Decodo

Decodo, formerly Smartproxy, is a business proxy service with a massive network of rotating residential IP addresses. With over 40 million global proxy addresses and a fantastic selection of offers, this might be just what your business needs.

Most proxies don’t offer encryption protocols like a VPN, and Decodo is no exception. The principal aim is to change your IP address.

While it seemed like an impressive service I wanted to know how it would hold up against previously-tested VPNs. I found that there are some major differences between these services.

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Speeds — Fast with Low Latency

Decodo, previously Smartproxy, should offer fast speeds even on long-distance residential IP addresses. Unlike a VPN, residential proxy networks like Decodo don’t encrypt your data. While this does mean you won’t have this layer of protection, it also means your speeds are a lot faster.

Since it also has a large number of IP addresses, you shouldn’t have to worry about crowding and slowdowns.

However, the bandwidth is limited depending on your offer. Its smallest one comes with a 5GB cap, while the largest one gives you 1000GB. In theory, Decodo should be able to work with most streaming services. However, it’s a web scraping tool, and it would be incredibly expensive if you want to use it for any unintended purpose like streaming or gaming.

Since Decodo is a proxy provider, not a VPN, its main purpose is not to work with streaming platforms around the world, as that would get very expensive. It allows you to send an unlimited number of connection requests at the same time. This basically allows your web scraper to access all the pages you need in a short time. Plus, the connections aren’t encrypted, so it’s a lot faster than a VPN.

For streaming, I used its smart offer tool to see how much it would cost to stream Netflix a few hours every day, and the recommended offer costs around $1000 per month. If you only need a streaming VPN, I recommend you take a look at these services.

Network — Vast IP Pool

Decodo provides over 125.000.000 IP addresses around the world. By selecting any one of the offers you have access to the entire network. The only restriction is on bandwidth.

The number of IPs on offer is staggering

It offers 5 types of IP addresses:

• Residential — these proxies are offered by ISPs (internet service providers) and allow you to browse the internet as a person from the country you’re connecting to would. These are the most common and Decodo offers over 40 million of them.
• Datacenter — datacenter IPs are not associated with ISPs, but they are often offered by cloud providers. This means that you may see crowding and slowdowns if too many people connect at the same time.
• Dedicated datacenter — At $40 for 20 IPS, you can get IP addresses that are just yours (Decodo offers a 400K private datacenter IP pool in the US).  No one else will have the same IP. This gives you more control and less chance of getting blocked. You also have the option of IP randomization and IP replacement.
• Private datacenter — these are similar to datacenter proxies, but you’re the only one using them. This means that the speeds are faster, as you control the number of users.
• Search engine — these proxies allow you to gather search engine results easily, without captchas or IP blocks.

Each of these proxies comes with different offers, so you can choose depending on your needs and budget.

Most of its IP addresses are in the US, India, UK, Germany, Canada, and Japan. This operates differently from a VPN where you would connect to a server location and get assigned a related IP address. However, it’s more private than most VPNs, as it doesn’t collect any information about the websites you access with its IP addresses

Security — Rotating Residential Proxies

Decodo doesn’t have the usual security features you may expect from a business-oriented service. Instead, it keeps you safe by rotating proxies.

Standard residential proxies hide your IP address behind the proxy address. This can leave your IP address open to being discovered. So, by hiding your IP behind a pool of proxy addresses that continuously changes, yours is continuously masked.

However, this doesn’t assure full protection. Even though Decodo doesn’t keep any information about your online activity, it doesn’t provide any extra security features, such as a kill switch. This means that your identity could still be exposed. Check out these super-secure VPNs if that is a concern.

Privacy — Generally Safe, but Vague Privacy Policy

Decodo states that it stores your account information for up to 2 years. While this is standard, I couldn’t find anything in its privacy policy about what data it stores when you use its IP addresses.

This is a little concerning, as it’s based in the US, and so subject to the 5 Eyes Alliance. This means that Decodo needs to hand over any data it has if the US government requested it. Even more, it would be shared with the entire alliance.

However, a Decodo representative told me that it doesn’t store any data about the websites and tools you access with its IP addresses. While I would have liked to have this information available in the first place, I think it’s reassuring, and Decodo can be deemed as a trustworthy service.

Torrenting — Allowed

You can set Decodo on your device and route your torrenting traffic through it. However, since it doesn’t have all the security features associated with a VPN, I can’t recommend it.

Residential proxy servers, even rotating networks like Decodo, conceal your IP address but don’t provide further encryptions. Given this, your connection won’t be adequately secure while torrenting. You’ll also be subject to the bandwidth limitations.

If you need to do a lot of torrenting, you should check out one of these VPNs that work perfectly.

Does Decodo Work in China? Yes

Customer support states that Decodo works in China. I messaged its support team to find more information and the agent told me that Decodo works in China by masking your domain. This is relieving to know, as you can continue your activity from anywhere in the world.

Simultaneous Device Connections — No Limit

Although there is a restriction on the number of users, the most budget-friendly offer still offers unlimited connections. As you opt for pricier offers, both the traffic and user limits are raised.

Device Compatibility — All Major Devices

Decodo is compatible with a huge range of devices and browsers. There’s a good deal of guides and FAQs to help you get started using your preferred medium. Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, as well as popular browser extensions and more are available.