Smartproxy Is Now Decodo — And It Is Still Overpriced
Smartproxy rebranded as Decodo in 2025, but the pricing structure stayed the same. Their residential proxies start at $3.75/GB on the 3 GB plan ($11.25/month) and only drop to $2.00/GB at 1 TB/month. If you use proxies for web scraping, SEO monitoring, or automation, that is 3–4x what you should be paying.
This guide covers the best Smartproxy alternatives (Decodo alternatives) in 2026 — specifically, providers that offer the same residential proxy infrastructure at a significantly lower cost per GB.
The Core Problem With Smartproxy's Pricing
Smartproxy's billing model has issues that compound fast:
- Monthly subscription resets — credits expire at month end, so unused bandwidth is wasted money
- Per-plan concurrency caps — base plans are limited to 100 simultaneous connections, bottlenecking high-throughput scrapers
- Higher price per GB — even at 1 TB/month, $2.00/GB is still 2x V-Proxies's flat rate
The Best Smartproxy Alternative: V-Proxies
V-Proxies solves all three of those problems while beating Smartproxy on price by 3–4x.
$0.99/GB Flat — No Monthly Subscription
V-Proxies charges $0.99 per GB, period. No subscription. No monthly minimum beyond $5. Credits never expire, so your bandwidth rolls over indefinitely. At 25 GB/month, you pay $24.75 instead of Smartproxy's $93.75 — a 3.8x saving. Compare pricing here.
Unlimited Concurrent Connections
V-Proxies has no concurrency limit. Smartproxy caps base plans at 100 simultaneous connections — a real bottleneck for scraping pipelines, sneaker bots, or any high-throughput automation. See web scraping use cases and sneaker bot proxies.
Sticky Sessions Up to 60 Minutes
V-Proxies supports sticky sessions up to 60 minutes — longer than Smartproxy's 30-minute maximum. For checkout flows, account management, or any session-consistent automation, this matters.
84M+ IPs vs Smartproxy's 58M+
V-Proxies's 84M+ residential IP pool is larger than Smartproxy's 58M+ active pool. More IPs means lower detection risk at scale and more diversity for geo-specific workloads. Explore the V-Proxies network.
99.97% Uptime vs Smartproxy's 99.72%
V-Proxies maintains a 99.97% success rate — significantly better than Smartproxy's documented 99.72%. At 1M requests/month, that's ~2,500 fewer failed requests on V-Proxies, meaning less retry overhead and wasted bandwidth.
V-Proxies vs Smartproxy: Feature Table
| Feature | V-Proxies | Smartproxy / Decodo |
|---|---|---|
| Price per GB (entry) | $0.99 | $3.75 (3 GB plan) |
| Price per GB (50 GB) | $0.99 | $3.00/GB |
| Price per GB (1 TB) | $0.99 | $2.00/GB |
| Monthly subscription | No | Yes |
| Credits expire | Never | Monthly reset |
| Residential IP pool | 84M+ IPs | 58M+ IPs |
| Concurrent connections | Unlimited | 100 (base plan) |
| Sticky sessions | Up to 60 min | Up to 30 min |
| Uptime / success rate | 99.97% | 99.72% |
| Countries | 196+ | 195+ |
| City targeting | Yes | Yes |
| ZIP code targeting | No | Yes |
| SOCKS5 support | Yes | Yes |
| Money-back guarantee | No | 14 days |
| Free trial | Yes (via Discord) | No |
Full comparison: V-Proxies vs Smartproxy (Decodo) comparison page.
When Smartproxy Still Makes Sense
One area where Smartproxy genuinely wins over V-Proxies: ZIP code-level targeting. If your use case requires routing through a specific US ZIP code — hyper-local ad verification, SERP testing by ZIP — Smartproxy has the edge. V-Proxies currently targets at country, city, and ASN level.
Smartproxy also offers a 14-day money-back guarantee and a browser extension — useful if you need manual browser proxying without code setup.
Other Smartproxy Alternatives
- IPRoyal — $1.75/GB, 24-hour sticky sessions. See IPRoyal alternative guide.
- Webshare — free tier (10 proxies), subscription model. See Webshare alternative guide.
How to Switch to V-Proxies from Smartproxy
Migration from Smartproxy to V-Proxies takes under 10 minutes. The proxy URL format is standard:
http://username:password@gate.v-proxies.com:9000Country/city targeting syntax is identical to Smartproxy. Read the docs here.
Try V-Proxies Free Before You Commit
V-Proxies offers a free trial so you can test the full residential proxy network before spending anything. Join the V-Proxies Discord community to claim your trial and get hands-on support from the team.
Join the V-Proxies Discord and get your free trial →
Once you're ready to scale, top up from $5 at $0.99/GB — no subscription, no contract, credits never expire. Top up here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does V-Proxies have a free trial like Smartproxy's 14-day guarantee?
V-Proxies doesn't offer a 14-day money-back guarantee, but it does offer a free trial. Join the V-Proxies Discord to claim your free trial and test the full residential network. After that, you can top up from $5 — and credits never expire, so there's no rush to use them.
What is Smartproxy's rebranding to Decodo?
Smartproxy rebranded their product suite as Decodo in 2025. The proxy infrastructure, pricing tiers, and feature set remain the same. All comparisons in this guide apply equally to Smartproxy and Decodo.
How much cheaper is V-Proxies than Smartproxy at different usage levels?
At 10 GB/month: V-Proxies $9.90 vs Smartproxy $37.50. At 50 GB: $49.50 vs $150. At 100 GB: $99 vs $275. At 1 TB: $990 vs $2,000. V-Proxies saves you 2–4x at every tier without a monthly commitment.
Why does Smartproxy cap concurrent connections at 100?
Smartproxy's base plans limit concurrent connections to 100 threads. This is a commercial upsell mechanism — they sell higher-concurrency plans at higher price points. V-Proxies has no concurrency limit at any tier, which means you get enterprise-level throughput at $0.99/GB.
Can I target by ZIP code on V-Proxies?
Not currently. V-Proxies supports country, city, and ASN targeting. If ZIP code-level precision is essential for your use case — for example, SERP checking by postal code or hyper-local ad geo-testing — Smartproxy holds a genuine edge here.
Does V-Proxies have city-level targeting like Smartproxy?
Yes. V-Proxies supports country, city, and ASN targeting at no extra cost. Use the username-append syntax to specify your target geo: username-country-us-city-new_york. Full targeting documentation here.
What happens to my V-Proxies credits if I stop using the service for a month?
Nothing happens — they stay in your account indefinitely. Unlike Smartproxy's monthly credit resets, V-Proxies credits never expire. You can top up, pause for 3 months, and come back to find your full balance waiting.
Final Verdict
Smartproxy is a solid proxy provider, but at $3.75/GB with a monthly subscription and 100-thread cap, it's hard to justify when V-Proxies offers better IP pool size, longer sticky sessions, higher uptime, and unlimited concurrency at $0.99/GB with no subscription. For most teams, V-Proxies is the best Smartproxy/Decodo alternative in 2026.
Get started with a free trial: join the Discord.
Related: Rotating Residential Proxies Explained · Cheap Residential Proxies 2026 · How to Use Residential Proxies