Shifter vs Decodo
Looking for a Decodo alternative? Shifter came out ahead in this head to head residential proxy benchmark: faster in all five countries, wider network spread in four of them, and 63% less per GB. Rather than compare advertised pool sizes, we counted the IPs each network had live at test time, where Shifter led Decodo in four of five countries, by up to 53% in the United States.
Trusted by 50,000+ clients worldwide
The same traffic, at a fraction of the cost
Lowest published rate per GB from each provider. Decodo reaches $2.00 only on its 1,000 GB enterprise tier.
| Monthly volume | Shifter | Decodo | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | $10 5 GB at $2.00/GB | $11.25 3 GB at $3.75/GB | 47% |
| 10 GB | $20 $2.00/GB | $35 $3.50/GB | 43% |
| 50 GB | $50 $1.00/GB | $150 $3.00/GB | 67% |
| 100 GB | $100 $1.00/GB | $275 $2.75/GB | 64% |
| 200 to 250 GB | $149 200 GB at $0.75/GB | $625 250 GB at $2.50/GB | 70% |
| Best rate | $0.75/GB from 200 GB | $2.00/GB from 1,000 GB | 63% |
Live IPs online during the test
Distinct IPs each network had live and reachable at test time, not the size of its total network. Residential IPs rotate all day, so both providers serve far more addresses across 24 hours.
Every metric, country by country
Pick a country to see the complete measurement, including the numbers that did not go our way.
| Metric | Shifter | Decodo |
|---|---|---|
| Requests sent | 250,000 | 250,000 |
| Live IPs during the test | 212,212 | 138,914 |
| Unique networks (ASNs) | 1,828 | 1,578 |
| Unique cities | 5,805 | 6,010 |
| Average latency | 427 ms | 536 ms |
| Success rate | 100% | 99.7% |
Shifter's strongest country: 53% more live IPs than Decodo, 212,212 against 138,914, more distinct networks, 1,828 against 1,578, and a faster answer at 427 ms against 536 ms. A 100 GB month costs $100 with Shifter against $275 with Decodo.
How we measured this
For each provider and country we opened a fresh connection for every request through the provider's rotating residential gateway, then asked an IP echo service which address the request came from. A new connection each time forces the gateway to assign a new exit IP, so the count of distinct addresses measures how many IPs were live and reachable at that moment.
Both providers received identical request counts, the same concurrency of 1,000, the same 10 second timeout and the same target, run from a single server one provider at a time so neither competed with the other for bandwidth. Decodo ran on 5 August 2026; Shifter was re-measured on 7 October 2026 with identical settings.
Sample size was fixed per country and identical for both providers, scaled to the size of each market so the test enumerates the pool rather than skimming it. It ran from 60,000 requests in the smallest market up to 250,000 in the United States, 560,000 per provider in total.
What these numbers mean
Every count on this page is the number of IPs that were live and reachable at the time of the test, not the size of either provider's network. Residential IPs rotate constantly as real devices come online and drop off, so across a full day both networks serve millions of distinct addresses. What this measures is how many you can reach at any one moment, which is what actually limits a crawl. Sample sizes differ per country, so the bars compare the two providers within a country rather than across countries.
Why use Shifter residential proxies?
Cheaper at every published tier
From $10 for 5 GB at the entry point down to $0.75 per GB at scale, against Decodo's $2.00 floor which needs a 1,000 GB commitment. A 100 GB month costs $100 rather than $275.
More live IPs in four of five countries
From 28% more in Canada to 53% more in the United States, 212,212 live US IPs against 138,914. Germany was the exception, where Shifter served only 5% fewer.
Wider network spread
More distinct autonomous systems in four of five countries, including 147 French networks against 89 and 272 German against 179. Anti-bot systems key on networks, not just addresses.
Lower latency everywhere
Faster in all five countries, from 377 ms against 814 ms in Canada to 427 ms against 536 ms in the United States.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about how we benchmarked Decodo.
Point any HTTP client at an IP echo endpoint through both gateways, open a new connection per request so the gateway rotates, and count the distinct addresses you get back. Use the same request count, the same machine and the same hour for both providers. You should land within a few percent of what we published.
Because this is the number of IPs that were live at the time of the test, not a total. An advertised pool size counts every address a network has ever seen, worldwide and across time. Residential IPs rotate all day as real devices connect and disconnect, so across 24 hours both providers serve millions of distinct addresses. What we measured is how many were online and reachable in one country at one moment, which is the number that actually limits a crawl.
No. Anti-bot systems key on the networks addresses belong to as much as the addresses themselves, so a smaller pool spread across more autonomous systems can outperform a larger one concentrated in a few large ISPs. Germany is the clearest example in this test: Shifter served 5% fewer addresses than Decodo but drew them from 272 networks against 179.
Yes. Smartproxy rebranded to Decodo, so older comparisons and reviews of Smartproxy refer to the same network tested here.
Test it against your own targets
Our numbers are a starting point, not a verdict. Run the same test on the sites you actually scrape, in the countries you actually need, and buy the network that wins for your traffic.