Bright Data – (Formerly Luminati) Review 2021

Bright Data Review 2024: Are Their Proxies Worth It?

Published on: February 19, 2024
Last Updated: February 19, 2024

Bright Data Review 2024: Are Their Proxies Worth It?

Published on: February 19, 2024
Last Updated: February 19, 2024

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Bright Data is a popular and leading proxy provider in the proxy market today. They offer a wide range of exclusive features and unique services.

Bright Data which was formerly known as Luminati, has delivered quality services to its users for several years now.

If you wish to give Bright Data proxy service a try, you should check out this Bright Data review to know what you are bargaining for.

Bright Data Review 2024

Bright Data proxies are highly rated by proxy users for having some of the best proxy features.

They are an award-winning proxies provider ranked as the best proxy in 2021, with excellent scraping performance.

They are also the number one business choice for the best proxy service in 2021. With such a reputation, there is no doubt why they are most proxy users’ preferred choice.

Bright Data has the largest IP pool in the proxy market, with more than 72 million proxies to choose from.

This large proxy pool cuts across both their mobile proxies and residential proxies. Their datacenter proxies have a proxy pool of over 7 million IP addresses to pick from.

They boast of the best proxy coverage and geo-targeting, with their service stretching across all countries of the world.

Bright Data is regarded amongst the best for being secure, reliable, fast, compatible, ethical, and efficient.

Therefore, they are best for specific tasks like web scraping and crawling, brand protection, ads verification, and SEO auditing, among others.

They offer proxies in the residential, datacenter, and mobile proxy categories. Each of these proxy types is designed to perform several specific tasks on the internet effectively.

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Although their datacenter proxy is not popular because of its price, their residential and mobile is very popular irrespective of pricing. 

Pros and Cons

Bright Data is respected for its impressive list of features, as this proxy provider is designed to offer general proxy use cases, as well as specific use cases.

If you plan to choose Bright Data as to your preferred proxy provider, look at their pros and cons to let you know what you are paying for.

Pros
  • Large IP pool
  • Best Residential Proxy Provider
  • Numerous Locations
  • Geo-Targeting
  • ASN targeting
  • Secured
  • Completely Legal
  • Excellent Scraping Performance
  • Dedicated Proxy Packages
  • Excellent Proxy Network Speed
  • Powerful Proxy Control
  • Different IP Types
  • Excellent Customer Service
  • Strict KYC
  • Secure login option
  • Excellent 3-Day Refund Policy and 7-Day Trial Period
  • Flexible Service
  • Top Graphic Quality
  • Next-gen Proprietary Technology
  • Request Viewer
  • Responsible Data Collection
Cons
  • Expensive Proxies
  • The dashboard is Complex for Newbie
  • Email Support is Slow
  • Limited Bandwidth

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Review of Features 

Bright Data’s strengths and selling point are the fantastic features that they offer.

This has put Bright Data in the limelight for years and has made them famous in the proxy market.

Here are some of Bright Data’s features you should consider before subscribing to their service.

The Largest IP Network in the World

Bright Data review - Storage

A unique feature of the Bright Data proxy network is its massive proxy pool.

They are the world’s leading proxy providers in terms of proxy size, making them stand out, as no other proxy provider can boast of this feat.

Bright Data’s proxies have over 72 million IPs in total.

Unbeatable Residential Proxy Network

This proxy service is arguably the best proxy provider in the proxy market today. They are incredibly famous due to their unbeatable residential proxies.

Their residential proxies have a wide range of use cases and are pretty efficient and reliable in performing specialized tasks. 

Bright Data’s Worldwide location

One main selling point Bright Data has is its worldwide location. They have proxies in all countries across the globe and many popular cities worldwide.

This feature makes Bright Data residential proxies perfect for web crawling, web scraping, social media automation, and ads verification, among others.

Bright Data’s residential proxy pool stands out and cuts across all countries in the world.

The United States alone claims to have over 4.6 million proxy IPs and 1.6 million proxy IPs in the UK.

There are over 4 million Bright Data proxy IPs in India, over 1 million proxy IPs in Brazil, and a sizable number of proxy IPs in France, Canada, Germany, South Korea, and other countries in the world.

Fabulous Geo-Targeting

Bright Data Data

Another Bright Data’s unique feature is the Geo-targeting feature of their residential proxies.

This is possible because they have a large proxy pool that cuts across all countries and major cities worldwide.

With this, their users can enjoy the best uninterrupted proxy service of any location they wish to use.

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It is a feature that is extremely useful for sneaker sites and sites with geo-restriction regulations for their web content.

Autonomous System Number (ASN) Targeting

When it comes to providing geo-targeting options, most proxy providers offer just two out of the three types of geo-targeting.

For most proxy providers, their users can either choose city proxies or country proxies. Bright Data, however, supports all three.

Their user can use the Autonomous System Number (ASN) option for more granular control when geo-targeting.

Top-notch Security

A feature all proxy users worldwide love that Bright Data offers is top-notch security.

They ensure their users are safe while using their services by employing the best security protocols.

Users can browse the web freely and ensure that a third party will not have their vital information.

They boast of one of the best security features because their proxies are encrypted. Also, they use the HTTPS protocol and always advise their users to use HTTPS when surfing the web.

The fact that Bright Data is 100 percent legal is a significant boost for its users.

In this internet era, where the proxy market is saturated, many proxy service providers get their proxies through various malicious means.

They steal other proxy users’ residential IP addresses without their consent.

This is one reason why many residential proxy providers keep the sources of their proxies hidden.

This is entirely different with Bright Data because they acquire their IP addresses legally and transparent.

Excellent Scraping Performance

bright-data-search

One of the main uses of residential proxies is web scraping and crawling.

In these critical areas, Bright Data’s residential proxies are regarded as the best in the world.

They can bypass the smart security features websites use to prevent data theft by data aggregators.

Bright Data performs significantly in terms of scraping data. You can use their residential proxies with their Data Collector or with your own scraper.

They record great scraping success rates even against the most popular websites such as Craigslist, AirBNB, Upwork, Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Pinterest, Twitter, Telegram, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Quora, Yellow Pages, Yelp, Indeed, IMDB, Expedia, Newegg, TripAdvisor, Shopify, Etsy, Amazon, Aliexpress, Booking.com, eBay, Google, Google Maps, Zillow, Wayfair, and other famous websites.

They can also be used for Social Media scraping, Real Estate scraping and Facebook Ads scraping.

This even saw them win the best scraping-performance award against hundreds of popular proxy providers, with a 93.7% scraping success rate.

Excellent Proxy Network Speed

Bright Data is known worldwide for its excellent proxy network speed; they are among the fastest proxy providers worldwide.

Judging their response time and proxy connection speed, Bright Data boasts of one of the most impressive connection speeds in the market.

It’s even more impressive when you consider that they don’t own the devices they route their requests to.

If you wish to confirm their connection speed yourself, you can always use the Speedtest tool to test their connection speed from different locations.

Powerful Proxy Control Tools

Bright Data has one of the best and most potent proxy control tools in the market.

Their users are given access to these powerful tools when they subscribe to their service to ensure they can use their proxies easily.

Some of the powerful proxy control tools they have include Chrome Extension, API, and a Proxy Manager.

Chrome Extension

Bright Data Chrome Extension

Experienced users know that setting up proxies on chrome for new users and getting them to work effectively is usually tricky.

However, the Bright Data chrome extension helps users set up fine, as their proxies are integrated into Chrome. With this, users don’t have to tweak anything to use it.

Bright Data API

Programmers and developers who use Bright Data find it easy and helpful when using their APIs, as it provides effective communication with their proxies when building a system.

However, if you are not a programmer, you may not need their APIs.

Proxy Manager

Bright Data Proxy Manager

Bright Data proxy manager is one of the best proxy managers in the market and a great proxy control tool.

It offers users the benefit of incredible speed. It is beneficial for scrapping and will speed up development time.

Different IP Types

Bright Data Proxy-types

Bright Data blesses its users with diversity in IP types. They are one of the few proxy providers that offer the three different IP types.

This means that no matter the use case you want, Bright Data has a proxy for you.

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They offer users mobile, datacenter, and residential proxies. Their residential proxies remain their most popular proxies.

This is not only because they provide a large proxy pool but also because they offer three residential proxy types.

Here are the different residential proxy types Bright Data has.

Shared Residential IPs

Users of Bright Data who subscribe to their shared IP plan have access to millions of these shared proxies.

This is because Bright Data has a massive proxy pool of shared IPs. However, you will also be sharing these proxies with a good number of other users.

Exclusive Residential IPs

Bright Data users who don’t like the idea of sharing their proxies with others can opt for the Bright Data exclusive residential IPs.

Such users will be assigned dedicated residential proxies for their private use.

Static Residential IPs

The static residential IPs are very useful for many proxy-intensive tasks such as web scraping and crawling.

These types of tasks will need your proxies to be rotated. However, some websites will flag your account if they need a login, and your IP keeps changing.

To solve this problem, it is best to use a static residential proxy.

This proxy type doesn’t change but is not as efficient as the rotating residential IPs.

The advantage Bright Data IPs offer is that their static residential IPs are equally as efficient as rotating residential IPs.

Excellent Customer Support

Bright Data is a proxy provider known to offer top-notch customer support. They are ranked as the best proxy provider for their excellent customer support.

One pitfall Bright Data has is in the usage of their dashboard, as it may initially seem not intuitive.

If you reach out to their customer support unit, you are sure to be given an extensive amount of information.

Their FAQs and blog pages are also second to none in terms of information.

Bright Data also went a step further to create live support for their users.

This helps their users get information in real-time while chatting with their customer rep.

However, their email support is slow to respond.

Their KYC Weed Out Malicious and Unserious Users

Bright Data runs a strict KYC policy that helps them protect their users in the long run.

Individual users who want to sign up for their services will have to submit a government-issued ID which will be authenticated.

They will also need to take a photo for verification purposes. Without these requirements, you can’t register for their services.

This helps to weed out unserious and malicious users. It also ensures that the Bright Data network is clean, unlike many other proxy providers.

The downside to this is that it may result in a longer registration time and discourage users from registering for their services. 

Secure Login Option With Username/Password Authentication

Not only does Bright Data put additional security in place to protect their users’ backend from malicious activities, but they also provide a tight security log-in option for their users.

Their users need to log in with a username and password, thereby providing a first-level security check and making it difficult for strangers to log into users’ accounts easily.

Excellent 3-Day Refund Policy and 7-Day Trial Period

Bright Data has one of the best refund and trial policies among proxy providers. Users are allowed to use their service for free for up to seven days to test their services.

When users buy any of Bright Data plans, these users still have a 3-day refund grace period in case they are not satisfied with their services.

When a user requests a refund within the 3-day refund window, the refund is made quickly.

Flexible Service

Bright Data has one of the most flexible services in the proxy market. Once you have a hang on their dashboard, you will enjoy using them.

Also, users have access to numerous proxy types and plans. This promotes user flexibility and makes it fun to use.

Top Graphic Quality

Bright Data is attractive to use as it offers excellent graphic quality.

Their Data Collector patent graphic users offer a transparent blue and white vignette border as an image of a light blue magnifying glass.

Bright Data Data Collector

This gives their users a good feeling when navigating their interface.

Next-gen Proprietary Technology

Bright Data is one of the leading proxy providers in terms of technology and innovation.

They boast of more than 750 granted technology patent claims.

This gives their users access to numerous unrivaled and unique technology that can’t be found amongst other proxy providers.

An example of such fantastic patent technology is their SDK application.

This application makes it possible for their users to access excellent collaborative digital networks worldwide.

Request Viewer Option

Their request viewer feature allows their users to make detailed request logs.

With this, they can easily monitor all the requests they receive with Bright Data proxies when surfing the internet.

Responsible Data Collection

Bright Data Data collection

Bright Data provides a transparent proxy service to its users by enforcing responsible data collection.

Their users can feel safe with Bright Data when it comes to their data because Bright Data ensures users’ data is kept anonymous and not stolen.

If Bright Data ever wants to acquire user’s data, such as their IP address, they ensure they are legally and ethically compliant.

They also go the extra mile in protecting users’ data by thoroughly vetting their customers, peers, and partners because safety is a priority.

One way Bright Data guarantees safety is by consistently monitoring their network through manual and automated checks.

They also conduct external audits regularly to check for leaks and loopholes.

The Downside of Bright Data’s Features

Based on the listed features Bright Data boasts of, it is almost tempting to tag Bright Data as a perfect proxy provider.

A new user who sees all these features will purchase their plans immediately with a second thought.

However, Bright Data is not as complete as most would think. They also have a few disadvantages associated with them that users should be aware of.

Below is the downside of Bright Data.

Pricing-They Are Expensive and Offer Limited Bandwidth

Bright Data Pricing

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Pricing plays a significant role in users’ buying decisions.

This also determines the number of users that patronize a service and how competitive they are in the market.

Unfortunately, Bright Data’s biggest downside is its pricing.

Bright Data plans are costly to buy and scare people away and have them not even try their services.

The smallest monthly subscription plan a user can get on Bright Data’s residential proxies goes for as much as $300.

Even at that, you will only get 20 GB for that amount. If you exceed your access, you’ll have to purchase another subscription to continue using the service.

This discourages lots of users who then opt for other options with similar features and benefits.

Although their plans are expensive, when you consider the premium features and benefits you will be enjoying, it is worth every penny.

Top-Rated Proxy Providers

These proxies providers have been voted as the best consistently in user ratings across various websites.

First we collated the user review data, then we performed our own tests to ensure 100% legitimacy of the proxies.

These are by far the best proxy providers on the market today.

RankServiceMore Info
1OxylabsVisit
2Bright DataVisit
3ProxyEmpireVisit

Their Dashboard is Complex for Newbie

As a leading proxy provider with fantastic technology and rated as the best residential proxy service in the world, it is expected that Bright Data should have an easy-to-use dashboard.

However, this is not so. Their dashboard can be quite complex, especially for new users, because of the variety and number of proxies they offer.

This proxy diversity is supposed to be an advantage, but the complexity of their dashboard becomes counterproductive. 

One particular area that is not friendly is their search menu.

It would be best if you familiarized yourself with their search menu, especially for city-specific proxies, to get used to it.

New users need to learn how to use their service or even contact their customer support to use their services.

They try to make up for this with the very detailed FAQ page.

All needed information about how to use their service and everything you need to know about their proxies are provided on their FAQ page. 

Email Support is Slow

Bright Data is well applauded for their general customer support. They try to provide help for their customers in many ways that will guarantee speed and efficiency.

Their live customer support, blog, and FAQ page are very efficient and helpful. However, their email support is deemed very slow by most users.

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Sometimes it could take days to get a response from their email support unit.

When all their live chat support teams are busy, getting an answer for your query through their email support can be very frustrating.

Review Verdict

In conclusion, Bright Data is a premium proxy service and remains one of the best in the world.

They boast unmatched features and offer numerous advantages to their users.

They are also regarded as a specialist proxy provider with numerous specific use cases. So when asked if I recommend Bright Data, the answer to that is a yes.

Users who opt for their services will enjoy access to the world’s largest proxy pool.

They also have access to Bright Data’s extraordinary geographical distribution, which will always come in handy.

Bright Data is also clean, secure, and reliable, making it an excellent reason to purchase their plans. 

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Written by Trevor Cooke

Trevor Cooke is an accomplished technology writer with a particular focus on privacy and security. He specializes in topics such as VPNs, encryption, and online anonymity. His articles have been published in a variety of respected technology publications, and he is known for his ability to explain complex technical concepts in a clear and accessible manner.