FoxyProxy setup: a proxy for some sites in Firefox and Chrome

FoxyProxy has been switching browsers between proxies since 2006, and it is still the extension most Firefox users reach for when they want some sites through a proxy and the rest direct. This FoxyProxy setup guide covers adding a proxy with a username and password, patterns that pick which sites use it, checking your exit IP, and the fixes for the sign-in box that will not go away. Screens and labels were checked in September 2026, against version 9.8.

How to set up FoxyProxy with a username and password

Short answer: open FoxyProxy’s Options, go to the Proxies tab, click Add, fill in Hostname, Port, Username and Password, set Type to HTTP, and click Save. Then pick the proxy from the toolbar menu. The long version, with the traps:

1. Install FoxyProxy Standard, not FoxyProxy Basic. Basic hides the patterns, which are the reason to use FoxyProxy at all. The project’s GitHub page, github.com/foxyproxy/browser-extension, links to its store listings for Firefox, Chrome and Edge. Since version 8 it is one code base for all of them.
2. Firefox only: in about:addons, open FoxyProxy and set Run in Private Windows to Allow. Firefox requires it before any extension may touch proxy settings, and FoxyProxy will tell you so if you skip it. On Chrome, turn on Allow in Incognito only if you want the proxy in incognito windows too.
3. Click the FoxyProxy icon, then Options. Go to the Proxies tab and click Add.
4. Give it a Title you will recognise, such as monkey-isp. Put the proxy IP from your dashboard in Hostname and its port in Port.
5. Set Type to HTTP. That describes how the browser talks to the proxy; your https:// sites still travel through an encrypted tunnel the proxy cannot read.
6. Fill in Username and Password. Paste them; a trailing space counts as a wrong password.
7. Click Save. FoxyProxy’s edits are non-destructive, which is a polite way of saying nothing happens until you save.

Now open the toolbar menu and click monkey-isp. Every tab goes through it. FoxyProxy calls that an Individual Proxy, and it is the quickest way to prove the details work before you write any patterns.

FoxyProxy on Chrome vs Firefox: what differs

The same extension, but not the same browser underneath. The differences that matter:

• SOCKS5 with a password works in Firefox only. Firefox’s extension API can hand a SOCKS5 username and password to the browser. Chrome has no SOCKS authentication at all, and FoxyProxy’s own help says so. On Chrome, use type HTTP, or allowlist your IP (below).
• Tab Proxy and Container Proxy are Firefox only. Tab Proxy sets a proxy for the current tab and nothing else, which is handy for a quick one-off check.
• Proxy DNS is a Firefox option, for SOCKS types. It is on by default; leave it on, so the proxy looks up hostnames instead of your own resolver.
• The Log tab shows which proxy each request used in Firefox. Chrome does not give extensions that information, so the column stays empty there.

If you are on Chrome and FoxyProxy is not a must, ZeroOmega does the same job with a slightly different screen layout; the SwitchyOmega setup guide walks through it.

FoxyProxy patterns: only some sites through the proxy

Patterns belong to a proxy. Open the proxy’s entry on the Proxies tab, click the ✚ in its pattern section, and each row you add has an Include or Exclude setting, a type, and the pattern itself. Then choose Proxy by Patterns in the toolbar menu. It only appears once at least one include pattern exists.

The type matters more than people expect. FoxyProxy offers three:

• Match is the strict one, and the one to use. It needs a scheme, a host and a path. *://*.example.com/* matches example.com and every subdomain, on any page.
• Wildcard matches any part of the URL. The pattern example.com also matches https://google.com/ref=help.example.com, which is rarely what you meant. And *.example.com matches help.example.com but not example.com itself. A wildcard is not anchored to either end of the URL and its * runs across slashes, so when you mean one host, or one folder on it, use Match.
• Reg Exp for everything else. For example, https://(www|mail)\.google\.com/. No need to escape forward slashes.

A small, predictable set for one proxy:

Include  Match     *://*.example.com/*
Include  Match     *://httpbin.org/*
Exclude  Match     *://*.example.com/static/*

FoxyProxy checks your active proxies top to bottom. For each, an exclude match skips that proxy, an include match uses it, and a URL that matches nothing anywhere goes direct. So order your proxies with the most specific first. Sites you never want proxied, whatever the patterns say, go in Global Exclude on the Options tab.

Two shortcuts save typing. The Pattern Tester tab tells you which proxy a given URL would use before you browse. And in the toolbar menu, under More, Include Host adds the site in the current tab to a proxy’s patterns in one click.

Patterns are also how you keep a bill honest. On a proxy billed by the gigabyte, only the sites you list use it; your software updates and video calls do not. If you want the same rules outside the browser, or in a browser with no extension, the PAC file generator writes them as a PAC file, which FoxyProxy can also load as a proxy of type PAC.

Check your exit IP

With Proxy by Patterns selected and the httpbin pattern above in place, open:

https://httpbin.org/ip

The origin should be your proxy’s IP. Then open a site you did not list; it should arrive from your own address. The toolbar icon shows which proxy the current tab used, and hovering over it shows the details. The IP button in the menu does the same check against FoxyProxy’s own servers, and the Test button on the Proxies tab can check a proxy against a list of IP services. On Chrome, sign the proxy in first, by loading any page through it, before you run that test.

FoxyProxy keeps asking for a password? Fixing a 407

A proxy that wants credentials and did not get good ones answers 407. What you see depends on who answered it:

• The browser’s own sign-in box appears. FoxyProxy had no credentials for that exact hostname and port, so it left the question to the browser. FoxyProxy only answers when both a username and a password are saved, and it keys them on hostname:port, so a proxy entry with the password field empty, or a second entry for the same IP on a different port, will let the box through. Check the entry you are actually using, and that you clicked Save.
• The page fails instead of loading. FoxyProxy sent the credentials once, the proxy said no, and FoxyProxy cancelled the request rather than loop. The username or password is wrong: copy them fresh from the dashboard.
• It works in normal windows but prompts in private ones. The private-window permission from the setup steps is off, or on Chrome, incognito is not allowed.
• SOCKS5 on Chrome. It cannot work with a password. Switch the type to HTTP.

The 407 Proxy Authentication Required page has the rest, including passwords with characters that break things.

Another extension is controlling the proxy

A grey FoxyProxy icon means another extension has control of the browser’s proxy settings. Only one can hold them at a time, so a VPN extension, ZeroOmega or a second proxy switcher will win and FoxyProxy will quietly do nothing. Disable the others in about:addons or chrome://extensions. The same goes for the browser’s own proxy settings: while FoxyProxy is set to Disable, those apply again, which may be an old proxy you forgot about. The guide to proxies in Chrome and Firefox shows where they live.

The password-free option: allowlist your IP

Every ProxyMonkey line supports an IP allowlist as well as a username and password. Add your own public IP to it in the dashboard, leave the Username and Password fields empty, and there is no 407 to fix. It is also the only way to use a SOCKS5 proxy from Chrome. The catch is that it holds only while your home IP stays the same, and anyone else behind that IP can use the proxy too. If your order lists SOCKS5 details, use the host and port it gives; do not guess a port.

Which proxy to put in FoxyProxy

A browser session wants an address that stays put, or logins break on the next click. A static ISP proxy is the usual answer; datacenter works as well for sites that do not mind hosting ranges. Plain rotating residential gives a new exit on every new connection, and a browser opens new connections whenever it likes, so turn on a sticky session in your dashboard if you want residential in a browser.

Want the whole computer on the proxy instead of one browser? The Windows proxy settings and macOS proxy settings guides cover that, and why it is usually more than you want. Stuck on something else? Post your setup, password removed, in Discord.