Advantage #1
ConfigAethyn
UsernameSmartproxyDashboard clicks
Aethyn vs Smartproxy (Decodo)
Smartproxy — rebranded as Decodo in 2025 — is a popular mid-market provider known for an approachable dashboard and competitive entry pricing. Aethyn competes on a clean unified endpoint, per-byte transparency, and targeting encoded directly in credentials.
€2.00 / GB Volume Rates
0 Minimum Commitments
Instant Self-Serve
Aethyn is our product. Competitor claims were last verified against Smartproxy's public pricing.
WHY TEAMS SWITCH
Where Aethyn wins against Smartproxy (Decodo)
The core architecture & pricing decisions that make engineering teams switch.
Advantage #2
ProtocolsAethyn
One credentialSmartproxyProduct-by-product
Advantage #3
ExpiryAethyn
Never expiresSmartproxyMonthly
Advantage #4
TargetingAethyn
City + ISP in usernameSmartproxyCity; ASN higher
01
Quick verdict
Smartproxy, now rebranded as Decodo, is one of the best-known mid-market proxy providers: a friendly dashboard, competitive entry pricing, solid documentation, and a product line that has grown from residential proxies into scraping APIs and an antidetect browser. It is a genuinely good generalist choice, and for teams that want a polished UI to click through, it may be the more comfortable tool. Aethyn is built for a different workflow. Targeting is encoded in the proxy username — country, city, ISP, session — so nothing lives in a dashboard and every option is visible in the request itself. Pricing is per-GB and public, pay-as-you-go bandwidth never expires, and one endpoint serves HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5. If your proxies are configured in code rather than clicked in a UI, Aethyn is the more direct instrument.
02
Feature matrix
How Aethyn and Smartproxy line up on the decisions that matter at purchase time.
| Feature | AethynOUR CHOICE | Smartproxy |
|---|---|---|
| Integration style | Username-encoded targeting | Dashboard + endpoint config |
| Pricing | Per-GB, subscription or PAYG | Per-GB tiers + add-ons |
| Bandwidth expiry | PAYG never expires | Monthly on subscription tiers |
| Targeting | Country, city, ISP, session | Country, city |
| Protocols | HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5 | HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5 |
| Usage visibility | Live per-byte metering | Dashboard stats |
| Best fit | Automation-first engineers | Mid-market generalists |
03
Pricing models
As of August 14, 2026. We compare structure — expiry, multipliers, minimums — not a unit-price scoreboard. Aethyn pricing · Smartproxy pricing
AethynRECOMMENDED FOR ENGINEERS
Per-GB, subscription or pay-as-you-go, all public
- Premium residential from €2.90/GB entry down to €2.00/GB at 90+ GB/month — 10 GB subscription is €29
- Elite residential from €6.50/GB down to €4.50/GB at volume, for hardened anti-bot targets
- Pay-as-you-go is a flat +10% over subscription rates, and PAYG bandwidth never expires
- Per-byte metering with live usage in the dashboard; unlimited concurrent threads on every plan
Smartproxy
Per-GB subscription tiers + separately billed add-on products
- Per-GB subscription tiers with frequent entry-plan promotions
- Scraping APIs, ISP, mobile, and the antidetect browser are separate products with separate bills
- Effective per-GB cost rises quickly on smaller tiers — volume tiers are where the value sits
- Unused subscription bandwidth does not roll over on standard plans
Methodology: Aethyn figures are from our published pricing page. Competitor claims reflect their public materials as of August 14, 2026 (source). Where a public rate is not verifiable we say so. See also how we measure quality.
04
Network & pool
Aethyn
- 85M+ residential IPs across 195+ countries, sourced from consented, KYC-verified peers
- Two explicit pools: Premium (99.2% success rate) and Elite (99.9%, curated high-reputation ISP exits)
- Country targeting on both tiers; city, ISP, and ASN targeting on Elite
- HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 on dedicated ports from one credential set
Smartproxy
- Solid global residential coverage plus ISP, datacenter, and mobile lines
- Country and city targeting; ASN on higher products
- Friendly dashboard and onboarding aimed at mid-market teams
- Good documentation, tooling, and a growing add-on catalog
05
Sessions & targeting
Rotation is per request by default; a session-<id> suffix holds one sticky IP for 30 minutes, extensible to 24 hours with lifetime-<minutes>. Because the session lives in the username, a scraping fleet can hold thousands of independent sticky identities just by varying one string segment.
Smartproxy/Decodo supports rotating and sticky sessions configured per endpoint in the dashboard or via username flags, with sticky durations up to 30 minutes on standard residential plans. Capability is similar; Aethyn's distinction is that every option is a username suffix, so there is no dashboard state to keep in sync with code.
Aethyn username — targeting in the credential
aethyn-d9e2c-country-us-session-a3xq-lifetime-30See authentication docs and targeting for the full grammar.
06
Integration
Both providers speak standard proxy auth, and Decodo's username flags will feel familiar. The practical difference is where configuration lives: Decodo splits options between the dashboard and the credential, while Aethyn puts the entire request shape in the credential.
Aethyn — Python requests
import requests
username = "aethyn-d9e2c-country-gb-session-k4m9-lifetime-30"
proxy = "http://" + username + ":YOUR_PROXY_PASSWORD@proxy.aethyn.io:2099"
resp = requests.get(
"https://example.com/products",
proxies={"http": proxy, "https": proxy},
timeout=30,
)
print(resp.status_code)Smartproxy/Decodo (per public docs)
import requests
username = "user-USERNAME-country-gb-session-k4m9"
proxy = "http://" + username + ":PASSWORD@gate.smartproxy.com:7000"
resp = requests.get(
"https://example.com/products",
proxies={"http": proxy, "https": proxy},
timeout=30,
)
print(resp.status_code)Prefer a typed helper? See the official SDK or Python requests setup.
Where Aethyn stands out
- Username-encoded targeting (country, city, ISP, session) — no extra config
- One endpoint and one credential format across HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS5
- Transparent per-byte billing with live dashboard usage
- Premium and Elite tiers map cleanly to volume vs. hard-target needs
- PAYG bandwidth never expires
Where Smartproxy is strong
- Friendly dashboard and onboarding
- Competitive entry-level pricing
- Good documentation and tooling
- Solid global residential coverage
07
Trade-offs with Smartproxy
- Feature set spans many sub-products and add-ons
- Per-GB costs can rise quickly at higher tiers
- Account-level controls vary by plan
- Subscription bandwidth expires monthly on standard plans
Choose Smartproxy if
Teams that want a polished mid-market dashboard with a wide menu of proxy products.
Choose Aethyn ifENGINEER CHOICE
Developers who prefer a minimal, predictable residential endpoint they can wire into automation fast.
EASY SETUP
08
Switch from Smartproxy in three steps
Get started in minutes with a straightforward setup and clear documentation.
Create account / credentials
Create an Aethyn account and generate credentials — Premium for general workloads, Elite if you used Decodo's highest-quality pool.
Configure targeting
Point your client at proxy.aethyn.io:2099 (SOCKS5 1099; Elite 5499/3499). Map flags: country-xx, session-<id>, and lifetime-<minutes> for sticky TTL.
Connect & cut over
Pilot a fixed 100-URL basket and compare success rate and cost per successful request. Cancel the Decodo subscription only after parity — leftover subscription bandwidth there does not refund.
Ready to Get StartedTry Free Now
Premium · Elite · Quickstart
09
Alternatives to Smartproxy
Best for: code-first residentialAethynUsername-encoded targeting, live per-byte metering, and PAYG bandwidth that never expires.Best for: enterprise SLAsOxylabsStep up to enterprise-grade account management and scraper APIs.Best for: residential + mobileSOAXSimilar mid-market polish with strong mobile proxies.Best for: free/budget on-rampWebshareCheaper self-serve entry if budget is the primary constraint.
10
The verdict
Smartproxy/Decodo is a great generalist mid-market option. Aethyn wins for developers who value a single minimal endpoint, username-encoded targeting, and per-byte transparency.
11
Frequently asked questions
Is Aethyn a good Smartproxy/Decodo alternative?
Yes, especially for engineering teams. Aethyn encodes targeting in the proxy username and exposes live per-byte usage, which streamlines automation compared with configuring options across a dashboard.
Is Decodo the same company as Smartproxy?
Yes. Smartproxy rebranded to Decodo in 2025; the product line, endpoints, and pricing structure carried over. Searches for Decodo and Smartproxy land on the same provider — this comparison applies to both names.
How do Aethyn and Smartproxy handle session control?
Both support rotating IPs per request and sticky sessions. Aethyn holds a sticky identity for 30 minutes by default and up to 24 hours via a lifetime suffix in the username, while Decodo's sticky durations top out around 30 minutes on standard residential plans.
Which is cheaper, Aethyn or Smartproxy?
On entry volumes the two are comparable — Aethyn Premium opens at €2.90/GB with no commitment. The bigger difference is structural: Aethyn's pay-as-you-go bandwidth never expires, while standard subscription tiers at Decodo reset monthly.
Related guides
Bright Data and Oxylabs Alternatives in 2026 (Proxy Layer vs Platform)A Bright Data alternative is either a cheaper residential proxy layer for a scraper you already run, or a different full-stack scraping platform. Do not mix those two lists.Residential Proxy Pricing in 2026: What You Actually Pay per GBResidential proxy pricing is the published euros or dollars you pay per gigabyte of household-ISP traffic. Here is a dated 10 / 50 / 100 GB sticker table — then why sticker is not the bill.Best Proxies for Social Media Automation in 2026Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn automation demand sticky residential — or mobile — IPs. We compared Aethyn, Bright Data, Smartproxy, SOAX, and mobile options for account safety in 2026.Best Residential Proxies for Web Scraping in 2026 (Tested Criteria, Published Sources)Nine residential proxy vendors ranked for web-scraping buyers on pricing transparency, documented targeting, session control, and self-serve access — every competitor fact linked and dated.
Products & learning
Premium residential proxiesCost-efficient rotating residential pool from €2.00/GB for bulk scraping and monitoring.Elite residential proxiesCurated high-trust pool with city and ISP targeting for hard anti-bot targets.Proxy glossaryPlain-English definitions for residential proxies, rotation, anti-bot, and scraping terms.Best proxies for scrapingDeveloper-focused residential proxy comparison for 2026.
More comparisons
“Smartproxy (Decodo)” and related marks are trademarks of their respective owners. Comparisons on this page are for informational purposes only and do not imply affiliation, endorsement, or partnership.