Last updated: January 2026

What Is Bright Data?

Bright Data is a web-data powerhouse built for teams that need reliable access to public information at scale. The platform began as a proxy network, but today it looks like an end-to-end data-access layer: 150 million residential IPs in 195 countries, automated unblocking APIs, hosted scraping browsers, ready-made datasets, and a free tier that lets AI agents browse the live web without getting stuck on CAPTCHAs.

Put simply, Bright Data gives developers, marketers, analysts, and AI builders the plumbing they need to collect public web data while the service handles IP rotation, geo-targeting, fingerprinting, and compliance. The company has served over 20,000 customers and is widely considered the industry leader in web data infrastructure.

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Key Features Explained

Massive Proxy Network

Bright Data's core is its multi-layer proxy infrastructure. Tap into residential, ISP, datacenter, or mobile IPs, swap locations down to a ZIP code, and enjoy 99.99% uptime. That breadth makes it useful for ad-verification, price monitoring, SEO audits, and any project that fails when a site blocks requests.

The residential pool alone exceeds 150 million IPs—the largest in the industry. This scale matters because websites recognize and block smaller networks. Bright Data's diversity ensures your requests look like genuine traffic from real users across the globe.

Web Unlocker & SERP API

If configuring headers and solving CAPTCHAs isn't your thing, Web Unlocker does it for you. Send a URL and the API returns clean HTML/JSON while auto-rotating IPs and spoofing fingerprints—you only pay for successful responses. The SERP API handles Google, Bing, and other engines with parsed rank data ready for analysis.

Browser & Crawl APIs

Some sites require scrolling, clicks, or JavaScript rendering. The Browser API spins up remote Playwright, Puppeteer, or Selenium sessions so your code behaves like a real user. Crawl API maps entire domains and delivers content in Markdown, HTML, or plain text with scheduling and webhook support.

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Dataset Marketplace

Need LinkedIn data by lunchtime? The Dataset Marketplace offers pre-collected public data—LinkedIn profiles, company pages, e-commerce listings, social posts—starting at about $250 for 100K records. Buy once, subscribe to updates, or bundle for volume discounts. This eliminates scraping entirely for common use cases.

The Web MCP (Free Tier)

The Web MCP opens Bright Data's unlocker tech to autonomous AI agents. The free tier grants up to 5,000 requests per month, supports LangChain, CrewAI, and LlamaIndex, and offers Rapid and Advanced modes for speed or full browser control. This makes Bright Data essential infrastructure for the emerging AI agent ecosystem.

Real-World Use Cases

Price Intelligence

E-commerce companies monitor competitor pricing across thousands of SKUs daily. Bright Data's rotation prevents blocking while structured data feeds directly into pricing algorithms.

Lead Generation

Sales teams collect public business data for outreach. For CRM automation, pair with Centripe or integrate with email tools like Klaviyo.

AI Training Data

ML teams collect diverse web content for model training. The Web MCP makes this accessible even for smaller AI projects.

Brand Monitoring

Track mentions, reviews, and sentiment across the web. Pair with Brand24 for social-specific monitoring.

Pricing (2026)

See official pricing for current rates.

Proxy Network — Pay-as-you-go starts at $8/GB, often discounted to $4/GB for residential. Subscription bundles drop as low as $2.50/GB. Datacenter and ISP IPs begin around $0.90-$1.80/IP monthly.

Web Unlocker & Scraper APIs — Usage-based billing from ~$1.5 per 1,000 results. Growth and Business plans (from $499/month) cut rates below $1 per 1K.

Datasets — Pre-built datasets start near $250 for 100K records with discounts for refreshes.

Web MCP Free Tier — 5K monthly requests at no cost; higher volumes roll into paid plans.

Bright Data offers $25-$50 free credits for new accounts, plus seven-day trials on most products.

Pros and Cons

What We Like

150M+ residential IPs in 195 countries—largest network available

Web Unlocker handles CAPTCHAs automatically

Ready-made datasets save months of scraping work

Free tier for AI agents (5K requests/month)

99.99% uptime SLA backed by enterprise infrastructure

Compliance-focused with transparent sourcing

What Could Be Better

Can be expensive at high volumes

Complex pricing with many variables and add-ons

Learning curve for advanced features

Compliance responsibility ultimately falls on user

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Bright Data vs. Alternatives

vs. Thordata: Thordata is newer with competitive pricing and an unlimited plan. Bright Data has larger network, more mature features, and better AI integrations.

vs. Oxylabs: Oxylabs is a strong competitor with similar enterprise features. Bright Data has larger residential pool and the Web MCP for AI.

vs. Smartproxy: Smartproxy is more affordable for smaller volumes. Bright Data better for enterprise scale and complex use cases.

vs. ScraperAPI: ScraperAPI is simpler for basic scraping. Bright Data offers more control, mobile IPs, and comprehensive data products.

FAQ

Is Bright Data legal and compliant?

Yes—Bright Data sources residential IPs through an opt-in model and provides a Trust Center with compliance documentation. You must ensure your use case respects local data-privacy laws and target site terms.

Do I need coding skills?

Not necessarily. The Control Panel offers point-and-click wizards, while datasets and Web MCP can be consumed with a single cURL command.

How does Bright Data compare to building my own proxy pool?

Running proxies in-house means buying IP blocks, handling abuse reports, and reacting to bot defenses. Bright Data bakes those headaches into the subscription at scale that's impossible to replicate independently.

Will the free tier be enough for my AI agent?

If prototyping or running a hobby project, 5,000 monthly requests may be plenty. Production agents will need paid tiers.

What support options exist?

All plans include 24/7 chat and email. Higher tiers unlock dedicated account managers, premium SLA, and audit logs.

Final Verdict

Bright Data feels less like a simple proxy vendor and more like a platform for turning the open web into structured, actionable fuel for your business or AI project. The flexible pricing, battle-tested infrastructure, and expanding free options make it worth a spin.

For comprehensive data operations, pair Bright Data with Amplitude for product analytics and Brand24 for social monitoring.

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