NetNut Proxy Alternatives in 2026

If you were already using their network or intending to, you may need to start finding alternatives; the good news is that there are plenty of them. In today’s guide, we will explore why NetNut has become a risky proxy provider choice and the top five alternatives you can consider. Let’s jump right in!

What happened to NetNut (and why you need an alternative now)

NetNut is among the proxy providers that were heavily affected by the recent take down done by Google and the FBI. On July 2–3, 2026, when the FBI and Google (working with Lumen and Shadowserver), disrupted its network and seized associated domains. 

According to the FBI and Google, the network was reportedly built from an estimated 2 million devices enrolled through hidden SDKs without meaningful user consent. This is against the privacy laws and cybersecurity best practices in almost any country.

Alarum Technologies, the parent company, says it will cooperate with the investigation and has not been charged with wrongdoing. Regardless of how the investigation concludes, where a provider sources its IPs is now a real buying criterion for any team running residential proxies at scale.

Was NetNut shut down? 

Yes, their website has been taken down. As stated earlier, the FBI and Google’s investigation into its network led to the seizure of its domains and the degradation of its infrastructure after reportedly tying it to a botnet of roughly 2 million devices. 

When you visit their website today, you’ll see that the domain has been seized and is under investigation. This will affect both previous users who may have already purchased IPs and those who intended to. The good news is that several NetNut proxy alternatives exist. 

ProxyWing overview: a NetNut alternative built on real users

If you were considering NetNut for its wide coverage, IP pool, and accessible pricing, ProxyWing is one of the best alternatives you should opt for. ProxyWing offers 70M+ ethically-sourced IPs across 190+ countries and 195+ locations.

Its IPs belong to real users on verified infrastructure, pricing is pay-as-you-go, and the network runs a 99.47% success rate. Where NetNut’s sourcing is now in question, ProxyWing’s ethical sourcing is the direct answer and one of the key reasons to choose it over several other vendors on the market.

Besides reliable infrastructure, ProxyWing also offers accessible pricing for its proxies; datacenter IPs start at $0.9/month, making it an accessible alternative. Thanks to the flexible pricing plans, ProxyWing also supports both small and large-scale usage; you can start small with a few IPs and seamlessly advance to thousands of IPs if your workflow demands change.

5 reasons teams move from NetNut to ProxyWing

These are the key reasons for choosing ProxyWing as one of the NetNut proxy alternatives

• Ethically-sourced IPs: ProxyWing uses real-user, consented IPs and not a network reportedly built on non-consented devices, per the FBI and Google. This makes it a safer and more secure network alternative that you can trust with your most sensitive workflows.
• No lock-in: Pay-as-you-go pricing, and traffic never expires. ProxyWing offers plans, including those that you only pay per day; no need to over commit. 
• Larger, cleaner pool: 70M+ IPs across 190+ countries. The main difference is that this pool includes clean and verified IPs that are legally sourced from real users and datacenters (for datacenter IPs). 
• Higher success rate: 99.47% success rate on live requests. This ensures minimal interruptions, especially when handling workflows that involve strict targets. 
• Flexible sessions: Rotating and sticky sessions with custom rotation intervals. Rotating IPs suit workflows like web scraping while sticky sessions are good for account management. 
• Precise targeting: Country, city, and ASN-level targeting. Precise geo-targeting is ideal for workflows like ad verification and SEO monitoring that may require targeting specific states or cities. 

ProxyWing vs NetNut: head-to-head

The table below shows a summary of how ProxyWing compares to NetNut feature wise 

Feature	ProxyWing	NetNut
Pool size	70M+ IPs	85M+ IPs
Sourcing & consent	Ethically-sourced, verified real users	Reportedly built on non-consented devices (according to the FBI and Google)
Rotation	Rotating + sticky, custom intervals	Rotate + sticky, up to ~2 hrs
Protocols	HTTP/S, SOCKS5	HTTP/S, SOCKS5
Targeting	Country, city, state, ASN	City-level
Pricing model	Monthly plans, Pay-as-you-go, no expiry	Monthly plans
Status	Active	Disrupted (per FBI/Google, July 2026)
Support	24/7 reliable support	Not independently verified

ProxyWing vs other NetNut alternatives

Besides ProxyWing, the following proxy providers are also great NetNut proxy alternatives:

Bright Data 

Bright Data is the largest enterprise proxy network on the market, with 400M+ IPs across 195+ countries. This makes it ideal for large-scale web scraping workflows that require millions of IPs.  Beyond raw pool size, it also offers built-in web scraping tools and a data marketplace that suit large-scale pipelines needing integrated tooling rather than a standalone proxy connection. Pricing starts at $14/month (10 DC IPs). One of the best NetNut proxy alternatives for large scale users.

IPRoyal 

IPRoyal is a budget-friendly alternative with an IP pool of 64M+ across 195+ countries. Its standout feature is non-expiring traffic; once purchased, your bandwidth doesn’t expire on a monthly cycle, which suits teams with unpredictable or seasonal usage. Pricing starts from $1.75/GB on residential proxy plans and $1.39/proxy for datacenter proxies. Reliable alternative for budget-sensitive users

Oxylabs 

Oxylabs is another great NetNut proxy alternative that runs an enterprise-grade network of 177M+ IPs across 188+ countries. It also has a strong focus on compliance and dedicated account support. Oxylabs is built for high-concurrency enterprise workloads rather than small teams, with pricing and tooling geared toward that scale. Their datacenter proxies start at $12/month (10 IPs). Also has a free plan with 5 datacenter IPs. Another trusted alternative for large scale users. 

Decodo (Smartproxy) 

Decodo, formerly Smartproxy, offers 125M+ IPs across 195+ countries with a user-friendly dashboard and straightforward developer experience. It is positioned as an accessible alternative for teams that want fast setup without a steep learning curve, thanks to its relatively friendly pricing. Their datacenter proxy plans start at $3.5/month (100 IPs). 

SOAX 

SOAX offers a clean, transparent pool of 190M+ IPs across 195+ countries, with fine-grained geo-targeting down to the city and ASN level. Its per-GB pricing and granular session controls make it a flexible alternative for geo-sensitive workflows like SEO monitoring and ad verification. Its cheapest plan starts at $200/month, making it mainly a practical alternative for enterprise customers.  

Inside ProxyWing’s network

Some of the key metrics to look out when you go with the ProxyWing network include:

• Pool & coverage: 70M+ IPs across 190+ countries, with strong density in top markets, including the UK, USA, Canada, German, and more. This includes datacenter, ISP, mobile, and residential proxies
• Sessions: Rotating and sticky sessions with custom rotation timing. Rotating residential proxies are great for web scraping while sticky sessions are great for session sensitive tasks like account management. 
• Protocols: HTTP/S and SOCKS5 support. Can handle both web, UDP, and several other forms of traffic. Supported for all proxy types, including residential proxies.
• Targeting: More precise geo-targeting; country, city, state, and ASN-level targeting, enabling more flexibility. 
• Performance: 99.47% success rate and a 99% uptime guarantee. These numbers make it a great choice for large web scraping projects and other high bandwidth workflows. 
• Sourcing: Ethically-sourced IPs on verified infrastructure, guaranteeing your privacy and securing when using this network. 

Browse 190+ country locations or see use cases.

Pricing: pay-as-you-go with no lock-in (and the traps to avoid)

ProxyWing pricing for its residential proxies is pay-as-you-go with traffic that never expires, starting from $1.00/GB at volume. Mobile proxies are priced per day ($4/day) with unlimited traffic. Datacenter and ISP proxies are priced per month at $0.9 and $1.7 respectively. 

Hidden costs to check before switching proxy providers:

• Traffic that expires before you use it. ProxyWing residential proxies guarantee traffic that never expires. View plans to get started. 
• Overage fees on bandwidth
• Surcharges for geo-targeting
• Features locked behind higher-priced tiers; common with most proxy providers
• Cheap plans with poor real-world success rates and end up costing you more in the long term

How to switch from NetNut in a few steps

These are the five simple steps you can follow to successfully join the ProxyWing network:

Step 1: Create your ProxyWing gateway 

Sign up, subscribe and generate your proxy credentials, including the username, password, and gateway endpoint (IP address and port) from your ProxyWing dashboard. Take note of these details because you will need them in the next steps. 

Step 2: Update your host and port 

Replace the old gateway address in your config with ProxyWing’s endpoint. Copy and paste the accurate IP address and port details you acquired in the previous step. 

Step 3: Update your authentication details 

Swap in your new ProxyWing username and password. Double-check the auth format, since a mismatch here is the most common cause of connection errors (407s) during migration.

Step 4: Configure rotation, sticky sessions, and geo-targeting 

Set your session type (rotating or sticky session) and any country, city, or ASN-level targeting to match your previous proxy setup. ProxyWing supports both IP rotation flexibility and precise geo-targeting.

Step 5: Run a test batch and validate 

Send a small batch of requests through the new connection and confirm your success rate matches or beats your previous baseline before switching over fully. Test for speed as well, especially if you need to handle large scale web scraping projects. 

Before/after config example:

Before

USER:PASS@gw.netnut.io:PORT

After

USER:PASS@gateway.proxywing.com:PORT

Create an account today to get started with ProxyWing. If you face challenges along the way, reach out to the 24/7 support that is always available to help.

Will switching from NetNut break my scraper?

No, it will not. When you switch to ProxyWing, only the endpoint and authentication change; your parsing logic stays the same. The three spots to watch when migrating include authentication format (to avoid 407 errors), sticky-session TTL, and retry thresholds. These metrics do vary slightly between proxy providers.

Why teams trust ProxyWing

• ProxyWing serves 70,000+ users with a 4.5/5 rating on Trustpilot and 24/7 support. 
• IPs are ethically sourced on verified infrastructure
• SOC 2 / ISO 27001 certification is currently in process.

Read verified customer reviews

Final thoughts: start scraping on a network you can stand behind

The NetNut takedown was an IP sourcing problem, not a proxy problem. When choosing a provider, knowing their IP source is now as important as their performance and reliability. Overall, residential proxies remain a legitimate, valuable tool as long as the IPs are sourced from users who actually consented to the arrangement.

Selecting a provider with ethically-sourced, verified IPs protects your projects and your reputation going forward. Choose ProxyWing for ethically-sourced IPs.