Vytautas Savickas

Big news! Smartproxy has officially introduced its new name – Decodo, marking the next chapter in our journey to revolutionize proxy and web scraping solutions. While our name has changed, our commitment to delivering cutting-edge tools remains the same.

The data scraping tools market is growing significantly, valued at approximately $875.46M in 2026. The market is projected to grow more due to the increasing demand for real-time data collection across various industries.

Whether you're a developer or an IT professional, data is an essential element of your everyday tasks. One of the most popular tools for data transfer is cURL (client for URL), which is embedded in almost every device that transfers data over different internet protocols.

However, when it comes to transferring data through a proxy, using cURL becomes even more critical. So, let's delve into the basics of cURL and proxies, discuss how it works, and get valuable tips on how to use cURL with proxy settings.

So, buckle up, pal, and get ready to learn how to use cURL with proxy and why it is essential in data transfer.

Whether you call yourself a seasoned proxy user or just starting to leverage the power of proxies, it's always good to learn a thing or two. And this time, we're talking about backconnect proxies. In short, backconnect proxies allow you to remain anonymous while accessing the internet by constantly rotating your IP address. These proxies are useful for individuals or companies who need to navigate internet restrictions, monitor competitors, or run web scraping tools.

In this guide, we'll explore everything you need to know about backconnect proxies, how they work, and what benefits you're in for. Shall we begin?

AI web scraping is the process of extracting data from web pages with the help of machine learning and large language models. It uses them to read a web page the same way humans do, by understanding its meaning. The problem with traditional scrapers is that they tend to stop working when the HTML structure is inconsistent or incomplete. In these cases, AI helps scrapers to quickly adapt and find the right information. Sometimes, even a single misplaced tag can ruin your whole web scraping run. AI solves that by shifting focus to the meaning of the content rather than relying on rigid rules to define what data to scrape. That's why AI web scraping is becoming a practical choice for many projects.

AI has evolved from programs that just follow rules to systems that can learn and make decisions. Businesses that understand this shift can leverage AI to tackle complex challenges, moving beyond simple task automation. In this guide, we'll walk you through how to connect modern AI tools with live web data to create an automated system that achieves a specific goal. This will give you a solid foundation for building even more sophisticated autonomous applications.

Not all proxies actually protect your identity. Some proxies openly tell websites, "This request came through a proxy," while some can even leak your real IP if they're configured poorly. There are three proxy anonymity levels: transparent, anonymous, and elite. This article will walk you through each one, explain how they work, and help you choose the most suitable option for you.

Manual eCommerce data collection breaks because the data doesn’t stay stable. Prices change daily, products disappear and reappear under the same URL, and even mid-sized stores list tens of thousands of SKUs. On top of that, much of the content is rendered with JavaScript, layouts shift due to constant A/B testing, and anti-bot systems detect repeated automated access. This guide shows you how to analyze a target site and choose the right extraction approach.

Residential proxies hide your online activity by routing traffic through real home IPs, making you look like a regular user. They’re more anonymous than datacenter proxies and great for web scraping, ad verification, and dodging geo-blocks. This guide helps you select the right solution while maintaining undetectable online operations.

Images, video, and audio are harder to collect and clean than text, and much less useful without context. Multimedia scraping helps you collect media, preserve the metadata that gives it meaning, and turn scattered files into training-ready datasets. The hard part is treating each media type differently from the start.

Retailers are quietly adjusting the prices you see based on your ZIP code, browsing history, and device type. The FTC calls it "surveillance pricing." New York just became the first state to mandate disclosure when algorithms set personalized prices. As this practice scales globally, proxies and web data collection solutions are emerging as the key tools for both competitive intelligence and regulatory enforcement.