Whether proxy GB expire depends on how the plan is built, not on proxies as such. Monthly subscriptions usually reset at the end of each billing cycle, credit systems expire a set number of days after the credits are added, and non-expiring traffic stays on your account until you use it. Proxy traffic expiry matters because every gigabyte that lapses raises the price of the ones you did use.
Proxy traffic expiry is the date after which bandwidth you have paid for can no longer be spent. This guide covers the three models vendors use, what five of them state on their own pricing pages (read on 2026-09-29), and how to put a number on the cost of waste before you choose.
The three models of proxy traffic expiry
Monthly reset: use it or lose it
A monthly plan gives you an allowance per billing cycle. When the cycle ends, whatever is left either disappears or, on some plans, rolls over with conditions. The attraction is a lower rate per GB. The catch is that the rate assumes you use the whole allowance, every month.
Bright Data's residential pricing page is explicit about its commitment plans: if your account stays in active status for the whole month, your monthly commitment will not roll over to the next month, regardless of whether your usage fell below the minimum. That is stated plainly, which is more than many pages manage. It applies to their monthly commitments, not to their pay as you go.
Expiring credits: a rolling window
Credit systems let you spend a balance of credits on traffic, and each batch of credits carries its own expiry. SOAX's pricing page states that credits added on Sandbox or a monthly plan expire 60 days after they are added, and credits added on an annual plan expire 12 months after they are added. A 60-day window is kinder than a hard monthly reset, because a slow month can be absorbed by the next one. It still turns a project that ends early into unused credit. The SOAX comparison prices the same orders on both sides.
Non-expiring traffic
The third model sells gigabytes that stay on the account until you use them. IPRoyal's residential pricing page advertises "never expiring traffic", available until you decide to use it. ProxyHive works the same way: traffic never expires, and neither does the balance you top up. There is no month to fill and no window to beat.
The trade-off is honest and worth stating. Non-expiring traffic is usually sold one-off, and a one-off gigabyte is often dearer than a gigabyte in a well-used monthly plan. You pay for flexibility. Whether that is a good deal depends on how steady your usage is, which is what the arithmetic below settles.
| Model | What happens to unused GB | Rate per GB | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly reset | Lost at cycle end, unless the plan says otherwise | Lowest, if fully used | Steady, predictable volume |
| Expiring credits | Lost when the credit window closes | Low to mid | Mostly steady use with some slack |
| Non-expiring | Stays until used | Often higher per GB than a full plan | Bursty, project-based or exploratory work |
What five vendors say about unused traffic
Each line below was read on the vendor's own pricing page on 2026-09-29. Terms change, so follow the link before relying on one.
| Vendor | What their pricing page says about unused traffic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Bright Data | An unused monthly commitment does not roll over to the next month (commitment plans, not pay as you go) | Bright Data residential pricing |
| SOAX | Credits on Sandbox or a monthly plan expire 60 days after they are added; 12 months on annual plans | SOAX pricing |
| IPRoyal | Residential traffic never expires | IPRoyal residential pricing |
| Decodo | The page we read does not say what happens to unused plan traffic | Decodo residential pricing |
| Oxylabs | Residential is listed on monthly plans from 5 GB to 1 TB; our record of the page has no statement on unused traffic, so ask | Oxylabs residential pricing |
| ProxyHive | Traffic never expires, and neither does the balance | Our FAQ |
"The page does not say" is not the same as "it expires". It means you should ask, and get the answer in writing, before you buy a plan sized above your steady use. Our side-by-side comparisons record the expiry row for each vendor where their page states it.
Unused bandwidth rollover: questions to ask
Rollover is the middle ground: unused traffic carries into the next cycle. It comes in several shapes, and the details decide whether it helps you.
- Is there a cap? Some rollover only carries a fraction of the allowance, or only one cycle's worth.
- Does it survive a cancellation or a downgrade? Rollover that only lasts while you stay on the same plan is a retention tool, not a balance.
- Does rolled-over traffic expire later? If carried traffic lapses at the end of the next cycle, the window is two months, not forever.
- Is traffic tied to money or to gigabytes? A cash balance that buys traffic at today's rate behaves differently from a stock of pre-bought gigabytes.
- Is unused balance refundable? On ProxyHive, unused paid balance is refundable while the account is in good standing; the refund policy has the detail.
How to compute the cost of waste
Two formulas cover almost every case:
effective $/GB = amount paid / GB used before expiry
value wasted = amount paid x (GB unused / GB bought)
Example 1: a commitment you do not fill
Bright Data's residential page lists a $1,999 a month plan that includes 798 GB, at $2.50/GB with discount code RESIGB50. Use 500 GB in a month and, because the commitment does not roll over, you paid $1,999 for 500 GB:
- Effective rate: $1,999 / 500 = about $4.00/GB, which is their pay as you go rate with the same code.
- Value wasted: $1,999 x (298 / 798) = about $747.
At 500 GB a month, the plan bought you nothing over pay as you go. At 798 GB it was a very good deal.
Example 2: credits that expire
SOAX's Builder plan buys 100 GB of US traffic for $300 ($200 plan price plus $100 extra credits), an effective $3/GB at full use. If the project ends and 40 GB of credit are still there when the 60 days run out:
- Effective rate: $300 / 60 = $5/GB, the same as their Sandbox rate for US traffic.
- Value wasted: $300 x (40 / 100) = $120.
Example 3: the break-even for a subscription
For any vendor that sells both, you can find the utilisation at which the plan beats pay as you go:
break-even utilisation = plan rate per GB / pay-as-you-go rate per GB
Decodo lists 10 GB of residential at $3.5/GB on a monthly plan and $4/GB pay as you go. The break-even is 3.5 / 4 = 87.5%. If unused plan traffic lapses (their page does not say either way), the plan is cheaper when you reliably use more than 8.75 GB of the 10 GB each month, and dearer when you do not. Few teams can promise that before they have run a vendor for a few months.
What waste does not measure
Non-expiring traffic has zero waste by construction, but it is not free of cost. You pay up front, and the money sits as traffic until you use it. For a small team that is usually a trivial cost of capital next to a lapsed plan. For a large one, buying a year's traffic at once and leaving it idle is its own inefficiency. Buy what the next few months need.
Why vendors expire traffic at all
Expiry is not always a trick. A vendor that sells a monthly commitment is planning capacity around it, and a low per-GB rate is only possible if some of that capacity is paid for whether or not it is used. The finance term for prepaid value that is never redeemed is breakage, and every subscription business counts on some of it. The problem is not expiry. The problem is expiry you did not see before you paid.
The honest version is the one Bright Data and SOAX both publish: a clear sentence on the pricing page saying what happens to unused traffic and when.
Monthly reset or non-expiring: which to buy
- Your volume is steady and you can forecast it within 10%. A monthly plan at the right size is likely the cheapest option. Size it to your lowest recent month, not your average, and top up the difference.
- Your volume is bursty: a crawl that runs for a week each quarter, a client project that ends, a new target you are still testing. Non-expiring traffic removes the guesswork.
- You are still choosing a vendor. Do not commit to a monthly plan before you have measured success rates on your own targets. Run the provider test first, then size the purchase.
- You need a fixed address, not a pool. Traffic expiry does not apply: a static IP is rented for a term, and buying a single static IP walks through how terms work. See the guide to rotating vs static proxies for when each fits.
How ProxyHive handles traffic and balance
Residential traffic you buy stays on your account until you use it. There is no monthly reset and no expiry date, and the balance you top up does not expire either. Nothing renews or charges you between orders unless you turn on automatic top-up or automatic renewal yourself. The minimum top-up is $10, the smallest residential order is 1 GB at $5.50/GB, and volume discounts apply to the whole order, as set out on the residential pricing page. Rates hold for 12 months after purchase, and move down if list price drops.
The trade-off from earlier applies to us too: we do not sell a cheaper monthly plan in exchange for a commitment. If you use the same large volume every month and can forecast it, a well-sized subscription elsewhere may cost less per GB. The residential proxy pricing guide has the full comparison and the questions to ask any vendor before you pay.