---
title: "Bandwidth billing"
url: https://proxy.wiki/glossary/bandwidth-billing/
type: Glossary Term
author: "proxy.wiki editorial"
published: 2026-08-19
updated: 2026-08-19
site: proxy.wiki
topics: ["Proxy fundamentals"]
license: CC BY 4.0 — quote freely with attribution to https://proxy.wiki/
---

# Bandwidth billing

> Charging by gigabyte transferred — the standard model for residential proxies, and easy to underestimate.

**Bandwidth billing charges for data transferred through the proxy rather than for addresses or time.** It is standard for [residential](/glossary/residential-proxy/) and [mobile](/glossary/mobile-proxy/) services.

## What counts as billable traffic

Usually everything: request and response, headers as well as bodies, and typically retries and failed requests too. This is where estimates go wrong. A page whose HTML is 50 KB may transfer well over a megabyte once images, fonts, stylesheets and scripts are included — and a [headless browser](/glossary/headless-browser/) fetches all of them by default.

## Reducing consumption

- Block images, media and fonts when rendering — often the single largest saving.

- Request compression and confirm the server honours it.

- Use an API or JSON endpoint instead of a rendered page where one exists.

- Avoid re-fetching content you already hold.

## Comparing plans honestly

Headline price per gigabyte usually reflects the largest commitment. Compare the tier you will actually buy, and check the minimum spend and whether unused traffic expires.