StormProxies Cons

StormProxies has grown to become one of the biggest names in the market today. This is due to its ability to render quality service and performance to its users. They offer residential backconnect proxies with unlimited bandwidth and instant activation and access. These qualities make this provider the go-to choice for most proxy users. But there are also some StormProxies cons.

Since its establishment back in 2016, StormProxies has provided premium rotating residential and datacenter proxies. StormProxies relatively presents one of the cheapest proxy solutions in the market, ranging from as low as $50 per month for 5 ports.

However, just like every other provider in the proxy business, and perhaps every business in the world, StormProxies also has some characteristics, or should I say, flaws that might probably make their usage not satisfying for some proxy users. In this article, we will be dealing with some of the cons of StormProxies provider.

Limited Geographical Coverage and Geo-Targeting

Though relatively new to the business, StormProxies has a small number of available locations. They only offer proxies in the United States and Europe. StormProxies have also not disclosed the specific locations in Europe where their proxies are located, making it a boomer for most proxy users. Furthermore, StormProxies does not support targeting at the city and state levels, even in the areas it provides.

A lot of providers, such as Oxylabs, allow us to choose locations from around the world, such as Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The functionality of Oxylabs allows you to target cities and states, which is very useful for a lot of proxy-related tasks.

Unimpressive Pool Size

Aside from performance, price, and speed, the size of the IP pool is one of the major points customers look at before making the final decisions.  As a result of having less coverage, StormProxies has one of the smallest IP pools in the business today. This is not so surprising as the service is still in the growing process. 

While other premium providers like Bright Data boast over 70 million IPs, StormProxies has a pool size of less than a million IPs, numbering about 200,000. Also, residential proxies buyers are given access to 40,000 IPs, which is not ideal for heavy-duty proxy tasks.

For users looking for a larger pool size, you can check on Bright Data, though slightly more expensive. Infatica, a quite new proxy business, offers over 10 million residential proxies located across the globe.

Very Limited Paid Trial Period

It is a well-known fact that some proxy users tend to abuse the free trial policy of providers. This has caused many providers to offer paid trials lasting between 3 – 14 days. However, in the case of StormProxies, it is nothing to write home about.

StormProxies offers no free trial but guarantees a total refund within 24 hours of purchase. This means that buyers have 24 hours to test, evaluate, and decide whether the services they are offered will meet their needs and requirements. The short duration of this type of service can be a bit of a problem for newbies who are not sure what type of proxy to buy because they only have a limited period of time to test the service.

Proxy providers like NetNut which offers premium residential proxies offer free trials for up to an entire week which is very impressive. ProxyRack also offers a paid trial lasting up to 14 days with a full refund guarantee for nonperformance.

Only IP Authentication Supported

As far as proxy servers are concerned, the two major authentication methods are username and password authentication as well as IP authentication. Among proxy users, username and password authentication represents the simplest and therefore the most convenient authentication method.

Unfortunately, of the StormProxies cons is that it supports only IP authentication, making it quite stressful for most users. Additionally, you can whitelist only one device IP per subscription. This makes things worse for users who prefer to access their systems by username and password.

In case you are one of the proxy users interested in providers supporting username and password authentication, you can purchase IPs from Shifter or Bright Data.

No SOCKS Support

Getting your hands on proxies that support both HTTP(S) and SOCKS protocol can be a lifesaver. It’s quite unfortunate that StormProxies only offers proxies that support HTTP and HTTPS protocols.

For this reason, StormProxies is losing the competition against industry rivals like ProxyRack and Proxy-Cheap who provide proxies that support HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS protocols.

Limited Analytics and Configuration Options

StormProxies’ dashboard provides only a limited amount of information. There is no analytic data or usage statistics. The dashboard comes with only a few features and configuration options. This is not that much of a problem as StormProxies gives users unlimited bandwidth. In the meantime, users will have to rely on other third-party APIs if they wish to keep track of their usage.

Oxylabs offers a very clear and informative dashboard where users can keep track of their daily, weekly, and monthly usage. NetNut also allows users to keep track of their usage, as well as that of other sub-users. This is because NetNut supports reselling.

Average Speed

Although StormProxies is fast, their connection speed tends to be slower than that of other premium providers. This is not quite a problem if you are using the proxies for a smaller project.

Proxy users who are working on large and demanding projects may experience slower speeds compared to those who use proxies from providers like Infatica.

Conclusion

StormProxies is one of the best proxy providers in the market. Since its establishment in 2016, it has acquired a lot of recognition for the many benefits it provides.

Nevertheless, just like with any other service provider, there are StormProxies cons. So, before deciding whether to purchase proxies from StormProxies, also check the alternatives mentioned above.