Oxylabs vs Smartproxy (Decodo):
Which Proxy Provider Wins in 2026?

You have a scraping project — maybe you’re monitoring e-commerce prices, tracking SERP rankings, or pulling social data at scale. The Oxylabs vs Smartproxy (Decodo) debate is one of the most common questions in the proxy space right now. Both hold stellar Proxyway ratings of 9.3/10, both cover 195 countries, and both pass basic legitimacy checks. So what actually separates them?

The honest answer is: a lot. When comparing Smartproxy vs Oxylabs residential proxies, Oxylabs costs roughly $6/GB versus Decodo’s $3.75/GB entry tier. That’s a 60% price premium. Whether that gap is worth paying depends entirely on your use case — and most comparison articles gloss right over the details that matter.

We dug into both platforms using Proxyway’s independent April 2025 benchmarks, both providers’ current pricing pages, and the underlying product differences to give you a straight answer. No filler, no paid placement.

Here is what you need to know up front: if you’re a startup, developer, or mid-market team doing residential scraping under $500/month, Decodo probably saves you real money without sacrificing meaningful performance. If you’re an enterprise team needing the absolute largest pool, ZIP-code targeting, SOCKS5 with UDP, dedicated account managers, and a full scraping stack under one roof, Oxylabs is the better long-term partner.

What Are Oxylabs and Smartproxy (Decodo)?

Both are Lithuanian proxy providers operating out of Vilnius, serving the same core market: businesses and developers who need to collect public web data at scale without getting blocked. But their origins, positioning, and product depth differ considerably.

Oxylabs

Oxylabs was founded in 2015 and built from the start for enterprise clients. It now employs 300–400 people and carries Proxyway’s highest rating (9.3/10, Best Enterprise Provider 2025). Read our full Oxylabs review for a deeper single-provider breakdown. Its product suite spans four proxy types — residential, mobile, datacenter, and ISP — plus three scraper APIs, a Web Unblocker, a Scraping Browser, and a commercial Datasets product. It is a member of the Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative (EWDCI) and famously invalidated four Bright Data patents in court in August 2025.

• 175M+ ethically-sourced residential IPs (largest tested pool by Proxyway)
• Residential pricing from $30/month (5 GB at $6/GB)
• Filtering by ZIP code, coordinates, ASN, state, city, country
• Scraper APIs, Web Unblocker, and Scraping Browser under one platform
• 7-day free trial for verified businesses; 3-day refund policy
• Dedicated account manager for enterprise clients
• SOCKS5 with UDP support on residential and datacenter

Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)

Smartproxy was founded in 2018 and rebranded to Decodo on April 22, 2025. Same team, same infrastructure — new name reflecting an expanded product suite that now includes a Web Scraping API, AI Parser, and MCP Server. Decodo holds the Proxyway “Best Value Provider” award for five consecutive years (2020–2025) and serves 130,000+ clients across 195 countries. It is also an EWDCI member. See our Decodo review for the full breakdown, or check the latest Smartproxy/Decodo pricing page for current plan rates.

• 115M+ ethically-sourced residential IPs across 195+ locations
• Residential pricing from $3.75/GB (3 GB plan) or $4/GB pay-as-you-go
• Continent, country, state, city, ZIP (US), and ASN targeting included free
• Site Unblocker, Web Scraping API, AI Parser, and MCP Server
• 3-day free trial with 100 MB; 14-day money-back guarantee on first purchase
• 24/7 tech support for all plans
• Pay-as-you-go residential option at $4/GB (no monthly commitment)

Who Should Choose Which?

✓ Choose Oxylabs If You Are…

• An enterprise data team — needing a dedicated account manager, SLA commitments, and the full scraping stack (APIs + proxies + browser) in one contract.
• A large-scale scraper hitting 100M+ requests/month — Oxylabs’ 175M IP pool and 99.90% success rate means fewer retries at volume.
• Doing hyper-local geo-targeting — ZIP code and GPS coordinate-level targeting at scale is where Oxylabs pulls ahead.
• An e-commerce or travel intelligence company — the pre-built Amazon, Google Shopping, and travel scraper APIs save engineering time.
• Working from China — dedicated Chinese endpoints and support in Mandarin are built-in.
• A developer who needs SOCKS5 with UDP — Oxylabs offers it on both residential and datacenter proxies.

✓ Choose Decodo If You Are…

• A startup or mid-market team on a budget — entry residential pricing at $3.75/GB vs $6/GB is a real difference at scale.
• Testing before committing — the 3-day free trial + 14-day money-back gives you more room to evaluate without risk.
• Running mobile-heavy campaigns — Decodo’s mobile proxies start at $3.75/GB (discounted current pricing) vs Oxylabs’ $7.50/GB.
• Building AI pipelines — native MCP Server, LangChain loader, and AI Parser make Decodo a strong fit for LLM-adjacent scraping.
• A freelancer or solo developer — the pay-as-you-go option at $4/GB with no monthly commitment keeps entry costs minimal.
• Needing the lowest datacenter pricing — Decodo’s shared rotating datacenter pool starts at $0.60/GB versus Oxylabs’ $0.65/GB.

Features Head-to-Head

IP Pool Size and Purity

Oxylabs has the larger advertised pool, but Proxyway’s April 2025 benchmark found Decodo served marginally more unique IPs globally in their test run. In practice, both are effectively unlimited for most use cases.

Geo-Targeting Granularity

Protocol Support

Scraping Tools and APIs

How Each Platform Works

The day-to-day experience of using Oxylabs and Decodo is similar at the surface — both use gateway-based connections with username/password credentials or IP whitelisting — but the onboarding, dashboard depth, and flexibility differ.

Step 1: Sign Up and Verification

Oxylabs requires a KYC (Know Your Customer) process before you can use Google Search targets. Businesses can apply for a 7-day free trial — but you’ll need company registration documents and proof that you’re authorized to sign contracts. Decodo has a lighter touch: the 3-day free trial with 100 MB starts immediately after registration, no documentation required.

Step 2: Dashboard Setup

Both providers offer web dashboards. Oxylabs’ dashboard is notably feature-rich: sub-user management with per-user bandwidth limits, JSON-format proxy lists, a Statistics page with per-target performance breakdowns, and a Cost Explorer. Decodo’s dashboard is cleaner and faster to navigate — G2 gave it “Best Usability 2025” — with a quick endpoint generator that outputs proxy lists in your chosen format.

Step 3: Connection Setup

Both use a similar gateway model. Oxylabs residential: pr.oxylabs.io:7777. Decodo uses country-specific ports or a backconnect gateway. You can set rotation parameters (per-request or sticky up to 24 hours) directly in the username string. No config files needed for basic setups.

Step 4: Geo-Targeting

Oxylabs lets you specify country, state, city, ZIP code, ASN, or GPS coordinates directly in the username field. Decodo supports continent through ASN in the same way — with ZIP code filtering for US targets. Both support sticky sessions that maintain the same IP for a fixed window, which is essential for logged-in scraping.

Step 5: Scaling and Support

As you scale, Oxylabs assigns a named account manager reachable via email and chat, with an observed 2-minute live chat response time in independent testing. Decodo provides 24/7 tech support via live chat and ticket; no dedicated account manager for standard plans, but response times are consistently fast based on user reviews.

Pricing Comparison

Pricing is where the gap between these two providers becomes most concrete. Decodo consistently undercuts Oxylabs across proxy types — sometimes by 40–50%. Here is the full side-by-side breakdown by product. (If budget is the top priority, also see our guide to the cheapest residential proxy providers.)

Residential Proxies

Mobile Proxies

Datacenter Proxies (Rotating Pool)

ISP Proxies (Static Residential)

Trial and refund comparison:

• Oxylabs: 7-day free trial for verified businesses; 3-day refund policy; 5 free datacenter IPs (no credit card)
• Decodo: 3-day free trial with 100 MB (no credit card); 14-day money-back on first purchase (conditions: <20% traffic used, no prior free trial, within 14 days)

Pros & Cons

Oxylabs

Decodo

Oxylabs & Decodo vs Bright Data

Bright Data is the third major player in the enterprise proxy space — more expensive than both Oxylabs and Decodo, but with a similarly deep product catalog. Here is how each stacks up against it. (See our full Bright Data review for a standalone analysis.)

Oxylabs vs Bright Data — Best Proxy Provider Comparison 2026

Winner for pool size: Oxylabs | Winner for pricing: Oxylabs | Winner for market reputation: Tie (both 9.3/10) | Full Bright Data vs Oxylabs breakdown →

Decodo vs Bright Data

Winner for price: Decodo | Winner for pool size: Bright Data | Winner for AI tooling: Decodo

Ratings Breakdown

The ratings here reflect independent Proxyway benchmarks and product documentation — not self-reported scores. This Oxylabs vs Decodo comparison shows the two are the closest rivals in the residential proxy space; the gap between them is narrower than the price difference suggests. For most mid-market users, Decodo’s 4.5/5 at roughly half the residential price per GB is the more rational choice in any best proxy provider comparison for 2026.

Legitimacy, Safety & Final Verdict

Legitimacy & Safety

• ✓ Both are members of the Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative (EWDCI / i2Coalition)
• ✓ Both companies are registered in Lithuania under EU data protection laws
• ✓ Oxylabs: published its Residential Proxy Acquisition Handbook publicly; runs KYC before sensitive targets
• ✓ Decodo: explicitly discloses peer-to-peer consent model; no affiliation with smartproxy.org or smartproxy.cn (impersonator warning published on site)
• ✓ Oxylabs: won a court case invalidating four Bright Data patents in August 2025 — underscores legal standing in the industry
• ✓ Decodo: 130,000+ clients and 4.4/5 Trustpilot score (1,934+ reviews)
• ✓ Oxylabs: Proxyway’s highest-rated provider (9.3/10) and Best Enterprise award 2025
• ✓ Decodo: G2 Best Usability 2025 and Highest User Adoption 2025

Long-Term Reliability

Both providers have multi-year track records. Oxylabs has operated since 2015 and employs 300–400 staff. Decodo (as Smartproxy) launched in 2018 and has maintained Proxyway’s Best Value award for five consecutive years. Neither shows signs of instability. The Decodo rebrand in April 2025 carried over all accounts, subscriptions, and endpoints without any reported data loss or service disruption.

Worth It? Final Verdict

FAQs — Oxylabs vs Smartproxy (Decodo)

Final Verdict

After this in-depth Oxylabs vs Decodo comparison across pool sizes, pricing, speed benchmarks, tooling, and support, the conclusion is clear: Oxylabs is the better enterprise proxy platform; Decodo (formerly Smartproxy) is the better value proxy platform. They are not interchangeable — they serve different budget points and use cases, and picking the right one saves real money or unlocks capability you’d otherwise have to patch together from multiple vendors.

If you’re spending under $500/month on residential proxies, Decodo gives you 99.86% success rates, 115M+ IPs across 195 countries, a 14-day money-back guarantee, and native AI tooling at roughly half the per-GB cost of Oxylabs. Start there. If you grow past 100 GB/month and need ZIP-code precision, a dedicated account manager, SOCKS5 with UDP for residential, and a complete scraping API stack, Oxylabs’ enterprise plan is worth the premium.