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Best proxy of 2021: free and paid services | TechRadar
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The best proxy service providers allow an easy option to protect your privacy online. Effectively, a proxy serves as a gateway between you and the internet, so when using a proxy server the details of the websites you visit and other online history is saved to that server, rather than to your allows for a degree of anonymous surfing, with the caveat that proxy servers will often save at least some details. This means a full investigation of the server records may make it possible to personally identify ever, this is unlikely to be a problem for most people, and proxy servers otherwise provide a useful if basic way to avoid the extensive advertiser tracking and routine privacy intrusions that are now commonplace note that a lot of proxy server providers also provide paid-for VPN services, because VPN (Virtual Private Network) can offer better security and privacy than a proxy service alone. In which case, it may be worth considering getting a free VPN or pay for one of the best premium services instead. If you’re not sure whether a proxy server will be better, check out our guide Proxy servers vs VPN: Why VPNs are better. In the meantime, here we’ll feature the best proxy services, free and paid-for, which will overlap with some VPN services. Exclusive discount specialGet an exclusive discount with SmartProxy, active for three Residential Proxies Micro, Starter and Regular plans. With this discount, you will save 15% from the overall Deal(Image credit: Smartproxy)1. SmartproxyAffordable proxies for most use casesSpecificationsCoverage: Over 195 locations IP addresses: over 40 millionReasons to buy+Unlimited threads+Browser extensions+Mobile IPsReasons to avoid-Restricted geotargetingYou can get both residential and data center proxies from Smartproxy. Its pool of over 40 million rotating residential IPs comes from desktop and mobile devices and is shared between all the users. While this can be disadvantageous as you can get flagged IPs, the provider ensures its quick rotation policy ensures its proxies don’t get banned. Smartproxy limits plans by bandwidth but allows you to run an unlimited number of concurrent threads. You can select the proxy you want to use from a list of backconnect gateway servers in your dashboard. By default, Smartproxy displays all the different gateways for the countries and cities that it supports. You can however filter down the proxies based on a couple of useful parameters such as the location, and the type of session (rotating or sticky). Depending on these, the dashboard will show the appropriate proxy gateway that you can then use in your apps and you plan to use the proxy to browse the web, Smartproxy also has extensions for both Chrome and Firefox. You can use the extension to again narrow down the location and type of proxy you want and even choose the authentication our full Smartproxy review. (Image credit: Bright Data)2. Bright DataExpensive but feature richSpecificationsCoverage: All countries and citiesIP addresses: Over 72 millionReasons to buy+Huge pool+Mobile IPs+Detailed targeting optionsReasons to avoid-Complex pricing mechanismThe first that strikes you about Bright Data (formerly Luminati) is its huge proxy pool of over 72 millions IPs. The service offers all kinds of proxies. In addition to rotating residential IPs, the service also offers static ones, which are a group of 6 to 100 residential addresses for your exclusive use that haven’t been previously used with your target domain. Bright Data also sells mobile IPs that cost more than the usual residential IPs but are more resilient and will work on particularly difficult to please you have very specific targeting requirements, you’ll appreciate Bright Data’s support for ASN (Autonomous System Number) in addition to the usual targeting options such as country, state, and use its proxies, you can use the Proxy Manager, which is an open source tool that can be installed on top of Windows, macOS and Linux for free. The Proxy Manager can help you define rules for IP rotation, blacklist IPs that give bad results, optimize bandwidth usage by routing some requests through your regular non-proxied connection, and Data’s residential proxies support all the main protocols including HTTP, HTTPS and even SOCKS5. The service also has a comprehensive support infrastructure with multiple avenues of help including video tutorials and ever, all the features and dexterity comes at a price. While the service advertises a base rate for all types of proxies, specifying additional parameters such as the targeting levels has an effect on the final cost of the proxy. The service also has multiple payment plans to accommodate different users. In addition to the standard monthly subscriptions, Bright Data also offers a pay-as-you-go plan. The plans are on average more expensive than many of its peers, but will seem reasonable particularly to large scale proxy users and those with very specific our full Bright Data review. (Image credit: RSocks)3. RSocksAll kinds of proxies in easily consumable plansSpecificationsCoverage: LimitedIP addresses: Over 3 millionReasons to buy+Unlimited bandwidth+Single-day packages+Mobile IPsReasons to avoid-Limited geotargetingRSocks offers residential, data center and even mobile IPs. You can either share its list of over 3 million proxies with other users or get some for your exclusive use. One of the best features of the service is that it doesn’t restrict the amount of bandwidth on any of its plans. As long as the plan is valid, you can continue to use the proxies. RSocks also allows users to run upto 500 concurrent threads on many of the plans. To top it all, the proxy provider supports all the popular protocols including HTTP, HTTPS, and also offers separate plans for mobile IPs. You can buy these mobile proxies from 10 countries and can even specify a specific city and even a provider for some of them. The service updates its list of proxies automatically and the duration depends upon the plan, Some proxies are rotated every 5 minutes, others hourly, and some every 2 hours. The number of new proxies after every update also varies from one plan to the other. The important thing to note however is that you don’t get the option to rotate the proxies manually from inside the of the RSocks’ unique features is the ability to pause proxies, when not in use, to elongate their expiry. But the number of such pauses are limited, so you’ll have to use them judiciously. While it doesn’t offer any browser add-ons, RSocks has a cross-platform proxy checker tool that’ll be useful for sorting through the list of shared proxies. The tool can help you find the most useful proxies that’ll work best for you based on parameters like their location, speed, and their presence in popular spam databases. Also, unlike most of its peers, RSocks has about three dozen pricing plans for its various proxies. That’s because instead of creating plans based on limitations, such as bandwidth or the number of IPs, RSocks, has created separate plans based around individual parameters. Read our full RSocks review. (Image credit: Oxylabs)4. OxylabsHas its own web scraperSpecificationsCoverage: All countries and citiesIP addresses: Over 70 millionReasons to buy+Large proxy pool+SOCKS5 support, albeit limitedReasons to avoid-No separate mobile IPsOxylabs has an extensive network of over 70 million residential proxies that cover all the countries and cities in the world. In addition to the country and city you can also target proxies based on the ASN (autonomous system number). However these residential IPs use backconnect gateway servers and you’ll have to manually modify this address to add parameters for targeting information. Oxylabs claims that their residential proxies include mobile IPs as well, but the service provider doesn’t give you the option to choose them specifically for your tasks. These residential proxies rotate IPs at every request to ensure the target cannot block you. The proxy provider also offers static non-rotating residential proxies that it procures straight from ISPs. Oxylabs claims these give you the best of both data center and residential proxies, in terms of speed and resilience. Also these static ones support the SOCKS5 protocol, unlike the standard rotating ones that don’ pool of over 2 million data center IPs that aren’t shared but dedicated for your exclusive use, also support the SOCKS5 protocol. These also offer a proxy rotator add-on to automatically rotate the data center IPs. The one unique offering in oxylabs portfolio is the next-gen residential proxy that employs machine learning and AI to more successfully mimic a regular user’s browsing behavior and work around blocks and captchas. Oxylabs also has a web scraping tool of its own called Real-Time Crawler that’ll fetch the data for you in either HTML or JSON format. The service has tiered plans that get more cost effective as you increase your our full Oxylabs review. (Image credit: Storm Proxies)5. Storm Proxies Good for sneaker copping and individual scrapersSpecificationsCoverage: US & EUIP addresses: About 70, 000Reasons to buy+Quite cheap+No bandwidth capsReasons to avoid-Small proxy pool-Minimal geotargeting-No SOCKS5Storm Proxies is designed for individual and small time proxy users that will happily trade many of the features you get with some of the proxy heavyweight for affordable pricing plans. The service provider offers rotating residential proxies, private dedicated proxies which offer data center IPs, and backconnect rotating proxies which have a mix of data center and residential IPs. The best thing about Storm Proxies is that all its proxies come with unlimited bandwidth. Instead its private dedicated proxies limit accounts on the number of IPs, the backconnect rotating proxies bases plans on the number of simultaneous connections, while the rotating residential proxies with prices based on the number of ports. Each port is capable of running up to 50 simultaneous Proxies also doesn’t shy away from accepting the limitations of its proxies, which it clearly states for each of its supported proxy backconnect rotating proxies come from a pool of 70, 000 IPs and only allow you to choose between three broad regions namely US, EU, and worldwide. These are backconnect proxies that are served via different gateways, each with its separate rotating time. The 5-minute rotating residential proxies come from an even smaller pool of around 40, 000 IPs. They only cover the US and EU locations and don’t allow you to choose which countries or cities you want to target. There are several plans for each of the different types of proxies, but rest assured they are cheaper than most of the other proxy services. Read our full Storm Proxies free proxy servers(Image credit: Hidester)1. HidesterEasily masquerade your browsing sessionsReasons to buy+Doesn’t keep logs+Useful privacy controlReasons to avoid-No extensions for FirefoxIf you want to bypass geo-blocks and avoid being snooped, you can use Hidester’s proxy service to browse the web anonymously. Hidester doesn’t require any signup nor do you need to install any software. Just head to the website, from your desktop or your mobile device and enter the URL you want to visit in the space provided. By default it routes your request through US-based servers, but you also get the option to switch to European servers. Hidester also has a number of options to further ensure your privacy. By default it will encrypt URLs, and remove scripts. It does allow cookies by default, but you have the option to even turn that off though that’ll ruin your browsing experience. You can however choose to clear your cookies when closing the proxy session using the helpful Hidester bar at the top of the page. You can even change the browser’s referrer string from a pull-down list of preset values in the top service claims it doesn’t keep any logs of your visits and assures that they are in full control of their servers with no third party IP proxy our full Hidester review. (Image credit: VPNBook)2. VPNBookSpeedy, anonymous proxy serviceReasons to buy+Extremely fast performance+Blocks adverts and other nuisances+Clear logging policyIn addition to its titular virtual private network, VPNBook provides a free SSL-encrypted web proxy for a spot of anonymous browsing. Take your pick from proxy servers based in the US, UK, France, or Canada, or let the proxy pick one at random. In our tests, VPNBook was extremely fast, and its address bar/banner was unobtrusive. It also blocked ads and some scripted elements from web pages, which can be beneficial for privacy (though we’d appreciate being given a choice), and it supports HTTPS that VPNBook keeps web logs, which it can use to report illegal activity, but these are deleted automatically after a week. It’s not perfect, but VPNBook’s speed, convenience and clear policy on logging make it our pick for the best free web proxy. Read our full VPNBook review. (Image credit:)3. fastest free proxy serverReasons to buy+Fast proxy+Browser extensionsReasons to avoid-Pop up advertises itself as the fastest free proxy server, due to not keeping their own logs in order to help speed up the service. Whether that title is deserved or not it’s still a decent free proxy you should consider using. You can use it directly through the website, or alternatively use the Firefox or Chrome browser extensions to use the service. The service only has proxies in Europe, specifically in the Netherlands, Germany, and Finland. Also while it does give you various privacy enhancing options like the ability to encrypt URL and pages, you don’t get these options while you are visiting a some of the other free services, displays annoying pop-up adverts for their paid-for VPN service. If you can live with that then you should probably be fine using our full review. (Image credit: KProxy)4. KProxyKProxy is fast and free, with a portable browserReasons to buy+Dead easy to set up+Comes built into a portable version of FirefoxReasons to avoid-Some restrictions on usageKProxy offers a browser-based service, an extension for Chrome or Firefox, and a portable version of Firefox available with the extension already installed – a nice touch that lets you use the proxy on PCs at school, university or is a piece of cake – once the extension is installed, pick a remote server (the free version offers several options in Montreal and Munich) and click ‘Connect’. Secure HTTPS connections are service does have some limitations: you can only browse freely for three hours at a stretch, or until you’ve reached your 300MB data cap. Once you hit this limit, you might see a tab prompting you to purchase a premium account, but this isn’t mandatory – you can reconnect again free after taking a breather for 30 it comes to KProxy’s privacy policy, the firm notes: “You also understand that despite our best efforts this service may not provide a 100% guarantee of privacy and anonymity. In accordance with our privacy policy, KProxy reserves the right to turn over the IP addresses of users who abuse our system either to the appropriate legal authorities, or to those against whom abuse has been perpetrated. ”(Image credit: Hide My Ass)5. Hide My AssOffers multiple way to protect your posterior onlineReasons to buy+City-specific servers+Can encrypt URLsReasons to avoid-Confirms before loading websiteHide My Ass offers a free web proxy service that’s very handy when you want to browse privately, but don’t have time or permission to download additional software or browser extensions. There are limitations – the premium software offers faster speeds, more secure encryption, and active malware protection – but for a quick bit of browsing, it’s a good My Ass’s free proxy masks your identity and IP address. It is one of the few services that allows you to select specific cities instead of just countries to route your requests through. The free service supports servers in New York City, Seattle, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, and Prague. Hide My Ass’s web proxy service collects log files, which include your IP address, the URLs you visit, which pages and files you viewed, and when. It stores this data for 30 days – a policy that pushed it down our list of our full Hide My Ass following section was authored Cerniauskas, CEO of OxylabsWhat is a proxy? A proxy is an intermediary between the user and the web that adds an additional layer that connects to any website. Proxies have their own IP addresses, so the website the user is visiting will only see this proxy IP address.
In terms of origin, there are two types of proxies, data centre and residential:
A data center proxy is a private proxy that is not affiliated with an ISP because it comes from a secondary corporation and provides a private IP authentication, high-level anonymity and rapid data request response times. Usually, data center proxies are used for infrastructure, such as servers and web hosting.
A residential proxy is an intermediary using an IP address attached to a physical location provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to a homeowner. It is a genuine IP address that can be used to imitate organic users are proxies used for? As mentioned before, individuals and businesses widely use proxies. Let’s explore the reasons behind it.
Personal use A proxy used for a personal case will be attached to a particular location. This can enable certain access to geo-blocked content. For example, consumers can browse and purchase flights from locations that offer the most advantageous prices.
Secondly, proxies can optimize user’s web activity and improve security levels by encrypting requests.
Business use In most cases, businesses use proxies to gain advantage over competitors by gathering insightful information. The proxy gives them the ability to extract and process large amounts of publicly available data on competitor prices, products, services, reviews or even market trends that can accelerate businesses in their decision-making process regarding adapting marketing, sales and pricing strategies.
Such information would be impossible to extract without proxies in place due to recurring blocks. When data gathering is in progress, a large number of requests are made to a web server.
The difficulty arises when these requests come from the same IP address because websites identify this activity as suspicious and block the IP address for security reasons. Proxies prevent this as IP addresses can be constantly changed if rotating proxies or a proxy rotator is used. This way data gathering can continue to take place anonymously and efficiently.
In addition to data gathering, many businesses use proxies for email security as there are huge amounts of emails that contain malware attachments, ransomware or suspicious URLs. Proxies help to scan each inbound email and filter out malicious content.
Another common use case is brand protection, as proxies are employed to scan the web searching for stolen content or counterfeit is the difference between paid proxies and free proxies? With a free proxy you can access almost every proxy benefit, which is great until something goes wrong. Utilizing such services means that no one is responsible for technical faults, which happen to be a common occurrence in this case.
It is not easy to find a free, long-life proxy as they quickly become outdated and the providers usually turn into paid ones or disappear over time. Furthermore, using free proxies can pose a serious threat because you never know if your data is secure and you may run the risk of falling victim identity theft.
Paid proxies are responsible for their services, with contracts and agreements in place to protect the user. For businesses, there is no other option but to pay for a dedicated proxy service and avoid any potential security issues. If you choose a reliable proxy provider, you should not need to worry about servers crashing or disappearing for no reason as many will offer dedicated account support.
A reliable proxy provider will also have ethically sourced proxies. Deciding what proxy provider to choose is not an easy task as there are many criteria to consider, but we have singled out a few key points:
Reliability: 24/7 customer support and account managers, service trials and a money-back guarantee are must-haves for a reliable proxy provider. Pay attention to client reviews as well
IP pool size and location: IP pool size and location variety are critical for those who will be scraping large amounts of data from various countries
Success rates and speed: a reliable proxy network success rate should be at least 90%, with the best providers guaranteeing 95% or higher
Integration and support: proxy providers must ensure their documentation is clear and understandable, including integration tutorials and clear instructions
The future of proxiesBusinesses mostly use proxies for large-scale data gathering and extraction, but this is not an easy process. It consists of many complex tasks, especially when anti-data gathering measures are becoming more sophisticated and making it harder to collect publicly available information without being blocked. To address this, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) innovations are gradually being applied. Ultimately, proxies are extremely valuable solutions for both individuals and businesses that need to make accurate data-driven decisions. For individuals, proxies can help to access geo-blocked content, improve security levels, and optimise a web activity. For businesses, not only will they provide an extra layer of security, but they are quickly becoming an indispensable tool to gather publicly available information.
Best proxy of 2021: free and paid services | TechRadar
Home
Best
Computing
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
The best proxy service providers allow an easy option to protect your privacy online. Effectively, a proxy serves as a gateway between you and the internet, so when using a proxy server the details of the websites you visit and other online history is saved to that server, rather than to your allows for a degree of anonymous surfing, with the caveat that proxy servers will often save at least some details. This means a full investigation of the server records may make it possible to personally identify ever, this is unlikely to be a problem for most people, and proxy servers otherwise provide a useful if basic way to avoid the extensive advertiser tracking and routine privacy intrusions that are now commonplace note that a lot of proxy server providers also provide paid-for VPN services, because VPN (Virtual Private Network) can offer better security and privacy than a proxy service alone. In which case, it may be worth considering getting a free VPN or pay for one of the best premium services instead. If you’re not sure whether a proxy server will be better, check out our guide Proxy servers vs VPN: Why VPNs are better. In the meantime, here we’ll feature the best proxy services, free and paid-for, which will overlap with some VPN services. Exclusive discount specialGet an exclusive discount with SmartProxy, active for three Residential Proxies Micro, Starter and Regular plans. With this discount, you will save 15% from the overall Deal(Image credit: Smartproxy)1. SmartproxyAffordable proxies for most use casesSpecificationsCoverage: Over 195 locations IP addresses: over 40 millionReasons to buy+Unlimited threads+Browser extensions+Mobile IPsReasons to avoid-Restricted geotargetingYou can get both residential and data center proxies from Smartproxy. Its pool of over 40 million rotating residential IPs comes from desktop and mobile devices and is shared between all the users. While this can be disadvantageous as you can get flagged IPs, the provider ensures its quick rotation policy ensures its proxies don’t get banned. Smartproxy limits plans by bandwidth but allows you to run an unlimited number of concurrent threads. You can select the proxy you want to use from a list of backconnect gateway servers in your dashboard. By default, Smartproxy displays all the different gateways for the countries and cities that it supports. You can however filter down the proxies based on a couple of useful parameters such as the location, and the type of session (rotating or sticky). Depending on these, the dashboard will show the appropriate proxy gateway that you can then use in your apps and you plan to use the proxy to browse the web, Smartproxy also has extensions for both Chrome and Firefox. You can use the extension to again narrow down the location and type of proxy you want and even choose the authentication our full Smartproxy review. (Image credit: Bright Data)2. Bright DataExpensive but feature richSpecificationsCoverage: All countries and citiesIP addresses: Over 72 millionReasons to buy+Huge pool+Mobile IPs+Detailed targeting optionsReasons to avoid-Complex pricing mechanismThe first that strikes you about Bright Data (formerly Luminati) is its huge proxy pool of over 72 millions IPs. The service offers all kinds of proxies. In addition to rotating residential IPs, the service also offers static ones, which are a group of 6 to 100 residential addresses for your exclusive use that haven’t been previously used with your target domain. Bright Data also sells mobile IPs that cost more than the usual residential IPs but are more resilient and will work on particularly difficult to please you have very specific targeting requirements, you’ll appreciate Bright Data’s support for ASN (Autonomous System Number) in addition to the usual targeting options such as country, state, and use its proxies, you can use the Proxy Manager, which is an open source tool that can be installed on top of Windows, macOS and Linux for free. The Proxy Manager can help you define rules for IP rotation, blacklist IPs that give bad results, optimize bandwidth usage by routing some requests through your regular non-proxied connection, and Data’s residential proxies support all the main protocols including HTTP, HTTPS and even SOCKS5. The service also has a comprehensive support infrastructure with multiple avenues of help including video tutorials and ever, all the features and dexterity comes at a price. While the service advertises a base rate for all types of proxies, specifying additional parameters such as the targeting levels has an effect on the final cost of the proxy. The service also has multiple payment plans to accommodate different users. In addition to the standard monthly subscriptions, Bright Data also offers a pay-as-you-go plan. The plans are on average more expensive than many of its peers, but will seem reasonable particularly to large scale proxy users and those with very specific our full Bright Data review. (Image credit: RSocks)3. RSocksAll kinds of proxies in easily consumable plansSpecificationsCoverage: LimitedIP addresses: Over 3 millionReasons to buy+Unlimited bandwidth+Single-day packages+Mobile IPsReasons to avoid-Limited geotargetingRSocks offers residential, data center and even mobile IPs. You can either share its list of over 3 million proxies with other users or get some for your exclusive use. One of the best features of the service is that it doesn’t restrict the amount of bandwidth on any of its plans. As long as the plan is valid, you can continue to use the proxies. RSocks also allows users to run upto 500 concurrent threads on many of the plans. To top it all, the proxy provider supports all the popular protocols including HTTP, HTTPS, and also offers separate plans for mobile IPs. You can buy these mobile proxies from 10 countries and can even specify a specific city and even a provider for some of them. The service updates its list of proxies automatically and the duration depends upon the plan, Some proxies are rotated every 5 minutes, others hourly, and some every 2 hours. The number of new proxies after every update also varies from one plan to the other. The important thing to note however is that you don’t get the option to rotate the proxies manually from inside the of the RSocks’ unique features is the ability to pause proxies, when not in use, to elongate their expiry. But the number of such pauses are limited, so you’ll have to use them judiciously. While it doesn’t offer any browser add-ons, RSocks has a cross-platform proxy checker tool that’ll be useful for sorting through the list of shared proxies. The tool can help you find the most useful proxies that’ll work best for you based on parameters like their location, speed, and their presence in popular spam databases. Also, unlike most of its peers, RSocks has about three dozen pricing plans for its various proxies. That’s because instead of creating plans based on limitations, such as bandwidth or the number of IPs, RSocks, has created separate plans based around individual parameters. Read our full RSocks review. (Image credit: Oxylabs)4. OxylabsHas its own web scraperSpecificationsCoverage: All countries and citiesIP addresses: Over 70 millionReasons to buy+Large proxy pool+SOCKS5 support, albeit limitedReasons to avoid-No separate mobile IPsOxylabs has an extensive network of over 70 million residential proxies that cover all the countries and cities in the world. In addition to the country and city you can also target proxies based on the ASN (autonomous system number). However these residential IPs use backconnect gateway servers and you’ll have to manually modify this address to add parameters for targeting information. Oxylabs claims that their residential proxies include mobile IPs as well, but the service provider doesn’t give you the option to choose them specifically for your tasks. These residential proxies rotate IPs at every request to ensure the target cannot block you. The proxy provider also offers static non-rotating residential proxies that it procures straight from ISPs. Oxylabs claims these give you the best of both data center and residential proxies, in terms of speed and resilience. Also these static ones support the SOCKS5 protocol, unlike the standard rotating ones that don’ pool of over 2 million data center IPs that aren’t shared but dedicated for your exclusive use, also support the SOCKS5 protocol. These also offer a proxy rotator add-on to automatically rotate the data center IPs. The one unique offering in oxylabs portfolio is the next-gen residential proxy that employs machine learning and AI to more successfully mimic a regular user’s browsing behavior and work around blocks and captchas. Oxylabs also has a web scraping tool of its own called Real-Time Crawler that’ll fetch the data for you in either HTML or JSON format. The service has tiered plans that get more cost effective as you increase your our full Oxylabs review. (Image credit: Storm Proxies)5. Storm Proxies Good for sneaker copping and individual scrapersSpecificationsCoverage: US & EUIP addresses: About 70, 000Reasons to buy+Quite cheap+No bandwidth capsReasons to avoid-Small proxy pool-Minimal geotargeting-No SOCKS5Storm Proxies is designed for individual and small time proxy users that will happily trade many of the features you get with some of the proxy heavyweight for affordable pricing plans. The service provider offers rotating residential proxies, private dedicated proxies which offer data center IPs, and backconnect rotating proxies which have a mix of data center and residential IPs. The best thing about Storm Proxies is that all its proxies come with unlimited bandwidth. Instead its private dedicated proxies limit accounts on the number of IPs, the backconnect rotating proxies bases plans on the number of simultaneous connections, while the rotating residential proxies with prices based on the number of ports. Each port is capable of running up to 50 simultaneous Proxies also doesn’t shy away from accepting the limitations of its proxies, which it clearly states for each of its supported proxy backconnect rotating proxies come from a pool of 70, 000 IPs and only allow you to choose between three broad regions namely US, EU, and worldwide. These are backconnect proxies that are served via different gateways, each with its separate rotating time. The 5-minute rotating residential proxies come from an even smaller pool of around 40, 000 IPs. They only cover the US and EU locations and don’t allow you to choose which countries or cities you want to target. There are several plans for each of the different types of proxies, but rest assured they are cheaper than most of the other proxy services. Read our full Storm Proxies free proxy servers(Image credit: Hidester)1. HidesterEasily masquerade your browsing sessionsReasons to buy+Doesn’t keep logs+Useful privacy controlReasons to avoid-No extensions for FirefoxIf you want to bypass geo-blocks and avoid being snooped, you can use Hidester’s proxy service to browse the web anonymously. Hidester doesn’t require any signup nor do you need to install any software. Just head to the website, from your desktop or your mobile device and enter the URL you want to visit in the space provided. By default it routes your request through US-based servers, but you also get the option to switch to European servers. Hidester also has a number of options to further ensure your privacy. By default it will encrypt URLs, and remove scripts. It does allow cookies by default, but you have the option to even turn that off though that’ll ruin your browsing experience. You can however choose to clear your cookies when closing the proxy session using the helpful Hidester bar at the top of the page. You can even change the browser’s referrer string from a pull-down list of preset values in the top service claims it doesn’t keep any logs of your visits and assures that they are in full control of their servers with no third party IP proxy our full Hidester review. (Image credit: VPNBook)2. VPNBookSpeedy, anonymous proxy serviceReasons to buy+Extremely fast performance+Blocks adverts and other nuisances+Clear logging policyIn addition to its titular virtual private network, VPNBook provides a free SSL-encrypted web proxy for a spot of anonymous browsing. Take your pick from proxy servers based in the US, UK, France, or Canada, or let the proxy pick one at random. In our tests, VPNBook was extremely fast, and its address bar/banner was unobtrusive. It also blocked ads and some scripted elements from web pages, which can be beneficial for privacy (though we’d appreciate being given a choice), and it supports HTTPS that VPNBook keeps web logs, which it can use to report illegal activity, but these are deleted automatically after a week. It’s not perfect, but VPNBook’s speed, convenience and clear policy on logging make it our pick for the best free web proxy. Read our full VPNBook review. (Image credit:)3. fastest free proxy serverReasons to buy+Fast proxy+Browser extensionsReasons to avoid-Pop up advertises itself as the fastest free proxy server, due to not keeping their own logs in order to help speed up the service. Whether that title is deserved or not it’s still a decent free proxy you should consider using. You can use it directly through the website, or alternatively use the Firefox or Chrome browser extensions to use the service. The service only has proxies in Europe, specifically in the Netherlands, Germany, and Finland. Also while it does give you various privacy enhancing options like the ability to encrypt URL and pages, you don’t get these options while you are visiting a some of the other free services, displays annoying pop-up adverts for their paid-for VPN service. If you can live with that then you should probably be fine using our full review. (Image credit: KProxy)4. KProxyKProxy is fast and free, with a portable browserReasons to buy+Dead easy to set up+Comes built into a portable version of FirefoxReasons to avoid-Some restrictions on usageKProxy offers a browser-based service, an extension for Chrome or Firefox, and a portable version of Firefox available with the extension already installed – a nice touch that lets you use the proxy on PCs at school, university or is a piece of cake – once the extension is installed, pick a remote server (the free version offers several options in Montreal and Munich) and click ‘Connect’. Secure HTTPS connections are service does have some limitations: you can only browse freely for three hours at a stretch, or until you’ve reached your 300MB data cap. Once you hit this limit, you might see a tab prompting you to purchase a premium account, but this isn’t mandatory – you can reconnect again free after taking a breather for 30 it comes to KProxy’s privacy policy, the firm notes: “You also understand that despite our best efforts this service may not provide a 100% guarantee of privacy and anonymity. In accordance with our privacy policy, KProxy reserves the right to turn over the IP addresses of users who abuse our system either to the appropriate legal authorities, or to those against whom abuse has been perpetrated. ”(Image credit: Hide My Ass)5. Hide My AssOffers multiple way to protect your posterior onlineReasons to buy+City-specific servers+Can encrypt URLsReasons to avoid-Confirms before loading websiteHide My Ass offers a free web proxy service that’s very handy when you want to browse privately, but don’t have time or permission to download additional software or browser extensions. There are limitations – the premium software offers faster speeds, more secure encryption, and active malware protection – but for a quick bit of browsing, it’s a good My Ass’s free proxy masks your identity and IP address. It is one of the few services that allows you to select specific cities instead of just countries to route your requests through. The free service supports servers in New York City, Seattle, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, and Prague. Hide My Ass’s web proxy service collects log files, which include your IP address, the URLs you visit, which pages and files you viewed, and when. It stores this data for 30 days – a policy that pushed it down our list of our full Hide My Ass following section was authored Cerniauskas, CEO of OxylabsWhat is a proxy? A proxy is an intermediary between the user and the web that adds an additional layer that connects to any website. Proxies have their own IP addresses, so the website the user is visiting will only see this proxy IP address.
In terms of origin, there are two types of proxies, data centre and residential:
A data center proxy is a private proxy that is not affiliated with an ISP because it comes from a secondary corporation and provides a private IP authentication, high-level anonymity and rapid data request response times. Usually, data center proxies are used for infrastructure, such as servers and web hosting.
A residential proxy is an intermediary using an IP address attached to a physical location provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to a homeowner. It is a genuine IP address that can be used to imitate organic users are proxies used for? As mentioned before, individuals and businesses widely use proxies. Let’s explore the reasons behind it.
Personal use A proxy used for a personal case will be attached to a particular location. This can enable certain access to geo-blocked content. For example, consumers can browse and purchase flights from locations that offer the most advantageous prices.
Secondly, proxies can optimize user’s web activity and improve security levels by encrypting requests.
Business use In most cases, businesses use proxies to gain advantage over competitors by gathering insightful information. The proxy gives them the ability to extract and process large amounts of publicly available data on competitor prices, products, services, reviews or even market trends that can accelerate businesses in their decision-making process regarding adapting marketing, sales and pricing strategies.
Such information would be impossible to extract without proxies in place due to recurring blocks. When data gathering is in progress, a large number of requests are made to a web server.
The difficulty arises when these requests come from the same IP address because websites identify this activity as suspicious and block the IP address for security reasons. Proxies prevent this as IP addresses can be constantly changed if rotating proxies or a proxy rotator is used. This way data gathering can continue to take place anonymously and efficiently.
In addition to data gathering, many businesses use proxies for email security as there are huge amounts of emails that contain malware attachments, ransomware or suspicious URLs. Proxies help to scan each inbound email and filter out malicious content.
Another common use case is brand protection, as proxies are employed to scan the web searching for stolen content or counterfeit is the difference between paid proxies and free proxies? With a free proxy you can access almost every proxy benefit, which is great until something goes wrong. Utilizing such services means that no one is responsible for technical faults, which happen to be a common occurrence in this case.
It is not easy to find a free, long-life proxy as they quickly become outdated and the providers usually turn into paid ones or disappear over time. Furthermore, using free proxies can pose a serious threat because you never know if your data is secure and you may run the risk of falling victim identity theft.
Paid proxies are responsible for their services, with contracts and agreements in place to protect the user. For businesses, there is no other option but to pay for a dedicated proxy service and avoid any potential security issues. If you choose a reliable proxy provider, you should not need to worry about servers crashing or disappearing for no reason as many will offer dedicated account support.
A reliable proxy provider will also have ethically sourced proxies. Deciding what proxy provider to choose is not an easy task as there are many criteria to consider, but we have singled out a few key points:
Reliability: 24/7 customer support and account managers, service trials and a money-back guarantee are must-haves for a reliable proxy provider. Pay attention to client reviews as well
IP pool size and location: IP pool size and location variety are critical for those who will be scraping large amounts of data from various countries
Success rates and speed: a reliable proxy network success rate should be at least 90%, with the best providers guaranteeing 95% or higher
Integration and support: proxy providers must ensure their documentation is clear and understandable, including integration tutorials and clear instructions
The future of proxiesBusinesses mostly use proxies for large-scale data gathering and extraction, but this is not an easy process. It consists of many complex tasks, especially when anti-data gathering measures are becoming more sophisticated and making it harder to collect publicly available information without being blocked. To address this, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) innovations are gradually being applied. Ultimately, proxies are extremely valuable solutions for both individuals and businesses that need to make accurate data-driven decisions. For individuals, proxies can help to access geo-blocked content, improve security levels, and optimise a web activity. For businesses, not only will they provide an extra layer of security, but they are quickly becoming an indispensable tool to gather publicly available information.
Top 10 the Best proxy service providers of 2021 – GoLogin
Today, proxy servers’ topic is very relevant and covers a wide variety of industries, structures, and corporations. People are looking for the best proxy services for affiliate programs, personal privacy, and other purposes. This article will describe in detail what a proxy server is in simple terms, why you need it, and how it works. We have also prepared a selection of the best proxy services and promotional codes for them! What is a proxy server? Proxy-server is a service (software) that runs on a network and allows one computer to make requests to another on its own behalf. Thus, the proxy server acts as an intermediary between the client (for example, your computer) and the service (for example, some Internet site) that the client requests access to. The following illustration schematically shows direct data exchange processes and data exchange using a proxy server between two computers on the network. Why do we need proxy servers? Today, proxy servers are mainly used to hide or change the IP address when accessing a website. There can be many reasons to do this. Let’s consider the most common ones. Anonymous access to websites. Anonymous, elite and distorting proxy servers can be used for anonymous web surfing, downloading files, chatting on forums, e-mail, and instant messaging services without disclosing your IP access a site that limits the number of connections or requests per unit of time. Many file-sharing services limit the number of downloads from one IP address per unit of time. Considering that many users have dynamic IPs, a situation may arise when someone who occupied the IP address given to you has previously exhausted the service’s download limit. Using a proxy server will help to fix the situation. Likewise, proxies can help solve the problem of using services that limit the number of requestsChecking access to the site from around the world. Using a proxy, you can connect to the site to check its availability from different countries of the world or Internet providers and passing online locks. Using a proxy server, you can access a website that cannot be accessed directly due to any network problems or some blockage. For example, if the user’s IP, or even all the country’s IPs are blocked in this service. It will also help if the user’s ISP denies access to the site. For example, in China, access to some popular Internet services is blocked, such as Instagram, Gmail, Twitter, etc. However, Internet users in China can access them using proxy servers located outside of China. Proxy types There are several types of proxy servers, each of which has its characteristics. HTTP Proxy As the name suggests, this type of proxy only supports the HTTP protocol and is suitable for browsing the web and downloading files from web services running on the standard TCP port 80. HTTP proxies are not suitable for browsing a site that only works over the secure SSL protocol. HTTP proxies cannot be chained. From the point of view of ensuring anonymity, depending on the content of the sent HTTP headers, proxy servers of this type are divided into: Highly anonymous (elite) proxies. Highly anonymous proxy servers do not embed client and proxy information in HTTP headers. Thus, the server will not be able to determine the client’s real IP address and the fact that the client is using a proxy server in general. Highly anonymous proxies provide the highest level of anonymity;Anonymous proxies. Anonymous proxy servers transmit information in the HTTP headers indicating that the client uses a proxy server (for example, the name and version of the proxy server software) but do not transmit the client’s IP address. Thus, the server will be able to determine that the client is using a proxy but will not determine the client’s real IP address. Anonymous proxy servers provide a good level of anonymity;Distorting proxies. Distorting proxy servers transmit the client’s IP address in the HTTP headers in a distorted form. For example, they show only a part of it. Thus, the server will find out that the client is using a proxy and part of the client’s real IP address, which may be enough to determine some data about the client, such as the client’s ISP and its country and city. Distorting proxies provide a minimum level of anonymity;Transparent proxies. Transparent proxies add an HTTP header with the client’s real IP address, so the server can determine that the client is using the proxy and the client’s real IP address. Transparent proxies do not provide anonymity. HTTPS (CONNECT) Proxy Proxies of this type support the HTTP CONNECT method, which enables HTTP tunneling. In this process, the high layer protocol (HTTP) is used to transport the lower layer protocol (TCP). These proxies can connect to any port. Therefore, proxies of this type can work with almost any network application (TCP), including web servers over the secure SSL protocol. Consequently, they are called “HTTPS proxies”. HTTP tunneling ensures the anonymity of HTTPS proxies and allows them to work in a chain. SOCKS proxy Almost any network application can work through the SOCKS proxy. For example, you can use a SOCKS proxy to work with your mail client (POP3, SMTP, IMAP protocols). Another distinctive feature of SOCKS proxies is that you can use several SOCKS proxies in a chain at once, increasing your anonymity level. SOCKS proxies are always anonymous since they operate on a low-level protocol and do not update HTTP headers. There are three versions of the protocol: SOCKS4, SOCKS4a, and SOCKS5. The most functional is SOCKS5. It allows you to perform DNS queries on the proxy server side, use the UDP protocol and the BIND method, opening a port for incoming connections. Web proxy (anonymizers) A web proxy, also known as “Anonymizer” or “CGI proxy “, is a web page that a user can use to visit another website, in most cases anonymously. Web proxies are easy to use as there is no need to change browser settings. Most web proxies support working with sites over the secure SSL protocol. Web proxies can be used in a chain. Proxy types by access restriction From the point of view of a proxy server user, the fewer people have access to a given proxy, the better. First, the fewer the number of users using a particular proxy, the higher its speed. Secondly, violation of the rules for using any online service by one user will lead to a ban, which will make the proxy unsuitable for further work with this service for all other users. Thus, proxies of all types can be conditionally divided according to the limited access to them. Private proxies As the definition suggests, private proxies are proxies that only one person uses. Therefore, truly private proxies can be called only those installed on equipment that only you have access to, and access to these proxies is limited by IP authorization or login/password. Only in this case, you can be completely sure that these proxies are used only by you. Some services offer proxies “one-handed”, and these proxies will be private for you for the lease duration. However, it would help if you remembered that the quality of work with such proxies might largely depend on who used them yesterday, before you. Private proxies are more expensive on the market than all others, but they provide, perhaps, the most excellent stability and speed of work in comparison with other types of proxies. Shared proxies with limited access The problem of restricting access to a proxy can be solved in different ways. Access to the proxy can be limited by IP binding or by login and password authorization. This solution is most often used by services that own the provided proxy servers. Such proxies have a conditionally unlimited lifetime. This technology has its drawbacks for the user. Firstly, the client does not know what specific IP address it will work with, and, secondly, there will be a sudden change of the IP address every 10-15 minutes. Services that offer such proxies, as a rule, offer thousands, and even tens of thousands of online SOCKS proxies from all over the world to their users, which can be used without restrictions. Public proxies Public proxy lists are uploaded for free on thousands of sites worldwide. They have thousands of proxies, after checking which, depending on the source and date of relevance, about 5% of the list work. Some services collect proxies from free access and regularly check and classify them, providing worklists’ access for a fee. The percentage of working proxies received from such a service is much higher and can reach 80%. Information is money. It is the main reason why your data is at risk. Advertisers are hunting your browser search history – they can significantly benefit from this information. Let’s say you enter “apartment for rent” or “buy an apartment” in the search bar. After seeing your search history, the advertiser will know that you are planning to move soon. It is an excuse to show you advertisements for cargo taxis, furniture, building materials stores, and insurance is perfectly legal. However, fraudsters can also make money on your data. Credit card data is openly traded on the dark web. So it is a great success for a cybercriminal to access an airline’s booking system or an online store’s customer tackers can use any information that you post on the web, which is why it is essential to keep your personal data safe. Let’s look at why online privacy is so important and how you can protect your data. Luminati Proxy types: Data center, Static residential, Residential, Mobile Pricing: 450$ per month Trust Score: 4. 5 IP number: 72, 000, 000+ Geographic coverage: 200+ countries Free Trial: none Promo code: none One of the leaders in the proxy browser services market is Luminati. This company positions itself as the most advanced open source proxy management software that allows you to manage your proxies like a pro without requiring coding. Residential IP proxies were first provided by the Luminati company. All residential IPs known today were collected by Luminati. NetNutWebsite: Proxy types: Residential Pricing: 300$ per month Trust Score: 3. 8 IP number: 5, 000, 000+ Geographic coverage: 50+ countries Free Trial: none Promo code: GLNTNT (-15% discount on all residential proxy plans) NetNut is one of the fastest premium residential proxy browser providers. It uses DiviNetworks’ data delivery services, which makes NetNut’s network much more stable, secure, and efficient for anonymous browser. This is because all traffic is routed through their network with no third-party device required. As a result, there won’t be any bottlenecks, disconnections, or interruptions to the anonymous browsing proxy network. GeoSurfWebsite: Proxy types: Residential Pricing: 450$ per month Trust Score: none IP number: 2, 521, 459 Geographic coverage: 50+ countries Free Trial: none Promo code: GO50LOGIN (-15% for Starter package) GeoSurf is one of the biggest proxy browser providers, with over 2. 5 million IP addresses proxy locations in every country and every city in the world. And their IPs are never detected as proxies! Managers are available to support you at every hour, every day, all year long via phone, email or Skype. SSL Private ProxyWebsite: Proxy types: Private, Shared Pricing: 15$ per month Trust Score: 4. 1 IP number: 120, 000+ Geographic coverage: 7 countries Free Trial: none Promo code: GOLOGIN25OFF (-15% for Starter package) One of the biggest names in the private proxy industry, SSLPrivateProxy offers both cheap shared proxies and virgin ones for anonymous browser. Their extended proxy network is also a great feature if you want to buy geo-specific IPs for classified ads websites or local SEO campaigns. 911 S5 ProxyWebsite: Proxy types: Residential Pricing: $28 Trust Score: none IP number: not stated Geographic coverage: 190+ countries Free Trial: none Promo code: none 911 S5 proxy is a residential proxy network that sends requests via residential IPs. The S5 in the name stands for a Socks5 – meaning the 911 S5 proxies are Socks5 proxies. This anonymous browsing proxy provider has millions of residential IPs in its pool, and the pool gets regularly updated to make sure the clean is devoid of bad IPs. The 911 S5 proxy solution had been developed specifically for Windows users as its proxy client is available only on Windows. Website: Proxy types: Private, Shared Pricing: $0. 1 per month Trust Score: 4. 1 IP number: 10, 000+ Geographic coverage: 12 countries Free Trial: none Promo code: none is a proxy rental service with more than 10 thousand IP addresses from 12 countries. The main product of the provider is IPv4 and IPv6 proxies. All of them can connect via HTTP and SOCKS protocols. The service also provides round-the-clock support and money back within 24 hours after purchase. All proxies are like anonymous browsing software, and logs are not conducted. Proxy-n-VPNWebsite: Proxy types: Private, Shared Pricing: $1. 35 per month Trust Score: 4. 2 IP number: 10, 000+ Geographic coverage: 3 countries Free Trial: none Promo code: none Proxy-N-VPN is one of the leading companies providing anonymous proxies with a high level of security for anonymous browser. The company has been operating since 2012, customer support is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The server speed is 1000 megabits per second, and you can return the funds after the first order within 3 days. OxylabsWebsite: Proxy types: Datacenter, Residential Pricing: $180 per month Trust Score: 4. 9 IP number: 102, 367, 458+ Geographic coverage: 185 countries Free Trial: none Promo code: none Oxylabs is one of the largest providers of residential proxies with more than 100 millions residential IPs spread all over the world. Oxylabs has residential proxies in every country in the world. You may get a proxy from a specific city as they claim to have proxies in almost every major city in the world. PrivateProxyWebsite: Proxy types: Datacenter, Residential Pricing: $9 per month Trust Score: 4. 5 IP number: not stated Geographic coverage: 4 countries Free Trial: 7 days Promo code: GOLOGINAPP (25% discount) is a proxy provider owned and operated by Aqua Networks Limited, a London based IT company which specialises in сloud IT services and anonymous browsing proxy. The company was formed in 2010 and has since served thousands of customers around the world. Due to its affiliation with an IT company, leverages great IP Address resource pools which allow them to provide 100% clean private proxies in many countries around the world for anonymous browser. SmartproxyWebsite: Proxy types: Datacenter, Residential Pricing: $50 per month Trust Score: 4. 5 IP number: 40, 000, 000+ Geographic coverage: 195+ countries Free Trial: 7 days Promo code: none Smartproxy is a trusted proxy provider and doesn’t play around. It offers a top tier anonymous browsing proxy network with the fastest setup available. Chat with the support crew whether it’s 2AM or 2PM, scrape websites, and cop limited edition sneakers with ease. The plans are affordable, the dashboard is intuitive, and the service is open to anyone from an entrepreneur to a booming business. tWebsite: Proxy types: Residential Pricing: $8 per 1 GB Trust Score: 4. 2 IP number: 72. 548 Geographic coverage: 36+ countries Free Trial: none Promo code: gologin (doubles any first deposited amount over $10) is an ambitious start-up project that already established itself on the proxy market. The company provides more than 72. 548 premium static residential proxies all over the world. You may select a geographical location according to your needs along with the opportunity of choosing the ISP. The platform is sophisticated and easy to use. On top of that there’s a special bonus – gives a $3 per 1GB trial and doubles any first deposited amount over $10. FAQ Is it illegal to use a proxy server? It depends on the laws of your country. But usually, if you don’t use proxy servers for illegal activity, you won’t have a problem. Is a proxy server like a VPN? For the user, the difference is that the VPN uses end-to-end encryption, the transmitted data is secure from the entry point to the exit point. A proxy is a less secure technology and should not be used without an anti detect browser. Is a proxy server good or bad? We wrote about all the advantages and disadvantages of different types of proxies. In summary, it is important to note that using only proxies will not provide you with complete anonymity since sites monitor other connection parameters. Therefore, it is necessary to use them with an anti detect browser hiding other proxy servers free? There are both paid and free proxy servers. Usually, the more expensive they are, the more anonymity and convenience they can provide to the is the safest proxy server? The most secure proxies are those that you create yourself on your hardware. In second place are private proxies. Conclusion There are many proxy providers on the market now, and each of them provides different types of proxies. Each of them can be suitable for solving your specific tasks. Not everyone needs expensive private proxies. Sometimes public ones are enough. Therefore, before choosing the type of proxy and provider, start from your tasks. It will help you find the most efficient solution.
Frequently Asked Questions about pay proxy server
What is paid proxy?
Paid proxies are responsible for their services, with contracts and agreements in place to protect the user. For businesses, there is no other option but to pay for a dedicated proxy service and avoid any potential security issues.Aug 12, 2021
Do I have to pay for a proxy server?
There are both paid and free proxy servers. Usually, the more expensive they are, the more anonymity and convenience they can provide to the user.
What is the strongest proxy server?
Best Proxy Server for 2021Smartproxy – Best for individuals.Bright Data – Best for small business.Oxylabs – Best for small and midsize businesses.IPRoyal – Best for residential proxies.Hide.me – Best for streaming.ScraperAPI – Best for running scripts by API.KProxy – Best free proxy.HMA – Best proxy browser.More items…
