IPv6 or IPv4 for scraping: what is cheaper and when it fails
At the same thread count an IPv6 pool costs noticeably less than IPv4. The difference is not quality or speed — it is how many such addresses exist. But there is one limitation that sometimes makes the cheap option simply not work.
Where the price difference comes from
IPv4 addresses are finite, long since exhausted and traded as a scarce resource. IPv6 addresses are effectively unlimited. That difference carries straight into the price list: here IPv6 starts at 650 ₽ for 50 threads, IPv4 at 1375 ₽ for 100. Per thread, IPv6 is roughly half the cost.
The single decisive limitation
The site has to accept IPv6 connections. A large part of the internet still runs IPv4-only, and no proxy setting changes that: if the target domain has no AAAA record, connecting to it over IPv6 is impossible in principle.
How to check in a minute
It is enough to see whether the domain has an AAAA record. An empty answer means IPv6 will not connect to that site.
dig AAAA example.com +short
# Lines like 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946 — IPv6 is supported.
# Empty — IPv4 only.Check every domain you plan to work with this way. A single important domain without an AAAA record is enough to stop an IPv6 plan from covering the job.
What to pick
- Every target answers over IPv6 — take IPv6: the same work for roughly half the price.
- Some targets are IPv4-only — take IPv4, it covers both.
- Mixed targets at large volume — two plans can work out cheaper: IPv6 for what supports it, IPv4 for the rest.
What does not differ
Speed, stability and rotation mechanics are identical between the two: the same rotation modes, the same HTTP and SOCKS5, the same login and whitelist authentication. The difference is only the address format, the price and support on the target's side.
Geography does differ: the rotating IPv6 pool covers Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Russia, while rotating IPv4 covers eleven countries. If your task needs a country IPv6 does not have, that settles the choice for you.
Rotating or static: that is a different choice
Rotation and address type are two independent properties, and they get conflated. IPv6 versus IPv4 is about address format and price. A rotating pool versus a static address is about whether the address changes at all. Our rotating plans come in both IPv6 and IPv4; static plans are datacenter IPv4 only.
The task decides, not the price. If requests are independent and numerous, you want a pool: load spreads out and each individual address carries few requests. If an external service admits only pre-agreed addresses, or work happens inside a long session, a pool gets in the way — there you need an address that does not change.
- Rotating: catalogue scraping, SERP collection, price checks, any high-volume independent requests.
- Static: whitelist integrations, long authenticated sessions, predictable logs.
- Mixed project: two plans for two jobs usually cost less than one compromise.
What costs what, and in which units
The two products are measured differently, so comparing them per address is meaningless. Rotating plans bill by concurrent connections: IPv6 from 650 ₽ for 50 threads, IPv4 from 1375 ₽ for 100. Traffic is not metered there. Static plans count addresses and traffic: packages from 100 addresses, with volume chosen at order time starting from 250 GB.
Which has a practical consequence for sizing. On rotating plans the ceiling is how many requests run at once, and the volume of data you pull does not affect the price. On static plans it is the reverse: concurrency is unconstrained but traffic is finite, and traffic is what you can run out of.
Test it against your own targets
IPv6 from 650 ₽ for 50 threads is the cheapest way to start. If your target does not answer over IPv6, switching to IPv4 is done in the dashboard.
View pricingProxies for this job
Check it with our tools
Read next
- Threads or gigabytes: working out which billing unit is cheaper for your jobWe bill by concurrent connections; most residential providers bill by traffic. Those are different units, and the crossover is computable. How to measure your own profile before ordering, and how not to pay for idle threads.
- Datacenter proxies versus residential: what to honestly expect from hosting addressesWe sell only datacenter and ISP subnets. How an address's type is actually determined, why rotating inside a subnet does not change the network, where hosting addresses do the job and where they lose outright.
- HTTP or SOCKS5: which proxy protocol to pick for your softwareWhat the proxy can see in each case, where SOCKS5 genuinely helps, and where there is no difference at all — contrary to common belief.