The Ultimate Guide to Different Proxy Types

People use proxies for myriad tasks, including browsing anonymously by masking their IP address, accessing geolocation-restricted content, web scraping, and copping sneakers. However, with many proxy types out there, it takes a lot of work to choose the suitable one.

For instance, there are Residential, Datacenter, and ISP proxies in addition to Public, Private, Shared, and Reverse or Forward Proxies. Are you feeling overwhelmed?

Then this article will provide a comprehensive overview of different proxies based on the source of IP, usage, protocol, anonymity level, and direction of traffic flow.

So without further ado, let’s dive into it. But first, let’s begin by describing what a proxy is.

What is a Proxy Server?

A proxy server acts as an intermediary between your computer and the destination website by replacing your IP address with the proxy server’s IP address. So it masks your IP address allowing you to browse the web anonymously. This mechanism is ideal when you need to access location-restricted content and web scraping, preventing the websites from blocking or blacklisting your IP addresses.

So, now you know what a proxy is, let’s dive into different types of them, starting with their origin of IP.

What are Proxy Types Based on the Origin of IP?

There are primarily two proxy types based on how they get their IP address: residential proxies and datacenter proxies. In addition to these main types, there are ISP proxies, and let’s explore deeper into them.

Residential Proxies

Assume you’re a residential owner and have a pool of IP addresses your ISP (Internet Service Provider) provided you. Then you allow other users to access the internet via your collection of IP addresses. As a residential proxy provider, you do not own the proxy in most circumstances. Instead, you rent it in exchange for other services, such as residential VPNs.

So, when users connect to the internet anonymously through residential proxies, the target websites that people are accessing will least likely block them.

Residential proxies are slower than the datacenter proxies, which you’ll learn next. However, residential proxies are widely used to prevent target websites from blocking your IP.

Datacenter Proxies

In contrast, Datacenter proxies originate from data centers in the cloud, such as AWS( Amazon Web Services), Digital Ocean, and Azure Cloud.

The network administrators have connected these servers with optimum speed bandwidth connections and unique software to gain maximum capability. As a result, the datacenter proxies operate at a higher speed with a low ping rate making it the ideal choice for some business activities, including copping sneakers.

Despite such advantages, two significant drawbacks of Datacenter proxies are:

1. Lack of location diversity: If you look at residential proxy providers, they offer diverse locations to choose proxy IPs from. However, Datacenter proxies don’t enjoy such various locations.
2. Narrower anonymity: Since Datacenter proxies originate from data centers, the websites you connect can easily detect them.

ISP Proxies

ISP(Internet Service Provider) proxies are a culmination of residential proxies and datacenter proxies. In other words, they are residential proxies that the cloud data centers host. So you get the benefits of the datacenter and residential proxies in one go. Let’s find out how they operate.

A data center offers a pool of IP addresses at a given time, and many users can share the same IP address. Usually, a proxy client forwards the traffic to a data center, redirecting the traffic to the target web server. A user can also change their IP address based on their needs.

The significant advantages of ISP proxies are:

• High speed
• Network stability
• Legitimate IP addresses that mask your location.

Now you know the proxies based on how they acquire their IP addresses. Up next are the type of proxies based on the protocol type.

What are the Proxy Types based on Protocols?

As you know, protocols are rules that define how two connected devices on the internet communicate securely and comfortably. So, regarding proxies, the protocols state the mandatory traffic rules that should be incorporated when relaying web traffic among the origin and destination devices. Such governing rules include:

• Data packet size
• Security
• Destination management.

Now let’s find out the primary proxy protocol types.

HTTP Proxies

As its name implies, an HTTP proxy utilizes HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) for relaying requests from a client (Web browser) to a web server and vice versa. This type of proxy is famous for sending web requests over the internet.

Advantages of HTTP proxies include:

1. Enhanced Security: HTTP proxies inspect web traffic content and eliminate suspicious traffic to secure you from malicious threat actors.
2. Saves Bandwidth: You’ll save ample bandwidth as HTTP proxies cache the web resources, including web pages and files.
3. Higher Anonymity: The web servers you connect to with HTTP proxies will not block you as it hides your original IP address.

Limitations:

1. Increase in data theft: Caching can also lead to hackers stealing confidential data such as login credentials.
2. Inject ads to unsecured connections: Since many HTTP proxies are free, some providers may infiltrate ads to connections that are not secure.

SSL Proxy & HTTP Proxy

SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer, an extra layer of security on the HTTP protocol to make HTTP proxies to HTTPS. This extra layer ensures that the connection to the client is secure, implying that outsiders can’t intercept the web traffic that the proxy server transmits from the client to the web server and vice versa.

SOCKS Proxies

SOCKS (Socket Secure) proxy server transfers data between the client device and the server by concealing the client’s device identity. It does that through a third-party server(SOCKS proxy server), creating a TCP connection for your device. Because of it, the SOCKS proxies are safer to use than the HTTP proxies.

Two of the most prominent versions are SOCKS4 and SOCKS5. The former doesn’t include any authentication mechanisms, whereas the latter implants more sophisticated features, which makes it more secure.

What are the Private, Public, and Shared Proxies?

These are the proxy types based on usage. You often get proxy IP addresses that multiple users use concurrently, which has negative implications, such as low speed and security threats. So, in contrast, there are other proxy types, such as private proxies dedicated solely to a single user.

Let’s take a look at each of them.

Private Proxy

A Private proxy is dedicated solely to a single user with a private IP address that you don’t share with any other user. Hence, they are more expensive than a shared proxy, with no delays or lags you would encounter when sharing several proxies.

You’ll have complete control of it. The downside is that you could be identifiable to the devices you connect to when you use a single IP address for a prolonged period.

Public Proxy

Many users share freely available public proxies simultaneously at a given time. Despite certain benefits, such as their free availability, ability to gather online data and support for HTTPS and SOCKS5, they pose security threats and are unreliable.

When a user shares a Proxy IP address with another user simultaneously, and if they commit a malicious act, this proxy will be blocked. In addition, certain free proxy providers gather user information and send it to third parties. This results in your data, particularly your IP address, at risk.

Shared Proxies

Shared proxies incur a cost but are cheaper, unlike private proxies. A group of users pays for a shared proxy server and uses the same proxy server primarily for accessing the web anonymously. They’re more secure than public proxies as the users need to sign an agreement with the provider.

Since several users share the same IP address, it is nearly impossible for websites to identify these users.

On the downside, when the number of users increases, there are speed bottlenecks.

What are the 2 Proxy Types Based on Traffic Flow?

As you already know, a proxy sends data back and forth between your device and the target website. So based on where the proxy is set up, which can be either the client or the server side, the traffic can be inbound or outbound. These two proxy types are forward and reverse proxies.

Forward Proxy

A Forward proxy sits between your device and the Internet. So, for instance, when you wish to access a blocked website, the request first goes to the proxy server, which inspects the request, and determines whether to grant access. If the Forward Proxy approves your request, it routes it to the destination by laying a corporate security layer.

You can set up the forward proxy on your network with several users, protecting each device from malicious attacks.

Reverse Proxy

Like the Forward proxies protect client devices, a reverse proxy does the opposite as it protects the servers. A reverse proxy is set up between the public internet and the server. So when a client initiates a request, it travels through the reverse proxy, determining whether to approve or disapprove it.

A reverse proxy enhances the security of the server, and it also improves load balancing if it takes care of multiple servers.

Do all Proxies Provide Anonymity?

When some proxies send your requests to the target web server, they do so with header information about your device. Let’s look at three proxy types based on the level of anonymity they provide to the websites you’re connecting to.

Level 3 — Transparent Proxy

Transparent proxies are the least anonymous proxy type. It’s because when they send the header information, they send your IP address in the HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR header and the proxy’s IP address in HTTP_VIA and REMOTE_ADDR headers. Hence, the websites you connect to will know you are hiding behind a proxy.

People frequently use transparent proxies for monitoring web traffic, filtering, and caching.

Level 2 — Anonymous proxy

Anonymous proxies hide your original IP address. However, they don’t conceal that you’re hiding behind a proxy server. They pass the proxy’s IP address to the HTTP_VIA, HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR, and REMOTE_ADDR.

Since target websites can identify these anonymous proxies, some can block them. In such circumstances, it’s ideal to rotate the proxies.

Level 1 — Elite Proxy

These proxies provide the optimum level of anonymity. Also, they modify the HTTP_VIA and HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR blank, making no room for the target websites to reveal your identity. For the REMOTE_ADDR, they put the proxy’s IP address.

These proxies are great for cumbersome tasks such as sneaker or scraping bots, as the target web server will find it challenging to unmask your true identity.

Conclusion

Now you know the various proxy types, it will ease your decision-making process when selecting the proxies for the task you intend. It’s vital to assess the cons and pros of each proxy type before you arrive at your final decision.

Stay tuned for further articles on proxy types, and select the right proxy type for your requirements.