What Proxy Type is Best For You?

Proxies are intermediary servers that reroute your online activity so you don’t connect with the website you’re browsing. Basically, when you send a request, the proxy service routes that request through its server, assigns a new IP address and connects with the site. But there are many different types of proxies available. How are you supposed to know which one is the best for you? Different types of proxies are best for different situations. Let’s explore these various types of proxies so that you can find one that’s right for you.

Primary Types

While many types of proxy servers are available, we consider three of the most commonly used ones.

Residential

This proxy service links and retrieves its IP address directly from home devices, meaning it’s much more secure than other types. As it uses actual home devices, your IP address is also provided by ISPs, so it’s more difficult for software to pick up that you’re using a proxy.

Besides being more secure and anonymous, this type also provides excellent geo-location services and options like rotating proxies. It’s best to use when you’re web-scraping or implementing other types of automation, or if you need a quality proxy for your web browsing.

Mobile

Mobile proxies use virtual IPs sourced from actual mobile devices. That means it’s connected to mobile carriers and networks, ensuring they’re secure servers and successful proxies. It’s perfect for when you’re managing social media accounts from your phone.

This option also means you can use this proxy on the go as you load it onto your phone. This provides additional protection while you travel and you can even secure your connection when using public WiFi if you have a reliable mobile proxy. Overall, mobile options are close to residential ones, as it uses actual mobile IP addresses.

Datacenter

Datacenter proxies use IP addresses from a data center’s online proxy pool. Online sites are more likely to pick up if you’re using a datacenter proxy, but they’re also generally more affordable. The quality can also vary depending on the type of datacenter you get.

Shared datacenter proxies share their IP pool between various users, so sometimes it might be slower than others due to increased traffic, but it’s the least expensive option. Dedicated datacenter proxies mean only you have access to the IP, and these are generally fast and secure.

Proxy Servers by Protocol

While many other proxy server types exist, we look at the ones by protocol below.

HTTP

This proxy server is the most common type, and it processes one-way requests to websites using the HTTP protocol. However, it’s also not being used as regularly anymore since using the HTTP protocol means the proxy sends the traffic in plain text.

We recommend you avoid HTTP proxies if you’re dealing with sensitive information and instead use it when you want to bypass website restrictions and filtering.

SSL

SSL proxies are also known as HTTPS ones and are by far one of the most secure options. It uses the same TCP concept as SOCKS ones. The SSL protocol encrypts your data, which prevents others from accessing it during the transmission.

There’s no difference between HTTP and SSL proxies except for encryption and security, and it remains a popular one to use. It’s an excellent option for handling sensitive data, like accessing online banking or circumventing geo-restrictions.

SOCKS

SOCKS proxies sometimes send multilayer data like TCS or UDP and send your information without reading it. That means while this proxy service isn’t as secure as SSL encryption, it’s still safer than HTTP ones. Also, since it doesn’t read the data, you can use this proxy server with any traffic type.

As such, it’s an excellent option for gaming, streaming, or even torrenting. It can transmit traffic-intensive data faster when using UDP vs. TCP, which is ideal when you’re completing a time-intensive activity like gaming or torrenting.

FTP

The last one we look at is an FTP proxy server. This type caches and relays the traffic from FTP (File Transfer Protocol) requests. Since it uses the concept of relaying, it allows you to control connections that depend on user authentications and destination and source addresses.

Further, based on the destination or source addresses, this proxy server can limit access to specific file transfer commands. It’s also safe since you can configure it to request user authentication.

As such, it’s perfect for transferring files from one computer to another over the Internet. It can also be helpful when setting up a website and sharing files and data from your computer to the website. As such, this type is best used for internal networks, such as ones used by businesses.

Get the Right Proxy for You

Various proxy server types are available, but not all are equally suitable for each situation. That’s why we looked at the different types and when it’s best to use each type. Have a look at the available proxy service options to find one that works best with your goal.