---
title: 🌐 IPRoyal vs Smartproxy — Residential Proxy Comparison (en)
description: "A comparison of two mid-market residential proxy providers — IPRoyal and Smartproxy (renamed Decodo) — covering company background, pricing, features and use cases."
url: "https://aaronchan.com/kb/iproyal-vs-smartproxy/"
updated: "2026-10-06"
category: Networking (en)
tags:
  - Networking
---

# 🌐 IPRoyal vs Smartproxy — Residential Proxy Comparison (en)

> 📅 Data compiled: 2026-10-05
> ⚠️ Prices and specs may change at any time; refer to the official sites
> ℹ️ Smartproxy was recently renamed **Decodo**; this article uses the old name "Smartproxy" for ease of comparison

---

## Part 1: Company Background & Market Positioning

| Item | IPRoyal | Smartproxy (Decodo) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Founded | Lithuania, 2020 | Lithuania, 2018 |
| Market positioning | Mid-market, focuses on low price | Mid-market, focuses on enterprise tools |
| Key selling point | Traffic **never expires**, low price | Complete tooling, enterprise reliability |
| Residential IP pool size | ~32 million (vendor claims 68M+) | ~55 million (vendor claims 115M+) |
| Billing model | Pay-as-you-go (prepaid by volume) | Monthly subscription (resets each month) |
| Best for | Irregular / low-frequency scraping | Continuous, high-concurrency scraping |

> Both are mid-market residential proxy providers, priced far below first-tier giants such as Bright Data and Oxylabs. The key difference lies in **billing method** and **target audience**.

---

## Part 2: Price Comparison (Residential Proxies)

| Monthly usage | IPRoyal (pay-as-you-go) | Smartproxy (monthly) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 5 GB | ~$35 | ~$75 |
| 20 GB | ~$120 | ~$150 |
| 50 GB | ~$245 | ~$240 |
| 100 GB | ~$420 | ~$400 |
| 500 GB | ~$875 | ~$900 |

**Key points:**

- Under 50 GB: IPRoyal is almost always cheaper
- 50–100 GB: the two are roughly tied
- 100 GB+ continuous use: Smartproxy's monthly subscription becomes competitive
- Entry price: IPRoyal ~$7/GB (pay-as-you-go), Smartproxy ~$15/GB (5 GB entry)
- High-volume price: IPRoyal ~$1.75/GB (500 GB+), Smartproxy ~$3/GB (100 GB+)

---

## Part 3: Features / Service Comparison

| Feature | IPRoyal | Smartproxy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bandwidth expiry | **Never expires** | Resets monthly |
| Geo-targeting | Country / state / city | Country / city / ASN |
| Sticky sessions (fixed IP) | Up to 7 days | Rotating 30 min; dedicated up to 24h+ |
| Datacenter proxies | Yes (~$1.39/GB) | Yes (~$0.80/GB) |
| Scraping API (Site Unblocker / SERP) | ❌ None | ✅ Yes |
| Browser extension | ❌ None | ✅ Yes |
| SOCKS5 support | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Residential pool size | Smaller | Larger |

---

## Part 4: Use Case Recommendations

| Use case | Recommended | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Occasional / seasonal scraping | IPRoyal | Traffic never expires, nothing wasted |
| Dev / QA test environments | IPRoyal | Unstable usage; pay-as-you-go is most economical |
| Continuous high-concurrency scraping | Smartproxy | Large pool, complete tooling, enterprise reliability |
| Needs SERP / anti-bot API | Smartproxy | IPRoyal has no Scraping API |
| Needs ASN targeting | Smartproxy | IPRoyal has no ASN targeting |
| Limited budget, low usage | IPRoyal | Low entry price, no monthly fee pressure |

---

## ⚠️ Notes

| Note | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Large discrepancy in IP pool figures | Vendor claims (IPRoyal 68M+, Smartproxy 115M+) differ greatly from third-party estimates (32M / 55M); verify with actual tests |
| Smartproxy renamed | Renamed **Decodo**; the old brand name still appears in most reviews |
| Price fluctuation | Prices above are third-party 2026 estimates; official pricing may have changed |
| Free trial | Both offer small trials / refund guarantees; test speed and success rate yourself |
| Compliant use | Residential proxies must comply with target-site ToS and local regulations |

---

## 🔗 References

| Source | Link |
| --- | --- |
| Use Apify comparison (2026) | [https://use-apify.com/blog/iproyal-vs-smartproxy-2026](https://use-apify.com/blog/iproyal-vs-smartproxy-2026) |
| Databay comparison (incl. Decodo rename) | [https://databay.com/blog/iproyal-vs-smartproxy](https://databay.com/blog/iproyal-vs-smartproxy) |
| IPRoyal official site | [https://iproyal.com/](https://iproyal.com/) |
| Smartproxy official site | [https://smartproxy.com/](https://smartproxy.com/) |

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*Source: official sites and third-party public comparisons (October 2026)*