Good Free Proxy
10 Best Free Proxy Servers – Safe and Anonymous Browsing …
Ordinarily, anyone can see what you do online. When you connect to a non-secure website, advertisers, hackers, and government agencies can see where you’re located and what kind of computer you’re using. This information can be used to feed you targeted ads, and it can block you from seeing certain web content.
Web proxies protect your privacy and also help avoid restrictions. Such restrictions may be imposed by a government, workplace, school, or others. In any case, a web proxy helps make the internet as free and anonymous as it should be.
How a Proxy Keeps You Safe
When using a proxy, your request to a website is filtered through a web form, or sometimes a browser extension. The proxy server then acts as an intermediary. It receives your request, finds the right information on the internet, and relays it back to you.
Without this intermediary, the connection between your computer and a website is wide open. But when using a proxy, prying eyes can’t see both sides of the exchange.
As far as the website knows, the request is coming from the proxy server, not from your computer. Personally identifying information – like your IP address – doesn’t make it to the other side.
When it’s not clear who you are, a website doesn’t know whether you’re “allowed” to visit. If your national government blocks a website, it can only block it for people inside the country. But if the site thinks you’re visiting from a foreign server, it will usually let you through.
This way, a proxy can help keep you safe when there are consequences to reading certain information online. However, it’s important to note that proxies alone only offer a basic level of protection. They tend to have a small number of IP addresses, which can be blocked once they are recognized as proxies.
What to Look for in a Free Proxy
Free web proxies have some limitations. But they’re a good option for people who need short-term anonymity or one-time access to blocked content.
Of course, some proxies are better than others. You should do your research before choosing which one to use. Always stick to a service with a solid reputation. Unknown or untested proxies might not work as advertised, or they might even carry a risk of malware infection.
The first feature you should look for in a free web proxy is the number and variety of its servers. If there are many options, you’re less likely to lose your connection. And if some of the available servers are close to you, you’ll probably get better internet speeds.
Not all proxies give details about their servers. And not all of them allow you to choose which ones to connect to. When this information isn’t available, you should be skeptical. But don’t dismiss the service completely. If other users have had a good experience with it, then you might be satisfied with letting the servers’ owners choose one for you.
Another thing to look for in a free web proxy is customizability. Every good proxy will serve the same role as an intermediary in your web browsing. But some will offer additional services beyond hiding your IP address.
Many of the web proxies that we recommend in this article add additional security by encrypting URLs and page content. Many of them give you the option to block scripts and objects, which can increase the risk of malware infection. Some also disable cookies to minimize the storage of your browsing history.
These sorts of tools help you to get the most out of a web proxy without having to pay for decent protection. But the same tools are usually made stronger with paid upgrades. And if you want the absolute best protection, nothing beats a well-tested VPN.
Disadvantages of Proxies
Whatever free web proxy you choose, its extra features are only a bonus. And these usually come with strict limits. You may find that only a certain number of cookies can be encrypted each month. Blocking certain elements of a site might keep you safer but also prevent it from displaying properly.
Even worse, it’s common for proxies – especially free proxies – to come with traffic limits. If you want 24/7 protection from monitoring, hackers, and malware, you might want to upgrade to a paid version. Better yet, you might want to opt for a VPN instead.
Proxies are good enough for getting around firewalls and unblocking content. But they are not as much of a guarantee against monitoring by hackers or your internet service provider. It’s also far more likely that a free proxy could track some of your activities. A premium VPN, such as ExpressVPN has strict no-log policies. One of our top picks is when looking at overall performance.
A VPN will also save you the hassle of having to manually route all your web traffic through the service. To use a web proxy, you have to navigate to the proxy site and then input the URL from there. With a VPN, you can install an app on your device and let it run automatically.
The more advanced VPN option means you’ll be protected when connecting to the internet with third-party apps instead of your web browser. These days, a browser is definitely not the only app that needs protection. But that’s where most free web proxy services end.
Premium VPN services like ExpressVPN offer you a 30-day money-back guarantee so that you can enjoy a risk-free trial of their superior protection.
Try ExpressVPN
Best Free Proxy Servers
Despite the drawbacks, a free proxy might be all that you need. In that case, there are plenty of good options for you to consider.
We’ve combed through existing reviews and tested some free proxy services for ourselves. And from what we’ve found, these are ten of the best free proxy servers out there:
1. KProxy
This seems to be the single most frequently recommended free proxy server. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best. But it does mean that it’s good enough that it satisfies most users, most of the time.
With KProxy, you have ten servers to choose from. You can manually pick from these and switch them anytime. So if you lose access to one server, you’re still protected. There are no imposed speed limits, as with some proxies. And KProxy has a good track record for avoiding detection and blocking by websites and ISPs.
You can access KProxy servers directly through the website, or you can download a browser extension for either Firefox or Chrome.
2. ProxySite
This free web proxy also gives you the opportunity to manually switch between servers. It also offers more than twice as many servers as Kproxy.
You can have ProxySite choose automatically from among servers in the United States and the European Union. Or if you’re having difficulty, you can try them one by one. The specific locations aren’t identified, though, so you can’t be sure of the effect on your connection speed.
ProxySite has been tested for compatibility with YouTube. There are even buttons on the main page that take you, by proxy, to popular sites like Reddit and Twitter. ProxySite is tailor-made to bring anonymity to your everyday online activities.
3.
This option also appears on many “best of” lists, even though its functionality is somewhat limited. doesn’t work with YouTube, Instagram, or Pinterest, and it relies on servers in only 1, 900 locations to mask users’ IP. But it makes up for some of these drawbacks with added security.
allows you to disable cookies, scripts, and objects on any site. In addition to hiding your IP behind the proxy, this service adds a layer of encryption and guarantees that URLs expire after every browser session.
The proxy will not save databases or IP addresses, so you can be confident that your information will not fall into the hands of hackers or advertisers. This makes it a good option for people who are more interested in security than entertainment online. also offers users a full VPN service in addition to its proxy servers.
4. HMA
This web proxy gives you the option to connect to a random server or choose one of 1, 080. These are located on opposite sides of the US and in four different European countries. The geographic coverage is as good as can be expected with a small number of servers.
The HMA proxy also prompts you to set up your connection with three options. You can encrypt URLs, disable cookies, and remove scripts. But that’s about as far as it goes without upgrading to the HMA VPN, which the site will try to sell you.
5. Hidester
Recent user reviews have given Hidester a good reputation for reliability. But it’s not for sure that the reputation will stand up, because this proxy is pretty new.
Still, it seems to be as good an option as other more established proxies on this list. Hidester operates its own servers across both the US and Europe, and access to them is protected with 128-bit encryption and a secure socket layer (SSL).
Its commitment to security extends to free users but paying customers receive access to literally hundreds of additional servers.
Hidester also offers a number of free tools alongside its web proxy. These include a secure password generator and a DNS leak test. These could be major perks for users who want to stay safe online.
6. Anonymouse
If Hidester is a new kid on the block, Anonymouse is an elder statesman of web proxies. It has been around since 1997 and still appears on many lists of most reliable proxy servers.
The main page for Anonymouse shows you the information that snoopers can see when you connect to a site. And it lets you compare that to what they’ll see when you connect through their proxy. But they choose the specific proxy for you, so you’ll just have to trust them.
Tests have actually shown that it’s pretty easy to identify the proxy that you’re using through Anonymouse. So the security might not be the best. But this old service still seems to be improving. Paid users get SSL encryption, and Anonymouse recently launched its own VPN.
Along with the web proxy, you can use Anonymouse to anonymously send e-mails and post to newsgroups. So after all this time, it still has something unique to offer.
7. Megaproxy
Compared to some free proxies, Megaproxy’s servers are harder for snoopers to identify. And that’s without the additional security of its paid version.
You can use Megaproxy by installing a toolbar that lets you type web addresses and route them through a proxy server. It’s a convenient setup, and you can easily switch between regular and protected browsing.
Unfortunately, this might be important with the free version. Megaproxy limits non-paying users to 60 site visits in a five-hour period. And it only encrypts 20 cookies at a time. Still, this adds a little extra privacy that not all free proxies have.
8. NewIPNow
This service acknowledges some of its own limits upfront. It says openly that free proxies might be incompatible with certain websites. That kind of truthfulness in advertising might be a sign of trustworthiness.
Speaking of truth and accuracy, NewIPNow shows you the estimated speed of each server you could connect to. There are about a dozen of these, though they are mostly limited to the United States. But users still receive a new IP address for each session.
You can use NewIPNow on-site or through a Firefox browser extension. There are budget-friendly paid options and they promise 100 percent compatibility. And if you have problems, customer support is a click away.
9. 4everproxy
Before connecting to 4everproxy, you can select both the server and the IP location. There are over ten options for the first selection and even more for the second. By trying different options you can find the perfect balance between security and connection speed.
But speed shouldn’t be much of an issue in any case. Each 4everproxy server boasts a one gigabit per second connection. Each connection also comes with optional SSL encryption and blockage of cookies and scripts.
10. ProxFree
With seven servers in North America and four in Europe, this web proxy offers a decent geographical reach and solid security. After you choose a server, you will be switched to the fastest IP location. But this can also be changed manually.
ProxFree is as customizable as most any free web proxy. SSL encryption is enabled by default but can be turned off. There are check boxes to remove scripts, objects, cookies, and page titles. You can also disable the “referer” and “user agent” headers. This way, the site you’re visiting won’t know what you clicked on to get there, or what type of computer you’re using.
ProxFree has dedicated pages for visiting Facebook, YouTube, and other video streaming sites. You can be confident in your ability to browse social media anonymously and avoid geoblocks on most videos.
Conclusion
None of these proxies would be our first recommendation for people who want to protect their privacy and stay safe online. A trusted VPN will do a better job than any one of these. You can read our newbies guide to VPNs for an in-depth explanation. Our number one choice of VPN is ExpressVPN. But free web proxies are a convenient option, especially for temporary use.
As you can see, there are many good choices available. Their basic function is generally the same, but there are unique advantages to different services. Luckily, they are all free to use and work right in your browser. So you can test them out one by one if you need to.
Free web proxies can be a good way of learning about the risks associated with your web browsing, and how to protect against them. And since some of these providers also have their own VPNs, a web proxy can be a stepping stone to more complete protection. We also took a look at different proxy protocols if you’re looking to understand the other options available to you.
Further Reading
Easy Ways to Hide Your IP Address
Top Really Free VPN Services
Best VPN Browser Extensions for Chrome
Privacy Alert!
Your data is exposed to the websites you visit!
The information above can be used to track you, target you for ads, and monitor what you do online.
VPNs can help you hide this information from websites so that you are protected at all times. We recommend ExpressVPN — the #1 VPN out of over 350 providers we’ve tested. It has military-grade encryption and privacy features that will ensure your digital security, plus — it’s currently offering 49% off.
Visit ExpressVPN
Why You Shouldn’t Use a Free Proxy — Learn About the Risks – vpnMentor
As governments and tech giants around the world continue their attempt to weaken online privacy using strict surveillance laws and porous privacy policies, users are also increasingly becoming drawn to anonymous web browsing as a means of enhancing privacy, evading censorship, and accessing websites that aren’t available in their country or workplace network.
How web proxies work
Most Internet users have found solace in the use of web proxies as a means to access the Internet anonymously. The majority of these web proxies are offered for free under the term open proxies – this has partly contributed to its soaring popularity. Think of a web proxy is a computer that acts as an intermediary between yours and a website, allowing you to anonymously browse the Web.
Whenever a user connects to a web proxy server and makes a request for a web page, the proxy responds by reaching out to the website and pulling the requested web page. It then sends it back to you and you can view the website. The advantage is that the website you go to through the proxy only sees the proxies’ internet address and not yours. A proxy is, therefore, a good way to safely navigate the web without revealing your real internet address to the sites you visit.
Source: However, the major problems with using free web proxies are that you may not know who is operating them. They could be cyber criminals, intelligence agencies’ honeypot, or a legitimate company with sinister business practices. Although a proxy server hides your identity and activities from the sites you visit, it can potentially see everything you are doing online. This raises concerns about trust. The question you should ask yourself is: why would someone spend so much money setting up a web proxy only to offer it for free? Can such a business entity be trusted with your data?
You can take a look at our most trusted Proxy services here.
Free Web proxies are not secure
According to an analysis by a security researcher Christian Haschek, the majority of free web proxies are not secure or trustworthy. In his initial analysis, Haschek wrote a computer program to check 443 free web proxies to see if a given proxy allows encrypted (HTTPS) web traffic, and whether the proxy attempts to modify website content or inject ads into the user’s browser session.
His findings show that only 21 percent of the tested proxies were not into sinister practices. The rest of the 79 percent of surveyed web proxies forced users to load web pages in the unencrypted (HTTP) form. Furthermore, Haschek also found that about 16 percent of the analyzed web proxies modified HTML codes and another 8 percent modified JavaScript codes on the visited websites in order to inject ads and steal cookies. A further analysis of over twenty thousand proxies bolstered his initial findings. What all this means is that the majority of the operators of those proxies cannot be trusted.
With the rising trend in global mass surveillance and theft of sensitive personal information, the use of HTTPS protocol to encrypt web traffic is becoming increasingly important. HTTPS signals the web browser to use an added encryption layer of known as SSL/TLS to protect web traffic. By deliberately preventing customers from using the Web securely, Haschek warns these open proxies can potentially analyze your traffic, force you to participate in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on websites, and steal your sensitive information such as credit card or login details.
Are there better alternatives?
For those already using or insists on using web proxies, Haschek created a free tool to help you confirm if a given proxy is not manipulating web content or forcing users to load unencrypted web pages. He, however, recommends avoiding free proxies completely. In his words, “tell your friends never to use free proxies…” As the saying goes, “if you are not paying for a product, you are most likely the product”.
You can also use vpnMentor’s proxy tool to surf the web anonymously.
But it’s not all gloomy though, secure alternatives do exist. One good example of such is Virtual Private Network (VPN). (Read about the differences between Proxies and VPNs. )
The fact that most VPN providers rely on earnings from monthly or yearly service subscriptions to sustain their operations, they are less likely to resort to manipulating web content or traffic in order to inject ads – this is not to say that all paid VPN services give adequate consideration to their customer’s privacy. To be on the safe side, avoid those that keep logs of your web browsing activities as they are more likely to engage in obnoxious practices. You may want to check out our top VPN picks; it’s definitely a good place to start.
Privacy Alert!
Your data is exposed to the websites you visit!
The information above can be used to track you, target you for ads, and monitor what you do online.
VPNs can help you hide this information from websites so that you are protected at all times. We recommend ExpressVPN — the #1 VPN out of over 350 providers we’ve tested. It has military-grade encryption and privacy features that will ensure your digital security, plus — it’s currently offering 49% off.
Visit ExpressVPN
The Best Free Online Proxy Servers You Can Use Safely
Proxy sites and proxy servers allow internet users to bypass internet restrictions and access content that would otherwise be blocked.
Lots of free proxy providers exist, but which are the best? Are there any risks of using a free online proxy? And what alternatives are available?
Why Use a Free Proxy Server?
We’ve all experienced blocked sites. Schools, companies, public Wi-Fi networks, ISPs, and governments restrict access to certain types of content.
A free proxy is one of the many ways to circumvent restrictions if content is being blocked based on your geolocation. They route your traffic through a server in a different country, thus hiding your true location.
The Risks of Using a Free Proxy Server
Using a free proxy is not a risk-free endeavor. Some of the risks of using proxy servers include:
HTTPS: Research has shown that 79 percent of free proxy servers do not use an HTTPS connection, meaning data on the server you’re using is not encrypted—people can see it.
Malware: It is hard for regular users to verify the security of a free proxy. There’s a risk that the server could abuse your connection and use it to serve malware to your machine. Aggressive ads also pose a problem.
Service: Free proxies are often slow, overloaded, unreliable, and struggle to display many forms of content.
Read our article on reasons why you should avoid free proxy servers if you would like to learn more.
Which Is the Best Free Proxy Site?
Only a few free proxy sites offer the right mix of security, reliability, service, and reputation.
Our top five picks are:
1. HideMyAss
HideMyAss is best known as a VPN provider, but the company also offers a free proxy service that anyone can use.
Servers are available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic.
Unlike many free proxy sites, HideMyAss does offer some security options for your proxy connection. You can choose to encrypt your URL, disable cookies on the websites you visit, and prevent scripts from running.
2.
Again, is an established VPN provider that also has free proxy servers.
The list of supported countries is smaller than the HideMyAss proxy; servers are only available in the US, Germany, and the Netherlands.
However, the free proxy makes up for its lack of locations with a longer list of security options. In addition to the features available on HideMyAss, you can also opt to remove objects and encrypt the page.
A Chrome extension and a Firefox extension are both available.
3. KProxy
KProxy is perhaps the most reliable of the free proxy sites that do not also provide VPN services.
Ten free US-based servers are on offer. Its single-country status means it’s a perfect way for people in the US. to bypass network-based site restrictions, but it will not work as a tool for accessing geo-blocked content.
4. Whoer
Whoer is yet another VPN company that provides free proxy servers. It is only available as an extension on Chrome, Firefox, Yandex, and Opera.
The company has proxy servers available in Paris, Amsterdam, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Stockholm, London, and Dallas.
5. Megaproxy
If you can look past the site’s dated interface, you’ll discover Megaproxy is a free proxy provider unlike the other four we have discussed.
It’s one of the only free proxy sites that can also hide your browser and operating system, making it perhaps the most secure of the bunch.
Other features include a toggle to prevent the repetition of on-site animations and an ad-blocker. Megaproxy has a limit of 60 pages in five hours, so it’s not a great long-term solution.
If you’d like even more options, we covered them in our list of the best web proxies.
Notable Paid Proxy Sites
We always suggest that you should use a VPN over a proxy server. ExpressVPN and CyberGhost are both highly recommended.
VPNs can hide your location like a proxy, but also come with several security benefits such as encryption, kill switches, and no logging.
If you want to use a proxy, there are paid options that don’t suffer from the same issues as free proxy sites. They are mainly aimed at business users.
1. Luminati
Luminati is the largest proxy provider in the world. It offers more than 30 million IP addresses (both mobile and residential) in 20, 000 cities across 195 countries. The service is excellent for businesses who want to verify ads, compare prices, source talent, and test their systems.
There are no session restrictions, exclusive IPs are offered, and there’s 24/7 support available.
Luminati offers three different paid packages. A shared proxy is $0. 50 per GB, a private proxy is $0. 60 per month per IP, and residential and mobile IPs are $12. 50 per GB.
2. RotatingProxies
If you only need US-based proxies, you should check out Rotating Proxies.
The company provides backconnect proxies (a server that uses a pool of residential proxies) for businesses to perform processes such as SEO, ad verification, account creation, scraping, and more.
All RotatingProxies packages offer unlimited bandwidth and five-minute rotation between proxy switches.
The cheapest package requires you to purchase 10 proxies. It costs $39 per month. Deals go all the way up to 1, 000 proxies for $1, 683 per month.
3. Smartproxy
Smartproxy provides users with more than 10 million residential proxy IP addresses. The proxies are available in 195 locations around the world and have an average response time of 3. 1 seconds.
Like its competitors, Smartproxy’s proxy servers are great for automation, accessing local data, improving marketing, and scraping the web.
At a more user-friendly level, the company’s proxies will let you access sites like Facebook and Twitter if they are blocked on your network.
An entry-level plan cost $75 per month with 5GB of bandwidth. Plans are also available for $200, $400, and $600—each with improving terms.
The Best Solution?
There is a serious question mark over whether free proxies are worth your time. Unless you make sure you use a reliable provider, they are arguably no better than the free VPN services.
Not sure what we mean? Check out our piece on why you should never use a free VPN.
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About The Author
Dan Price
(1605 Articles Published)
Dan joined MakeUseOf in 2014 and has been Partnerships Director since July 2020. Reach out to him for inquires about sponsored content, affiliate agreements, promotions, and any other forms of partnership. You can also find him roaming the show floor at CES in Las Vegas every year, say hi if you’re going. Prior to his writing career, he was a Financial Consultant.
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Frequently Asked Questions about good free proxy
Are free proxies safe?
According to an analysis by a security researcher Christian Haschek, the majority of free web proxies are not secure or trustworthy.
Are there any free proxies?
KProxy is perhaps the most reliable of the free proxy sites that do not also provide VPN services. Ten free US-based servers are on offer. Its single-country status means it’s a perfect way for people in the US. to bypass network-based site restrictions, but it will not work as a tool for accessing geo-blocked content.May 15, 2019
Which is best proxy site?
Here’s the list of the best proxy servers that you can find in 2021.KProxy – Best free proxy.HMA – Best proxy browser.VPNBook – Best for security.ProxySite – Best for smartphones.Whoer – Best value for money.GeoSurf – Best for unlimited IP connections.Zyte – Best for scraping websites.More items…