Shifter
Large back-connect residential network with unlimited-bandwidth port plans
$125.00
from $125.00 /GB
- IP Pool
- 30M+
- Countries
- 130+
- Uptime
- 99.5%
- Avg. response
- 1.5s
- Free trial
- No
- Founded
- 2012
Our verdict
Shifter offers a large back-connect residential network with an unlimited-bandwidth, port-based pricing model that can be very economical for sustained, high-volume scraping. The pool size and country coverage are competitive, and timed rotation suits long crawls.
Prospective buyers should weigh its history: Shifter rebranded from Microleaves, which carried a mixed reputation. The product has improved, but entry pricing is relatively high, performance can vary, and the tooling is less refined than some premium competitors. There is no straightforward free trial.
Bottom line: a capable, flat-rate option for heavy data-mining workloads that prize unlimited bandwidth, provided you validate performance for your specific targets first.
Pros & cons
Pros
- Very large residential IP pool
- Back-connect rotating gateways
- Unlimited bandwidth on port-based plans
- Broad country coverage (~130+)
- Timed rotation suited to long crawls
- Long operating history in the market
Cons
- Higher entry price than pay-as-you-go rivals
- Carries legacy reputation from Microleaves era
- Tooling less polished than premium competitors
- No clear free trial
- Performance can vary by target
Overview
Shifter (formerly known as Microleaves) is one of the older names in the proxy industry, best known for pioneering large-scale back-connect rotating residential proxies. Rather than handing you a list of IPs, Shifter gives you gateway ports that rotate through a very large pool, with plans historically sold on a per-port, unlimited-bandwidth basis.
Network and scale
Shifter advertises a sizeable residential pool numbering in the tens of millions of IPs across roughly 130+ countries. Rotation can be set to refresh on a timed interval (for example every few minutes) so that long-running jobs continually cycle through fresh addresses.
History worth knowing
Shifter operated for years as Microleaves and rebranded after a turbulent earlier reputation. The product has matured considerably, but buyers should evaluate current performance on their own use case.
Pricing snapshot
| Plan type | Approx. entry |
|---|---|
| Special / basic ports | ~$125+ / month |
| Premium residential | Higher tiers available |
Features
Shifter supports HTTP(S) proxies, timed rotation, and broad country targeting. The unlimited-bandwidth, port-based model appeals to teams running continuous high-volume scraping where metered per-GB costs would spiral.
- Very large residential IP pool
- Back-connect rotating gateways
- Unlimited bandwidth on port plans
- Wide country coverage
Who it suits
It is geared toward data-mining and large-scale scraping operations that value flat, unlimited-bandwidth pricing over the granular targeting and polished tooling of premium newcomers. Entry pricing is higher than budget pay-as-you-go options, so it best rewards sustained, heavy usage.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Shifter is the rebranded successor to Microleaves, an older provider. The service was renamed and updated after its earlier years, though buyers should still validate current performance.
Shifter has historically sold back-connect residential proxies on a per-port basis with unlimited bandwidth, with entry plans starting in the region of $125 per month.
Shifter advertises a residential pool in the tens of millions of IPs spread across roughly 130 or more countries, though exact figures should be treated as approximate.
Shifter provides back-connect gateway ports that rotate through the pool, with rotation typically configurable on a timed interval so long-running jobs cycle through fresh IPs.
It is well suited to large-scale, continuous web scraping and data mining where the unlimited-bandwidth, flat-rate model is more cost-effective than metered per-GB pricing.
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