The full library

Proxy Articles

Every proxy guide we have published, in one place. 569 articles covering how proxies work, which type to buy, how much to pay, how to compare proxy providers, how to set proxies up for sneakers, Puppeteer, scraping and social media, what Geonode, Webshare and Rayobyte proxies are used for, and how the three compare.

Some links on this site are affiliate links to Geonode, Webshare and Rayobyte. We may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you.

Start with the essentials

Proxy Basics

How proxies work, the protocols they use and the vocabulary you need before you buy.

Proxy Types

Residential, datacenter, ISP, mobile and everything in between, explained and compared.

Buying Guides

How to pick, price, test and buy proxies without wasting money.

Sneaker Proxies

Proxies for sneaker bots, footsites, Shopify drops and SNKRS.

  • Cheap Sneaker Proxies: How to Cop on a Budget

    How to buy cheap sneaker proxies that still perform: daily ISP packages, non-expiring residential for raffles, smart task counts, and the budget traps that cost you pairs.

  • Datacenter Proxies for Sneakers: Still Useful?

    Datacenter proxies are blocked on most big sneaker sites, but they still have roles: monitors, some Shopify stores and speed-critical tasks. Learn where they work and how to use them.

  • How Many Proxies Do You Need for a Sneaker Bot?

    Practical task-to-proxy ratios for sneaker bots by site type, how to calculate your proxy count, when more proxies stop helping, and how to split proxies between checkout, raffles and monitors.

  • How to Set Up Sneaker Proxies: A Step-by-Step Guide

    Step-by-step guide to setting up sneaker proxies: formats, generating residential lists, IP whitelisting, proxy groups, testing against the right site and organising for release day.

  • ISP Proxies for Sneakers: The Complete Guide

    Why ISP proxies dominate sneaker botting, how to buy the right batch (ASN, subnet, region, terms), how many you need, and how to keep them performing on footsites and Shopify.

  • Proxies for adidas and CONFIRMED Releases

    How proxies fit into adidas web releases and CONFIRMED app draws: residential and mobile IPs for accounts, ISP for web, region matching, and what proxies can't fix.

  • Proxies for Footsites (Foot Locker, Champs Sports and More)

    How proxies work on footsites like Foot Locker, Champs Sports and their regional storefronts: ISP proxy setup, regions, queue behaviour, task ratios and avoiding bans.

  • Proxies for Nike and SNKRS: What You Need to Know

    How proxies fit into Nike and SNKRS releases: why residential and mobile IPs matter, the importance of account health, region matching, and what proxies can't fix.

  • Proxies for Shopify Sneaker Releases

    How Shopify-based sneaker stores defend against bots, which proxies work best for Shopify drops (ISP, datacenter, residential), checkpoint and queue handling, and how many proxies per task.

  • Proxies for Sneaker Monitors

    How sneaker monitors use proxies to detect restocks and releases, which proxy types work (usually datacenter), how many you need, polling rates, and why monitors need separate proxies.

  • Residential Proxies for Sneakers

    When residential proxies beat ISP proxies for sneakers: raffles, account creation, Nike and the strictest sites. How to configure sticky sessions, manage bandwidth and avoid slow peers.

  • Sneaker Bot Server Location: Pairing Servers and Proxies

    Why running your sneaker bot on a server near your proxies improves speed, how to choose a region, what specs you need, and how to connect your proxies to a VPS.

  • Sneaker Proxies: The Complete Guide for 2026

    Everything you need to run sneaker proxies well: which type to use for checkouts, raffles, accounts and monitors, how many you need, where to put your server, how to set them up and test them, what they cost, and how to avoid bans on release day.

  • Sneaker Proxy Providers Compared

    How the sneaker proxy market works: sneaker-focused resellers vs large direct providers, what each offers, how to vet a seller, and which type suits your setup.

  • Sneaker Proxy Speed: Ping, Latency and What Actually Matters

    What sneaker proxy speed tests measure, why ping to the wrong site is misleading, how server and proxy location affect checkout speed, and how to get faster proxies for release day.

  • Why Your Sneaker Proxies Get Banned and How to Fix It

    The real reasons sneaker proxies get banned: burned subnets, too many tasks, wrong region, fingerprints, monitors on checkout IPs and account linking, with fixes for each.

Web Scraping & Automation

Proxies for Puppeteer, Playwright, Selenium, Python and large-scale data collection.

Social Media & Marketing

Proxies for managing accounts, verifying ads, tracking rankings and researching markets.

Provider Comparisons

Head-to-head comparisons, alternatives and what to look for in a proxy company.

  • Bright Data Alternatives: Who to Compare and Why

    Looking for Bright Data alternatives? Compare enterprise, mid-market and budget proxy providers by product range, pricing model, targeting, support and compliance, and learn how to test a switch.

  • Bright Data vs Oxylabs: How the Two Enterprise Leaders Compare

    A practical comparison of Bright Data and Oxylabs: proxy types, scraping APIs and unblockers, targeting, pricing approach, compliance, support and how to decide between them with a fair test.

  • Datacenter Proxy Providers Compared

    Compare datacenter proxy providers by product type (dedicated, shared, rotating, IPv6), subnet diversity, locations, bandwidth, replacements and pricing approach to find the best fit.

  • Decodo (Formerly Smartproxy) Alternatives

    Smartproxy rebranded as Decodo. If you're comparing options, here are the enterprise, mid-market and budget alternatives worth testing, and how to compare them fairly.

  • Ethically Sourced Proxies: What They Are and Why They Matter

    What makes a proxy network ethically sourced: informed consent, fair compensation, idle-only bandwidth use, opt-out, customer KYC and abuse prevention, plus questions to ask providers.

  • How to Become a Proxy Reseller

    How proxy reseller programmes work, white-label options, pricing and margins, compliance and KYC responsibilities, building a niche, and the pitfalls that sink new proxy businesses.

  • IPRoyal Alternatives Worth Testing

    IPRoyal is known for non-expiring residential traffic and affordable static proxies. Compare budget, mid-market and enterprise alternatives and find the right fit for your workload.

  • ISP Proxy Providers Compared

    Compare ISP (static residential) proxy providers: general providers vs sneaker-focused sellers, ASN quality, subnet spread, locations, exclusivity, terms and replacement policies.

  • Mobile Proxy Providers Compared

    Compare mobile proxy providers: rotating mobile pools vs dedicated 4G/5G ports, carrier coverage, IP rotation controls, exclusivity, data limits and how to vet small modem-farm operators.

  • Oxylabs Alternatives: Options for Every Budget

    Comparing Oxylabs alternatives for residential proxies, datacenter proxies and scraper APIs: enterprise rivals, mid-market value picks and budget options, with a migration checklist.

  • Proxy Provider Red Flags

    Twelve warning signs that a proxy provider may be unreliable, unethical or overselling: from impossible pool claims and no sourcing info to fake reviews, no refunds and no KYC.

  • Proxy Provider Support and SLAs

    What to expect from proxy provider support and service level agreements: channels, response times, technical depth, uptime commitments, status pages, account management and how to test support before buying.

  • Proxy Resellers and Marketplaces Explained

    Many proxy brands resell upstream networks. Learn how proxy reselling and marketplaces work, the pros and cons of buying from resellers, and how to find out what's behind a brand.

  • Residential Proxy Providers Compared

    A side-by-side look at major residential proxy providers: positioning, targeting, session options, pricing model and who each suits, plus a fair testing method to choose between them.

  • Webshare Alternatives for Budget Proxy Buyers

    Webshare is known for cheap datacenter proxies and a free tier. Compare Webshare alternatives for datacenter, residential and ISP proxies, and learn when to upgrade to a different tier.

Setup & Troubleshooting

Configure proxies on any device or tool, and fix them when they break.

  • Common Proxy Errors and How to Fix Them

    A troubleshooting guide to common proxy errors: 407, 403, 429, 502, 503, 504, ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED, ERR_TUNNEL_CONNECTION_FAILED, timeouts, SSL errors and SOCKS failures.

  • DNS Leaks and Proxies

    What a DNS leak is when using proxies, why it matters for privacy and geo-consistency, how HTTP and SOCKS proxies handle DNS, and how to prevent leaks in browsers, curl, Python and system setups.

  • How to Check if Your Proxy Is Working

    A complete checklist for verifying a proxy: confirm the IP and location, check anonymity headers, test HTTPS, measure speed, detect DNS and WebRTC leaks, and test against your real target.

  • How to Set a Proxy in Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari

    How to configure proxies in each major browser, when browsers use system settings, Firefox's independent proxy settings, proxy extensions, command-line flags and testing for leaks.

  • How to Set Up a Proxy on macOS

    Configure HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS proxies on a Mac via System Settings and the networksetup command, with authentication, bypass lists, PAC files, Terminal environment variables and troubleshooting.

  • How to Set Up a Proxy on Windows

    Step-by-step instructions for configuring a proxy on Windows 11 and Windows 10: system settings, authentication prompts, bypass lists, PAC scripts, netsh winhttp, command-line tools and troubleshooting.

  • How to Test Proxy Speed Properly

    How to benchmark proxy speed fairly: what to measure (connect time, TTFB, total time, throughput, p95), where to test from, scripts for curl and Python, and how to interpret results by proxy type.

  • IP Reputation and Proxies

    How websites score IP reputation (ASN type, blocklists, abuse history, subnet behaviour), why burned proxies fail, how to check proxy IP reputation, and how to keep your IPs clean.

  • Proxy Chains Explained: How and When to Chain Proxies

    What proxy chaining is, how proxychains-ng works, strict vs dynamic vs random chains, performance and reliability costs, legitimate uses, and simpler alternatives for most needs.

  • Proxy PAC Files: Automatic Proxy Configuration

    What a PAC (proxy auto-config) file is, how FindProxyForURL works, example rules for routing by domain, network and protocol, hosting and serving PAC files, WPAD, and debugging tips.

  • Self-Hosted Proxy: Setting Up Squid on a VPS

    Step-by-step guide to running your own HTTP proxy with Squid on Ubuntu or Debian: installation, basic authentication, access rules, anonymity headers, firewalling and when self-hosting makes sense.

  • Setting Up a Proxy on iPhone (iOS) and Android

    How to configure an HTTP proxy for Wi-Fi on iPhone and Android, why proxies don't apply to mobile data, authentication limitations, SOCKS and app-based options, and how to verify your IP.

  • WebRTC Leaks and Proxies

    How WebRTC can expose your real IP address even when using a proxy, how to test for WebRTC leaks, and how to prevent them in Chrome, Firefox, automation tools and antidetect browsers.

Geonode Use Cases

What Geonode proxies are used for, job by job: the right Geonode product, settings and workflow for each use case.

  • Geonode Datacenter Proxies: When to Use Them and How

    What Geonode's rotating datacenter proxies are good for: lenient targets, monitors, bulk crawling, uptime checks and testing; how per-GB billing compares, routing domains between datacenter and residential, setup and limits.

  • Geonode ISP Proxies: Uses, Setup and Buying Tips

    What Geonode's static ISP proxies are, how shared and dedicated options differ, unmetered bandwidth, the jobs they suit (accounts, checkouts, whitelisting, long sessions), setup, testing and how they compare with rotating residential.

  • Geonode Proxies for Localization Testing: Geo QA for Every Market You Serve

    How product, QA and SEO teams use Geonode proxies to test a website or app as a local visitor in each market: language, currency, prices, consent, geo-redirects and hreflang, with the right proxy type, Playwright automation, CI checks and realistic costs.

  • Geonode Proxies: What They Are, What They Cost and What They're Used For

    A practical overview of Geonode's residential, unlimited residential, ISP and datacenter proxies and its scraping APIs, with the jobs each product suits, how pricing works, strengths, limits and how to test it.

  • Geonode Unlimited Residential Proxies: Who They're For

    How Geonode's unlimited residential proxies work, how speed-tiered flat pricing compares with per-GB billing, how to calculate your break-even point, workloads that suit unlimited plans, limits to check and how to test before switching.

  • How Marketing Agencies Use Geonode Proxies

    How digital marketing agencies use Geonode across clients: local SEO checks, ad verification, client social accounts, competitor research and landing page QA, with sub-users per client, billing, security and a simple operating model.

  • How to Use Geonode Proxies in Chrome and Other Browsers

    How to browse through Geonode proxies in Chrome for manual checks: the Geonode extension, Chrome's system proxy settings, Firefox settings, profiles for clean results, choosing locations, avoiding leaks and common uses.

  • How to Use Geonode Proxies with cURL

    Use cURL to test and debug Geonode proxies: basic usage, credentials, country targeting, checking exit IP and location, sticky session tests, SOCKS5, verbose output for errors, environment variables and quick benchmarks.

  • How to Use Geonode Proxies with Node.js

    Working Node.js examples for Geonode proxies with native fetch via undici, axios with https-proxy-agent, environment variable proxies, country targeting, sessions, SOCKS5, concurrency and error handling.

  • How to Use Geonode Proxies with Playwright

    Set up Geonode proxies in Playwright for Node.js and Python: launch and per-context proxies with credentials, country targeting, sticky sessions, locale and timezone, resource blocking, Firefox and WebKit notes and troubleshooting.

  • How to Use Geonode Proxies with Puppeteer

    Step-by-step guide to using Geonode residential, ISP and datacenter proxies with Puppeteer: authentication, per-context proxies, country targeting, sticky sessions, resource blocking, location matching, retries and troubleshooting.

  • How to Use Geonode Proxies with Python

    Working Python examples for Geonode proxies with requests, httpx and aiohttp: environment variables, country targeting, rotating and sticky sessions, SOCKS5, concurrency, retries, block detection and common errors.

  • How to Use Geonode Proxies with Scrapy

    How to add Geonode proxies to Scrapy spiders: request meta and a downloader middleware, country targeting, per-domain proxy routing, sticky sessions for pagination, AutoThrottle, retries, ban detection and bandwidth control.

  • How to Use Geonode Proxies with Selenium

    How to use Geonode proxies with Selenium in Python: IP whitelisting, local forwarders for authenticated proxies, Firefox proxy preferences, country targeting, sessions, location matching, testing and troubleshooting.

  • How to Use Geonode with n8n Automation Workflows

    How to use Geonode in n8n workflows: proxies in the HTTP Request node, calling the Scraper API for pages as Markdown, scheduled price and content monitors, AI agent workflows, credentials, error handling and costs.

  • The Geonode Scraper API: When to Use It Instead of Raw Proxies

    What Geonode's Scraper, Map, Crawl and Search APIs do, how per-request pricing and the free allowance work, when an API beats raw proxies, Markdown output for AI, JavaScript rendering, integration patterns and limits.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Academic and Nonprofit Research

    How researchers, students and nonprofits use Geonode proxies responsibly: when proxies are needed at all, ethics approval, reproducible methods, regional comparisons, minimising personal data, budgets and documenting proxy settings in papers.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Ad Verification

    How advertisers and agencies use Geonode residential proxies to verify ad placements, creatives, landing pages and redirects by country and city, detect fraud and cloaking, and collect evidence, with practical settings.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for AI Training Data Collection

    How AI teams use Geonode proxies and APIs to collect web data for training and evaluation: respecting opt-outs, choosing datacenter vs residential, crawl architecture, Markdown extraction, deduplication, documentation and costs.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for App Store and Google Play Research

    How app marketers and developers use Geonode proxies to check app store rankings, search results, listings, prices and reviews in each country, verify store localisation, and research competitors across markets.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for B2B Lead and Company Research

    How sales and growth teams use Geonode proxies for B2B research: collecting public company information, technology and hiring signals, regional website checks, and why personal data, platform rules and licensed data matter.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Brand Protection

    How brand protection teams use Geonode residential proxies to find counterfeit listings, unauthorised sellers, trademark abuse and phishing sites in every market, beat geo-blocking and cloaking, and collect evidence for takedowns.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Cybersecurity and Threat Research

    How security teams use Geonode residential and datacenter proxies to investigate phishing sites, malicious ads and fraud that hide from corporate IPs, collect evidence safely, check exposure by region and protect their own infrastructure.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Dropshipping and Product Research

    How dropshippers and small e-commerce sellers use Geonode proxies to research products, watch competitor stores, check supplier listings and verify ads and storefronts in target countries, with budget-friendly settings.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for E-commerce Marketplace Research

    How to research eBay, Walmart Marketplace, Etsy and other marketplaces with Geonode proxies: what sellers and brands track, which proxy product to use, regional listings, session settings and keeping it efficient and compliant.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Facebook and Meta Ads Work

    How advertisers and agencies use Geonode proxies around Meta ads: previewing ads and landing pages by country, researching the Ad Library, keeping ad account access consistent, and the rules Meta enforces.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Financial and Alternative Data

    How investors, analysts and fintech teams use Geonode proxies to collect public financial information and alternative data such as prices, hiring, reviews and web traffic signals, with source choice, reliability, timestamps and compliance.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Flight Fare Collection

    How travel startups, analysts and agencies use Geonode residential proxies to collect flight fares by point of sale: targeting, sticky sessions for search flows, rate limits, validation, official alternatives and costs.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Hotel Rate Monitoring

    How hotels, revenue managers and travel analysts use Geonode residential proxies to monitor room rates across booking sites and markets, check rate parity, handle dates and occupancy, and keep collection efficient and polite.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Local SEO and Map Rankings

    How agencies and local businesses use Geonode's city-targeted residential proxies to check local search results, map packs and business listings across a service area, with accurate settings and simple workflows.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Market Research

    How market researchers, strategists and product teams use Geonode proxies to study prices, assortments, messaging, search behaviour and online conversation in other countries, with the right product, location settings and methods.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for News and Media Monitoring

    How PR teams, analysts and media monitoring services use Geonode proxies to track news coverage across countries, see regional editions and paywalls as local readers do, monitor brand mentions and archive coverage, with feeds first.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Price Monitoring and Competitor Tracking

    How to monitor competitor prices, stock and promotions with Geonode proxies: which product to use per retailer, location targeting for regional prices, session settings, data validation and keeping bandwidth costs low.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for SEO Rank Tracking

    How to track search rankings with Geonode proxies: why search engines block automated queries, the right product and targeting, session and rate settings, accuracy checks, and when a search API is the better choice.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Sneaker Bots

    How sneaker cooks use Geonode proxies: rotating residential for raffles and accounts, static ISP proxies for checkout, datacenter traffic for monitors, region targeting, bot setup, testing and a season budget.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Social Media Account Management

    How agencies and social teams use Geonode ISP and residential proxies to manage client accounts safely: one stable IP per account, antidetect browser setup, location matching, scheduling tools, and what to avoid.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Web Scraping

    How to scrape websites with Geonode: which proxy product to use for each kind of target, rotation and sticky session settings, working Python code, block handling, bandwidth control and when to use the Scraper API instead.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for Website Monitoring from Multiple Regions

    How site owners and SRE teams use Geonode proxies to monitor availability, performance, content and geo-routing from different countries, detect regional outages and CDN issues, and watch competitors' public pages for changes.

  • Using Geonode Proxies for YouTube Research

    How marketers, creators and agencies use Geonode proxies to see YouTube search results, trending content, recommendations and ads by country, check video availability, and use the YouTube Data API alongside regional checks.

  • Using Geonode Proxies to Collect Amazon Product Data

    What to know before collecting Amazon product data with Geonode proxies: official alternatives, which proxy product works, marketplace targeting, session settings, page weight, block handling and staying within the rules.

  • Using Geonode Proxies to Collect Job Listing Data

    How HR tech, recruiters and labour market analysts use Geonode proxies to collect public job postings from job boards and company career pages: product choice, location handling, deduplication, data quality and the rules.

  • Using Geonode Proxies to Collect Real Estate Listing Data

    How property investors, proptech startups and analysts use Geonode proxies to collect listing prices, rents and inventory from property portals: product choice by portal, location handling, deduplication, data quality and compliance.

  • Using Geonode Proxies to Monitor Online Reviews

    How brands, hotels, restaurants and agencies use Geonode proxies to monitor ratings and reviews across review sites, marketplaces and app stores in every market, spot problems early and analyse sentiment responsibly.

  • Using Geonode Proxies to Test Affiliate Links and Geo-Targeted Offers

    How affiliate marketers and networks use Geonode proxies to test tracking links, geo-redirects, offer pages and compliance in each country, detect hijacked links and broken redirects, and keep evidence.

  • Using Geonode Proxies with Antidetect Browsers

    How to pair Geonode proxies with antidetect browsers such as AdsPower, Dolphin{anty}, GoLogin, MoreLogin and Incogniton: choosing ISP or residential per profile, entering proxy details, matching fingerprints to location, testing and avoiding common mistakes.

  • Using Geonode Proxies with Instagram

    How brands, creators and agencies use Geonode proxies with Instagram: stable ISP IPs for managing accounts, residential exits for checking content by country, settings that avoid security checks, and what Instagram's rules allow.

  • Using Geonode Proxies with LinkedIn

    How sales teams, recruiters and marketers use Geonode proxies with LinkedIn responsibly: a stable IP for account access, regional checks of company pages and ads, the limits of public data, and LinkedIn's strict rules on automation.

  • Using Geonode Proxies with Reddit

    How marketers and researchers use Geonode proxies with Reddit responsibly: researching communities and conversations by region, checking Reddit Ads and landing pages, consistent account access, Reddit's Data API, and the rules on spam and vote manipulation.

  • Using Geonode Proxies with TikTok

    How marketers, creators and agencies use Geonode proxies with TikTok: residential exits to research trends and content by country, stable ISP IPs for managing accounts, settings that keep accounts healthy, and TikTok's rules.

  • Using Geonode with AI Agents and LLM Tools

    How developers give AI agents reliable web access with Geonode: the MCP server, Scraper, Search, Map and Crawl APIs, when agents need proxies, Markdown output for LLMs, integration with LangChain, OpenAI Agents SDK and n8n, and guardrails.

Webshare Guides

Webshare's free plan, datacenter, static residential and rotating residential proxies, explained product by product and job by job.

Webshare vs Geonode

Webshare and Geonode compared feature by feature and use case by use case, so you can pick one or combine both.

Rayobyte Guides

Rayobyte's residential, ISP, datacenter and mobile proxies, Scraping API and Web Unblocker, explained product by product and job by job.

Rayobyte vs Geonode

Rayobyte and Geonode compared product by product and use case by use case, so you can pick one or combine both.

Rayobyte vs Webshare

Rayobyte and Webshare compared on price, proxy types, targeting, tools and fit for each job.

Rayobyte vs Geonode vs Webshare

All three of our proxy partners side by side: which one wins each product, budget and use case, and how to combine them.

Quick Answers

One small proxy question per page, answered straight, with plenty of links to learn more.

  • Are Free Proxies Safe?

    Usually not. Public free proxies are often slow, already banned, logging your traffic, or injecting ads and malware. Use a free trial from a real provider instead.

  • Can Websites Detect Proxies?

    Often, yes. Sites check the IP's network owner, reputation and location, plus headers, browser fingerprints and behaviour. Residential and mobile IPs are hardest to spot.

  • Do Proxies Slow Down Your Internet?

    A little, usually. Every proxy adds an extra hop. Good datacenter and ISP proxies add very little delay; rotating residential and mobile proxies add more.

  • Does a Proxy Encrypt My Traffic?

    Usually not by itself. HTTPS websites stay encrypted through a proxy because of TLS, but plain HTTP traffic and most proxy connections are not encrypted by the proxy.

  • Does a Proxy Hide My IP Address?

    Yes, from the websites you visit, as long as the proxy does not forward your IP and nothing leaks around it. It does not hide your activity from the proxy provider.

  • Does SOCKS5 Support UDP?

    Yes. The SOCKS5 standard includes a UDP ASSOCIATE command, but many proxy providers and client tools only support TCP, so check before you buy.

  • Is a Proxy the Same as a VPN?

    No. Both change the IP websites see, but a VPN encrypts all your device's traffic, while a proxy usually handles one app or browser and does not encrypt.

  • Is an ISP Proxy the Same as a Static Residential Proxy?

    Mostly, yes. Both names usually describe an IP registered to a consumer ISP but hosted on fast servers, which you keep for weeks or months.

  • Is Tor a Proxy?

    Sort of. Tor routes your traffic through three volunteer relays, each a kind of proxy, and your apps connect to it as a local SOCKS5 proxy. It is built for anonymity, not speed.

  • Static vs Dynamic IP: What's the Difference?

    A static IP stays the same; a dynamic IP can change whenever your ISP reassigns it. Most homes have dynamic IPs, which is part of why residential proxies rotate.

  • What Are Proxy Threads?

    Threads, or concurrent connections, are how many requests you can run through your proxies at the same moment. Plans often cap them.

  • What Do /24 and /64 Mean?

    The number after the slash says how many bits of an IP address are fixed. A /24 IPv4 block has 256 addresses; a /64 IPv6 block has about 18.4 quintillion.

  • What Does "407 Proxy Authentication Required" Mean?

    A 407 error means the proxy wants credentials and did not get valid ones. Check the username, password, format and IP whitelist.

  • What Does "429 Too Many Requests" Mean?

    A 429 means the website thinks you are sending too many requests too fast. Slow down, respect Retry-After, and spread load across more IPs.

  • What Does "Proxy" Mean?

    A proxy is anything that acts on behalf of someone else. On the internet, it is a server that makes requests for you, so websites see its IP address instead of yours.

  • What Does 502 Bad Gateway Mean on a Proxy?

    A 502 Bad Gateway means the proxy reached out to the website, or to its next hop, and got an invalid or no response. Usually a temporary upstream problem.

  • What Does host:port:user:pass Mean?

    host:port:user:pass is the common way providers hand out proxies: the server address, the port, then your username and password, separated by colons.

  • What Does Per-GB Proxy Pricing Mean?

    Per-GB pricing means you pay for the data that passes through the proxy, not for the number of IPs. It is the standard model for rotating residential proxies.

  • What Is a Bandwidth-Sharing App?

    A bandwidth-sharing app pays you, or unlocks features, in exchange for routing proxy traffic through your home connection. It is one way residential proxy networks are built.

  • What Is a CAPTCHA, and Why Do Proxies Trigger Them?

    A CAPTCHA is a test meant to tell humans from bots. Sites show more of them to IPs with poor reputation or bot-like behaviour, which is why bad proxies see so many.

  • What Is a Datacenter IP Address?

    A datacenter IP belongs to a hosting or cloud company rather than a home internet provider. It is fast and cheap, but websites can tell it is not a household.

  • What Is a Dedicated Proxy IP?

    A dedicated proxy IP is used by you alone for as long as you rent it. Nobody else's behaviour can damage its reputation, unlike shared proxies.

  • What Is a DNS Leak?

    A DNS leak happens when your device looks up website names through your own ISP instead of through the proxy or VPN, revealing which sites you visit and where you are.

  • What Is a Forward Proxy?

    A forward proxy sits in front of users and makes requests to the internet for them. It is what people usually mean when they say "proxy".

  • What Is a Headless Browser?

    A headless browser is a real browser such as Chrome that runs without a window, controlled by code. Puppeteer, Playwright and Selenium drive them, usually through proxies.

  • What Is a Honeypot Trap in Web Scraping?

    A honeypot is a link or form field that humans cannot see but bots follow or fill in. Touching it tells the site you are a bot, and your proxy IP gets flagged.

  • What Is a PAC File?

    A PAC (proxy auto-config) file is a small JavaScript file that tells a browser which proxy to use for each website, or to connect directly.

  • What Is a Proxy Gateway?

    A proxy gateway is the single host and port you connect to, which then routes your traffic through a pool of IPs behind it. It is how rotating proxies work.

  • What Is a Proxy IP?

    A proxy IP is the IP address a proxy server uses when it talks to websites on your behalf. It is the address the site sees and logs instead of your own.

  • What Is a Proxy Pool?

    A proxy pool is the full set of IP addresses a provider can route you through. Bigger and more varied pools mean fewer repeats and fewer bans.

  • What Is a Proxy Timeout?

    A proxy timeout happens when the proxy or the website takes longer to answer than your tool is willing to wait. Slow IPs, overloaded targets or bad settings are the usual causes.

  • What Is a Public IP Address?

    A public IP is the address the rest of the internet sees for your connection. Your devices at home share it through your router, which uses private IPs inside.

  • What Is a Residential IP Address?

    A residential IP is an address an internet service provider assigns to a home connection. Websites trust it more than a datacenter IP because it looks like a real household.

  • What Is a Reverse Proxy?

    A reverse proxy sits in front of websites and receives visitors' requests for them. CDNs, load balancers and web application firewalls are reverse proxies.

  • What Is a Rotating Proxy?

    A rotating proxy gives you a different IP address on every request, or every few minutes, from a large pool, so no single IP sends enough traffic to get banned.

  • What Is a SERP?

    A SERP is a search engine results page. Results change by location, device and language, so SEO tools check them through proxies in each target city.

  • What Is a Sticky Session?

    A sticky session keeps the same proxy IP for a set time, often 1 to 30 minutes or longer, so logins, carts and multi-step flows do not break.

  • What Is a Subnet, and Why Do Proxy Buyers Care?

    A subnet is a block of neighbouring IP addresses. If all your proxies sit in one subnet, a site can ban them all at once, so subnet diversity matters.

  • What Is a TLS Fingerprint?

    A TLS fingerprint identifies the software making an HTTPS connection from how it opens the encrypted handshake. JA3 and JA4 are popular formats. Proxies do not change it.

  • What Is a Transparent Proxy?

    A transparent proxy intercepts traffic without any setup on your device, and does not hide your IP. Schools, offices and ISPs use them for filtering and caching.

  • What Is a User Agent?

    The user agent is a header your browser or script sends to describe itself, such as "Chrome 130 on Windows". Proxies do not change it; your code does.

  • What Is a WebRTC Leak?

    A WebRTC leak is when your browser's video-call technology reveals your real IP address to a website, even though your other traffic goes through a proxy.

  • What Is an Antidetect Browser?

    An antidetect browser runs many separate browser profiles, each with its own fingerprint, cookies and proxy, so accounts cannot be linked to each other.

  • What Is an ASN?

    An ASN, or autonomous system number, identifies the network that owns a block of IP addresses. Websites use it to tell home internet providers from datacenters.

  • What Is an Elite Proxy?

    An elite, or high-anonymity, proxy hides your IP and also hides the fact that a proxy is involved: it adds no Via or X-Forwarded-For headers.

  • What Is an IP Ban?

    An IP ban is when a website refuses all requests from an IP address, or a whole range of them. It can last minutes or forever.

  • What Is Browser Fingerprinting?

    Browser fingerprinting identifies you from your browser's settings, such as screen, fonts, graphics card and language, without cookies. A proxy does not change it.

  • What Is CGNAT?

    CGNAT lets a mobile carrier or ISP put many customers behind one public IP address. It is the main reason mobile proxies are so hard for websites to ban.

  • What Is ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED?

    ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED means Chrome could not reach the proxy server set in your system or extension settings. Fix the proxy or switch it off.

  • What Is ERR_TUNNEL_CONNECTION_FAILED?

    ERR_TUNNEL_CONNECTION_FAILED means the proxy refused or failed to open the HTTPS tunnel Chrome asked for, often because of authentication or blocked ports.

  • What Is Geo-Targeting for Proxies?

    Geo-targeting lets you choose which country, region, city or carrier your proxy IP comes from, so websites show you what local users see.

  • What Is HTTP CONNECT?

    CONNECT is the HTTP method that asks a proxy to open a raw tunnel to a host and port. It is how HTTPS websites work through an HTTP proxy without the proxy reading them.

  • What Is IP Geolocation?

    IP geolocation estimates where an internet user is from their IP address, using registry records and commercial databases. Country is usually right; city often is not.

  • What Is IP Whitelisting for Proxies?

    IP whitelisting lets you use a proxy without a password: you register your own IP with the provider, and the proxy accepts any connection that comes from it.

  • What Is Port 1080?

    Port 1080 is the port IANA registers for SOCKS, so it is the classic default for SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 proxy servers.

  • What Is Port 3128?

    Port 3128 is the default listening port of Squid, the open-source caching proxy, so it is a common port for HTTP proxies.

  • What Is Port 8080 Used For?

    Port 8080 is the most common alternative HTTP port. Web proxies, development servers and caching servers often listen on it instead of port 80.

  • What Is Rate Limiting?

    Rate limiting caps how many requests one IP, account or key can make in a time window. Go over it and the site slows you down, shows a CAPTCHA or returns 429.

  • What Is robots.txt?

    robots.txt is a plain-text file at the root of a website that tells crawlers which paths they may visit. Polite scrapers read it first, whatever proxies they use.

  • What Is X-Forwarded-For?

    X-Forwarded-For is an HTTP header some proxies add to tell the website your original IP. Transparent proxies send it; anonymous and elite proxies do not.

  • Why Do I Get 403 Forbidden Through a Proxy?

    A 403 through a proxy usually means the website blocked the proxy IP or detected automation. The proxy itself is working; the site is refusing you.

Top 10 Lists

Fun countdowns: the ways proxies are used, surprising use cases, myths, mistakes and more.

  • Top 10 Interesting Proxy Use Cases

    Censorship research, fact-checking political ads, catching fake reviews, saving the web for history: ten surprising ways proxies are used for good, counted down.

  • Top 10 Moments in Proxy History

    From the first web proxy at CERN to the takedown of a residential proxy botnet, ten moments that shaped how proxies work today, counted down.

  • Top 10 Proxy Myths, Busted

    Are proxies illegal? Do they make you anonymous? Is more IPs always better? Ten common proxy myths, counted down and corrected with sources.

  • Top 10 Proxy Terms Everyone Should Know

    The ten words that come up in every proxy conversation, from ASN to sticky session, each explained in two sentences with a link to the full answer.

  • Top 10 Signs You Need a Proxy

    Seeing 429 errors, endless CAPTCHAs, or the wrong country's prices? Ten signs a proxy would solve your problem, counted down, plus one sign it would not.

  • Top 10 Surprising Facts About IP Addresses

    Apple got 16.7 million addresses in one go, the world ran out of IPv4 in 2011, and your phone probably shares its IP with strangers. Ten IP facts, counted down.

  • Top 10 Ways Proxies Are Used

    From price monitoring to AI training data, here are the ten biggest real-world jobs proxies do, counted down from number 10 to the use that drives the most traffic.

  • Top 10 Web Scraping Proxy Tips

    Ten practical tips for scraping with proxies without getting blocked or blowing your budget, from checking robots.txt to blocking images, counted down.