The short answer: a proxy is an intermediary server between two devices on a network.
There are dozens of proxy types on the internet: some change your IP address and protect your identity, while others authenticate users on Wi-Fi networks.
Read on to find out everything you need to know about what proxies are, how they work, and why people use them.
A proxy is a server that acts as a gateway or intermediary between any device and the rest of the internet. A proxy accepts and forwards connection requests, then returns data for those requests. This is the basic definition, which is quite limited, because there are dozens of unique proxy types with their own distinct configurations.
Proxies make up our websites, online services, and other networks. People use proxies for many things: most proxies can change your IP address, while others can protect large websites or simply authenticate public Wi-Fi users.
Avoid Geo-restrictions
Many websites limit access to some geographic regions. They detect locations by checking the IP addresses of every device that tries to connect to their servers.
People use good proxy servers to hide their IP address and change it to the proxy server’s IP. This means that anyone using a high-quality US proxy can access any US-only content without restrictions.
Protect Privacy and Increase Security
The internet has become a dangerous place, and also people are looking for ways to use services privately and not give away any sensitive information.Your IP address is some of the most vulnerable information about you, as it pinpoints your location and internet service provider.
In some sense, browsing the internet with your IP address in the open is the same as displaying your social security number or passport everywhere you go, because hackers can use any IP address to track you or break into your device. Proxies put a stop to this violation of privacy and hide the IP.
Avoid Firewalls and Bans
Schools, workplaces, and even some countries block certain websites. Their firewalls and blocks have no effect on proxies, so you can connect to a proxy server and use it to connect to Instagram, Reddit, or Twitter with ease.
This works, because the firewall does not detect your true goal, it just detects that you are connecting to the proxy IP address. The proxy server then connects to the site you want and sends the information back to your device. The firewall once again cannot detect the true origin of that content, as it seems like coming from the proxy.
Automation and higher efficiency are on everyone’s mind these days. As the internet expands in leaps and bounds, it is impossible to do some things manually. For example, you cannot run a travel planning company without a script that automatically checks every flight service’s prices.
Those same flight services have to protect their servers from malicious attacks, so your IP gets banned after the first hundred connections. This is when you can use a proxy network to automate the process.
Use Multiple Accounts and Gather Data
Marketing agencies, SEO companies, and business consultancies usually have hundreds of accounts to manage on a daily basis. This includes managing hundreds of Facebook accounts or doing thousands of search engine queries in order to scrape data.
It is simply impossible to do from a single IP address, because both Facebook and Google strictly limit connections from any IP address. Only robust proxy networks let these businesses scale their services beyond a handful of clients.
Residential proxies
Residential proxies are the highest quality proxies because they look like real mobile or desktop devices. Actually, they ARE real devices. Each residential IP is a device that acts like a proxy server. To any site, traffic coming from residential proxies look like you and me.
Even if you ‘abuse’ a residential proxy and a server block it, you can use another residential proxy from the same server without any issues – residential proxies are immune to blocks en masse.
Datacenter proxies
Datacenter proxies are virtual IP addresses created in powerful server hubs. They do not have any internet service provider information associated with them. These proxies are often banned, as their connections look like fake internet traffic. They have a bad wrap because of how often data center proxies are used for DDoS attacks. These proxies also share a subnetwork(for example,a C class sub-network is represented by number 14 in these IP addresses: 65.78.14.1, 65.78.14.50).
This makes them unusable in large numbers because any server can establish a block for the whole subnetwork. The one redeeming quality of datacenter proxies is that, usually, they are a lot faster than other proxies.
An anonymous proxy is the type of proxy that does not send your identification information to your target server. It pretends to be the actual user,as opposed to a non-anonymous proxy, which notifies servers about it being a proxy.
Datacenter and also residential proxies can be anonymous. It’s safe to say that anonymous proxies are the most common standard for proxies these days, as more and more people recognize data security concerns.
Transparent proxies
Transparent proxies do not change a client’s IP address. They usually sit between devices in a public Wi-Fi network and also the internet. These proxies most often act as gatekeeper proxies that authenticate users and give them access to the network.
They are very prevalent in public places like airports. Nevertheless, transparent proxies face some criticism due to serious security vulnerabilities and susceptibility to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Every major browser, including IE, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome, is compatible with proxies. iPhones and Android devices also can use a proxy. Whether you choose to use proxies on your device or your browser, the proxy setup will take just a couple of simple steps. Click any icon below to view the proxy setup settings you need.
Setting up a proxy doesn’t take more than a minute or two. So Simply select your browser or device from the list above to see their proxy settings. If you want to try our proxy network with a three-day money-back guarantee,
So simply register and select any plan right now.
Our proxy network lets you choose which of the 195+ locations you want to connect to,and whether you want to use a single IP address(a sticky session)or a random IP for each connection.
If you want to set up a particular bot or scraper, So check out our helpful guides here.