Head-to-Head Proxy ComparisonVerified Public Specifications (Oct 2026)

Decodo vs Shifter

Side-by-side comparison of Decodo and Shifter across supported proxy types, residential pricing per GB, datacenter & ISP pricing, geographic coverage, protocols, session rotation, authentication, platform features, and pros & cons.

Editorial Rankings & Factual Comparison Notice: Decodo (Rank #4) and Shifter (Rank #β€”) are compared below using verified public documentation (our editorial rankings feature 2Captcha Proxy at #1). Missing specifications are marked Not available.
Provider 1Rank #4

Decodo

Est. 2018 β€’ Pay-As-You-Go & Subscriptions
ResidentialDatacenterISPMobile

Formerly Smartproxy, Decodo provides self-service residential, ISP, datacenter, and mobile proxy endpoints with browser extensions and flexible bandwidth tiers.

Residential / GB$4.00 / GB
Starting Price / IPFrom $0.60 / IP
Geographic Coverage195+ Countries
ProtocolsHTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5
Provider 2Cataloged

Shifter

Est. 2012 β€’ payg and subscription
ResidentialISP

Active Global Residential & Static ISP Proxy Network with 205M+ IPs

Residential / GB$0.75 / GB
Starting Price / IPFrom $1.40 / IP
Geographic Coverage195+ Countries
ProtocolsHTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5
Network Coverage

Supported Proxy Network Types

Side-by-side availability across Residential, Datacenter, Static ISP, and Mobile proxy pools.

Proxy Network TypeDecodoShifter
Residential Proxies (Rotating & Sticky)
Household ISP-assigned IPs supporting automatic rotation and sticky sessions
βœ“ Supportedβœ“ Supported
Datacenter Proxies (Dedicated & Shared)
High-speed IPv4/IPv6 cloud server subnets for bulk concurrency
βœ“ SupportedNot available
ISP / Static Residential Proxies
Static consumer ASN-registered IPs hosted on server backbones
βœ“ Supportedβœ“ Supported
Mobile Carrier Proxies (3G / 4G / 5G / LTE)
Cellular gateway IPs routed through carrier CGNAT pools
βœ“ SupportedNot available
Pricing Comparison

Residential Pricing per GB, Datacenter & ISP Rates

Verified pricing across residential bandwidth per GB, datacenter and static ISP per-IP/bandwidth plans, and minimum account outlays.

Calculate Monthly Costs β†’
Pricing CategoryDecodoShifter
Residential Starting Rate (per GB)$4.00 / GB$0.75 / GB
Published Pricing Summary$4.00 / GB (Residential PAYG) β€’ Plans down to $2.00 / GB β€’ Datacenter from $0.60 / GBRotating Residential from $0.10–$0.75/GB; Static ISP from $1.26–$2.50/IP/month ($12.50/mo min for 5 IPs) with unmetered bandwidth
Datacenter Proxy PricingDatacenter Proxies: From $0.60 / GB or per-IP tiersNot available
ISP (Static Residential) PricingISP Proxies: From $4.50 / GB or per-IP tiersStatic ISP (5 Dedicated IPs): $12.50 / month ($2.50 / IP) β€’ Static ISP (10 Dedicated IPs): $20.00 / month ($2.00 / IP) β€’ Static ISP (50 Dedicated IPs): $77.00 / month ($1.54 / IP) β€’ Static ISP (100 Dedicated IPs): $140.00 / month ($1.40 / IP) β€’ Static ISP (250+ Dedicated IPs): From $1.26 / IP / month
Mobile Proxy PricingMobile Proxies: From $8.00 / GBNot available
Starting Rate per IP$0.60 / IP$1.40 / IP
Billing StructurePay-As-You-Go & Subscriptionspayg and subscription
Minimum Outlay / Deposit$4.00$12.50
Accepted Payment Methods
Credit CardPayPalCryptoAlipay
Credit / Debit CardsCryptocurrency (BTC / USDT)PayPal
Technical Capabilities

Locations, Protocols, Session Rotation & Authentication

Side-by-side comparison of geo-targeting granularity, supported connection protocols, sticky session durations, authentication methods, and platform tooling.

Technical DimensionDecodoShifter
Geographic Coverage & Targeting195+ Locations (Country, State, City & ASN targeting)195+ Countries Globally (205M+ IPs)
Documented Country Count195+ Countries195+ Countries
Supported Protocols
HTTPHTTPSSOCKS5
HTTPHTTPSSOCKS5
Rotation & Sticky SessionsPer-request rotation or sticky sessions (1, 10, 30 minutes up to 24 hours)Dynamic per-request rotation & configurable sticky sessions (up to 60 min via TTL or sid-XXX)
Authentication Methods
Username / PasswordIP Whitelisting
Username/PasswordIP Whitelisting
Documented Platform Features
Self-Serve DashboardBrowser Extensions (Chrome & Firefox)X Browser Anti-Detect ToolSticky Sessions up to 24hPay-As-You-Go & Subscriptions
Massive 205M+ Residential IP pool spanning 195+ countries and worldwide regionsThree specialized residential targeting pools: Full Geo (city/ASN), Country Geo, and Non-GeoConfigurable sticky sessions up to 60 minutes via session ID parameters (sid-XXX) and dynamic rotationDedicated Static ISP proxies on Tier-1 consumer broadband ASNs with 100% unmetered bandwidthSingle unified backconnect endpoint (p.shifter.io:443) supporting HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5Affordable static ISP entry starting at $12.50/month for 5 dedicated residential IPs ($2.50/IP)Dual authentication support via username/password credentials and IP whitelistingHistorical Heritage: Originally established as Microleaves (2012) before evolving to modern cloud-native Shifter architecture
Integration Tools & Clients
PythonNode.jsGocURLPlaywrightPuppeteer
Python (Requests / HTTPX)cURLNode.js (Puppeteer / Playwright)Go
Ranking PlacementRank #4 (Editorial Ranking)Not available
Official Documentation Sourcehttps://decodo.com β†—https://shifter.io β†—
Trade-Offs Breakdown

Verified Pros & Cons: Decodo vs Shifter

Decodo

Rank #4

βœ“ Verified Strengths (Pros)

  • Accessible self-serve dashboard with Pay-As-You-Go residential bandwidth from $4.00/GB
  • Configurable sticky sessions ranging from 1 minute up to 24 hours
  • Includes free Chrome/Firefox proxy extensions and X Browser multi-profile tool

βœ• Documented Limitations (Cons)

  • Recent rebrand from Smartproxy to Decodo may require updating legacy integration references
  • Dedicated static ISP per-IP plans are more expensive than pure datacenter IP pools

Shifter

Rank #null

βœ“ Verified Strengths (Pros)

  • Enormous global pool of 205M+ residential IPs across 195+ countries
  • Aggressive high-volume residential rates starting from $0.10/GB (non-geo) up to $0.75/GB (full city/ASN)
  • Dedicated Static ISP proxies with unlimited monthly bandwidth starting at just $12.50/mo for 5 IPs
  • Native SOCKS5 and HTTP/HTTPS protocol support on standard gateway ports

βœ• Documented Limitations (Cons)

  • No standalone public mobile cellular proxy tier or carrier CGNAT pool
  • Full Geo city/ASN residential packages require a $99 monthly commitment
  • Static ISP addresses do not rotate dynamically per request
Selection Verdict

How to Choose Between Decodo and Shifter

Selecting between Decodo and Shifter depends on the proxy network types, billing model, and session duration required by your workflow:

When to Choose Decodo

Mid-sized scraping teams and multi-account operators who want self-serve access to Residential, ISP, Datacenter, and Mobile proxies alongside browser tooling.

Look elsewhere if: You only need ultra-low-cost static datacenter IPs at $0.05/IP scale.
When to Choose Shifter

High-volume e-commerce scraping, localized SERP tracking, brand protection, and long-lived authenticated sessions requiring unmetered static residential ISP addresses.

Look elsewhere if: Workloads requiring dedicated mobile carrier CGNAT modems or micro-transactions under $10.

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