What Is a Proxy?

A proxy in one paragraph

A proxy server sits between your device and the website you visit. Instead of connecting directly, your device sends the request to the proxy, the proxy forwards it to the website and passes the response back. The website sees the proxy’s IP address, not yours.

That one change is useful in many ways: you can appear to be in another country, spread requests over many addresses, keep accounts on separate IPs or hide your own address from the sites you visit.

How a proxy works, step by step

1. You configure an application (browser, scraper, app) with the proxy’s host, port and, usually, a username and password.
2. The application sends its request to the proxy instead of the website.
3. The proxy checks your credentials, then opens its own connection to the website.
4. The website replies to the proxy, which relays the answer to you.

Types of proxies by IP source

The most important difference between proxies is where their IP addresses come from, because websites judge traffic partly by that.

We go deeper in residential vs datacenter vs ISP vs mobile proxies.

Types of proxies by protocol

• HTTP and HTTPS proxies understand web requests and are the standard choice for browsers and scrapers. See HTTP proxies.
• SOCKS5 proxies relay any kind of traffic, which makes them suitable for non-web applications. See SOCKS5 proxies.

What proxies are used for

• Web scraping and data collection: web scraping proxies.
• SEO and rank tracking: seeing real local search results.
• Ad verification: checking that ads appear in the right place and country.
• Social media and multi-account management: one stable IP per account.
• Price and market monitoring across countries.
• Accessing services from a specific region for testing.

Proxy vs VPN

Are proxies legal and safe?

Using a proxy is legal in most countries. What you do with it still has to be legal and follow the terms of the sites you use. Choose a provider that tells you what it sells and how it bills, avoid free public proxies (they are slow, unreliable and sometimes malicious) and always use HTTPS for sensitive data.

How to choose a proxy

1. Decide what you need: many rotating IPs (residential or mobile) or one fixed IP (ISP).
2. Pick the country, and if it matters, the city.
3. Check the protocol you need, HTTP or SOCKS5.
4. Compare billing: per GB for traffic-heavy work, per IP for long sessions. See cheap proxies.
5. Test before you scale, for example with a small package and the free proxy checker.