Smartproxy

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Smartproxy

A curated collection of the 3 best self hosted alternatives to Smartproxy.

Proxy infrastructure platform providing residential, datacenter, mobile and ISP proxies plus scraping APIs to route requests, rotate IPs, avoid blocks, and collect web data for automation, QA and market intelligence.

Alternatives List

#1
Tinyproxy

Tinyproxy

Tinyproxy is a small, efficient HTTP/HTTPS proxy daemon for POSIX systems, designed for low resource usage with access controls, filtering, and optional reverse/transparent proxying.

Tinyproxy screenshot

Tinyproxy is a lightweight HTTP/HTTPS proxy daemon for POSIX operating systems, designed to be fast and resource-efficient. It is commonly used to provide a simple forward proxy for small networks and embedded or low-spec environments.

Key Features

  • HTTP proxy with HTTPS tunneling via the CONNECT method (does not modify HTTPS traffic)
  • Small footprint and low CPU/memory usage, suitable for embedded deployments
  • Access control lists to allow/deny clients by IP, subnet, interface, or hostname rules
  • Optional URL/domain filtering (build-time option)
  • Upstream proxy support with per-site rules (including the ability to null-route specific targets)
  • Optional transparent proxy mode and reverse proxy mode (build-time options)
  • Header management for HTTP traffic (add/insert headers) and privacy-oriented header filtering
  • Built-in statistics/monitoring endpoint via a configurable “stat host”

Use Cases

  • Sharing a single internet connection in a small office/home network with controlled client access
  • Deploying a minimal forward proxy on routers, appliances, or low-resource servers
  • Enforcing simple outbound web access policies (ACLs, filtering, upstream routing)

Limitations and Considerations

  • HTTPS is only tunneled (CONNECT); it cannot filter or rewrite encrypted content
  • Some capabilities (filtering, upstream, reverse, transparent modes) may require specific build-time options and network/firewall configuration

Tinyproxy is a practical choice when you need a straightforward HTTP/HTTPS proxy with basic policy controls and minimal overhead. Its simple design makes it easy to operate and customize for constrained environments and small-network scenarios.

5.6kstars
742forks
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#2
g3proxy

g3proxy

High-performance Rust proxy supporting HTTP/SOCKS5 forwarding, transparent proxying, TLS MITM, ICAP integration, ACLs, auth, and observability features.

g3proxy screenshot

g3proxy is an enterprise-oriented generic proxy built in Rust for forwarding and controlling network traffic. It supports multiple proxy modes and is designed for performance, flexible routing policies, and security-focused traffic processing.

Key Features

  • HTTP/1 and SOCKS5 forward proxy support
  • TCP stream proxying, SNI proxying, and transparent proxying (TPROXY)
  • Basic HTTP reverse proxy capabilities
  • Proxy chaining with dynamic upstream proxy selection
  • Flexible egress routing and customizable selection strategies
  • TLS features including interception (MITM), decrypted traffic dumping, and protocol interception (HTTP, IMAP, SMTP)
  • ICAP adaptation for integrating with third-party security products
  • User authentication, per-user site configuration, and rich ACL/limit rules (ingress/egress/user-level)
  • Metrics and observability integrations with detailed per-dimension monitoring
  • Graceful reload for configuration changes

Use Cases

  • Centralized enterprise forward proxy with policy enforcement and per-user controls
  • Security inspection gateway using TLS interception and ICAP-based malware/DLP tooling
  • Network traffic routing and failover via proxy chaining and egress selection

Limitations and Considerations

  • Reverse proxy and NAT traversal capabilities are described as work-in-progress in the broader G3 project context
  • TLS MITM and protocol interception require careful certificate management and may have compliance implications

g3proxy is well suited for organizations that need a fast, configurable proxy with strong access controls and traffic inspection options. Its Rust-based implementation and rich policy/routing features make it a solid foundation for enterprise proxy and security gateway deployments.

808stars
66forks
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#3
socks5-proxy-server

socks5-proxy-server

Node.js SOCKS5 proxy server with optional authentication, per-user statistics, Docker Compose deployment, CLI management scripts, and a Telegram admin bot.

socks5-proxy-server is a minimal Node.js implementation of a SOCKS5 proxy that supports authenticated users, per-user usage statistics, and administration via CLI or a Telegram bot.

Key Features

  • SOCKS5 proxy implementation with configurable listening port and log level
  • Optional authentication support (REQUIRE_AUTH toggle) and per-user credentials
  • Docker Compose first-class deployment with environment-based configuration
  • CLI scripts for creating/deleting users and viewing usage statistics
  • Optional Telegram bot for administration (create/delete users, stats, password generation)
  • Supports webhook or polling modes for Telegram; webhooks require SSL certificates
  • Simple logging and usage accounting per user

Use Cases

  • Provide authenticated outbound SOCKS5 proxy access for teams or services
  • Manage proxy users and track per-user bandwidth or usage via CLI or Telegram bot
  • Rapidly deploy a small-scale proxy in Docker-based environments for development or small production needs

Limitations and Considerations

  • Administration is via CLI scripts or Telegram bot only; there is no web-based admin UI
  • Webhook-based Telegram administration requires valid TLS/SSL certificates
  • Repository targets single-node deployments; clustering, high-availability, or built-in persistent database backends are not provided out of the box

socks5-proxy-server is a practical, lightweight option for teams that need a simple, self-hosted SOCKS5 proxy with basic user management and remote administration via Telegram. It is optimized for quick Docker deployments and straightforward operation rather than enterprise-scale proxy features.

134stars
24forks
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Why choose an open source alternative?

  • •Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • •No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • •Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • •Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running