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Choose PacketStream if…
Choose PacketStream over Decodo for
- A lower price per GB — $1.00 at every volume, against $4 PAYG, $3.75–$2.75 on plans and from $2 on Enterprise at Decodo.
- Irregular or seasonal usage — PacketStream’s balance never expires. Decodo plan traffic does not roll over, and its PAYG traffic lasts 12 months.
- One flat price — No tiers to pick or outgrow: the first gigabyte and the thousandth cost the same.
- Proxies and agent tools on one balance — PacketStream’s Search, Fetch and MCP tools are pay-as-you-go from the proxy balance; Decodo’s Web Data API is sold by subscription.
Decodo sells pay-as-you-go traffic at $4/GB and plans from $3.75 down to $2.75/GB, with Enterprise from $2. Plan traffic does not roll over, and PAYG traffic lasts 12 months.
PacketStream’s $1.00/GB is below every published Decodo price point, and what you buy stays on the account indefinitely. At 100 GB a month, that is $100 against $275. Since 13 October 2026 Decodo shares a parent company, Source.ai, with Oxylabs and Webshare.
Reasons by use case, not an overall ranking. Both providers’ published facts are in the side-by-side table.
Spec sheets
PacketStream
- Entry price
- $1.00/GB [VERIFIED 2026-10-17]
- Volume price
- $1.00/GB (no tiers)
- Minimum
- $50
- PAYG
- Yes
- Expiry
- Never
- Targeting
- Country
- Sticky
- Included; rolling 60-min idle
- SOCKS5
- Yes
Decodo
- Entry price
- $4/GB PAYG; $3.75/GB on the 3 GB plan [VERIFIED 2026-10-17]
- Volume price
- $3.00 (50 GB), $2.75 (100 GB); Enterprise from $2/GB
- Minimum
- 3 GB plan, $11.25
- PAYG
- Yes
- Expiry
- Plans: no rollover; PAYG: 12 months
- Targeting
- Country, city, ZIP, ASN
- Sticky
- 24 hours
- SOCKS5
- Yes
Prices as of October 2026 from the PacketStream and Decodo pricing pages. “n/v” = not verified on the official page. Ownership: Formerly Smartproxy (renamed 22 Apr 2025); part of Source.ai since 13 Oct 2026.
Side by side
| Criterion | PacketStream | Decodo |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $1.00/GB | $4.00/GB PAYG; $3.75 on the 3 GB plan |
| Price at 100 GB | $1.00/GB | $2.75/GB (100 GB plan) |
| Price at 1 TB | $1.00/GB | From $2.00/GB (Enterprise) |
| Minimum spend | $50 | $11.25 (3 GB plan) |
| Traffic expiry | Never | Plans: no rollover; PAYG: 12 months |
| Refunds | Remaining balance within 24 h | Within 14 days if under 20% used |
| Trial | Discretionary credits on request | 3-day trial, 100 MB |
| Targeting | Country | Country, city, ZIP, ASN |
| Sticky sessions | Included; rolling 60-min idle timeout | Up to 24 h |
| Protocols | HTTPS, SOCKS5, HTTP | Includes SOCKS5 |
| Measured pool | — | 2,853,543 unique IPs measured (Proxyway); 115M+ claimed |
| Measured performance | — | 99.92% success, 0.53 s (Proxyway, Apr 2026 test) |
| Identity checks | No up-front verification in the terms; may “require additional information” when investigating (ToS §7) | No mandatory KYC for standard use (Proxyway) |
| Search and scraping APIs | Search, Fetch and MCP: $2.50 per 1,000 successful calls, pay-as-you-go | Web Data API: subscription (free plan up to 5K crawls; Starter $19/mo) |
Third-party measurements are Proxyway’s, with test dates where our sources give them. “—” means there is no current figure for PacketStream. See the methodology.
Cost at different volumes
| Scenario | PacketStream | Decodo |
|---|---|---|
| 10 GB | $50 up front ($10 used; 40 GB stays) | $35 (10 GB plan) or $40 PAYG |
| 50 GB / month | $50 | $150 (50 GB plan) |
| 100 GB / month | $100 | $275 (100 GB plan) |
| 1 TB / month | $1,000 | From $2,000 (Enterprise from $2/GB) |
Decodo plan traffic does not roll over; PacketStream balance never expires. Costs are bandwidth only.
For cost per page at different page weights, use the bandwidth calculator.
Bottom line
At 100 GB a month PacketStream costs $100 against Decodo’s $275, and nothing expires. For buyers who want one flat price and a balance that waits for them, that is PacketStream’s case.
For PacketStream’s full review and ratings, read the PacketStream review. Other head-to-heads: vs Evomi , vs IPRoyal , vs Webshare , vs Bright Data , vs Oxylabs .
Sources
- PacketStream pricing and terms of service (checked 17 Oct 2026)
- Decodo pricing (checked 17 Oct 2026)
- Proxyway on Decodo: Proxyway, April 2026 test: 99.92% success, 0.53 s
- Proxyway Proxy Market Research 2026
- Proxyway: Smartproxy rebrands as Decodo (22 Apr 2025)
- Decodo Web Data API pricing (checked 17 Oct 2026)
- Proxyway: Oxylabs, Decodo, Webshare and others form Source.ai
- Synthient PacketStream profile