ProxFree is one of the tidier free web proxies around. Its landing page carried no AdSense when we checked it, the connection runs over SSL, and it offers useful switches for cookies, page titles and scripts. If you only need to look at a page from Ireland, Canada or the United States, it does that job: in our test all three locations exited in the country picked, every test page loaded and a YouTube video played.
Those three countries are the whole list, though: Dublin, Montreal and Lenexa, Kansas. People start looking for a ProxFree alternative when the page they need is local to somewhere else, such as a price in Germany, search results in Brazil or an ad campaign in Japan. Shifter Web Proxy lets you pick from 54 countries and change country from the toolbar while you browse.
The other difference is the kind of address you exit from. Shifter routes every session through residential IPs, the same ones its paid customers use, so sites see an ordinary home connection in the country you chose. The trade-off is a firm daily allowance of 30 minutes and 100 MB per visitor, which we explain below rather than hide.
Shifter Web Proxy vs ProxFree
| Feature | Shifter Web Proxy | ProxFree |
|---|---|---|
| Countries | 54 countries | 3 countries |
| Exit IP | Residential | Datacenter |
| Ads | None | None |
| Allowance | 30 minutes and 100 MB a day | No published limit |
| Account | Not required | Not required |
| Logs | No page logs | No policy |
| Operator | Shifter | ProxFree |
| Exit choice | Any, switchable | Three IP locations |
Facts checked on each site's own pages. Where we could not confirm something, the table says so.
What we measured
ProxFree figures come from our scripted browsing session. Shifter Web Proxy figures come from its own service configuration and code.
| Test | Shifter Web Proxy | ProxFree |
|---|---|---|
| Median page load | 1287 ms | 2281 ms |
| Pages that loaded | 100% | 100% |
| Ad slots added to proxied pages | 0 | 0 |
| YouTube playback | Worked | Worked |
| Countries listed / verified in our test | 54 listed | 3 listed, 3 of 3 verified |
| Ad-network requests per page | 0 | 0 |
| Exit IP observed | Residential | Datacenter |
Why people switch from ProxFree
54 countries instead of three
ProxFree offers Ireland, Canada and the United States. Shifter Web Proxy covers 54 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia and beyond, so you can check a site as a local visitor sees it in far more markets.
Residential exit IPs you can rely on
In our test, ProxFree's three locations exited through hosting networks: WebWorld in Ireland, OVH in Canada and IONOS in the United States. Shifter states it plainly: every free session leaves through a residential IP, which large sites generally treat as an ordinary local visitor rather than a known proxy server.
Switch country without starting over
ProxFree's bar lets you move between its three IP locations. Shifter's toolbar does the same across its full country list, mid-session and without another reCAPTCHA check.
A published privacy position
We found no logging policy for ProxFree. Shifter Web Proxy does not keep a log of the pages you visit, and for HTTPS sites the encrypted connection is negotiated inside your own browser tab.
Run by a named proxy company
Shifter Web Proxy is built and operated by Shifter, a residential and ISP proxy provider. If you outgrow the free allowance, there is a direct path to paid plans with city and ISP targeting on the same network.
Honest about the limits
ProxFree publishes no free limit. Shifter does: 30 minutes and 100 MB a day per visitor, reset at midnight UTC. It is a smaller allowance than an ad-funded proxy may give you, and it is the price of residential IPs with no ads.
ProxFree pros and cons
- No AdSense on the landing page when we checked
- SSL is always on
- Options to allow cookies, remove page titles and remove scripts
- Shows the latency of each of its three countries
- All three locations exited in the chosen country, and YouTube played, in our test
- Only three countries: Ireland, Canada and the United States
- Exits ran on hosting networks (WebWorld, OVH, IONOS) in our test
- No logging policy we could find
Verdict
ProxFree is a clean, simple proxy and a reasonable pick if Ireland, Canada or the United States is all you need. If you need more countries, or want to know you are browsing from a residential IP, Shifter Web Proxy covers 54 countries with no ads. Just plan around its daily allowance.