Proxy
What Is a Proxy Server?
A proxy forwards your requests through an intermediary server and changes the source address the destination sees — but unlike a VPN, it typically doesn't encrypt your traffic by default.
Proxy
Clear guides to HTTP, SOCKS5, residential, mobile, datacenter, rotating, and transparent proxies.
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13 articlesLatest Proxy Guides
Proxy
HTTP Proxies Explained: Requests, CONNECT, and Visibility
HTTP proxies forward web requests specifically and use different handling for plain HTTP versus HTTPS — understanding the CONNECT method clarifies what an HTTP proxy can and can't see.
Proxy
SOCKS5 Proxy Explained
SOCKS5 is a more general-purpose proxy protocol than HTTP proxies — it can forward almost any kind of traffic, but doesn't encrypt payloads by default and leaves DNS handling as a separate configuration choice.
Proxy
Residential Proxies: Source, Uses, and Risks
Residential proxies route traffic through real residential IP addresses — valuable specifically because that classification is hard to acquire in bulk, but worth scrutinizing for how the addresses are actually sourced.
Proxy
Datacenter Proxies: Performance vs Classification
Datacenter proxies are fast, stable and affordable because they run on hosting infrastructure — the same properties that make them comparatively easy for destination sites to classify.
Proxy
Mobile Proxies and Carrier-Grade NAT
Mobile proxies route traffic through cellular networks, inheriting the same shared, frequently-rotating address pools that carrier-grade NAT creates — a distinct classification and cost profile from both residential and datacenter proxies.
Proxy
Rotating Proxies: What Rotation Does—and Does Not—Solve
Rotating proxies change your apparent IP address between requests or on a schedule — useful for avoiding rate limits, but rotation alone doesn't hide behavioral patterns that remain visible across the switch.
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Static Residential Proxies Explained
Static residential proxies combine an ISP-registered address with session stability — a narrower, sometimes ambiguously-named category worth understanding precisely before assuming what a provider means by the term.
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Transparent Proxies: Why Your Original Address May Still Be Visible
A transparent proxy intercepts traffic without you configuring anything — and often forwards your original address in headers, meaning your identity may still be visible despite the interception.
Proxy
Anonymous Proxies and the Headers They Leave Behind
Anonymity labels on proxy services are informal marketing terms — the only reliable way to know what a proxy actually reveals is to test its real behavior directly.
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Elite Proxies: A Marketing Label Worth Testing
"Elite" is a marketing label implying full concealment of both your identity and the fact a proxy is being used at all — a specific, testable claim rather than a guaranteed technical standard.
Proxy
How Proxy Detection Works
Proxy detection combines network ownership data, port and header signals, behavioral timing, and threat-intelligence feeds — each individually fallible, together forming a reasonable confidence estimate.