Decodo and IPRoyal are both popular budget residential proxies, but they lean different ways. Decodo's published per-GB pricing is cheaper at every tier ($3.75/GB at 3GB, $2.75/GB at 100GB, both plus VAT) and it has the best evaluation terms — a 3-day free trial and a 14-day money-back guarantee. IPRoyal's list price is higher at $7.35/GB, but its traffic never expires and its sticky sessions run up to 7 days, so for small, irregular usage it claws back on effective cost. The short version: pick Decodo for price and easy evaluation, IPRoyal for non-expiring traffic and long sessions. All prices are in USD and reflect July 2026 published figures.
Key takeaways
- Decodo is cheaper per GB at every tier: $3.75/GB at 3GB, $2.75/GB at 100GB (plus VAT). IPRoyal is $7.35/GB pay-as-you-go, $5.15/GB at 50GB, up to ~5 percent off on subscription, claiming $1.75/GB at volume.
- Evaluation clearly favors Decodo: a 3-day free trial plus a 14-day money-back guarantee. IPRoyal has no standard trial (1GB minimum purchase) and refunds only for cases like an IPRoyal-side fault reported within 24 hours.
- IPRoyal's edge is non-expiring traffic and up to 7-day, unlimited-concurrency sessions — effective cost can flip for small, irregular usage.
- Geo is finer on Decodo (continent/country/state/city/ZIP/ASN). IPRoyal stops at country/state/city, with no ZIP or ASN targeting.
- Sourcing and posture: Decodo co-founded the EWDCI and actively blocks high-risk targets; IPRoyal pays users for bandwidth via Pawns.app (~$0.20/GB claimed) and KYCs its static (ISP) tier with iDenfy. Every figure is a vendor claim; we have not independently benchmarked either.
Decodo vs IPRoyal at a glance
This is "cheapest per-GB plus easy evaluation" versus "non-expiring traffic plus long sessions." Every figure below was shown on each vendor's own page on July 17, 2026, and performance numbers are vendor claims.
| Dimension | Decodo | IPRoyal |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 3GB for $11.25 ($3.75/GB); pay-as-you-go $4.00/GB plus VAT | $7.35/GB pay-as-you-go; $5.15/GB at 50GB, up to ~5% off on subscription |
| Cheapest published rate | $2.75/GB at 100GB; enterprise 250-1,000GB at $2.00-2.50/GB | Claims $1.75/GB at large volume (terms on request) |
| Traffic expiry | Standard pay-as-you-go / subscription | Non-expiring (bought GB never lapses) |
| Free trial / refund | 3-day trial plus 14-day money-back | No standard trial, 1GB minimum; refunds limited to IPRoyal-side faults reported within 24h |
| Geo targeting | Continent, country, state, city, ZIP, ASN | Country, state, city (no ZIP or ASN) |
| Sessions | Per-request rotation; sticky minutes to days | Up to 7 days, unlimited concurrency |
| IP pool (claimed) | 115M-plus across 195-plus locations | 64M |
| Uptime (claimed) | 99.99%, 99.92% success, sub-0.5s response | 99.4% (lowest of the four we track), 0.5s response |
| Sourcing and posture | EWDCI co-founder; actively blocks high-risk targets | Pays users for bandwidth via Pawns.app (~$0.20/GB); iDenfy KYC on static (ISP) |
| Unblocker / API | Web Scraping API free 2K/mo then $19 for 38K; premium plus JS at $1.50/1K | Web Unblocker $1.00 to $0.70/1K; Scraping API $1.00/1K (early access, waitlist) |
Engineer's take (Hinata): On the sticker table this looks like a Decodo blowout, but the first number I check is how many GB I actually burn per month. Consume tens of GB reliably and Decodo's cheaper rate and generous trial land directly. Use a few GB once every few months, though, and IPRoyal's non-expiring traffic — bought GB that never lapses — quietly closes the per-GB gap on an effective basis. Decide on the consumption pattern, not the unit price, or you overpay on either one.
Price: Decodo on unit rate, IPRoyal on non-expiry
On per-GB rate alone, Decodo is clearly cheaper — $3.75/GB at the 3GB entry down to $2.75/GB at 100GB (plus VAT). IPRoyal starts at $7.35/GB, is still $5.15/GB at 50GB, and only shaves a few percent on subscription (the $1.75/GB volume rate is a conditional claim).
But the axis is not only unit price. IPRoyal's non-expiring traffic removes waste on sporadic, low-volume projects, where standard plans let unused GB lapse at month end. So "reliable monthly usage" tends to favor Decodo, while "occasional small usage" can favor IPRoyal on effective cost. The habit of comparing effective cost — unit price times volume, and whether GB expires — is covered in proxy pricing comparison, and the budget landscape in cheapest residential proxies.
Ease of evaluation: clearly Decodo
Measuring your real GB consumption and success rate before you commit matters most on a budget — and here Decodo wins with a 3-day free trial and a 14-day money-back guarantee. IPRoyal has no standard free trial, points you to a 1GB minimum purchase, and limits refunds to cases such as an IPRoyal-side fault reported within 24 hours. For trial terms across providers, see residential proxy free trials.
Geo, sessions, and pool
- Geo precision: Decodo targets down to continent, country, state, city, ZIP, and ASN; IPRoyal stops at country, state, and city. Fine-grained regional testing favors Decodo.
- Sessions: IPRoyal runs up to 7 days with unlimited concurrency, a strength when you need to hold one IP for a long time. Decodo does per-request rotation and sticky sessions (minutes to days).
- Pool size (claimed): Decodo 115M-plus vs IPRoyal 64M — both unaudited vendor claims (Proxyway 2026 median advertised pool: 54M), best treated as a sense of scale.
For the deep dives, see the Decodo review and IPRoyal review; for the fundamentals, what a residential proxy is.
Sourcing ethics and compliance
Whether a provider can account for its IP origin is directly tied to account survival. Decodo co-founded the Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative, runs automated fraud checks and KYC at registration, and actively blocks high-risk targets such as banking, government, streaming, app stores, and ticketing. IPRoyal sources bandwidth through its own Pawns.app, paying contributing users (a claimed ~$0.20/GB), and applies iDenfy KYC to its static residential (ISP) tier. Our reasoning on sourcing is in ethical proxy sourcing.
Whichever you pick, 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. This article is not legal advice; see is web scraping legal and consult a lawyer for your case, and read free vs paid proxies for the hidden cost of "free."
Unblockers and scraping APIs
Hardened targets sometimes favor a managed product over raw proxies. Decodo has a Web Scraping API (free 2,000 requests/month, then $19/month for 38,000; premium plus JS rendering at $1.50/1,000), while IPRoyal lists a Web Unblocker ($1.00 to $0.70/1,000) and an early-access Scraping API ($1.00/1,000, waitlist). For the per-request landscape, see best web scraping APIs.
Verdict: Decodo or IPRoyal?
- Pick Decodo if you want the lowest per-GB rate, want to evaluate with a trial and money-back first, need ZIP/ASN-level geo, or consume a reliable amount each month.
- Pick IPRoyal if your usage is small and irregular and you do not want bought GB to expire, you need up-to-7-day sessions, or fine geo is unnecessary.
Bottom line
4.0/5
Decodo
A 3-day free trial and 14-day money-back guarantee let you test its near-cheapest per-GB rate at low risk
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IPRoyal
Non-expiring traffic and up-to-7-day sessions — the pick when usage is small and irregular
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