IPRoyal vs. Smartproxy – An In-depth Feature Comparison

IPRoyal and Smartproxy are both market leaders, offering reliable and feature-packed proxy services. Their proxy servers are used by people and businesses all over the world, helping them protect their online activity, increase their online freedom, and get the data they need.

Even though both providers are great choices for proxy users, one of them might be a better fit for you. After all, they have their own set of features and pricing, so it’s good to learn more about them to pick the right service for you. Let’s go!

Note: All data collected on September 2023 from the official company websites and bestproxyfinder.com.

IPRoyal vs. Smartproxy – Who Are They Built For?

Both proxy providers cater to private and business users worldwide. With a product catalog consisting of proxies and multiple scraper APIs, Smartproxy is mostly oriented toward web scrapers. On the other hand, IPRoyal has a more expansive reach focusing solely on proxies.

Let’s compare the key features and pricing of each provider.

Residential Proxies

Rotating residential proxies is the flagship product of both companies. Whether you go with IPRoyal or Smartproxy, you’ll get access to ethically-sourced residential IPs from over 195 locations worldwide.

Also, both companies support country, city, and state-level targeting, as well as sticky and rotating sessions. No matter which service you choose, you can authenticate your proxies with whitelisted IPs or username:password.

Another similarity is the protocol support, both of them supporting HTTP(S) and SOCKS5 connections.

Now let’s focus on the differences between IPRoyal and Smartproxy regarding their residential proxy service.

IPRoyal

This company uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model for its residential proxy servers. You can order as many GB as you want without contracts, monthly minimums, or any other limitations. The best part is that these GBs are yours until you use them up. In other words, they will never expire, allowing you to spend them as needed.

IPRoyal combines non-expiring traffic with generous bulk discounts , making it a cost-efficient approach for users. It also offers an auto top-up feature, ensuring you don’t run out of traffic when most needed .

You can order 1 GB for only $7, which is well below the industry average. The price can go down to $1.75 per GB if you buy traffic in bulk. And if you’re an enterprise client, the sales team can give you special discounts on top of the existing ones.

The affordable pricing and bulk discounts compensate for the modest proxy pool. Right now, the provider controls a network of over 32 million residential IP addresses obtained from authentic users and ISPs.

IPRoyal stands out in terms of session control. The service allows you to change your IP per each request or keep it for 1 second up to 7 days. This precise sticky session control is quite rare in the industry, so it’s definitely a plus.

A high-end pool option is also available, allowing you to get the fastest IP addresses in the desired location.

Smartproxy

Smartproxy claims its residential proxy network comprises over 55 million IP addresses worldwide . This is one of the largest proxy pools on the market, at least considering the advertised numbers.

The residential proxy service is plan-based, but there’s also a pay-as-you-go option starting at $7 per GB . Choosing a monthly plan reduces the price per GB, especially if you order more traffic.

For example, ordering 2 GB would cost $12, or $6 per GB a month, while ordering 50 GB will reduce the cost per GB to $4.9.

Unlike IPRoyal, this traffic expires at the end of the month . As long as you have traffic, you can make as many connection requests as you want. Regarding sticky sessions, you can rotate your IPs per request or hold one for 1, 10, or 30 minutes , which is decent but far less flexible than IPRoyal’s precise sticky session control.

Let’s take a look at the key differences between the two services.

Datacenter Proxies

While both companies offer dedicated datacenter proxies, Smartproxy also has a shared option . Whether you go with IPRoyal or Smartproxy’s dedicated datacenter proxies , you can expect 99.99% uptime, API support, unlimited bandwidth and threads, and SOCKS5 support.

Let’s discuss the differences.

IPRoyal

IPRoyal’s datacenter proxy network covers 30 countries worldwide . All datacenter IPs are static and dedicated, ensuring you’re the sole owner of the IPs allocated to you.

The service follows a monthly-plan model, allowing you to buy datacenter proxies for 30, 60, or 90 days with zero bandwidth limits . You can order at least 5 datacenter proxies for $9 a month. The longer the plan duration and the more IPs ordered, the cheaper the proxies.

For example, going with the 90-day plan reduces the cost per proxy to $1.39. There’s also the option for self-service , so you can start using the proxies right after getting an order confirmation email.

Smartproxy

Smartproxy has shared and dedicated datacenter proxies. The shared proxy network consists of over 100,000 IPs in only 8 countries . You can choose to pay per IP or GB , both options supporting rotating and sticky sessions. However, these proxies don’t support the SOCKS5 protocol, as opposed to Smartproxy’s dedicated datacenter proxies.

The dedicated datacenter proxy service consists of only US static proxies , which is very limiting. These are priced per IP and provide unlimited bandwidth like most datacenter proxy services. When ordering the proxies, you can choose between HTTP and SOCKS5, and a sequential or non-sequential IP list , the latter coming at an extra cost.

Pricing starts at $7.5 for 3 sequential dedicated datacenter IPs a month and reduces as you order more proxies. But keep in mind that these are only US proxies.

Let’s go through the key differences between IPRoyal and Smartproxy’s dedicated datacenter proxies.

User Experience

Both proxy providers have a user-friendly dashboard, self-service, and a pretty straightforward sign-up process. But let’s discuss the specifics.

IPRoyal

As long as you have a valid email address , you can register with IPRoyal. The verification email will arrive in your inbox instantly, so you’ll be ready to make an order right away. The easy-to-use dashboard makes the service convenient for new and advanced proxy users.

There are sections for each proxy and one for affiliates. You’ll also find plenty of useful content, a quick-start guide, and Help Center that will help you learn everything you need to know regarding the service. With instant delivery, you can use the proxies only minutes after ordering them.

Smartproxy

If you want to create an account on Smartproxy, you’ll have to follow the 3-step registration process :

• Entering your email address and password or signing in with your Google account
• Selecting your one main use case from multiple options given
• Accessing the dashboard

Although Smartproxy allows you to access the dashboard right away, you’ll still have to verify your email address to be able to buy anything.

The intuitive dashboard includes user-friendly tools like a no-code scraper and scraping APIs. You’ll also find helpful sources like a quick-start and integration guides to help you use the service more easily.

Support

Both IPRoyal and Smartproxy have customer service available 24/7 via live chat or email. They offer API documentation, quick-start guides, FAQs, and integration guides for major automation tools, browsers, and software.

Let’s find out more about each customer service.

IPRoyal

IPRoyal’s hands-on support provides quick and competent responses. Support agents are available any time of the day or night to help customers get the answers and solutions they need. You can contact them via email or live chat, and a Discord option is also available.

And if you’re a larger client, you’ll get a dedicated account manager . The company offers multiple support tools for free , including a Windows-based proxy tester to test proxy lists and select the fastest ones and Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox-based browser extensions.

Smartproxy

Smartproxy’s support team replies within a minute, whether you contact them via live chat or email . The support agents are really nice, so it’s like talking to a friend for expert advice. You can also connect to other users via Discord or find valuable resources and tools by joining Github .

Like IPRoyal, Smartproxy offers many free useful tools , including a Chrome extension, an Address generator, X Browser for managing multiple profiles, and a Firefox add-on. The company also offers multiple scraping APIs , but these are priced.

Pricing

Pricing is one of the most important factors when choosing a proxy provider. You should strive for a service that is the best value for money. This means getting a proxy service at the lowest prices possible without sacrificing quality.

While both IPRoyal and Smartproxy offer pay-as-you-go options for their residential proxy servers, their pricing is quite different.

Here are the key differences between IPRoyal and Smartproxy in terms of pricing.

IPRoyal

We’ll start with IPRoyal’s main product – the rotating residential proxies , also known as Royal residential proxies. This service is based exclusively on the pay-as-you-go model, letting you order as many GBs as you want and pay only for them.

The lack of monthly minimums and long-term contracts makes the service very attractive, and so do the affordable prices. You can order as little as 1 GB for only $7 and reduce the cost to just $2.45 per GB if you order traffic in bulk. The pricing is below the industry average so that anyone can afford it.

On top of that, the traffic you buy won’t expire after a specific period. What you buy is yours until you use it up completely. This allows you to buy more traffic and use it whenever you need it, today, tomorrow, the next month, year, etc.

IPRoyal’s datacenter proxy service comes in monthly plans , letting you choose between one, two, and three months ( 30, 60, and 90 days .) You can order as many datacenter IP addresses as you want, starting from 5 IPs for only $9.

The price per IP reduces as you order more proxies and commit to a longer plan. So if you choose the 90-day plan, you’ll pay only $1.39 per datacenter IP.

IPRoyal accepts multiple payment methods, including PayPal, wire transfer, credit cards, iDEAL, Giropay, EPS, Bancontact, and over 70 cryptocurrencies.

Smartproxy

Smartproxy gives you two options to buy residential proxies – via pay-as-you-go or subscription . If you decide to pay as you go , you’ll have to pay $7 per GB . Unlike IPRoyal, the price per GB with this option doesn’t reduce if you order more traffic.

In addition, regular users can choose between five subscriptions - 2 GB, 8 GB, 25 GB, 50 GB, and 100 GB a month , which is a bit limiting. As expected, the higher the plan, the lower the price per GB. For example, ordering 2 GB a month will cost you $6 per GB, while ordering 50 GB will cost you $4.9 per GB.

For enterprise clients, there are four other subscriptions starting from 250 GB a month , where 1 GB costs $4. Ordering 1,000 GB drops the price down to $3 per GB, which is still more expensive than IPRoyal’s single pay-as-you-go model.

All Smartproxy’s datacenter proxies use a subscription-based pricing model. The shared proxies allow you to pay per IP or GB, both options coming with traffic limits.

On the other hand, the US dedicated datacenter proxies let you choose between sequential and non-sequential IPs . Both options are priced per IPs ordered, starting from $7.5 for 3 sequential IPs and $9.38 for 3 non-sequential IPs . Opposite to shared proxies, all dedicated proxy plans come with unlimited bandwidth.

Enterprise clients can get better deals by ordering larger amounts of shared datacenter traffic or a higher number of dedicated datacenter IPs.

A 14-day money-back guarantee is included in all Smartproxy plans, which is great. However, many customers complained on Trustpilot about not getting the refund they deserve.

IPRoyal vs. Smartproxy: Final Thoughts

After analyzing IPRoyal and Smartproxy’s services, we can say they both offer reliable and trusty proxy services for regular and enterprise clients. While IPRoyal has better prices and unique features like non-expiring residential traffic, Smartproxy has several scraper APIs and a bigger proxy pool.

The final decision is yours, so choose the one that best suits your needs and budget. Good luck!