GeoSurf Review (Closed!)

Recommended for: Web Crawling & Amazon scraping & Social Media networks

Over the past decade, proxy providers have gained more and more attention. That extra attention means that all over the globe more and more companies are beginning to sell proxy addresses. The competition is huge. With hundreds if not thousands proxy provides it might be difficult to know which one to choose.

Today we are going to be reviewing Geosurf as a residential proxy provider. Users have access to over 2 million IP addresses in over 130 countries.

Compared to other competitors, they don’t have as many IP addresses as others. The lack of IPs is made up by the products that they offer. Unlike their competitors like Smartproxy, Microleaves, Geosurf also offers toolbar,VPN and a few varieties of packages.

GEOSURF Proxy types, features, and pricing

Though Geosurf offers lots of type of products, The residential IPs proxy network is their main product. For standard users, they have three packages: Starter, Plus, and Professional.

All of them offer a certain amount of bandwidth included, along with a few other features, depending on the package.

If users need a custom plan, then they will need to contact them directly. Regarding the prices of the packages, they are not the cheapest ones out there. If you take into consideration that you will be getting residential IP addresses, it might be worth it.

As we mentioned, Geosurf also offers a few products as well.

Regardless of the type of package, the user can choose between a sticky IP address or a rotating one. The sticky IP has a time limit of 1, 10 or 30 minutes, depending on your needs.

The rotating addresses work differently. The user gets a single address and a port. Once connected, the server will automatically rotate the address. It’s a good way for scraping without getting banned.

Locations of proxy servers

Geosurf has residential IP addresses in over 130 countries. It works great for accessing content restricted to a specific location. The list of countries is all over the globe, covering every region.

Apart from country selection, users can also use a specific address from a city. The list of cities covers most of the bigger cities around the world. The longest list of cities is in the US.

Ping and Speed Tests

When it comes to using a proxy, the speed and latency are one the most important aspect of it. Having a slow proxy will slow down progress, especially in cases where a user is scraping large amounts of data.

Geosurf claims that they have great speeds, so we are going to put them to the test. To have a base, we did a test on our connection without a proxy. Then we purchased a package from Geosurf and started testing their claims.

Latency is something that people need to take seriously. The time it takes for the packets to go back an forth is also known as ping. The smaller, the better.

If the latency is big, then you might get the request timeout, which is bad. Speed, on the other hand, is something that might only cause you to wait longer to get the data. Putting both of them together and you get a combination that can make a significant change.

To check the ping we used speedtest.net. We did the same test to check the speed as well.  Before we started playing around with the proxies, we did a controller test, without a proxy. The result if below.

Once we had something to compare, we ran 16-speed tests. Ten of them were proxy addresses in the US, while the other six were equally divided between Canada and the UK.

As you can see from the table below, the ping and speeds are decent. Also, some results are unavailable (N/A). That is because these are rotating proxies and the address is rotating during a few of our tests and they could not be completed.

Residential IP proxies Speed TestDetails of the speed test

Rotating Proxy	IPs of proxies	Ping	Download	Upload
No Proxy	45.76.17.5	0	36.95	73.06
US-1m.geosurf.io	184.90.199.172	344	0.47	1.22
US-1m.geosurf.io	68.62.122.107	133	8.99	N/A
US-1m.geosurf.io	98.176.99.234	98	4.25	0.51
US-1m.geosurf.io	73.183.225.117	72	2.55	1.09
US-1m.geosurf.io	47.142.197.38	113	0.31	0.2
US-1m.geosurf.io	174.86.20.154	40	11.66	0.73
US-1m.geosurf.io	68.0.54.74	132	11.97	1.7
US-1m.geosurf.io	73.185.121.177	95	3.28	4.1
US-1m.geosurf.io	73.235.196.81	163	5.25	1.19
US-1m.geosurf.io	71.11.179.70	117	4.03	1.18
CA-1m.geosurf.io	64.180.217.28	84	3.63	N/A
CA-1m.geosurf.io	174.4.110.226	108	5.16	N/A
CA-1m.geosurf.io	24.67.69.170	161	7.92	0.2
GB-1m.geosurf.io	31.52.117.0	127	1.02	0.52
GB-1m.geosurf.io	46.208.94.166	257	1.71	N/A
GB-1m.geosurf.io	86.177.197.80	160	12.19	0.75

Bear in mind that the results may vary. Multiple factors come into play when you are testing speed and latency. The most important one is the location of the server that you’re testing on.

The further the server, the worst results you will get. Also, since these are residential IP addresses, keep in mind that their connection speed also limits them. If you are looking for greater speeds, then you will need to get dedicated proxies.

GEOlocation Test / ISP Test

Having a good proxy in this line of work is everything. If you need to access content restricted to the US only, then you need a US proxy. To verify if the proxy addresses are from the locations that they claim to be, we did another test.

Residential IPs: ISP testDetails of Geosurf ISP test

Rotating Proxy	Hostname/IP	ISP/ASN	Country	Type
No Proxy	45.76.17.5.vultr.com	AS20473 - AS-CHOOPA	United States	Hosting/Proxy/Bad IP
US-1m.geosurf.io	184-090-199-172.res.spectrum.com	AS33363 - BHN-TAMPA	United States	Good IP (residential or business)
US-1m.geosurf.io	c-68-62-122-107.hsd1.al.comcast.net	AS7922 - COMCAST-7922	United States	Good IP (residential or business)
US-1m.geosurf.io	ip98-176-99-234.sd.sd.cox.net	AS22773 - ASN-CXA-ALL-CCI-22773-RDC	United States	Good IP (residential or business)
US-1m.geosurf.io	c-73-183-225-117.hsd1.tx.comcast.net	AS7922 - COMCAST-7922	United States	Good IP (residential or business)
US-1m.geosurf.io	47.142.197.38	AS5650 - FRONTIER-FRTR	United States	Good IP (residential or business)
US-1m.geosurf.io	174-086-020-154.dhcp.chtrptr.net	AS20115 - CHARTER-NET-HKY-NC	United States	Good IP (residential or business)
US-1m.geosurf.io	ip68-0-54-74.no.no.cox.net	AS22773 - ASN-CXA-ALL-CCI-22773-RDC	United States	Good IP (residential or business)
US-1m.geosurf.io	c-73-185-121-177.hsd1.ca.comcast.net	AS7922 - COMCAST-7922	United States	Good IP (residential or business)
US-1m.geosurf.io	c-73-235-196-81.hsd1.ca.comcast.net	AS7922 - COMCAST-7922	United States	Good IP (residential or business)
US-1m.geosurf.io	71-11-179-70.dhcp.reno.nv.charter.com	AS20115 - CHARTER-NET-HKY-NC	United States	Good IP (residential or business)
CA-1m.geosurf.io	d64-180-217-28.bchsia.telus.net	AS852 - ASN852	Canada	Good IP (residential or business)
CA-1m.geosurf.io	S0106bcd1652dfaa2.ok.shawcable.net	AS6327 - SHAW	Canada	Good IP (residential or business)
CA-1m.geosurf.io	S01061cabc084ac83.wk.shawcable.net	AS6327 - SHAW	Canada	Good IP (residential or business)
GB-1m.geosurf.io	host31-52-117-0.range31-52.btcentralplus.com	AS2856 - BT-UK-AS	United Kingdom	Good IP (residential or business)
GB-1m.geosurf.io	166.94.208.46.dyn.plus.net	AS6871 - PLUSNET	United Kingdom	Good IP (residential or business)
GB-1m.geosurf.io	host86-177-197-80.range86-177.btcentralplus.com	AS2856 - BT-UK-AS	United Kingdom	Good IP (residential or business)

The first row in the table is a control test. It is our VPS hosted on vultr.com, and the IP address of it is from a data center. As you can see, all the proxy addresses are good IPs and are from the location where they should be. Also, this proves that they will not be able to discover them easily.

IP address compatibility Test

Many of today’s websites are strict. Most of them will be able to tell if you are accessing them from a proxy or not. Accessing some of them through a bad proxy will result in a ban. Also, that specific proxy might already be blacklisted. So, we put Geosurf’s proxy addresses to the test against a few of the strictest websites.

(IG – Instagram, TM – Ticketmaster, CL – Craigslist)

All of them were able to access out testing sites. It should not come as a surprise because these are residential IP addresses. That means that accessing these sites should not be a problem at all.

Features of Geosurf

Security

Geosurf takes great pride in their proxies’ security and privacy. Apart from their server, they also host them on Tier 1 backbone data centers around the world. It is crucial for users that are scraping data or working on SEO. Everything that goes through the proxy is private and will not be released.

Speed

They claim that some users reported speeds greater than their regular connection. For technical reasons, this is not possible, but getting speeds close to the regular connection is impressive.

Their Automatic Bandwith Optimization is the reason why they can achieve such speeds. It is perfect for users looking to scrape large amounts of data in the shortest time possible.

Flexibility

Flexibility is another aspect that Geosurf has gotten right. The predefined packages offer a variety of features. To top it all off, they also offer a few software solutions based on the user’s needs.

Easy to use or not?

One of the many reasons why we keep saying that Geosurf is a provider that works for most users is their flexibility. We mentioned previously about the diversity of plans and products. Now we are going to talk about the diversity in IP addresses.

When you buy a package, you get access to two types of residential IP addresses: Sticky and High Rotation. Additionally, if you’re looking to access a website or service from a specific city, you can do that as well.

Sticky IP Gateway

A sticky IP address is an ability to keep a session active longer than usual. These addresses can be active for 1, 10 or 30 minutes. Once the time expires, your IP address will change.

At this point, they have sticky residential IP addresses in 157 countries. The addresses are as shown below. First comes the country code, then the duration, geosurf.io is standard for any gateway, and last is the port range.

US-1m.geosurf.io   : [10000 – 19999]

US-10m.geosurf.io : [10000 – 19999]

US-30m.geosurf.io : [10000 – 19999]

High rotation Gateway

High rotation IP, as the name suggests, is the gateway that you can use in situations where you need to change your IP address constantly. People that don’t use this must change their addresses manually, which is time-consuming.

Geosurf has its algorithm that changes the addresses randomly. That prevents you from being banned by a website or service.

Unlike sticky IP, where the domain is different, high rotation IPs have the same domain but use a different port number. So if you need the US addresses the domain and port that you need to set would be gw1.geosurf.io:8230.

You can also go for random IPs from all over the world. This domain is slightly different:  gw-r1.geosurf.io:8080.

gw1.geosurf.io:8230 (US)

r1.geosurf.io:8080 (Worldwide)

Cities Gateway

The cities are the same as the sticky IPs – they have a “lifespan” of 1, 10 or 30 minutes. The only difference is that the sticky IPs will provide a random address from that country, while here you can target a specific city. The gateway is the same as when using a sticky IP. The only difference is the port range. If you need, for example, a Boston IP address the domain and port would be as shown below:

1 MIN: us-1m.geosurf.io : 20280 – 20299

10 MIN: us-10m.geosurf.io : 20280 – 20299

30 MIN: us-30m.geosurf.io : 20280 – 20299

How to authenticate your IPs

Before you can use any of the residential IP addresses that Geosurf provides, first you must be authenticated. If you are not, then you will not be able to access the internet with a new IP address. The process is simple and straightforward.

First, log in to your dashboard.

Navigate to the “Manage IPs” section.

In the top right corner click on the “Add” button.

Enter your IP address and click “Submit.”

The process takes as much as 30 minutes, so you will not be able to use a proxy right away. That is because Geosurf only offers IP authentication only, unlike other competitors that offer user and password authentication as well. The drawback here is that if you have a dynamic IP address from your ISP or need to use a proxy from different locations. For each change of IP or location, you will need to add your current IP address to the dashboard and wait.

If you want a detailed tutorial on how to use Geosurf’s residential IP proxy addresses, check out our tutorial: How to configure & use Geosurf’s residential IPs?

In general, Geosurf is very easy to use. The dashboard is clean and well structured, and the options are easy to understand. With time, knowing the structure of the domain and port range, you might not need to log in to the dashboard if you need to use an address from a previously used location. That is one of the many strengths that Geosurf can offer. And easy to use flexibility.

Ours Verdict

Proxy providers are many on the internet these days. That makes choosing the right one a bit tricky. Users can get confused by the different types, products, and pricing, so we will try to make it easy for them.

We have mixed feelings about Geosurf. They offer a lot but also charge a lot, but in general, they are a very good proxy provider. The flexibility and reliability make them a good choice for most users that need residential proxies.

If you are not on a tight budget and you are looking for a good proxy provides then Geosurf is a good choice. If you are on a tight budget or an IT professional looking for something specific, then you might want to look at their competitors like Smartproxy, Oxylabs and Luminati.

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