Online web proxy: how the rewriting works, and why pages break
An online web proxy has to do something more complicated than it appears: it fetches a page, then rewrites every link, image, stylesheet and script reference inside it so they point back through the proxy rather than at the original site. Almost every failure people meet with these services comes from that rewriting being incomplete.
- median printed entry price, per month
- $2.69
- providers with a verified printed price
- 11
- use cases with measured demand
- 3
Figures on this page come from the VPNCompareHQ price index: 11 providers, median printed entry price $2.69 a month, each quoted from the provider's own page and dated.
- 11 VPN pricing pages verifiedevery figure matched verbatim to the provider's page
- Quoted and dated, never estimatedlast verification pass 2026-09-09
- 3 use cases coveredeach with measured search demand behind it
Printed prices, verified
| Provider | Entry price | Renews at | Prepaid term | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private Internet Access | $1.79/mo | $69.81/3yr | 39 mo term | privateinternetaccess.com | September 2026 |
| CyberGhost | $1.99/mo | $51.74/yr | 26 mo term | cyberghostvpn.com | September 2026 |
| PureVPN | $2.15/mo | $47.95/yr | 27 mo term | purevpn.com | September 2026 |
| IPVanish | $2.49/mo | $99.99/yr | 24 mo term | ipvanish.com | September 2026 |
| Surfshark | $2.49/mo | 27 mo term | surfshark.com | September 2026 | |
| hide.me | $2.69/mo | $69.99/26mo | 26 mo term | hide.me | September 2026 |
| ExpressVPN | $2.99/mo | $99.95/yr | 28 mo term | expressvpn.com | September 2026 |
| TunnelBear | $3.33/mo | tunnelbear.com | September 2026 | ||
| NordVPN | $3.49/mo | $139/yr | 27 mo term | nordvpn.com | September 2026 |
| Windscribe | $5.75/mo | 12 mo term | windscribe.com | September 2026 | |
| IVPN | $6/mo | 1 mo term | ivpn.net | September 2026 | |
| Mullvad | No printed price on the page; quote or in-app only (checked September 2026) | ||||
| Proton VPN | Pricing page could not be read (checked September 2026) |
Why pages break inside a proxy
- Rewriting is per-element and easy to miss. A page can reference resources in HTML attributes, in CSS, in inline scripts and in data attributes. A proxy that rewrites the first three and not the fourth produces a page that loads and quietly fetches part of itself directly.
- Scripts construct addresses at runtime. Modern pages build request URLs in JavaScript after loading. A proxy rewriting the delivered source cannot see an address that does not exist yet, which is why interactive pages fail more than static ones.
- Media is served from other domains. Video and audio usually come from a separate content network. Those requests are often not rewritten at all, which is why a page can appear inside the proxy while its video does not play.
- The browser can leak around it. WebRTC, the technology behind in-browser calling, can reveal your real address from inside the page regardless of what the proxy rewrote.
What this means for what a proxy is good for
It is good for text. A news article, a reference page, a forum thread: static content, one domain, nothing typed in. For that the rewriting problem barely arises and the proxy does exactly what it promises.
It is poor for anything interactive, anything with media, and anything with a login, and the reason is architectural rather than a matter of choosing a better proxy. No amount of shopping around fixes a limitation of the technique.
The device-level alternative and what it costs
A VPN operates below the browser, so there is no rewriting at all: every application's traffic is routed and encrypted, media included, and pages behave normally because nothing about them has been altered.
The index on this site prices those. The median printed entry figure across 11 providers is $2.69 a month, on a prepaid term, with the renewal printed beside it, and every figure quoted from the provider's own page.
Common questions
- Why do pages break in an online web proxy?
- Because the proxy must rewrite every resource reference on the page, and scripts that build addresses at runtime defeat that entirely.
- Can an online web proxy hide me completely?
- No. It covers one page in one browser, the operator sees everything you request, and the browser can leak your address through WebRTC.
- What is the alternative?
- A device-level VPN, which routes and encrypts every application without rewriting anything, so pages behave normally.
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Cite or embed this figure
The median printed entry price per month in the consumer VPN market was $2.69 in September 2026, across 11 verified provider pricing pages recorded in VPNCompareHQ Consumer VPN Price Index.
Cite as: "VPNCompareHQ Consumer VPN Price Index", updated 2026-09-09, https://vpncomparehq.com/online-web-proxy/.