Advantage #1
QualityAethyn
Production Premium/EliteWebshareFree / budget
Aethyn vs Webshare
Webshare is a widely used budget proxy provider with a genuine free tier and inexpensive paid plans that many developers try first. Aethyn is the production residential step up: consented Premium and Elite pools, published Euro per-GB pricing, and username-encoded targeting.
€2.00 / GB Volume Rates
0 Minimum Commitments
Instant Self-Serve
Aethyn is our product. Competitor claims were last verified against Webshare's public pricing.
WHY TEAMS SWITCH
Where Aethyn wins against Webshare
The core architecture & pricing decisions that make engineering teams switch.
Advantage #2
TargetingAethyn
City + ISP + stickyWebshareBasic geo
Advantage #3
SessionsAethyn
Sticky up to 24hWebshareLight rotation
Advantage #4
SourcingAethyn
KYC-verified peersWebshareFree-tier mix
01
Quick verdict
Webshare wins on free-tier access and cheaper paid entry — if you are validating a scraper, sharing a classroom lab, or only need light rotating egress, that free/budget on-ramp is a legitimate advantage and we concede it outright. Aethyn is not a free-proxy product. Premium opens at €2.90/GB (€2.00/GB at volume; 10 GB = €29), Elite at €6.50→€4.50/GB, PAYG +10% never expires, with 85M+ consented IPs across 195+ countries, 99.2%/99.9% pool tiers, and sticky sessions from 30 minutes to 24 hours. The upgrade trigger is usually the same: Webshare is fine until ban rates, sticky needs, or geo/ISP precision start dominating your on-call time.
02
Feature matrix
How Aethyn and Webshare line up on the decisions that matter at purchase time.
| Feature | AethynOUR CHOICE | Webshare |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | No — paid Premium/Elite only | Yes — genuine free plan |
| Entry posture | €29 for 10 GB Premium | Cheaper free/paid entry |
| Billing model | Per-GB sub or PAYG | Free + inexpensive plans |
| Pool tiers | Premium 99.2% / Elite 99.9% | Budget rotating inventory |
| Targeting | Country, city, ISP, session | Basic geo on higher plans |
| Sticky sessions | 30 min–24h in username | Limited on free/budget |
| Concurrency | Unlimited threads | Capped by plan |
| Best fit | Production residential | Free/budget on-ramp |
03
Pricing models
As of August 14, 2026. We compare structure — expiry, multipliers, minimums — not a unit-price scoreboard. Aethyn pricing · Webshare pricing
AethynRECOMMENDED FOR ENGINEERS
Per-GB, subscription or pay-as-you-go, all public
- Premium residential from €2.90/GB entry down to €2.00/GB at 90+ GB/month — 10 GB subscription is €29
- Elite residential from €6.50/GB down to €4.50/GB at volume, for hardened anti-bot targets
- Pay-as-you-go is a flat +10% over subscription rates, and PAYG bandwidth never expires
- Per-byte metering with live usage in the dashboard; unlimited concurrent threads on every plan
- Built for production residential — not a freemium teaching plan
Webshare
Free tier + inexpensive paid proxy plans
- Genuine free tier for very light use — a real way to try proxies without a card on some plans
- Cheaper paid entry than Premium residential networks — verify current free and paid limits on Webshare pricing
- Self-serve dashboard popular with indie hackers and small scrapers
- Rotating proxy plans suitable for unprotected or lightly protected targets
- Bandwidth, thread, and refresh limits on free/low tiers are the main scaling constraint
Methodology: Aethyn figures are from our published pricing page. Competitor claims reflect their public materials as of August 14, 2026 (source). Where a public rate is not verifiable we say so. See also how we measure quality.
04
Network & pool
Aethyn
- 85M+ residential IPs across 195+ countries, sourced from consented, KYC-verified peers
- Two explicit pools: Premium (99.2% success rate) and Elite (99.9%, curated high-reputation ISP exits)
- Country targeting on both tiers; city, ISP, and ASN targeting on Elite
- HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 on dedicated ports from one credential set
Webshare
- Large budget rotating proxy inventory with a free tier entry point
- Paid plans unlock more bandwidth, threads, and fresher proxies
- Geo filtering available on higher plans for basic country needs
- Positioned for affordability rather than dual high-reputation residential tiers
05
Sessions & targeting
Production sticky flows use session-<id> for 30 minutes by default and lifetime-<minutes> up to 1440. Combine with country or Elite city/ISP pins for login and checkout style journeys without dashboard round-trips.
Webshare rotating proxies are excellent for stateless fetches on the free/budget tiers. Sticky and high-concurrency needs usually push you onto paid plans quickly, and long multi-step sessions on protected sites are where budget pools show their limits versus Premium/Elite residential.
Aethyn username — targeting in the credential
aethyn-d9e2c-country-us-session-a3xq-lifetime-30See authentication docs and targeting for the full grammar.
06
Integration
Webshare's popularity means many tutorials already show p.webshare.io-style URLs. Migrating to Aethyn is mostly a credential and host change — keep the same Python requests shape.
Aethyn — Python requests
import requests
username = "aethyn-d9e2c-country-us-session-a3xq-lifetime-30"
proxy = "http://" + username + ":YOUR_PROXY_PASSWORD@proxy.aethyn.io:2099"
resp = requests.get(
"https://example.com/products",
proxies={"http": proxy, "https": proxy},
timeout=30,
)
print(resp.status_code)Webshare (per common public docs)
import requests
username = "YOUR_USERNAME"
password = "YOUR_PASSWORD"
proxy = "http://" + username + ":" + password + "@p.webshare.io:80"
resp = requests.get(
"https://example.com/products",
proxies={"http": proxy, "https": proxy},
timeout=30,
)
print(resp.status_code)Prefer a typed helper? See the official SDK or Python requests setup.
Where Aethyn stands out
- Premium 99.2% and Elite 99.9% residential pools
- Username-encoded country, city, ISP, and sticky lifetime up to 24h
- Published €/GB pricing; PAYG never expires
- Consented, KYC-verified peer sourcing
- Unlimited concurrent threads on every plan
- One credential grammar across HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5
Where Webshare is strong
- Genuine free tier for evaluation and tiny workloads
- Cheaper paid entry than Premium residential providers
- Huge mindshare in tutorials and indie-hacker stacks
- Simple dashboard and fast self-serve signup
- Good enough rotating egress for many unprotected targets
07
Trade-offs with Webshare
- Free/low tiers cap threads, bandwidth, and proxy freshness
- Budget pools struggle earlier on hardened anti-bot sites
- Advanced geo/ISP targeting and long sticky sessions are weaker than Elite residential
- Sourcing and compliance narrative is thinner than KYC-verified peer networks
- Easy to outgrow without noticing — failures look like “scraper bugs” first
Choose Webshare if
Developers who need a free tier or the cheapest paid rotating proxies for light, unprotected, or educational workloads.
Choose Aethyn ifENGINEER CHOICE
Teams graduating from Webshare free/budget plans into production residential scraping with sticky geo control and stable success rates.
EASY SETUP
08
Switch from Webshare in three steps
Get started in minutes with a straightforward setup and clear documentation.
Create account / credentials
Document current Webshare plan limits (threads, bandwidth, refresh). Create an Aethyn account and buy Premium 10 GB (€29) as the first production block — Elite only for failing domains.
Configure targeting
Replace p.webshare.io with proxy.aethyn.io:2099 (SOCKS5 1099) or Elite 5499/3499. Add country-us (or other ISO codes), session-<id>, and lifetime-30..1440 to the username.
Connect & cut over
Run dual egress for a week on a fixed basket; cut Webshare free/budget traffic only after success-rate parity. Keep the Webshare free tier as a personal sandbox if you still want a zero-cost playground.
Ready to Get StartedTry Free Now
Premium · Elite · Quickstart
09
Alternatives to Webshare
Best for: production residentialAethynProduction Premium/Elite residential with username-encoded targeting.Best for: cheap non-expiring GBIPRoyalBudget paid residential with non-expiring traffic.Best for: cheap self-serve entryGeonodeAnother inexpensive self-serve on-ramp.Best for: mid-market dashboardSmartproxy (Decodo)Mid-market polish when you want a dashboard-led generalist.
10
The verdict
Webshare is the right free/budget on-ramp and we will not pretend otherwise. Aethyn is the production residential destination — Premium/Elite pools, sticky username control, and published Euro per-GB pricing — when free-tier limits and budget-pool variance start owning your week.
11
Frequently asked questions
Is Aethyn a Webshare alternative?
Yes as an upgrade path. Keep Webshare while you are on the free tier or tiny paid plans; move to Aethyn when you need Premium/Elite residential quality, sticky sessions, and unlimited threads.
Does Webshare beat Aethyn on price?
On free-tier and cheap-entry posture, yes — we concede that qualitatively. Aethyn publishes Premium from €2.90/GB (€29 for 10 GB). Compare live Webshare limits on their pricing page rather than treating either side as a hard unit-price scoreboard.
When should I leave the Webshare free tier?
When thread caps, bandwidth refresh, or ban rates block real work. A €29 Premium block is usually cheaper than another week of engineering time spent nursing free proxies.
Can I keep Webshare and Aethyn together?
Yes. Many teams keep Webshare for personal experiments and route production domains through Aethyn Premium/Elite.
How do I map Webshare config to Aethyn?
Swap the host to proxy.aethyn.io, pick Premium port 2099 (or Elite 5499), and move geo/session needs into the username: country-us-session-xxx-lifetime-30.
Related guides
Best Datacenter Proxy Providers (2026) — When to Switch to ResidentialDatacenter proxies are still the fastest, cheapest option for open APIs and unprotected sites. We compared Webshare, Bright Data, Oxylabs, and others — plus when to upgrade to Aethyn residential.Best Free Proxy Lists for Web Scraping in 2026 (Honest Review)We tested 12 popular free proxy list sources for web scraping in 2026. Most collapse on protected sites — here is where free lists still work and when to upgrade to residential proxies.Best Residential Proxies for Web Scraping in 2026 (Tested Criteria, Published Sources)Nine residential proxy vendors ranked for web-scraping buyers on pricing transparency, documented targeting, session control, and self-serve access — every competitor fact linked and dated.
Products & learning
Premium residential proxiesCost-efficient rotating residential pool from €2.00/GB for bulk scraping and monitoring.Elite residential proxiesCurated high-trust pool with city and ISP targeting for hard anti-bot targets.Proxy glossaryPlain-English definitions for residential proxies, rotation, anti-bot, and scraping terms.Best proxies for scrapingDeveloper-focused residential proxy comparison for 2026.
More comparisons
“Webshare” and related marks are trademarks of their respective owners. Comparisons on this page are for informational purposes only and do not imply affiliation, endorsement, or partnership.