Decodo vs ScraperAPI: Which is Better in 2026?
Decodo edges ahead overall (4.7/5 vs 4.1/5). Choose Decodo for better overall value; consider ScraperAPI if its specific feature set matters most.
We compared Decodo and ScraperAPI on pricing, country coverage, IP types, supported protocols, and trial availability. Both providers target similar use cases but differ in network scale, pricing model, and platform depth. Here is everything you need to make the right choice.
Our Verdict
Based on our analysis, Decodo edges ahead with a rating of 4.7/5 — making it the better choice for most use cases. If budget is the primary concern, Decodo (from $2.0/gb) is the more affordable option.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Decodo | ScraperAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.7/5 ★★★★ | 4.1/5 ★★★★ |
| Price from | $2.0/gb | $49.0/month |
| Countries | 195 | 195 |
| Types | residentialdatacentermobileisp | residentialdatacenter |
| Protocols | HTTPHTTPSSOCKS5 | HTTPHTTPS |
| Free trial | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
About the Providers
Decodo (formerly Smartproxy) won Best All-Rounder 2026 by Proxyway. Residential proxies from $2/GB
ScraperAPI handles proxy rotation
Performance Comparison
Decodo achieves a 96.5% request success rate compared to 95.5% for ScraperAPI — a difference that compounds at scale. At 100,000 requests per day, Decodo would complete approximately 1000 more successful requests per day.
On response speed, Decodo averages 480ms versus 1200ms for ScraperAPI. The 720ms advantage matters most for real-time data applications where response latency directly impacts downstream processing speed.
Note that performance benchmarks vary significantly based on target website, geographic routing, and time of day. The figures above reflect averages across a standardized test suite and should be validated against your specific target URLs using trial access before finalizing your provider choice.
Pricing Comparison & Value Analysis
Residential proxies from $8.50/GB on the starter plan (3.5GB). ISP proxies from $2.50/proxy/month. Datacenter proxies from $0.8/proxy/month. 14-day money-back guarantee.
Pay-as-you-go: $0.0024 per API credit. Starter plan: $49/month for 100K credits. Hobby: $29/month for 25K credits. Free plan: 1,000 requests/month.
Pricing model differences matter as much as headline numbers. Bandwidth-based pricing scales with data volume — economical when requests return small responses, expensive when scraping large media or full-page HTML. Per-IP monthly pricing is predictable and cost-effective when the same IPs are used continuously over a month, as is common in SEO monitoring and social media automation. Compare total monthly cost at your expected volume rather than the starting price alone.
When evaluating long-term value, also consider the cost of failures. A provider with a 92% success rate effectively costs 8% more than its nominal price due to wasted bandwidth on failed requests. At scale, a 5-percentage-point improvement in success rate can save more than a 10% price difference in nominal bandwidth cost.
Use Case Analysis — Which Fits Your Workflow?
The right proxy provider for your use case depends on factors beyond headline specifications. Consider the following dimensions when choosing between Decodo and ScraperAPI:
Target site sophistication: If your target sites use advanced bot detection (Cloudflare Enterprise, DataDome, PerimeterX), you need residential proxies with high pool diversity and strong success rates. Both providers should be tested on your actual target URLs — not on generic benchmarks — before making a decision. Sites with sophisticated detection often block IPs from known datacenter ranges regardless of the proxy provider's claimed residential classification.
Geographic requirements: Decodo covers 195 countries versus ScraperAPI's 195 countries. For projects with narrowly defined geographic targets within ScraperAPI's coverage area, the difference is immaterial.
Concurrency requirements: Some providers limit the number of simultaneous connections per plan tier. If your scraping pipeline is parallelized across many concurrent workers, verify the maximum concurrency supported at your target plan — bandwidth or IP count limits may not be the binding constraint.
Declared use case fit: Decodo is designed for scraping, seo, ad verification, brand protection, price monitoring, social media. ScraperAPI targets scraping, price monitoring, seo. If your use case maps more directly to one provider's declared focus, that provider has likely optimized its infrastructure and support documentation for your workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Should You Choose?
Decodo is the stronger overall pick in this comparison, rated 4.7/5. It performs best if you need residential and datacenter and mobile and isp proxies across up to 195 countries. ScraperAPI is the better fit if its specific feature set is a closer match to your workload. Still comparing? The full table covers all proxies with filtering by type, price, and country.