Premium proxy is a phrase that covers two quite different products, and the price tells you which one you are looking at. One is a consumer service costing a few pounds a month; the other is business infrastructure sold per gigabyte to companies collecting data at scale. Reading a page aimed at the second while wanting the first is the source of most of the confusion here.
The consumer version, and what the money buys
At the consumer end, paying for a proxy buys dedicated capacity rather than a shared free endpoint, addresses that are not already blocked everywhere, and a company with a published policy and a support address. That is a modest and real improvement over a free list. It is also, at these prices, close to what a full VPN subscription costs, which is the comparison worth making before buying either.
The business version, and why its pages read strangely
The other market is residential and datacentre proxy pools, sold to businesses for automated collection: pricing per gigabyte, thousands of rotating addresses, an API rather than an app. If a page is talking about rotation, concurrency, session control and per-gigabyte rates, it is selling to that market and a consumer will find it both expensive and awkward. This site does not cover it, and its pricing has no relationship to what a VPN costs.
Why a VPN is usually the better buy at this price
A paid consumer proxy and an entry VPN plan cost about the same, and the VPN covers the whole device and encrypts the connection. The proxy covers one application and generally does not. Unless there is a specific reason to route one application separately, which is a real but narrow requirement, the VPN is more product for the same money.
How to judge either one
The same way this site judges VPNs: read the printed price, find the term it requires, and find what it renews at. Proxy services are, if anything, worse than VPNs about publishing the third of those. A service that will not state its standing price is telling you something about the standing price.
Questions people ask about premium proxy
Is a premium proxy better than a free one?
For reliability and for addresses that are not already blocked, yes. It does not add encryption, which is the thing a VPN adds.
Why are some proxy services so expensive?
Because they are sold to businesses per gigabyte for automated collection. That is a different market from a consumer wanting a different exit address.
Should I buy a proxy or a VPN?
At consumer prices they cost about the same and the VPN covers the whole device with encryption. Buy the proxy only if you specifically need one application routed separately.