Benediktas Kazlauskas

Content & PR Team Lead

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Benediktas is a content professional with over 8 years of experience in B2C, B2B, and SaaS industries. He has worked with startups, marketing agencies, and fast-growing companies, helping brands turn complex topics into clear, useful content.

At Decodo, Benediktas works with a talented team of content writers and creates insights-packed pieces on data, AI, and industry news. He’s also exploring how AI is changing content creation and marketing, and enjoys learning about practical ways businesses can use it.

Outside of work, you’ll often find Benediktas camping, traveling around Asia, or spending time with his dachshund, Miso.

Connect with Benediktas via LinkedIn.

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How U.S. Companies Are Using External Data to Make Smarter Decisions in 2025

From emerging trends and consumer behaviors to potential risks, external data allows companies to gain a holistic view of the market. Access to data and tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) has shifted how businesses make strategic decisions, using data to accelerate business growth and operational efficiency.

Read on as we uncover how companies have seen measurable results and increased revenue, as well as the top red flags to watch out for.

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How AI Secretly Gathers Data and What They're Not Telling You

Artificial Intelligence powers everything from chatbots to complex data analysis tools. But behind the sleek interfaces and impressive capabilities lies a hidden process – the petabytes of data collected. We sat down with our CEO, Vytautas Savickas, to discuss the AI revolution and how data is being collected to fuel various tools.

BLACK FRIDAY text outlined in neon gradient on a dark abstract background.

Why the Biggest Black Friday Discounts Aren’t Always the Best Deals

Only 2% of discounted products are cheapest on Black Friday, but why are so many people still crazed about buying something? Since the first big Black Friday, this shopping festival got the tag as the best day to buy various items in brick-and-mortar and online stores. However, with record sales every year and growing competition, retailers have started to employ advanced strategies during this shopping season, making many of these deals not as valuable as they might appear.

Smartproxy vs Decodo: Complete Transition Guide

If you're comparing Smartproxy and Decodo, here's the most important thing to know – it’s the same company, just under a brand new name. This isn't a comparison between competitors, it's a guide to understanding how Smartproxy evolved into Decodo, bringing you enhanced capabilities while maintaining everything that made us the best value provider in the market.

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Most Scraped Websites of 2025

Last year, we launched the industry's first Most Scraped Websites report, which examined the platforms most widely utilized as data sources and identified key trends in publicly available data collection. This year's edition reveals how increased demand for AI tools, agents, and LLMs has driven companies to diversify their data sources, reshaping the landscape of most-targeted platforms.

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Behind the Clicks: Most Scraped Websites of 2024

In 2006, British mathematician Clive Humby coined the phrase "data is the new oil." He pointed out that "much like oil, data holds significant value," meaning that big data’s potential remains untapped without proper structure and refinement. Over the next 18 years, more companies started collecting large amounts of data to get a bird’s eye view of the competition, unlock new growth opportunities, and explore the ever-changing user behavior. And in the AI era, more businesses are exploring the ability to employ robots to do their time-wasting data collection tasks.

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What Are The Most Volatile eCommerce Categories?

If you’ve ever added a product to your cart only to find the price has shifted by the time you check out, you’ve experienced dynamic pricing in action. What once seemed like sporadic discounting is now a sophisticated, algorithmically driven discipline that reshapes prices across millions of products every hour of every day.

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How Retailers Are Still Playing Mind Games With Your Wallet

There's a reason that a flat-screen TV costs $999 instead of $1,000. That grocery item rings up at $4.99, not $5.00. Your new sneakers are priced at $79.95, conveniently avoiding the psychological cliff of $80. It's called psychological pricing, and according to our Dynamic Pricing Index report of over 1M price observations on 120 eCommerce platforms, it's not just alive and well in eCommerce. It's absolutely everywhere.

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Top 5 Countries Leading the Dynamic Pricing Revolution

Dynamic pricing, the practice of adjusting product prices in real time based on demand, competition, inventory, and other market signals, has become one of the defining features of modern eCommerce. Once limited to airline tickets and hotel rooms, algorithmic pricing now touches nearly every product category, from groceries and fashion to electronics and home improvement supplies. Our second-annual Dynamic Pricing Index, compiled from over 1.5M data points tracked at four-hour intervals across more than 120 eCommerce platforms in 40+ countries, reveals the scale and sophistication of this practice.

Decodo's scraper linking 'Automation tool' and 'Third-party integration' into 'Ready-to-use workflow'

OpenClaw vs. n8n: Which AI Automation Tool Is Right for You?

AI-powered automation has moved from niche tooling to a 2026 priority. Tools such as OpenClaw turn large language models into proactive messaging assistants, while n8n offers a visual workflow builder for connecting apps and orchestrating processes. This guide compares their architecture, AI capabilities, pricing, and best-fit use cases so you can quickly decide which tool matches your needs.

Chart with rising purple line labeled 'Computing and accessories', caption 'Electronics costs rose sharply, on average by...'

Are Prices Rising Due to the US-Iran Conflict?

On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran, triggering a series of attacks across the Middle East, closing airspace over the Persian Gulf, and disrupting shipping lanes that carry roughly 12% of global trade. Within days, the effects started showing up in online retail prices. Our pricing infrastructure tracks 120+ eCommerce platforms in 40+ countries, recording prices at four-hour intervals, creating a near real-time view of how global shocks propagate through digital marketplaces.
Search panel Helldivers 2 showing fluctuating line chart; text 'Your exclusive 36% discount is waiting...' and country flags

Is PlayStation Store Testing Dynamic Pricing?

Sony has been quietly testing dynamic pricing on the PlayStation Store, showing different users different prices for the same games. First spotted by a Reddit user and later confirmed through API tracking, the experiment now spans over 190 titles across 70+ regions. Here's what we know so far, how it could affect your purchasing decisions, and what savvy shoppers can do to make the most of it.

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How to Switch From ChatGPT to Claude: The Complete 2026 Migration Guide

Switching from ChatGPT to Claude no longer means starting from scratch. Anthropic’s memory import tool lets you transfer preferences, context, and instructions in under 5 minutes. This guide covers 3 migration paths – from a quick memory import to a full data transfer, plus feature comparisons, export steps, and power tips.

A New Chapter for Decodo: Vaidotas Juknys Steps Up as CEO

Decodo has a new CEO. Vaidotas Juknys, previously our Chief Commercial Officer, is stepping up to lead the company forward. Vytautas Savickas, who built Decodo into one of the most recognized names in the proxy and web data collection space, is moving to new ventures. Here’s what this means for our clients, our product, and our future.

Google Disrupts World's Largest Residential Proxy Network: Why Ethical IP Sourcing Matters

Google Threat Intelligence Group, together with Cloudflare, Spur, and Lumen's Black Lotus Labs, announced that it dismantled IPIDEA, one of the world's largest residential proxy networks, reducing available devices for proxy operators by millions. The network facilitated espionage operations, cybercrime, and botnet attacks while hijacking consumer bandwidth without proper consent. In a single 7-day period in January, over 550 individual threat groups from China, DPRK, Iran, and Russia used IPIDEA infrastructure to mask malicious activities. This disruption highlights a critical but often overlooked risk in digital operations. How companies source IP addresses and proxy services directly impacts security posture, regulatory compliance, and ethical standing in an increasingly scrutinized digital landscape.

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Web Scraping Without Getting Blocked: A Practical Guide for 2026

Web scraping without getting blocked is one of the hardest challenges you might face. Whether you’re a business conducting market research or a solopreneur working on your next big thing, most scrapers fail not because the code is wrong, but because websites now run layered detection that flags bots before a single byte of HTML is returned. This guide breaks down all the detection layers, including network, TLS, browser, and behavioral, and delivers the best techniques on how to overcome each.

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From Concert Tickets to Cart Prices: Can AI-Powered Pricing Be Fair?

Dynamic pricing is everywhere – from the flight you booked last week to the headphones in your cart right now. But as AI-powered algorithms grow more sophisticated, adjusting prices millions of times a day based on demand, competition, and increasingly personal data, a critical question is emerging – is this still fair? We analyzed over 1.5M eCommerce price changes and introduced our second-annual Dynamic Pricing Index to find out what’s really happening beneath the surface.

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Fake IP Address: What Is It and Why Shouldn't You Use It?

When we scale businesses, do research, or just scroll leisurely, it's always a good idea to be clued up on online security. Whatever your reasons for running your eyes over a web browser are, anonymity and privacy are two pretty important players here. The thing is that any browser, website, system, or network can see our IP address. Some of them might even log your IP address and track it. In this blog post, we’ll go over the dangers of using free software, fake IPs, and the illegal aspects of using IP information.

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The $141K Invisible Employee: What Your B2B Tech Stack Is Really Costing You

Most B2B companies treat their SaaS subscriptions as a handful of manageable line items. We decided to calculate the real number from scratch by aggregating pricing for every tool in a typical stack. For a 50-person company, the total exceeds $141K per year – more than the salary of a senior engineer or VP-level hire. Here’s a complete breakdown of how a handful of "just $99/month" subscriptions quietly add up to a six-figure line item.
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Best Bing Rank Tracker in 2026: Top Solutions Compared

A Bing rank tracker is a tool or API that monitors where your website ranks in Bing search results for specific keywords. Since Microsoft retired all Bing Search APIs in August 2025, third-party solutions are the only way to track Bing rankings programmatically. This guide compares the best Bing rank trackers in 2026, covering SERP scraping APIs, all-in-one SEO platforms, pricing, and how to set up these tools.

The Pricing Game Begins: How US Retailers and Buyers Prepare for Black Friday

As the biggest shopping festival of the year approaches, a dynamic shift occurs across thousands of online storefronts. Prices fluctuate by the hour, algorithms compete for consumer attention, and shoppers equip themselves with AI-powered price trackers and browser extensions. Black Friday has grown from a single-day shopping event into a months-long strategic tango between retailers and increasingly savvy consumers.

An exclusive analysis by web data company Decodo of 150K+ price observations across 37 major US eCommerce retailers, tracked throughout the year, reveals the complex strategies both sides deploy. The data paints a picture of a retail ecosystem in constant flux, where timing, category selection, and pricing algorithms can mean the difference between a genuine deal and clever marketing tricks.

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Digital Squatting Is Becoming a Big Problem for Brands Worldwide

In 2025, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) handled a record 6.2K domain name disputes, marking the highest total in the organization's history. This figure represents a continuation of the alarming upward trend, with cybersquatting cases rising 68% since the 2020 pandemic. Domain squatting has evolved far beyond a simple trademark nuisance. Today, criminal networks register fake domains to steal customer data, distribute malware, and destroy brand reputations built over decades.

Search UI 'Best Memorial Day Sales' showing a downward chart above 'Outdoor' results listing 'Patio dining set, six-piece'

Memorial Day Sales 2026: Best Days and Deals to Shop

Memorial Day weekend lands on Monday, May 25, 2026, opening one of the most aggressive sales events on the U.S. retail calendar. With more shoppers planning to participate but spending less per trip, the next two weeks will reveal which retailers, categories, and days deliver real savings, and which discounts simply look loud.

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Smartproxy.org Impersonates Our Brand And Routes Users Into IPs Tied To IPIDEA

Smartproxy.org has nothing to do with us. The website impersonates the former name of our company, Smartproxy, which we dropped back in April 2025. Independent research from Proxyway now shows something worse than name confusion. Roughly 38% of Smartproxy.org’s IPs overlap with IPIDEA, the proxy network Google disrupted in January 2026.
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How To Switch From Google to DuckDuckGo

Want to switch from Google to DuckDuckGo? You've got company. DuckDuckGo says traffic to its No AI search page tripled after Google’s I/O 2026 conference on May 19. Daily visits sit around 84% above their old average. This guide explains the move and shows you how to switch.
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Is Web Scraping Legal? Guide to Laws, Cases & Compliance

Web scraping extracts data from websites using automated tools. It's become a standard practice for businesses gathering competitive intelligence, training AI models, and building data-driven products. But the big question remains – is web scraping legal? The answer depends on what you scrape, how you scrape it, where the data comes from, and what you do with it next.

Anthropic Blocks OpenClaw From Claude: What Happened and What to Do Now

On 4 April 2026, Anthropic blocked Claude Pro and Max subscribers from using OpenClaw and other third-party AI agent frameworks under their flat-rate plans. The change forces affected users onto pay-as-you-go billing, with some facing cost increases of up to 50 times their previous monthly spend. Here's what happened and what you can do about it.

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Best Rank Tracker API: The Best Match for Your SEO in 2026

A rank tracker API lets you pull keyword ranking data in structured formats like JSON or CSV, so you can automate position tracking instead of checking every single keyword manually. We’ll compare the best rank trackers with API access in 2026, covering SERP scraping APIs, platform-based APIs, pricing, and how to actually set up automated keyword tracking.

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Why UK Users Are Replacing VPNs with Proxies

With growing discussions around tighter regulations and potential restrictions on VPN use in the UK, many businesses are already seeking alternatives to avoid getting caught in the crackdown. Proxies have quickly become the go-to solution for those who need reliable access to geo-restricted content or want to maintain control over their digital footprint without facing possible restrictions.

Claude Fable 5

How to Use Claude Fable 5 for Web Scraping

Web scraping with Claude Fable 5 turns slow data collection into a fast, mostly hands-off job. Fable 5 is Anthropic's most capable model (yet), and it can write scrapers, run them, repair its own errors, and return clean, structured data. This article walks through setup, real use cases, prompt patterns, costs, and the limits worth knowing.
Hermes Agent vs. OpenClaw

Hermes Agent vs. OpenClaw: Features, Scraping, and Proxy Setup Compared

If you're choosing Hermes Agent vs. OpenClaw, you're looking at the two most popular open-source agent frameworks of the year. Both run AI agents on their own, work inside your messaging apps, and call tools for you. This guide compares both of these agents' features, use cases, and possible third-party integrations.

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