ProxyPal Review
ProxyPal is quick and reliable: every test page loaded, at one of the better median times in our benchmark, and with less ad code loading than on CroxyProxy, ProxySite, Proxyium or BlockAway. You cannot choose a country, YouTube would not play in our check, and the free tool exited on a hosting IP even though its parent company sells residential proxies.
The short version
- 10 of 10 test loads opened, with a median of 1,502 ms from click to visible content.
- Run by PlainProxies, a named proxy provider, which says so in the header.
- You cannot pick a location; the exit IP we recorded was in Poland, on MEVSPACE.
- One ad slot added to every proxied page and a median of 1 ad-network request per page, plus a large third-party banner on the homepage.
At a glance
| Feature | ProxyPal |
|---|---|
| Countries | No location choice |
| Exit IP | Datacenter |
| Ads | Yes |
| Allowance | No published limit |
| Account | Not required |
| Logs | No policy |
| Operator | PlainProxies |
| Monthly visits | 1.1M (Semrush, 2026-08) |
Facts checked on each site's own pages.
What we measured
Results from the scripted browsing session every proxy in this series goes through. Measured from a single connection in the EU, using test method wpb-1.1. Every proxy ran the same scripted session.
| Test | ProxyPal |
|---|---|
| Median page load | 1502 ms |
| Pages that loaded | 100% |
| Ad slots added to proxied pages | 1 |
| YouTube playback | Failed |
| JavaScript app | Worked |
| Countries listed / verified in our test | No location choice |
| Ad-network requests per page | 1 |
| Exit IP observed | Datacenter |
What ProxyPal is
ProxyPal is a free web proxy at proxypal.net, and its header reads Powered by PlainProxies, the residential and datacenter proxy seller behind it. PlainProxies advertises 25M+ IPs in 195+ countries on its own site. ProxyPal is its free, separately branded tool, and by Semrush estimates it draws far more visitors than the parent site itself.
That model is fine by us, since Shifter Web Proxy is built the same way: a proxy company lets people sample its service through a free browser tool. The useful question is what the free tool gives you. ProxyPal has a URL box, a YouTube Web Proxy page and claims of support for sites such as YouTube, Instagram and Reddit. It also mentions streaming services; we did not test those.
How it performed in our test
ProxyPal was one of the steadier proxies in our run. It opened every one of the 10 test loads, with a median of 1,502 ms from the Browse click to visible content, quicker than CroxyProxy, Proxyium and BlockAway. All five targets passed their content checks, and the TodoMVC React app rendered and kept a typed to-do. We never logged in to an account, so whether a session stays signed in is untested.
YouTube was the exception. The player showed up, but playback never began, either on the first pass or after we cleared YouTube's cookie wall and tried again. ProxyPal has a page dedicated to YouTube, so another day may go better, but it did not pass our check.
There is no location picker on the homepage, and PlainProxies does not list which countries the free tool uses. Our session exited in Poland, and the exit IP belonged to MEVSPACE, a Polish hosting company, not a home broadband line. That is the one point where the free tool sells its parent short: PlainProxies sells residential proxies, but the free proxy we tested did not show them. We did not run a formal IP-type classification.
Ads, privacy and whether ProxyPal is safe
When we tested, a large banner for a third-party free VPN sat above the URL box, and the homepage loaded Google ad code. Inside proxied sites ProxyPal adds one ad slot per page, the CroxyProxy-style header slot, which stayed empty in our automated browser. We saw no pop-up or interstitial and logged a median of just 1 request per page to known ad networks, lower than on CroxyProxy, ProxySite, Proxyium or BlockAway.
The connection to ProxyPal is HTTPS and the operator is named, which already puts it ahead of anonymous rivals. We did not find a logging policy specific to the free proxy, though, so what ProxyPal records about your browsing is not published as far as we could tell. Treat it as you would any free web proxy: fine for public pages, not for passwords, payment details or anything personal.
Who ProxyPal suits
ProxyPal suits quick, reliable access to ordinary pages, with no signup and no published daily cap, from a company you can identify. If the PlainProxies brand matters to you, it is also an easy way to get a feel for the company.
It is a weaker fit if you need a particular country or a residential IP on the free tool. Shifter Web Proxy, our own, gives you both: 54 countries listed before you start, residential IPs on every session, no ads and no page logs. In return it is capped at 30 minutes and 100 MB a day with a reCAPTCHA check per session, so ProxyPal is the more generous option for long, casual browsing.
Pros and cons
- All 10 test page loads succeeded, at a quick median
- Named operator, PlainProxies
- Less ad-network activity per page than CroxyProxy or ProxySite
- JavaScript app and login form rendered
- No signup and no published daily cap
- No location picker, and the exit was a hosting address in Poland
- YouTube loaded but did not play in our check
- Large third-party banner and ad code on the homepage
- No logging policy we could find for the free proxy
Who ProxyPal is for
- You want a quick, dependable free proxy for everyday pages.
- You prefer a named company over an anonymous site.
- Any European exit is good enough.
- You need a specific country.
- You want to test residential IPs without paying.
- You want video to play through the proxy.
How we scored it
Measured from a single connection in the EU, using test method wpb-1.1. Every proxy ran the same scripted session. Countries are scored on a log scale, because a jump from 3 to 20 countries matters far more to a visitor than one from 100 to 200, and only countries with residential exits count: every exit we observed is classified by its network, consumer ISP or hosting provider. Ads are scored on three parts: ads on the landing page (25%), ad slots added to proxied pages, filled or empty (45%) and ad-network code loaded while you browse, seen or not (30%). Any ad-network request caps that part at 6 out of 10.
Every criterion is calculated from published facts or our own measurements and normalised across all the free web proxies we track, Shifter included. Nothing is scored by hand, so a proxy that beats ours on a criterion scores higher on it.
- Speed measuredWeight 22% 9.1/10
1502 ms median page load against 16 proxies we timed, multiplied by the 100% of test pages that loaded.
- Countries measuredWeight 17% 0/10
Every exit we observed was on a hosting or cloud provider's network, so none count as residential. Log scale against the widest residential choice in the field (54).
- Ads measuredWeight 22% 4.1/10
Landing page ads: yes. Ad slots added to proxied pages, filled or empty: 1. Ad-network requests per proxied page: 1.
- Compatibility measuredWeight 22% 5/10
Passed 1 of 2 checks (YouTube playback, staying logged in, a JavaScript app).
- PrivacyWeight 17% 5/10
Operator named: yes. Logging: no policy published. HTTPS to the proxy: yes.