enlist the company’s pros and cons now.
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Pros: |
Cons: |
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✔ Extensive network of residential and mobile IP addresses in the proxy market; ✔ Legal and official; ✔ High uptime guarantee – at least 99.9% availability; ✔ Automatic IPs rotation; ✔ No port limits; ✔ Proxy Manager, which can be installed on a local or dedicated server within a pre-configured cloud infrastructure; ✔ Unified network access through a super-proxy; ✔ Completely free VPN service for individuals; ✔ Web scraper and custom dataset collection services available; ✔ Advanced security settings. |
✘ The service primarily caters to businesses and legal entities; ✘ To verify identity, a mandatory initial deposit of $1 is required (Bright Data automatically increases this to $5 as a bonus); ✘ Inconvenient billing cycle when paying for traffic-based plans – billing starts only on the 1st of each month, and the first payment is made in full; ✘ Bright Data’s cloud-based Proxy Manager (LPM) is free only for the first week, the further cost is $150/month; ✘ Quite expensive; ✘ Even unlimited server proxies have traffic limits (100 GB/month max, or users must pay extra for additional traffic); ✘ Strict compliance policies; ✘ Trial period activation requires business verification. |
Bright Data has quite an interesting feature: it allows you to manage traffic and load on its proxy servers, configure segmentation and access rules as well as monitor your network status. This can be done not only through the built-in control panel but also via specialized software – LPM (Luminati Proxy Manager). The software is open-source and can be installed on your own server or used in Bright Data’s cloud service (a paid option). Installation options include ready-to-use Docker images, NPM packages, Windows applications and Bash scripts for Linux systems.
Control Panel
When registering for the service, you are required to provide your first and last name as well as your company size and industry. It’s also possible to add the mobile phone number, but this is an optional feature.
Instead of registering via email, you can authenticate using Google or Okta accounts.
By default, two-factor authentication is possible here – after entering your credentials, you will receive a token via email, which is required to log in.
Among the most important elements available in the sidebar menu, the following ones are the first to mention:
At the bottom of the sidebar, you will find elements to:
How to Get Mobile, Residential and Corporate Proxies from Bright Data
The My Proxies section provides tools for managing key services. Here, you can:
Additionally, this section allows you to view passwords, pricing and other details about active services.
The column layout is customizable and there is a flexible filtering system with a universal search feature. You can also export the services table in CSV format.
How to Get New Proxies
Such setup process ensures flexibility and security while providing granular control over proxy usage.
Targeting and Locations
Bright Data offers multiple core services, so targeting options should be reviewed for each service.
Residential proxy pool includes the most extensive range of IP addresses. Bright Data claims a network of over 72 million IPs, letting clients choose from 195 countries worldwide. The location targeting precision goes up to the city and ISP level. You can actually pick any level of targeting: Country → State/Region → City.
Mobile proxies have a smaller pool but still an impressive one – over 7 million IP addresses. Their targeting accuracy and rules are the same as residential proxies, making it possible to complete the selection up to the city and mobile network provider level.
Datacenter (server) proxies include over 1.6 million IPs with the same 195-country coverage. However, detailed targeting is unavailable for all service types. For example, if you choose general proxies with traffic-based billing, location customization is unavailable.
For shared and dedicated (private) server proxies, precise location targeting is supported.
ISP proxies (also known as static residential proxies) work similarly to datacenter ones but use IP addresses assigned to local ISP providers. Bright Data’s
ISP proxy network consists of over 600,000 IP addresses, covering 195 countries, with location targeting up to the city level.
Automated Rotation
Bright Data guarantees automated proxy rotation to ensure seamless and efficient web scraping by automatically changing IP addresses for each request or session. As a result, a user gets a chance to bypass geo-restrictions, avoid CAPTCHAs and reduce the risk of getting blocked by target websites.
Rotating servers (not dedicated/private ones) automatically rotate after 50 requests by default. Custom rotation settings can be configured using Proxy Manager or API. The “–max_requests Requests per session” attribute is responsible for this process.
Proxy List and API Export
One of the most interesting features of Bright Data’s system is how it operates through super proxies. These are centralized network nodes acting as both load balancers and firewalls, preventing unauthorized access to the network.
Bright Data does not provide proxy list exports. To connect external software or programs, clients must use a super-proxy address along with a unique login and password for client authentication.
When a request is made from a connected application, it is first sent to the super-proxy, which then routes it internally to the appropriate exit node.
API Integration
Bright Data comes as a set of pre-built API blocks for seamless super-proxy integration. Clients can fine-tune additional settings such as:
The best method for relaying proxy connections from workstation software to the super-proxy is by installing a local proxy server using Proxy Manager (LPM). It can also be installed on a dedicated or virtual server, which may imply hosting rental.
Unlike other popular VPN tools, BrightVPN offers a completely free and unlimited VPN service that was created with the intention to set up a large-scale network of residential and/or mobile proxies. In other words, a proxy server and special management scripts are embedded in this VPN client. You can use VPN tunnels entirely for free while it is enabled.
Key Features of BrightVPN:
Security is quite a challenging issue when it comes to Bright Data. It should be reviewed from 2 points: technical security for connections and confidentiality of user requests.
In terms of technical security for connections, everything works flawlessly. Proxy connections are all password-protected and you can also avail a special SSL certificate to encrypt traffic from the Proxy Manager.
When it tackles the confidentiality of requests, a vast pool of data is collected. They are all stored on dedicated servers and can be included in one of the datasets.
That said, all of this data is anonymized. At most, it is linked to the type of device and general location (up to the city level).
The same is about the free VPN client. The built-in proxy module operates independently. Business clients who use it for their purposes do not know and cannot find out anything about the user.
The company strictly monitors the legitimacy of clients’ actions. This is why it only works with legal entities and requires identity verification of payers.
To access the full functionality of the service, you need to complete not only KYC verification but also a “live” interview. During this interview, a manager will inquire about the intended use of Bright Data’s proxies. A simple, generic response like “marketing research” will not suffice. Instead, get ready to provide detailed answers like the sites queried, for what purpose etc.
There is a high likelihood that the interview may not be successful on the first attempt. Multiple attempts may be required.
The outcome of the interview will have direct consequences. If you attempt to use the service for unauthorized purposes, you may receive requests for explanations regarding each fact.
According to the service agreement, Bright Data will monitor all of your traffic to prevent unauthorized use and abuse.
The Bright Data proxy network has a very high bandwidth capacity. The guaranteed SLA level is at least 99.9% or even higher in practice.
If you enable unlimited traffic when renting dedicated proxies, it is assumed that by the end of the month, you will have used no more than 100 GB. This limit is flexible and can be adjusted in either direction based on the legitimacy of the client’s activities – the main goal is to ensure that your usage does not cause issues for other clients.
Other factors will directly depend on the type of proxy: mobile proxies are slower (due to 3G/4G connections), there may be occasional disconnections of individual nodes etc. All these issues are easily resolved through automatic real-time rotation.
Bright Data’s VPN has no traffic or speed restrictions.
Bright Data accepts payments in US dollars only. If you plan to use another currency, it will be converted according to the rates of the payment system.
The cost of traffic does not depend on the client’s region. Pricing is influenced by:
The pricing policy of the service is higher than that of its popular competitors like Asocks (find the prices here) or SX.org (my review), for example. Have a look at current Bright Data Plans below (annual fees).
Pay as you go (Billing depends on the traffic used)
Starter Plan ($500/month)
Advanced Plan ($1,000/month)
Advanced+ Plan ($2,000/month)
There is the opportunity to apply for the 7-day trial but only for companies (requires verification of business status and address).
Other Services Pricing include:
Available payment methods include: International bank cards, PayPal, Payoneer, AliPay. For customers who have already deposited over $5,000 USD, an additional payment method becomes available: WIRETRANSFER.
If you have ever searched for Bright Data reviews online, you’ve probably come across multiple positive feedbacks about the service. Users frequently report positive experiences in terms of customer support and functionality. My personal service testing is not that optimistic, though.
The only advantage of the service, in my opinion, is its full legal compliance,as it adheres to the legal requirements of all European countries. But that’s about where the positives end. What you see next is multiple drawbacks.
Despite having a network of over 72 million IPs, the proxy service is often unavailable. Response times are excessively high, primarily because all client requests are routed through a single super-proxy, which simply cannot handle the load.
To complete KYC verification for an account, you will likely need multiple attempts, involving personal interactions, tricky questions, and more. You won’t be able to get away with just generic responses.
All target domains are added to a special list. Any attempt to visit other websites or deviate from standard routes may result in a complete account ban. Naturally, any remaining balance will not be refunded.
What’s more, Bright Data is quite an expensive proxy service, if compared with its popular niche competitors.
Summing it all up, I cannot recommend Bright Data. It definitely makes sense to look for a more feature-rich and affordable alternative. Fortunately, there are many of them out there.
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