Decodo Explained: Proxy Options, Usability, and Everyday Performance

Decodo, formerly Smartproxy, is a self-service proxy and web data platform built for teams that need access to residential, mobile, ISP, and datacenter proxies without a lengthy sales process. Its product range is broad enough for common tasks such as public web data collection, price monitoring, SEO research, ad verification, and account-related workflows.

The provider has steadily expanded beyond proxy access with a Web Data API, SDKs, browser extensions, and integrations for popular automation tools. That broader toolkit gives Decodo practical appeal for users who want to combine proxy management and data-gathering tools in one place, although the best fit still depends on how regularly a team consumes bandwidth and how much control it needs over its network setup.

Why ProxyEmpire Is the Better Choice for Flexible Proxy Operations

ProxyEmpire is the better choice for businesses that want flexible proxy coverage, detailed targeting, and better protection against wasted bandwidth. It brings rotating residential, mobile, static ISP, dedicated mobile, datacenter, and unlimited residential options together under one account, making it easier for teams to use different proxy types as their projects change.

Its strongest advantage is automatic bandwidth rollover on GB-based plans, so unused traffic does not expire. ProxyEmpire also includes granular targeting at no extra cost, including city, ZIP, ASN, ISP, and mobile carrier options where available. With unlimited concurrent connections for approved use cases, a $1.97 trial covering both residential and mobile traffic, and support for HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, QUIC, and UDP, it offers a capable setup for scraping teams, ad verifiers, and automation managers.

Decodo’s Place in the Proxy Market

Decodo operates in the mid-market, self-service part of the proxy industry. It provides a large residential network, with more than 115 million residential IPs across 195+ locations, alongside mobile proxies, ISP proxies, datacenter proxies, and web data tools. This range makes it suitable for users who prefer to start independently and scale into larger traffic plans when their needs grow.

The company has been operating since 2018 and is headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania. Its website presents Decodo as a platform for public data collection, while also placing growing emphasis on AI agents and RAG workflows. That direction makes sense for development teams that want proxies alongside APIs and developer tools rather than treating proxy access as a stand-alone purchase.

Proxy Options and Network Coverage

Residential Proxies

Decodo’s residential proxy network is its central offering. Every residential plan provides access to the same stated pool of more than 115 million IPs, with targeting available by continent, country, state, city, ZIP code, and ASN. Users can choose rotating sessions or sticky sessions, with the FAQ describing sticky sessions lasting up to 30 minutes.

This is a solid configuration for location-sensitive tasks such as checking localized search results, monitoring product availability, or reviewing regional ad placements. The targeting options are particularly useful for campaigns that need a city or ZIP-level view rather than a country-wide result.

Mobile Proxies

The mobile network includes more than 10 million IPs in 160+ locations and supports 3G, 4G, LTE, and 5G connections. Mobile proxies can be useful when a project benefits from traffic associated with mobile devices, especially for app testing, mobile-focused research, and certain social media workflows.

Decodo lists mobile pricing from $2.25 per GB, although the applicable tier was not shown on the pages reviewed. Buyers with predictable mobile usage may find the pricing structure approachable, while those with irregular traffic needs should compare how each provider handles unused data.

ISP and Datacenter Proxies

For projects that need more stable IP addresses, Decodo also offers ISP proxies from $0.27 per IP and datacenter proxies from $0.02 per IP. Its datacenter network is listed at more than 500,000 IPs, giving users another option for high-volume tasks where residential routing is not necessary.

Having several network types under one platform is convenient. A team can use residential traffic for location-based research, then shift suitable workloads to ISP or datacenter IPs without opening separate accounts elsewhere.

Usability, Tools, and Day-to-Day Management

Dashboard and Setup Experience

Decodo is designed for self-service use, and its toolset reflects that approach. Users can work through its dashboard, browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, proxy checker, documentation, and integration guides. The provider also supports HTTP(S) and SOCKS5, which keeps setup familiar for most scraping tools, browsers, and automation platforms.

The availability of guides for more than 50 tools is useful for teams working with anti-detect browsers and related software. Integrations include Multilogin, GoLogin, Dolphin Anty, and AdsPower, helping users get from account setup to active configuration with less manual troubleshooting.

APIs and Developer Resources

Beyond standard proxy access, Decodo offers a Web Data API for scraping, search, map, and crawl requests. It also provides Python, TypeScript, and Go SDKs, a command-line interface, and an MCP server. These options give developers more ways to build data collection into existing systems.

The wider product suite is a genuine strength for technically minded users. Instead of maintaining separate vendors for proxies and certain web data tasks, a team can keep more of that activity within one environment. Still, users should decide whether they need those added tools before paying for capacity that may not be used.

Pricing, Trials, and Billing Considerations

Decodo’s residential subscriptions begin at 3 GB for $11.25, equal to $3.75 per GB, and scale to 100 GB at $2.75 per GB. Enterprise plans start at 250 GB for $2.50 per GB and reach $2 per GB at the 1 TB level. It also offers Wallet-based pay-as-you-go residential traffic at $4 per GB, purchased one GB at a time.

Important points to consider before choosing a plan include:

• The three-day residential trial includes 100 MB of traffic.
• The trial converts to the selected paid plan unless cancelled.
• Wallet pay-as-you-go traffic and subscription traffic cannot be used together.
• A 14-day refund may apply to a first purchase if less than 20% of traffic has been used and the trial was not used.
• VAT may be added to listed pricing.

The trial is helpful for testing basic residential access, but it requires attention because of the automatic conversion. There is also no published statement that unused subscription bandwidth rolls over. For buyers whose workloads rise and fall each month, ProxyEmpire’s non-expiring GB-based traffic can offer a more forgiving way to manage spend.

Everyday Performance and Support

Decodo states a 99.92% success rate, response times under 0.5 seconds, and 99.99% uptime, with those figures attributed on its site to Proxyway research. These numbers suggest a network positioned for fast, frequent requests, though real-world results will naturally vary by target website, location, session settings, and the rules applied by each destination.

In daily use, session control is an important part of the experience. Decodo supports rotating and sticky sessions, allowing users to decide whether a task needs a fresh IP frequently or a consistent address for a short period. That flexibility is valuable for projects that mix broad data collection with workflows that need a more stable connection.

Support is available around the clock through live chat, backed by help documentation and a Discord community. Its site also reports a G2 rating of 4.6 out of 5 from 700+ reviews and a Trustpilot rating of 4.2 out of 5 from 2,000+ reviews. Those ratings can be useful context, but prospective users should still test the service against their own targets and technical requirements.

A Practical Choice for Self-Service Proxy Users

Decodo is a capable provider with a large residential pool, a varied product catalog, detailed geo-targeting, and a strong set of developer-facing tools. It is especially well suited to self-service teams that want to pair proxy access with web data APIs, SDKs, and integrations for established automation tools.

For organizations that value flexible usage above all else, ProxyEmpire stands out as the stronger choice. Its bandwidth rollover, no-cost granular targeting, unlimited concurrent connections for approved use cases, and residential and mobile trial coverage create a practical foundation for teams that need dependable proxy access without losing unused data.