ASocks Review

With many prominent names in the proxy industry, can a lesser popular one provide a good product? Today we’re looking at ASocks to decide if it’s a provider you should consider.

Recommended for: SEO Monitoring, Market Research & Crawling

ASocks is one of those providers you won’t find tons of information on, which could be why it hasn’t gotten too popular. Unlike the big names in the industry, we have no information on the actual company. This may be concerning for some, but we have seen similar providers in the past that surprised us with the performance they offered.

After 911s5 closed permanently, lots of new socks proxy provider come in to the proxy markert!

Right off the bat, when you look at the website, ASocks claims that it offers unlimited and fast residential proxies. This may sound like a dream come true, but it may seem a bit misleading, which I’ll get to in a second. The proxies are all residential, meaning that you may not get the fastest speeds in the world, but you can do things that datacenter proxies cannot do.

As far as offering goes, ASocks is decent in certain areas. The pool of proxies consists of 70 thousand IP addresses, which may not sound like much, but when you think Stormproxies has less, it’s not as bad as it seems. In terms of locations, you’re getting a list of over 120 countries which is very flexible and better than some more popular names in the industry.

There are plenty of features to back up this, and the one I find most interesting is the geo-targeting. Sure, all providers have this, but not all offer city-level targeting, meaning you can fine-tune the proxies per your needs. Another flexible option you have with ASocks is choosing what type of authentication you want to use.

So far, things look decent for ASocks, as it may not seem to offer much, but it does that in a nice package. Speaking of packages, let’s take a look at the pricing structure and dive into the features.

Proxy Types, Features, and Pricing

ASocks offers only residential proxies, which some people may find as a disadvantage, which I’m afraid I have to disagree with. Sure, having multiple types is good for flexibility, and you won’t have to go from one provider to another, but if you’re after residential proxies only, it won’t matter to you.

The pool of proxies is on the smaller side, I have to be honest, especially when you consider that there are providers with millions of IP addresses. With that said, 70 thousand isn’t as little as it sounds, and when you combine that with over 120 locations, you’ll find that ASocks can be pretty flexible. The most flexible part is being able to fine-tune the geo-targeting. Naturally, you shouldn’t expect to have every city in every country, but when you compare that with providers that offer only country-based targeting, this provider is at a massive advantage. To be honest, it’s not something that will be crucial for some, so they may not find the feature useful.

You probably think these features don’t come cheap, and you’re wrong. ASocks is among the more affordable options on the market, which is to be expected. Considering that it doesn’t have much to offer in terms of the proxy pool, the prices cannot be too high. There are 4 packages to choose from, all of which are limited based on the amount of traffic. The smallest one comes with 20 GB of traffic, and you can go up to 350 with the largest plan. Even though it’s not mentioned on the website, people that need more can reach out to support and ask for a larger package. The only thing I would have liked to see is a smaller package for micro users, one with less than 20 GB, but considering the price, it’s not a massive drawback.

Speaking of prices, the ASocks can be considered a very affordable provider. The Minimal package with 20 GB costs $39 per month, meaning you’re paying $1.99 per GB of traffic. On the other side, the largest one, VIP, costs $349, so you’d be paying $0.99 per GB. When you compare this with other providers that cost at least $5 per GB, you’re looking at a bargain.

In terms of paying, you are looking at a slight limitation. While most prominent names in the industry will offer a plethora of payment options, with ASocks, you’re only looking at crypto payments, which can be limiting for some people. With that said, there are some services where you can pay with your credit card and have those funds transferred to the wallet of ASocks and get the product.

Try before you buy is a nice approach to avoid paying for something you may not like and ASocks has you covered. The company offers a 7-day trial package that gives you 200 MB traffic included.

In addition to that, if you paid for a package and didn’t get the performance you wanted or decided that this isn’t a good option, ASocks has a refund policy. You have 3 days to ask for a refund, but keep in mind that the price for the used traffic will be deducted.

Locations of Proxy Servers

Flexibility in terms of locations is a crucial aspect of any proxy provider. Having a larger list means you can play around with it and get the best results possible. The good news here is that the ASocks delivers on that front, and there is one that it does better than some of the more popular names in the industry.

For starters, you’re getting 120 countries which is quite a decent number. ASocks doesn’t outline the entire list of locations, and you can only see the popular ones mentioned on the website. Looking at the backend gives you the entire list, which covers all 5 continents nicely. The bonus you’re getting here is that for most countries, you have the option to choose a specific city. Not many providers have this feature, and it’s nice to see it here.

Ping Test and Speed Test

Good performing proxies are essential to get something done. Residential IP addresses are notorious for not delivering the most consistent results and fall behind what the datacenter ones can offer. To see how well ASocks does in this regard, we put 10 proxies to the test to see the speed and latency they have.

Even though I wasn’t expecting wonders, the numbers aren’t all that impressive. Here we can see the inconsistency in the residential proxy speeds I mentioned. This is because, unlike datacenter proxies with gigabit connections, these are home or office IP addresses, meaning that not all connections carry the same speeds.

The speed results are all over the place and show a massive difference. We have two IP addresses delivering double-digit speeds, while the rest were well below those numbers. We even got a few that had speeds below 1, which aren’t the best results. On the upload side of things, the numbers are more consistent but still may not be enough for some people. The numbers range from around 0.5 to almost 1.4, which isn’t terrible, but you may find the connection struggling for larger tasks.

In terms of latency, the numbers are more consistent in most cases and even better than what ASocks claims. The company claims a response time of 0.6 seconds on the website, and almost all proxies deliver on that front. There is only one IP address that had a latency of over 900 ms.

GEO Location Test / ISP Test

I praised ASocks for the geo-targeting, but that feature is useless if the IP addresses you’re getting aren’t from the location you need. To see if this works as advertised, we did a geolocation test.

The results are excellent and show that ASocks doesn’t lie in terms of where the proxies are coming from. Running each IP address through two services yields similar results, meaning that you won’t have an issue in this regard.

IP Compatibility Test

With the speed and geolocation tests completed, it’s time to see how well the proxies work in the real world. Considering that ASocks offers residential proxies, this is a test that all IP addresses should pass easily. We’re putting them up against a few strict websites that don’t allow proxies to access them to see how well they work.

The results are as expected, and there are no surprises here. All proxies managed to gain access to all the websites on this list, just as any residential proxies should.

Features of ASocks

Affordable Packages

This can be considered the main feature of this provider, especially when you compare the offering with most of its rivals. Even though you don’t get tons of packages to choose from, the price per GB is quite affordable, making this a solid choice for people on a budget.

Flexible Geo-Targeting

Geo-targeting is a crucial feature of any proxy provider as it enables you to get IP addresses from a specific location. While most providers offer you the option to choose a certain country, ASocks takes it up a notch and allows you to select which city you want the proxy to be from. Combining this with a list of over 120 countries and you’re looking at a very flexible targeting option.

IP Whitelist and username and password authentication

Another flexible aspect that ASocks is the authentication method. Depending on the use case, some people may want to use the username and password option if they change locations a lot. On the other hand, people that use the proxies from their office or home may want to utilize the IP whitelist. The good news with this provider is that you have the option for both.

Free Trial

Testing a provider is a good way to determine if the service is good enough and worth paying for. Lucky for you, ASocks has a free trial that you can utilize and give the proxies a test drive. The package will be available to you for 7 days and comes with 200 MB of traffic. In a world where some providers offer 24-hour trials, this is a very nice thing to have, as you won’t have to rush to test the proxies. Alternatively, you have the 3-day refund policy where you can get your money back. Keep in mind that the used traffic will be deducted from the total amount.

Easy to Use

Modern proxy providers aim to deliver a service from which most people can benefit. The performance is only one side of the story, and the usability is another. ASocks worked on making its product as easy to use as possible, meaning that even beginners won’t struggle to figure things out.

When you log in to the dashboard, everything you’ll need will be presented to you on the main screen. On the top, you’ll have the active package, outlining the amount of traffic you have left. Below is the geo-targeting option that enables you to select the location of the proxies you need based on the country, state, city, and provider. Once you have that dialed down, you can export the list in a TXT format to use them in whichever service you need.

On the left side, you have the navigation panel, which is pretty self-explanatory. On the right, you have all the plans you currently have paid for and the option to enable or disable them depending on your use case. On the balance and plan side of the dashboard, you can see how much balance is on your account, and you can buy a new package straight from there. If you don’t have enough funds, you can top up the wallet and then make the purchase.

You also have the API code generator for the more advanced users, which can help you set things up in several programming languages.

How to Authenticate

As I mentioned, ASocks offers two ways of authenticating, so things are flexible and very easy to configure.

On the username and password side of things, you won’t have to change anything. ASocks made the service so that you’ll use your login credentials from the dashboard to authenticate. It saves time and eliminates the need to make additional changes or setups. You can change your password by going into the profile menu from the left navigation panel.

If you’re the type of person that wants to use IP whitelisting, then it’s very easy to set up. On the top right corner, click on “IP Whitelist,” and a small window will appear. From there, you can add up to 150 IP addresses and add a description for each one in case you need to remove or add new ones.

Verdict

ASocks is far from the perfect proxy provider, and it has its flaws. On the other hand, when you look at it as an overall package, it’s not the worst choice, and I believe it would be a good option for many people.

Usability

Let’s get one thing straight, ASocks isn’t a provider that can deliver superior speeds. If you’re fine with that, it will work well in your favor. Setting it up is easy, and you won’t struggle with usability.

The affordable packages combined with the flexible geo-targeting means that you won’t find yourself in a situation where you’ll be missing out. ASocks also made the dashboard simple to use, so no complaints there as well.

Pricing

I mentioned several times that ASocks is affordable, and I’ll mention it again. When compared to some of the other names in the industry, you’re looking at prices that are quite lower than the competitors. The cheapest package is $39, and the most expensive one is $349, meaning that the larger the package, the cheaper per GB you’ll be paying. In addition, people who may feel that the VIP package isn’t enough can reach out to support and ask for more traffic.

Reliability

Reliability is crucial for every service you pay for, and ASocks doesn’t disappoint. During the testing period, I had no issues with setting the proxies up or needing to change proxies due to one not working. This means that I did not need to open the FAQ section or reach out to support at no time.

Support

While I’m on the subject of support, ASocks offers more or less what the rest of the smaller providers do. You have the FAQ section, which covers a good amount of questions, so first-time users can check if the solution for their problem lies there.

If you don’t find what you’re looking for there, you have a few other options, all of which involve typing. ASocks support is available via live chat on the website, email, discord, or telegram, meaning that you don’t have phone support.

Our Editor’s Verdict

User’s Reviews & Rating