Decodo vs IPRoyal (2026): Which Budget Proxy Should You Pick?
Here’s a line most price pages bury. IPRoyal’s own docs say a whitelisted IP connects with a bare HOST:PORT and no credentials, and its residential page says one IP can stay yours for up to 7 days. Decodo stops a sticky session at 30 minutes. In a Decodo vs IPRoyal decision, that gap can matter more than the $3 difference per GB. ProxyAdvice earns a commission on some links here at no extra cost to you.
Pick Decodo if price per GB and precise targeting decide it: $4 per GB pay as you go, targeting down to ZIP code and ASN, and a 3-day trial. Pick IPRoyal if session length decides it: one IP for up to 7 days, unlimited concurrent sessions, and traffic that doesn’t expire. For most budget buyers, Decodo makes the better first month.
- Price: Decodo is $4 per GB pay as you go. IPRoyal is $7.35 for 1 GB pay as you go, or $7.00 on a subscription.
- Sessions: IPRoyal keeps the same IP for up to 7 days and lists unlimited concurrent sessions. Decodo’s sticky sessions stop at 30 minutes.
- Risk: Decodo offers a 3-day trial with 100 MB and a 14-day money-back option. IPRoyal’s pages list neither, but its traffic never expires.
Decodo vs IPRoyal: which one should you pick?
| Decodo | IPRoyal | |
|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go, 1 GB | $4.00 | $7.35 |
| 10 GB plan | $35 a month ($3.50 per GB) | $52.50 ($5.25 per GB) |
| Advertised pool | 115M+ IPs | 64M+ IPs |
| Longest sticky session | 30 minutes | 7 days |
| Concurrent sessions | Not listed | Unlimited |
| Targeting | Country down to ZIP code and ASN | Country, state, city |
| IP allowlist | Yes | Yes, HOST:PORT with no login |
| Trial | 3 days, 100 MB | Not listed |
| Refund | 14-day money-back, with conditions | Not listed |
| Unused traffic | Not stated on the pricing page | Doesn’t expire |
| Advertised success rate | 99.92% | 99.4% |
| Advertised response time | <0.5 s | ~0.5 s |
All figures come from each provider’s own pages, read on October 7, 2026. Success rate and response time are advertised numbers, not test results.
Decodo takes seven of the twelve rows, and it takes the ones a budget buyer feels first: the bill and the exit door. IPRoyal takes four, and all four are about staying connected.
Cheap and flexible: Decodo. Long-lived sessions: IPRoyal.
What does your first month cost?
Skip the per-GB headline and price the month you’ll really have. Three sizes cover most first months: a 1 GB test, a 2 GB pilot and a 10 GB working plan.
| First month | Decodo | IPRoyal | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB test | $4.00 pay as you go | $7.35 pay as you go | IPRoyal costs $3.35 more |
| 2 GB pilot | $8.00 pay as you go | $11.90 on a subscription | IPRoyal costs $3.90 more |
| 10 GB working plan | $35.00 a month | $52.50 on a subscription | IPRoyal costs $17.50 more |
Decodo’s prices exclude VAT. IPRoyal’s pay as you go prices for the same three sizes are $7.35, $12.50 and $55.10.
Published prices, read on October 7, 2026.
Which matters more depends on your pattern. If you use a steady amount every month, Decodo’s rate wins and keeps winning as you scale: 50 GB is $150, or $3.00 per GB. If your jobs come in bursts with quiet weeks in between, IPRoyal’s non-expiring balance closes part of the gap.
Which one handles long sessions and many threads?
This round goes to IPRoyal. Its residential page says you can keep the same proxy for up to 7 days. Its pricing page states an unlimited number of concurrent sessions, with no limits and no restrictions.
Decodo lists sticky sessions of up to 30 minutes. Its pricing page doesn’t state a cap on concurrent sessions or threads. That isn’t the same as unlimited. If you run a few hundred profiles at once, get the number from support before you size a plan.
- Warming accounts over several days: IPRoyal. One IP can stay with one profile all week.
- Short scraping bursts with rotation: both work, and Decodo is cheaper.
- Checkout or signup flows under 30 minutes: Decodo is enough.
- Hundreds of parallel threads: IPRoyal states unlimited. Decodo doesn’t state a figure.
If the same IP has to survive the night, it’s IPRoyal.
Who targets locations more precisely?
Decodo. Its pricing page lists continent, country, state, city, ZIP code and ASN-level targeting. ASN targeting lets you ask for IPs from one specific carrier or internet provider. That matters when a platform scores the network as well as the city.
IPRoyal’s residential page lists country, state and city targeting. That covers most account work. It stops short of ZIP code and ASN on the pages we read.
Both advertise the same reach on paper. The pools differ: 115M+ against 64M+. A bigger pool doesn’t guarantee cleaner IPs, so read what real users say on independent proxy ratings on ProxyRates before a large order.
How do you connect: password or allowlist?
Both support a username and password, and both support an IP allowlist. The difference is how clearly the allowlist is documented.
IPRoyal’s docs say whitelisting removes the need for authentication credentials and lets you connect using just the HOST:PORT format. That’s the cleanest setup for anti-detect browsers and headless Chrome, which handle proxy passwords badly. Decodo’s page says you can authenticate with username:password or whitelisted IPs.
# password login
curl -x http://USER:PASS@HOST:PORT https://httpbin.org/ip
# allowlisted IP, no credentials
curl -x http://HOST:PORT https://httpbin.org/ipRun both lines from each server before you load any profiles. If the second one returns the proxy’s IP, your allowlist works. You can also check an exit IP with the free proxy checker at GoToProxy.
Can you try it before you pay?
With Decodo, yes. Its page offers a 3-day free trial with 100 MB, plus a 14-day money-back option that comes with conditions. Read those conditions before you count on a refund.
With IPRoyal, neither the pricing page nor the residential page mentions a trial or a refund window. The safety net is different: the smallest purchase is 1 GB for $7.35, and unused traffic stays on your balance.
The two providers in detail
Decodo wins on money. Pay as you go is $4 per GB, a 10 GB plan is $35, and you can test it for 3 days first. The limits to plan around: 30-minute sticky sessions and no stated figure for concurrent sessions.
Month one with Decodo starts free. The page offers a 3-day trial with 100 MB. After that, pay as you go is $4 per GB, or you move to a monthly plan: 3 GB for $11.25, 10 GB for $35, 25 GB for $81.25, 50 GB for $150 and 100 GB for $275.
The rate drops as you grow, from $3.75 per GB at 3 GB to $2.75 at 100 GB. Enterprise pricing runs from $2.50 per GB at 250 GB to $2 at 1 TB. All of it excludes VAT.
- 115M+ IPs in 195+ locations (advertised)
- HTTP(S) and SOCKS5
- Sticky sessions up to 30 minutes
- Continent, country, state, city, ZIP code and ASN targeting
- 99.99% advertised uptime
- Steady monthly scraping
- Location-sensitive work
- Buyers who want a trial
- $4 per GB pay as you go
- 3-day trial and 14-day money-back
- ZIP code and ASN targeting
- Rate falls to $2.75 at 100 GB
- Sticky sessions stop at 30 minutes
- No stated figure for concurrent sessions
- Prices exclude VAT
| Plan | Price | Traffic | Per GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go | $4 per GB | Any amount | $4.00 |
| 3 GB | $11.25 a month | 3 GB | $3.75 |
| 10 GB | $35 a month | 10 GB | $3.50 |
| 25 GB | $81.25 a month | 25 GB | $3.25 |
| 50 GB | $150 a month | 50 GB | $3.00 |
| 100 GB | $275 a month | 100 GB | $2.75 |
The pricing page doesn’t say whether pay as you go traffic expires, or how many sessions can run at once. Both answers change the math for large account pools, so ask before you buy in bulk.
Verdict: The cheaper choice at every size we compared. Read the full Decodo review →
IPRoyal wins on staying power. One IP for up to 7 days, unlimited concurrent sessions, and traffic that doesn’t expire. You pay more per GB at every size, and its pages don’t list a trial or a refund window.
Month one with IPRoyal starts with a purchase, since no trial is listed. The smallest one is 1 GB: $7.35 pay as you go or $7.00 on a subscription. At 2 GB a subscription is $11.90, and at 10 GB it’s $52.50. From 10 TB the rate falls to $1.75 per GB.
What you get for the higher rate is time. The residential page says the same proxy can be kept for up to 7 days, and the pricing page says traffic is available until you decide to use it.
- 64M+ IPs in 195+ countries (advertised)
- HTTP(S) and SOCKS5
- The same IP for up to 7 days
- Unlimited concurrent sessions
- Country, state and city targeting
- Multi-day account sessions
- Many parallel threads
- Bursty, irregular usage
- Sticky sessions up to 7 days
- Unlimited concurrent sessions
- Traffic doesn’t expire
- Allowlisted IPs connect with no login
- $7.35 for the first GB
- No trial or refund terms on the pages we read
- 99.4% advertised success rate, below Decodo’s 99.92%
| Plan | Price | Traffic | Per GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | $7.00 | 1 GB | $7.00 |
| 2 GB | $11.90 | 2 GB | $5.95 |
| 10 GB | $52.50 | 10 GB | $5.25 |
| From 10 TB | Custom | 10 TB or more | $1.75 |
The plan table shows subscription prices. Pay as you go costs about 5% more: $7.35, $12.50 and $55.10. IPRoyal’s residential page also advertises 99.9% uptime.
Verdict: Worth the higher rate when session length is the whole point. Read the full IPRoyal review →
Which should you pick?
Pick Decodo if
- You pay by the gigabyte and want the lower rate from day one.
- You need ZIP code or ASN targeting.
- You want a trial and a money-back window before you commit.
- Your sessions finish in under 30 minutes.
Pick IPRoyal if
- One IP has to stay with one account for hours or days.
- You run many threads and want a stated unlimited figure.
- Your usage comes in bursts and you don’t want traffic to expire.
- You want an allowlist that needs no credentials at all.
Still undecided? Read the full Decodo review and IPRoyal review, or set both against the rest of the field in our best residential proxies ranking.
FAQ
We read Decodo’s residential pricing page, IPRoyal’s residential pricing and product pages, and IPRoyal’s whitelisting docs on October 7, 2026. Every number in this article is copied from those pages. Where a page says nothing, the table says so instead of guessing. Scores are our editorial rating built from published prices, features and terms. They are not lab measurements.
