From Bright Data Web Unlocker

This guide explains the key differences and transition process from Bright Data's Web Unlocker to Oxylabs Web Unblocker, providing sample code snippets and feature comparisons to ensure a smooth migration.

Feature comparison

Oxylabs Web Unblocker offers most features available in Bright Data's Web Unlocker, along with several unique capabilities. The table below highlights the main differences between the two services:

Feature	Bright Data Web Unlocker	Oxylabs Web Unblocker
Proxy Endpoint	brd.superproxy.io:33335	unblock.oxylabs.io:60000
API Endpoint	https://api.brightdata.com/wsapi	Not supported yet (use Web Scraper API for API functionality)
Proxy Rotation	Automatic	Automatic
Captcha Bypass	Supported	Supported (AI-based)
Pricing	Separate pricing for premium domains	Single price
Geolocation targeting	Supported	Supported
Mobile targeting	Supported	Not supported
Custom headers/cookies	Supported	Supported
JS Rendering	Automatic	Manual (more control)
Rendering possibilities	HTML	HTML and PNG
Browser instructions	Not supported	Supported
POST requests	Not supported	Supported
Sessions	Not supported	Supported
Custom status code	Not supported	Supported

Making requests

Basic request format differences

The main difference between Bright Data and Oxylabs requests is how geolocation is handled. While Bright Data uses zone-specific accounts, Oxylabs allows you to use proxies from all locations immediately by passing location information in headers.

Bright Data example

import pprint
import requests

username = 'brd-customer-<customer_id>-zone-<zone_name>-country-us'
password = '<zone_password>'
proxy_url = f'http://{username}:{password}@brd.superproxy.io:33335'

proxies = {
    'http': proxy_url,
    'https': proxy_url
}

headers = {}
url = "http://lumtest.com/myip.json"

response = requests.get(url, proxies=proxies, headers=headers)
pprint.pprint(response.json())

Oxylabs example

import requests

# Use your Web Unblocker credentials here
USERNAME, PASSWORD = 'YOUR_USERNAME', 'YOUR_PASSWORD'

# Define proxy dict
proxies = {
  'http': f'http://{USERNAME}:{PASSWORD}@unblock.oxylabs.io:60000',
  'https': f'https://{USERNAME}:{PASSWORD}@unblock.oxylabs.io:60000',
}

headers = {
    'x-oxylabs-geo-location': 'United States'
}

response = requests.request(
    'GET',
    'https://ip.oxylabs.io/headers',
    verify=False,  # Ignore the SSL certificate
    proxies=proxies,
    headers=headers
)

print(response.text)

Unique features of Oxylabs Web Unblocker

Persistent sessions

One of Oxylabs Web Unblocker's unique features is session functionality, allowing you to send multiple requests through the same proxy. Sessions can be used for up to 10 minutes by adding a custom session ID header to your request:

headers = {
    'X-Oxylabs-Session-Id': '123randomString'
}

response = requests.get(
    'https://ip.oxylabs.io/location',
    verify=False,  # Required to ignore certificate
    proxies=proxies,
    headers=headers,
)

For more information about sessions, check Web Unblocker Session documentation page.

POST requests

Unlike Bright Data's Web Unlocker, Oxylabs Web Unblocker supports sending POST requests to web endpoints:

data = {
    'Your POST JSON': 'data'
}

response = requests.post(
    'https://ip.oxylabs.io/location',
    verify=False,  # Required to ignore certificate
    proxies=proxies,
    json=data,
)

For more details on POST requests, see Web Unblocker POST requests documentation.

JavaScript rendering and browser instructions

Oxylabs Web Unblocker offers a Headless Browser feature that renders JavaScript of resulting pages as either HTML documents or PNG screenshots. Additionally, when using Headless Browser, you can define custom browser instructions to be executed during JavaScript rendering.

For more information on this feature, see Web Unblocker Headless Browser documentation.

Parameter reference

Below are the key parameters and headers you can use with Oxylabs Web Unblocker:

Parameter	Description	Example
X-Oxylabs-Geo-Location	Specifies the geographic location for the request	'United States', 'Germany', etc.
X-Oxylabs-Session-Id	Creates or continues a session with the specified ID	'123randomString'
X-Oxylabs-Render	Enables JavaScript rendering when set to 'html' or 'png'	'html', 'png'
X-Oxylabs-Browser-Instructions	Custom browser instructions for rendering	JSON with instructions

Migration checklist

1. Update your proxy endpoint from brd.superproxy.io:33335 to unblock.oxylabs.io:60000

2. Replace zone-based geolocation with X-Oxylabs-Geo-Location header

3. Update authentication credentials to your Oxylabs proxy user username and password

4. Add verify=False to your requests to ignore SSL certificate validation

5. Take advantage of unique Oxylabs features like sessions and POST requests

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