Decodo (formerly Smartproxy) is a strong budget residential proxy: a near-cheapest published per-GB rate ($3.75/GB at 3GB, $2.75/GB at 100GB, plus VAT), the best evaluation terms — a 3-day free trial and a 14-day money-back guarantee — and co-founder status in the Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative. If you still want an alternative, it is usually because your use case needs an axis Decodo does not optimize for: a bigger pool, a specific feature, non-expiring traffic, or the strictest corporate KYC. The short version: Oxylabs for precision and scale, Bright Data for the largest pool and strictest KYC, IPRoyal for non-expiring traffic and small, irregular usage. All prices are in USD and reflect July 2026 published figures.
Key takeaways
- Decodo's own strengths are a near-cheapest per-GB rate ($3.75/GB at 3GB, $2.75/GB at 100GB, plus VAT), a 3-day trial plus 14-day money-back, and EWDCI co-founder status. If those suffice, you do not need to switch.
- For precision and scale: Oxylabs — geo down to coordinates and ASN, a claimed 175M IPs and 0.41s response, and HTTP3 support.
- For the largest pool and strictest KYC: Bright Data — a claimed 400M-plus IPs across 195 countries, with human-reviewed, registered-company-only KYC.
- For non-expiring traffic: IPRoyal — bought GB that never lapses, plus up-to-7-day, unlimited-concurrency sessions; effective cost can win for small, irregular usage.
- This is a documented comparison; performance figures are vendor claims and we have not independently benchmarked them. Measure with a trial or money-back before you migrate.
Decodo's strengths, and why you might look elsewhere
To be clear, you would not look for an alternative because Decodo is weak — it ranks high on budget all-round value, with a near-cheapest rate and best-in-class evaluation terms, as the Decodo review covers. An alternative earns its switch when your use case needs a specific requirement outside Decodo's design: even finer geo (coordinates/ASN) or a specific protocol, a pool in the hundreds of millions, non-expiring traffic, or the strictest registered-company-only KYC. If one of those is the deciding factor, the three providers below are the first candidates. For head-to-heads, see Oxylabs vs Decodo and Bright Data vs Decodo.
How we evaluate this comparison
This comparison is built on each vendor's pricing pages, product documentation, and compliance policies fetched and re-verified on July 17, 2026. Success rates, response times, and pool sizes are labeled as vendor claims, and prices are in USD, drawn from our own data as the single source of truth. ProxyFacts has not run its own benchmarks and is monetized through disclosed affiliate partnerships; those partnerships never change which numbers we report. Advertised pool sizes are ceilings, not guarantees: Proxyway's 2026 research puts the median advertised residential pool at 54M IPs.
The alternatives compared (against Decodo)
| Dimension | Decodo (baseline) | Oxylabs | Bright Data | IPRoyal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $3.75/GB at 3GB (pay-as-you-go $4.00/GB plus VAT) | $6/GB at 5GB (Starter $30/mo) | $4.00/GB pay-as-you-go (50% promo off $8) | $7.35/GB, $5.15/GB at 50GB |
| Claimed IP pool | 115M-plus | 175M | 400M-plus, 195 countries | 64M |
| Geo precision | Continent/country/state/city/ZIP/ASN | Down to coordinates and ASN (finest) | Country/state/city/ZIP/ASN | Country/state/city |
| Trial / refund | 3-day trial plus 14-day money-back | One per customer, on request; no explicit refund | No-card trial (production needs KYC) | No standard trial, 1GB minimum |
| Traffic expiry | Standard | Standard | Standard | Non-expiring (never lapses) |
| KYC / compliance | Automated checks plus KYC at signup; EWDCI co-founder | KYC at signup; EWDCI member | Human-reviewed, registered companies only (strictest); not an EWDCI member | iDenfy KYC (required for static ISP) |
Engineer's take (Hinata): When someone wants a "Decodo alternative," I make them name the one thing that is missing. If it is just "cheaper," Decodo is already near the floor, so switching rarely pays off. Switching pays only when a single axis Decodo does not target — pool size, a specific feature, non-expiring traffic, corporate KYC — is the deciding factor. Migrate without naming the gap and you usually add both unit cost and hassle.
1. Oxylabs — for precision, scale, and features
If you need finer geo targeting, large-scale operation, or specific protocols, Oxylabs is the strong pick. Its geo goes down to coordinates and ASN (the finest among the providers we track), it claims 175M IPs, a 0.41s response, and a 99.95% success rate (all vendor claims), and it supports HTTP3. Pricing runs from $30 for 5 GB ($6/GB) on Starter up to $2,500 for 1 TB ($2.50/GB) on Corporate, so unit price falls at volume. It is an EWDCI member and runs KYC on all customers. Its entry rate is higher than Decodo's, but it leads on precision, scale, and features.
Choose Oxylabs when
- You need the finest geo, down to coordinates and ASN
- You need enterprise scale or features like HTTP3
- You run high volume and want unit price to fall
Stay with Decodo when
- You want the cheapest per-GB at low volume
- You value the 3-day trial plus 14-day money-back
- Small-to-mid scale is enough
Oxylabs
Coordinate/ASN-level geo and enterprise scale — the pick to beat Decodo on precision and features
This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Our tests and rankings are independent and never influenced by partners.
2. Bright Data — for the largest pool and strictest KYC
For an order-of-magnitude larger pool and the strictest compliance posture, choose Bright Data. It claims 400M-plus IPs across 195 countries — among the largest we track — at $4.00/GB pay-as-you-go (a 50% promo off a $8 list) down to $2.50/GB at $1,999/month for 798 GB. Residential network access is limited to registered companies that pass a human-reviewed KYC, which may require corporate email verification, a video call, and a government ID. That friction is a barrier for solo developers but reassurance for organizations with a legal team. For the head-to-head, see Bright Data vs Decodo.
Choose Bright Data when
- You need the largest, 400M-plus IP pool
- You value the strictest, registered-company-only KYC
- You want its ecosystem such as Web Unlocker
Stay with Decodo when
- You cannot or would rather not clear corporate KYC
- You want the cheapest entry rate
- You want to start fast, self-serve
Bright Data
A claimed 400M-plus IP pool and the strictest KYC — the alternative when scale and compliance matter
This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Our tests and rankings are independent and never influenced by partners.
3. IPRoyal — for non-expiring traffic on a budget
If your usage is small and irregular and you do not want bought GB to expire, IPRoyal is the strong pick. Its list rate of $7.35/GB ($5.15/GB at 50GB) is higher than Decodo's, but its non-expiring traffic removes month-end waste, so effective cost can flip depending on your pattern. Sessions run up to 7 days with unlimited concurrency, which suits holding one IP for a long time. It claims 64M IPs and a 0.5s response (a vendor claim; its 99.4% uptime is the lowest we have recorded). It sources bandwidth through its own Pawns.app, paying users a claimed ~$0.20/GB.
Choose IPRoyal when
- Your usage is small and irregular and you do not want GB to expire
- You need up-to-7-day, unlimited-concurrency sessions
- Fine geo (ZIP/ASN) is unnecessary
Stay with Decodo when
- You consume a reliable amount monthly and want the lowest per-GB
- You want a 3-day trial plus 14-day money-back to test first
- You need ZIP/ASN-level geo
IPRoyal
Non-expiring traffic and up-to-7-day sessions — the alternative that pays off on small, irregular usage
This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Our tests and rankings are independent and never influenced by partners.
When to stay with Decodo
If any of these fits, switching rarely pays and Decodo remains optimal: you want the cheapest per-GB at low-to-mid volume, you want to test thoroughly first with a 3-day trial plus 14-day money-back, ZIP/ASN-level geo is enough, or you want to start fast and self-serve — Decodo already delivers those. For trial terms across providers, see residential proxy free trials; for the price landscape, proxy pricing comparison and cheapest residential proxies.
Compliance and sourcing ethics
Whichever provider you switch to, the legitimate uses are public-data work — price monitoring, SEO, ad verification, market research. Not mass account creation, ban evasion, resale, sneaker bots, paywall bypass, or collecting personal data. Avoid free proxies entirely — an NDSS MADWeb 2024 study of more than 640,000 found only 34.5 percent were ever active and nearly 17,000 tampered with traffic (free vs paid proxies). Our reasoning for choosing providers that can account for their IP origin is in ethical proxy sourcing. This article is not legal advice; see is web scraping legal and consult a lawyer for your case.