This review examines Smartproxy’s offer, including pricing, ease of use, and reliability. If you’re interested in all the details and have the time, I recommend reading the entire review. If not, you can read a summary of my thoughts below.
Smartproxy review summary
Smartproxy is one of the better web-scraping solutions out there. It provides users with a vast pool of IP addresses for practically every proxy type you could think of. Smartproxy claims its Site Unblocker has a 100% success rate at visiting restricted sites with robust anti-bot measures in place. Another standout feature is its No-Code Scraper, which allows you to configure complex web-scraping tasks through its simple UI – no coding skills required.
The service offers apps, browser extensions, and other tools you can use for free (free for active subscribers), like its X Browser, Proxy Checker, or Address Generator. Smartproxy provides a clean and useful UI that allows you to set up and configure your proxies. While its prices are fair, its pricing schemes are rather convoluted and complex, making it somewhat challenging to figure out which plan is best suited to your needs.
Overall, Smartproxy is an excellent web-scraping service. It’s tailored to most use cases and customizable enough to cater to edge cases. We recommend it.
Let’s look at what Smartproxy offers its users.
Smartproxy pros and cons
Pros:
- Excellent web scraping solution that caters to most use cases
- Huge number of available IP addresses
- Provides a host of free tools
- Service is highly customizable
Cons:
- Its pricing schemes are complicated
- Support could be better
- Doesn’t sell data sets
Residential proxies
Smartproxy’s residential proxy offering boasts over 55 million “ethically sourced” IP addresses, which should make avoiding geo-location blocks simple enough. The service also allows unlimited concurrent sessions and claims to have a 99.47% success rate. When using residential proxies, you appear to be a residential user tied to a physical location, which you can target by country or city. You can also choose between HTTPS and SOCKS5 proxy types. These can integrate with popular third-party APIs like Selenium, Puppeteer, Playwright, and many other third-party tools.
Residential proxies are optimized for:
- Web data extraction
- Social media marketing
- Market research
- Ad verification
- Website Testing
- Travel fare aggregation
- SEO
ISP proxies
ISP proxies are genuinely sourced from ISPs, making it harder for the sites you’re scraping to distinguish you from a regular user. ISP Proxies are hosted in data centers and are optimized for speed.
Smartproxy offers two types of ISP proxies: static IPs and dedicated IPs. With static IPs, your IP address is static – meaning it doesn’t change once assigned to you – but the IP is shared among multiple Smartproxy users. While that shouldn’t be a problem most of the time, it does mean that the activities of other users could impact your usage (if another user gets the IP banned, for example). Dedicated IPs are also static, but they are yours alone, so you have complete control over the IP’s usage.
Smartproxy recommends ISP proxies for:
- Social media marketing
- eCommerce management
- Data collection
- SEO
- Travel fare aggregation
- Ad verification
- Brand security
- Market research
Mobile proxies
Mobile proxies route traffic through a mobile network connection to mimic a mobile user. Smartproxy provides access to over 10 million mobile IP addresses from more than 160 locations worldwide, ensuring you can reach smartphones and tablets in your target locations. You can target locations using ASNs and filter your targets by OS.
Mobile proxies work best for:
- Mobile ads verification
- Mobile app user experience
- App quality assurance
- Review monitoring
Datacenter proxies
As with its ISP proxies, Smartproxy offers two types of data center proxies: shared and dedicated.
With shared datacenter proxies, your traffic is proxied over a datacenter IP shared between Smartproxy users – and the same caveats apply here, too. Other users could cause your IP to be banned or limited, etc.
On the other hand, dedicated data center proxies are just that: a dedicated data center IP that you alone control and use.
Whichever data center proxy type you choose, you get 99.99% uptime and a response time under 0.3 seconds.
Datacenter proxies are typically used for:
- Market Intelligence
- Ad verification
- eCommerce marketplaces
- SEO
- Cybersecurity
- Brand security
- Social media intelligence
Site unblocker
Smartproxy’s Site Unblocker is a dynamic proxy-like service that uses a host of under-the-hood techniques to extract data from the most challenging websites. Site Unblocker can masquerade as a regular human user by dynamically setting the proper cookies, headers, and JavaScript rendering. This allows you to bypass CAPTHCAs and avoid blocklists. The service also automatically rotates your IP to select the most effective proxy type for your target. It supports over 195 locations worldwide.
Smartproxy’s Site Unblocker also boasts a 100% success rate.
Site Unlbocker supports the following features:
- Worldwide geo-targeting
- Optimized IP selection
- CAPTCHA bypass
- JavaScript rendering
- Advanced browser fingerprinting
- 100% success rate
SERP scraping API
Smartproxy’s SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) Scraper API supports data collection from the following sites:
- Bing
- Amazon
You can choose either synchronous or asynchronous results. Synchronous results are real-time. You send the request, and you get a close to immediate response. Asynchronous results can be delivered according to a schedule, so you can set up a schedule at which to receive your scraping results.
You can target locations by country, state, or city. As with Site Unblocker, Smartproxy’s SERP Scraping API can bypass CAPTCHAs and comes with a 100% success rate guarantee. The results can be formatted in HTML or JSON.
Smartproxy recommends using its SERP Scraping API for:
- Organic keyword tracking
- Brand security
- Price comparisons
- Market research
- Detecting copyright infringement
- Ad verification
Social media scraping API
Smartproxy’s Social Media Scraping API is similar to its SERP Scraping API, except it’s optimized for social media sites. It follows the SERP Scraping API on most fronts: You can choose between synchronous or asynchronous requests, get your results in HTML or JSON, and enjoy its 100% success rate.
The Social Media Scraping API is optimized for:
- Social media intelligence
- Engagement rates tracking
- Account growth monitoring
- Trending content discovery
eCommerce scraping API
Again, Smartproxy’s eCommerce Scraping API shares most of its features with the above, minus the synchronous/asynchronous option. This time, it’s optimized for online marketplaces like Amazon. You can target locations by country, state, or city, bypass CAPTCHAs, and obtain your results in HTML or JSON.
Smartproxy’s eCommerce Scraping API is best suited for the following use cases:
- Price aggregation
- Market research
- Product data gathering
- Marketing analysis
Web scraping API
For your more general headless web-scraping needs, Smartproxy also offers a Web Scraping API. It uses IPs from a massive pool of residential, mobile, and data center proxies and combines them with an advanced web scraper to provide real-time, error-free results.
You can target locations by country, state, or city and get your results in HTML or JSON. The Web Scraping API also benefits from the same 100% success rate as Smartproxy’s other scrapers APIs.
Also, like the company’s Site Unblocker, the Web Scraping API dynamically selects the best proxy for your request and automatically sets the appropriate cookies, headers, and JavaScript rendering, making your web-scraping activities much more challenging to detect and keeping CAPTCHAs and IP bans at bay.
The most common use cases for the Web Scraping API are:
- Public data collection
- Travel fare aggregation
- Fraud protection
- Ad placement/management
- Website testing
No-code scraper
The No-Code Scraper is one of Smartproxy’s standout features. It allows complete novices to set up and run complex web-scraping tasks and get results quickly, which can then be exported in HTML or JSON format. The service comes with preconfigured templates to get you started, and everything happens inside a clear, easy-to-understand UI.
Below is a graphic detailing how it works:
The No-Code Scraper supports:
- Scheduling
- Automatic proxy rotation
- Custom domain selection
- Data extraction from any website
The tool is optimized for the following use cases:
- Ideas validation
- Data monitoring
- SEO research
- Statistical data
- eCommerce
- Lead generation
- Business reputation protection
- Competitor analysis
Free tools
As mentioned in the introduction, Smartproxy supports some nice web-scraping tools that make it available to active subscribers for free.
X Browser
Smartproxy’s X Browser is what the company refers to as an “anti-detect” browser that integrates proxy management for manual web scraping. It supports multiple profiles that can be used to create different browser fingerprints while preventing websites from linking these files to one another or to the device you’re using.
Chrome extension and Firefox add-on
Smartproxy also provides browser extensions/add-ons for Chrome and Firefox. These basic extensions allow you to manage, select, and connect to your proxy servers.
Proxy checker
Accessed via the dashboard, the Proxy Checker is precisely that: a tool that enables you to get information on proxy servers. The tool works by ingesting a list of proxy servers on which it will run various tests and output the results so you can choose the appropriate server for your use case.
With Proxy Checker, you can check:
- Large proxy lists at once
- Multiple supported protocols (HTTP & HTTPS)
- Multiple supported formats (IP:PORT:USER:PASS & DOMAIN:PORT:USER:PASS)
- Data about connection status, errors, success, and speed
Address generator
Tied to the above, Smartproxy also provides users with an app (macOS and Windows compatible) to generate proxy lists. Using its Address Generator, you simply pick a session and proxy type, enter the number of proxies you want, and the app will generate a list of proxies according to your criteria. Those lists can then be used with the Proxy Checker above.
The UI
Smartproxy’s UI is indeed one of the best I’ve seen for a web-scraping service. It’s not because it’s orders of magnitude better than others in terms of clarity and ease of use – though it is straightforward to use. It’s because some of its tools can be harnessed directly from the UI. That makes the service a bit easier to use than its competitors. And when you factor in its No-Code Scraper, which is accessed from the UI and doesn’t require any coding skills or third-party software, it’s clear Smartproxy has a usability edge over many other web-scraping services.
Smartproxy’s dashboard is clearly laid out and quite slick. I have no complaints here.
Pricing
While Smartproxy’s UI may be streamlined and clear, its pricing schemes are not. Sometimes, you pay for a number of GBs, sometimes for a number of requests, sometimes for a number of IP addresses and other times, you need to contact Sales. Also, most subscriptions have a Regular and an Enterprise tier. Most web-scraping services do the same, but it muddies the waters even more.
Nonetheless, here’s an overview of Oxylabs’ pricing per product (you’ll understand what I mean):
Residential proxies
Regular
- Pay as you go – $7/GB
- 2GB Plan – $6/GB
- 8GB Plan – $5.50/GB
- 25GB Plan – $5.20/GB
- 50GB Plan – $4.90/GB
- 100GB Plan – $4.50/GB
Enterprise
- 250GB Plan – $4/GB
- 500GB Plan – $3.50/GB
- 1000GB Plan – $3/GB
- 2000GB Plan – $2.80/GB
- 5000GB Plan – $2.20/GB
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
ISP proxies
Dedicated
- 3 IP Plan – $10/IP
- 10 IP Plan – $7.50/IP
- 25 IP Plan – $6/IP
- 50 IP Plan – $5/IP
- 100 IP Plan – $3.50/IP
- 150 IP Plan – $2.90/IP
Pay/GB
- 2GB Plan – $14/GB
- 7GB Plan – $13/GB
- 25GB Plan – $12/GB
- 50GB Plan – $11/GB
Mobile proxies
Regular
- Pay as you go – $20/GB
- 2GB Plan – $15/GB
- 8GB Plan – $8.50/GB
- 25GB Plan – $8/GB
- 50GB Plan – $7.50/GB
Enterprise
- 100GB Plan – $7/GB
- 200GB Plan – $6.50/GB
- 300GB Plan – $6/GB
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
Datacenter proxies
Regular
Pay/GB
- 50GB Plan – $0.60/GB
- 100GB Plan – $0.55/GB
- 300GB Plan – $0.53/GB
- 1000GB Plan – $0.50/GB
Pay/IP
- 100 IP Plan – $0.100/IP
- 200 IP Plan – $0.095/IP
- 500 IP Plan – $0.090/IP
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
Dedicated
- 3 IP Plan – $2.50/IP
- 10 IP Plan – $2/IP
- 25 IP Plan – $1.90/IP
- 50 IP Plan – $1.60/IP
Enterprise
Pay/GB
- 2000GB Plan – $0.48/GB
- 3000GB Plan – $0.47/GB
- 4000GB Plan – $0.47/GB
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
Pay/IP
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
Dedicated
Sequential
- 500 IP Plan – $1.50/IP
- 1000 IP Plan – $1.45/IP
- 2000 IP Plan – $1.35/IP
- 4000 IP Plan – $1.21/IP
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
Non-sequential
- 500 IP Plan – $1.87/IP
- 1000 IP Plan – $1.81/IP
- 2000 IP Plan – $1.69/IP
- 4000 IP Plan – $1.51/IP
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
Site unblocker
Regular
- 2GB Plan – $14/GB
- 8GB Plan – $12.50/GB
- 25GB Plan – $11/GB
- 50GB Plan – $10/GB
Enterprise
- 100GB Plan – $9/GB
- 250GB Plan – $8/GB
- 500GB Plan – $7/GB
- 1000GB Plan – $6/GB
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
Social media scraping API
Regular
- 7-day Free Trial – $0/1K Requests
- 25K Requests – $2/IK Requests
- 62.5K Requests – $1.60/1K Requests
- 200K Requests – $1.40/1K Requests
- 400K Requests – $1.20/1K Requests
Enterprise
- 1M Requests – $1.10/1K Requests
- 2M Requests – $1/IK Requests
- 3M Requests – $0.95/1K Requests
- 4M Requests – $0.90/1K Requests
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
E-Commerce scraping API
Regular
- 7-day Free Trial – $0/1K Requests
- 15K Requests – $3.33/IK Requests
- 50K Requests – $2/1K Requests
- 150K Requests – $1.67/1K Requests
- 333K Requests – $1.50/1K Requests
Enterprise
- 0.5M Requests – $1.40/1K Requests
- 1M Requests – $1.20/IK Requests
- 2M Requests – $1.15/1K Requests
- 4M Requests – $1.10/1K Requests
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
No-code scraper
- 7-day Free Trial – $0/1K Requests
- 13K Requests – $3.85/IK Requests
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
SERP scraping API
Regular
- 7-day Free Trial – $0/1K Requests
- 13K Requests – $3.85/IK Requests
- 35K Requests – $2.86/1K Requests
- 100K Requests – $2.50/1K Requests
- 250K Requests – $2/1K Requests
Enterprise
- 0.5M Requests – $1.80/1K Requests
- 1M Requests – $1.60/IK Requests
- 2M Requests – $1.50/1K Requests
- 4M Requests – $1.30/1K Requests
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
Web scraping API
Regular
- 7-day Free Trial – $0/1K Requests
- 25K Requests – $2/IK Requests
- 100K Requests – $1/1K Requests
- 275K Requests – $0.90/1K Requests
- 625K Requests – $0.80/1K Requests
Enterprise
- 2M Requests – $0.55/IK Requests
- 4M Requests – $0.53/1K Requests
- 7M Requests – $0.52/1K Requests
- Custom Plan – Contact Sales
Support
Support from Smartproxy comes in the form of a knowledge base, live chat, and email. Many other web-scraping proxy providers assign you a dedicated Support rep to your account, which you can contact directly (via email) through the dashboard. You won’t find that here.
I tried both the live chat and email support. The live chat was of limited usefulness, as I suspect you’re not actually speaking with a human being. I initially had minor issues setting up my account and opted for the live chat. The result was the “rep” informing me that “as a customer support representative, I am unable to help you further.” My issue was not resolved.
Email support was quite different, however. Within a few minutes of sending my email, I got a well-written response explaining what needed to be done (which got me up and running) and asking me if I needed anything else.
So, while the live chat may help if you run into more common snags, it wasn’t very helpful in my case. The humans in Smartproxy’s support department do a fine job. The knowledge base is also quite useful, with helpful examples for many use cases.
Do I recommend Smartproxy?
Yes, I do. The service isn’t perfect, but it has a lot to offer.
It provides many different proxy types, with a massive number of IPs for worldwide coverage. It offers some unique tools, like its No-Code Scraper, which allows you to build and run complex web-scraping requests without coding knowledge.
Its prices are also fair despite its convoluted pricing architecture. Some simplification here would be welcome, as it can be difficult to figure out what you’re paying for when what you’re charged for keeps changing.
Most web-scraping services provide similar offerings, making them difficult to distinguish clearly. Still, Smartproxy’s service is accessible, performs well, and can adapt to practically any use case.
I recommend Smartproxy.