Proxy services are gaining more and more popularity among people who prioritize privacy while surfing the internet. Smartproxy is one such service that started from reselling addresses and is now one of the largest proxy providers. Its IPs perform well while costing way less than high-end proxies.
Smartproxy is particularly known for its excellent customer service that truly elevates the whole experience. Read further to learn more in-depth about Smartproxy and its advantages and disadvantages.
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Smartproxy Pros & Cons
Pros
Huge Proxy Pool
Smartproxy offers a diverse pool of proxies that are all carefully vetted. Rotating proxies are the backbone of the business though it has gradually been expanding its reach.
Useful Apps
Smartproxy has some custom apps that help you get the most out of its proxies. It offers Scraping tools that help in gathering real-time information from search engines for SEO-related metrics. Similarly, social media and e-commerce scraping tools are also available.
24/7 Support
Smartproxy has a wide range of helpful guides that you can consult if you encounter any issues. Videos with instructions are also available here. Further, Smartproxy’s support team is available 24/7 through live chat and email.
Cons
Complex Pricing
Smartproxy has a rather complex pricing system with the prices varying according to your needs. This “pay as you go” payment model can be quite complicated to figure out for the average person.
Limited Customization Options
While Smartproxy has several features and tools, the customization and add-on options are limited compared to other proxy service providers.
Smartproxy Pricing
Smartproxy charges fees based on the customer’s needs. The residential proxies plan starts at $8.5/GB for 1 GB, which is also known as the “pay as you go” model. Some examples of the other plans are the $7/GB for the 2 GB plan, the 8GB $6.5/GB plan, and the 50 GB $5.6/GB plan. Each of these plans comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Enterprise plans have different pricing schemes and include a dedicated account manager with each plan. The flexible static(ISP) residential proxies begin at $14/GB for the 2 GB plan and go on up to $11/GB for the 50 GB plan. A trial option for residential proxies is also available.
Smartproxy Support
Smartproxy has a wide range of guides and documentation divided into different categories based on the platform’s features. The articles are written in a simple easy-to-understand language so that users can easily find a solution for their problems.
Further, Smartproxy’s support team is available 24/7 through live chat and email and offers practical solutions to your problems.
How to Use Smartproxy
Registration
To use Smartproxy, first, you need to register with your email address and select a use case from the list provided. You can also sign up directly with your Google account on this platform. While it does have a KYC procedure, you would only need to interact with someone if you trigger the platform’s safeguards.
Dashboard
You can access all the functionalities from the Smartproxy dashboard. You can add money to your wallet, buy and upgrade plans, set up the proxy server, and track your traffic use from the dashboard.
It has sections for data centers, residential proxies, web scraping tools, and introductory tutorials to help you get acquainted with the platform.
Subscription Management
There is full self-service for each product. You can either directly purchase a plan with a credit card, PayPal, or another payment method or add money to your Smartproxy wallet to make the purchase.
There is a separate billing section where you can see payment history, overview, download invoices and modify active plans.
Proxy Management
The proxy setup on Smartproxy is fairly straightforward and you can use a widget to filter the proxy servers you need. It also automatically generates code samples in cURL and multiple other programming languages.
Smartproxy also offers fleshed-out API for programmatically controlling its proxies and browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox.
Usage Tracking
Smartproxy’s dashboard has visual graphs that help you check how much traffic or requests you have expended. The graphs can be filtered by date or sub-user and you can also track statistics for each target.
Documentation
Smartproxy has a collection of instructions covering various aspects of its service. This includes a detailed guide that explains all the concepts, FAQs regarding various topics, and configuration and integration guides. It also has a separate hub for technical documentation.
Hands-On Support
Smartproxy’s customer service team is available 24/7 via email and live chat. The main language is English but the support also speaks Chinese.
Conclusion
Smartproxy is an excellent proxy platform with a wide range of features and competitive pricing. It has an easy-to-use dashboard, a simple onboarding process,c and a competent support team that provides quality service. The platform has a decent knowledge base with guides for troubleshooting and general guidance.
Smartproxy offers pre-configured templates for beginners and scaling APIs for more advanced users. It is, therefore, an overall solid choice for an all-encompassing proxy service.
