GhostConnect vs Bright Data: price, sign-up, payment and privacy compared
Bright Data and GhostConnect compared: proxy prices by product, the KYC and corporate-email rules, payment methods, targeting, sessions and what each privacy policy records, all checked on 2026-10-24.
Bright Data is the largest name in proxies and runs a human-reviewed KYC process. GhostConnect is a shop where the account is a random 32-character key and nobody asks who you are. That difference drives most of the others, so this comparison starts with sign-up and payment, then goes product by product. Every Bright Data figure below was read on 2026-10-24 from a page on brightdata.com or its documentation site and carries that date in the tables. Every GhostConnect figure is read from the same configuration the order form uses. Columns are in alphabetical order.
Signing up and paying
Bright Data's network access page for residential proxies (their docs, 2026-10-24) says: "Residential access is granted only to registered companies", "Accounts on a personal email (for example Gmail or Outlook) are not eligible for Residential access", and "Every Residential request is reviewed by the Bright Data compliance team. Approval is never automatic, instant or self-serve." The form asks for "details about your business and scraping use case, plus a company registration document"; the compliance team "may request a valid government-issued ID, such as a driver's license or passport" and "a brief video call". The rule applies to new residential zones created after July 7, 2026; ISP proxies, datacenter proxies and the Web Unlocker API do not require KYC, and their pricing FAQ puts the mobile network behind the same process.
GhostConnect has no form field for a name, email, phone number, address or identity document anywhere on the site, and no KYC on any product. Registration generates the key; it is shown once and stored only as a hash.
| Account and payment | Bright Data | GhostConnect | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account | Email address; residential needs a verified corporate email domain | A random 32-character key, no email | 2026-10-24 |
| KYC | Required for residential and mobile (human review, company document, possibly ID and a video call); not for ISP, datacenter, Web Unlocker | None, on any product | 2026-10-24 |
| Payment methods | PayPal, Alipay, Payoneer, credit card, Google Pay, Apple Pay, wire transfer (after a $5,000.00 payment), Amazon Marketplace | Crypto through the site's own processor (11 coins and tokens, Monero among them), or card on Stripe's page | 2026-10-24 |
| Free credit | $2.00 trial credit for proxies, valid 7 days; $5.00 bonus on adding a payment method, valid 30 days; a first-deposit match up to $500.00 | None; the smallest order of each product is the trial | 2026-10-24 |
Two details from Bright Data's billing docs matter before you sign up. Cryptocurrency is not among the methods listed in the body of their payment-methods page. And for an account on a personal email with no payment method on file, residential, ISP and datacenter proxies wait until one is added: "Your zone will not be created until a payment method is successfully added." On GhostConnect the price is shown before you pay and a failed order is credited back to the balance.
Residential proxies
| Residential | Bright Data | GhostConnect | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Per GB. Pay as you go at $8.00 list price, shown with a 50% code for three months ($4.00); monthly plans from $499.00 a month, cheaper per GB as the plan grows | $2.99 per GB, the same at every volume | 2026-10-24 |
| Smallest purchase | No commitment on pay as you go | 1 GB; up to 1,000 GB per order, top-ups any time | 2026-10-24 |
| Expiry | Plans are billed monthly | Bandwidth never expires | 2026-10-24 |
| Pool and countries | "Over 400M+ monthly ethical residential IPs from 195 countries" | Real household IPs in 195+ countries | 2026-10-24 |
| Targeting | Country, city, state, ZIP code and ASN in the username; state, ASN and ZIP are "Residential proxies only" | Country, state and city, as password tags | 2026-10-24 |
| Sessions | A new IP per request by default; a session username parameter keeps the same peer "as long as possible", released after 5 minutes idle; no maximum length stated on the pages we read | Rotating, or sticky for 1 to 1440 minutes per session name | 2026-10-24 |
| Protocols | HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5: "Ports 80 and 443 are available by default, supporting HTTP and HTTPS & SOCKS5 protocols" | HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 | 2026-10-24 |
| IP types | Shared IPv4, shared IPv4 and IPv6, shared IPv6, dedicated; all behind KYC | One pool, IPv4 | 2026-10-24 |
Worked example, assuming a 10 GB job: $29.90 on GhostConnect. On Bright Data's pay-as-you-go list price it is $80.00, or $40.00 for the first three months with the code on their page. Their price per GB falls with volume: the 798 GB tier is billed at $1,999.00 a month. GhostConnect has one price and no tier: a heavy user gets no discount and a light user pays no plan.
ISP proxies
| ISP (static residential) | Bright Data | GhostConnect | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per IP | Shared tab: $1.80 at 10 IPs down to $1.30 at 1,000 IPs. Dedicated tab: $3.50 down to $2.50. Or a per-GB pool from $8.00 per GB | $5.00 per IP per month, every quantity | 2026-10-24 |
| Smallest order | 10 IPs on the per-IP tabs | 1 IP for 1 month; up to 1,000 per order, limited by live stock | 2026-10-24 |
| Term | Billed monthly | 1 to 24 months; cannot be ended early | 2026-10-24 |
| Bandwidth | "Each IP includes a 100 GB fair usage allowance per month"; beyond it "additional charges may apply" | Unlimited | 2026-10-24 |
| Exclusive | Shared ("shared with others") or dedicated ("exclusive for you"), your choice | Dedicated to you alone | 2026-10-24 |
| Countries | Pricing FAQ: "Dedicated IPs are available in 195 countries" | 7: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, France | 2026-10-24 |
| Targeting | Country; city targeting for ISP "has been deprecated" | Country | 2026-10-24 |
| Protocols | HTTP and HTTPS on ports 80 and 443; "SOCKS5 is served on port 22228" | HTTP and SOCKS5 | 2026-10-24 |
| Replacing an IP | Not stated on the pages we read | One free swap of every IP in the order per term | 2026-10-24 |
| KYC | Not required | Not required | 2026-10-24 |
Worked example, 10 IPs for one month: $50.00 on GhostConnect. On Bright Data's dedicated tab the same ten cost $35.00, and on the shared tab $18.00. Bright Data is cheaper per IP at that quantity; GhostConnect's price buys no fair-usage ceiling, an address nobody else uses, and a swap.
Datacenter proxies
| Datacenter | Bright Data | GhostConnect | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per IP | Shared tab: $1.40 at 10 IPs down to $0.90 at 1,000. Dedicated tab: $2.20 down to $1.30. Or a rotating per-GB pool from $0.60 per GB | $1.79 per IP per 31 days, prorated to the term | 2026-10-24 |
| Smallest order | 10 IPs on the per-IP tabs | 1 IP for 7 days; up to 100 per order, live stock | 2026-10-24 |
| Terms | Billed monthly | 7, 14, 31, 62, 93, 186, 365 days; terminate any time, no refund of unused time | 2026-10-24 |
| Bandwidth | "Unlimited" per-IP plans with the same 100 GB per IP per month fair-usage allowance | Unlimited | 2026-10-24 |
| Countries | Their datacenter page says 98 countries; their pricing FAQ says dedicated IPs in 195 | 6: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Germany | 2026-10-24 |
| IPv4 or IPv6 | Not stated on the pages we read | Your choice, same price | 2026-10-24 |
| Protocols | HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 on ports 80 and 443; "all ports over 1024" | HTTP on one port, SOCKS5 on another | 2026-10-24 |
| Targeting | Country | Country | 2026-10-24 |
Worked example, 10 dedicated IPs for a month: $17.90 on GhostConnect for 31 days; $22.00 on Bright Data's dedicated tab, or $14.00 on the shared one. The other difference is the term: GhostConnect sells one datacenter IP for a week at $0.40.
Rotating and IPv6
Neither side sells quite what the other does here. GhostConnect's rotating IPv6 gateway gives a fresh IPv6 exit on every request at $0.012 per thread per day, 100 to 5,000 threads, terms of 7, 14, 30, 60, 90 days, unlimited bandwidth, exits in Canada, HTTP only. Bright Data's nearest offers are its shared datacenter pool, "A rotating proxy over a pool of ~40,000 proxies, paid by usage GBs" at $0.60 per GB pay as you go, a shared ISP pool of "~10,000 proxies" also per GB, and the shared IPv6 residential pool behind the KYC rule.
| Rotating | Bright Data | GhostConnect | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metered by | Gigabytes | Threads and days | 2026-10-24 |
| Address family | Datacenter and ISP pools not stated; residential has IPv4, IPv6 and mixed pools (KYC) | IPv6 only | 2026-10-24 |
| Exits | Country targeting on the shared pools | Canada | 2026-10-24 |
| Protocols | HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 on the datacenter pool | HTTP | 2026-10-24 |
There is no single conversion between gigabytes and open connections: 100 threads for 30 days cost $36.00 on GhostConnect whatever you pull through them; a per-GB pool costs whatever your traffic weighs.
What Bright Data offers that GhostConnect does not
- A residential pool their page puts at "400M+", with ZIP code and ASN targeting. GhostConnect targets country, state and city.
- A mobile network ("7M+ Mobile IPs", 3G/4G/5G) behind the same KYC process. GhostConnect sells no mobile proxies.
- Static IPs in far more countries: 195 for dedicated IPs by their pricing FAQ, against 7 ISP and 6 datacenter countries here.
- Shared, cheaper per-IP tiers, and per-gigabyte pools of ISP and datacenter addresses. Every GhostConnect static IP is dedicated and billed by time.
- Volume pricing: rates fall at 100, 500 and 1,000 IPs and on the $499.00 and higher plans. GhostConnect has flat prices.
- PayPal, Alipay, Payoneer, Google Pay, Apple Pay and wire transfer, plus a trial credit. GhostConnect takes crypto and cards only, and has no trial.
- SOCKS5 on its rotating datacenter pool. GhostConnect's rotating product is HTTP only.
What each privacy policy says
Bright Data's privacy policy (last reviewed May 14, 2026, read 2026-10-24) says: "The Personal Information we collect and retain includes your IP address, your name and email address," plus "payment and billing information". It lists "identifying documents (driver license/ID/passport)" and "office/home address", and says: "In some cases, we may record audio or video calls with you, in order to comply with User compliance evaluation requirements." Retention is "for as long as necessary to provide the Service". Data may be disclosed to "comply with law, regulation, subpoena or court order", and "We do not rent or sell any User Data." The policy does not describe what is recorded about proxy requests themselves, so we say nothing about that either way.
GhostConnect's privacy page is an inventory of the database. Name, email, phone, address, identity documents and date of birth are never collected; there is no field for them. What is stored is a hash of your key, an account number, your balance, invoices with a payment reference, your proxies and their credentials, any IP addresses you choose to allowlist, support messages and notifications. For proxy traffic the network records the destination and the response status code of each request and nothing else; the address you connect from is never logged, and content is not looked at.
Who should pick which
Pick Bright Data if you are a registered company that can pass a human-reviewed KYC check and does not mind a video call, if you need ZIP or ASN targeting, mobile IPs, or static addresses in a country outside GhostConnect's 7 ISP and 6 datacenter countries, if your residential volume is in the hundreds of gigabytes a month and the plan discounts matter, or if you want to pay by PayPal or wire.
Pick GhostConnect if you will not or cannot hand over a company registration, an identity document or your face, if you want to pay in Monero or another coin, if your residential volume is small enough that one flat price beats a plan, if you want a static address with unlimited bandwidth and no fair-usage ceiling, if you need a datacenter IP for a single week, or if you want a site that stores nothing that names you. The residential, ISP and datacenter pages carry the live prices and limits, and which proxy for which job explains the four products.
Prices change. Everything about Bright Data on this page was read on 2026-10-24 from their pricing pages, product pages, documentation and privacy policy, and is quoted as it stood that day; their promotions, tiers and policies move, so follow their links for current figures before you decide. GhostConnect's figures are read live from the configuration the order form uses, so they are the prices you will see at checkout.