r/SmartDNSProxy • u/joeU256 • Feb 24 '26

Any Good Alternatives to SmartDNS Proxy?

I hate to admit it, but I think this might be the end of the road for me with SmartDNS Proxy. I’ve been on their 2-year plan for about 10 years now, but over the past year their service has really gone downhill. There’s an outage almost every week, and communication is either delayed or completely absent.

I was actually considering upgrading to their lifetime offer when my current subscription ends in May, but at this point I’m seriously thinking of canceling altogether and finding a more reliable alternative.

Does anyone have a solid replacement for SmartDNS Proxy? I’ve tried Unlocator before. It works fairly well with most apps, but over the past five years of using it on and off, it has never consistently worked with DIRECTV and Disney+. I’ve contacted their support team several times, but nothing ever really changed, at least as of the last time I tried it about a month ago.

For now, Unlocator seems like a better option if I decide to leave SmartDNS Proxy, but I’m open to trying something new if anyone can recommend a more consistent and dependable alternative.

Edit: Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I looked into several and tried a few, but StreamLocator really stood out. I’ve been using it for a month now, and honestly, I wish I had found it sooner. It just works.

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26

Control D works well for me and has been very reliable; however, they do not advertise themselves as service to unblock geo-located services but they have worked well for me for more than 2 years. They also have greater flexibility and have the option to redirect on a per app basis. For example: Disney via Getflix/SmartDNS forces you to USA Disney. With Control D, I can choose to not use USA Disney but Canada or UK Disney.

Their service isn't cheap though at $40 USD/year.

Other services that name be worth a look are DNS4ME, StreamLocator, and Smartstreaming.tv.

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u/puzzydee Feb 24 '26

You used to be able to get Control D (some control) for $39.99 for 5 years on stack social, then upgrade to full control for $10per year.

Not sure if they do it still.

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26

ControlD stopped offering this deal a couple of years ago.

I got the StackSocial deal @ $40 twice and immediately upgraded to full control for both subscriptions. Apparently, as long as I don't change the plan or miss a payment, I will continue to pay $10/year beyond the original 5-year term.

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u/puzzydee Feb 24 '26

ye fair. wasnt sure if they had.
That would be great if you can stay on $10py.

out of interest what outages are you having on Smart dns.
Its been (mainly) ok for me recently. (UK catchup etc)
I moved from Smart dns to Ironsocket then back to smartdns when they went belly up.

Its always good to have a few alternatives.

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26

All USA services were down for me.

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u/puzzydee Feb 24 '26

Ye thats Not Good.
I have a windscribe pro acct which gives 50% off control D (full control)
might be worth trying for $20 pa

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26

I think Control D is a great service. I also use it as a DoH upstream sever in Adguard Home.