Guides · 18 posts

Picking a proxy type

Residential is billed by the gigabyte and rotates. ISP and datacenter are rented by the IP for a term and stay put. Most wasted money in this hobby comes from picking the wrong one, so these guides are about testing the question instead of guessing it.

9 min readBrowsers and profiles, Picking a proxy type

GoLogin vs Dolphin Anty vs Multilogin vs AdsPower vs Incogniton, for your own proxies

GoLogin, Dolphin Anty, Multilogin, AdsPower and Incogniton compared on what your own proxies need: proxy fields, bulk import and team sharing.

Read →10 min readStart here, Picking a proxy type

How to force any app through a proxy, even one with no proxy setting

Proxifier, NetDetour, ProxyChains, Redsocks, sshuttle and Chisel: which one to use when an app has no proxy setting, what none can carry, and DNS leaks.

Read →10 min readPicking a proxy type

Running your own proxy server vs paying for one: Tinyproxy, 3proxy and Privoxy, tested

Tinyproxy, 3proxy and Privoxy on a VPS, with configs we ran: what one self-hosted IP gets you, where DIY beats paying, and where it does not.

Read →8 min readPicking a proxy type

Tor vs a proxy for scraping: why Tor is the wrong tool, and when it is the right one

Why Tor makes a poor scraping proxy (public exit list, blocks, speed, a volunteer network), when it is the right tool, and how to run its SOCKS port.

Read →9 min readBilling and the meter, Picking a proxy type

Proxy pricing explained: per GB, per IP, and the cost per page that matters

How proxies are priced (per gigabyte, per IP, per month), what each model rewards and punishes, and how to compare offers by the cost of one page that loads.

Read →8 min readPicking a proxy type

ISP vs datacenter proxies: a test you can run before paying for either

Static ISP and datacenter proxies both give you an address that stays put. How they differ, what each costs, and a test that shows which a target accepts.

Read →8 min readStart here, Picking a proxy type

Proxy vs VPN: which one you actually need

What a proxy and a VPN each do to your traffic, what neither hides, and why scrapers and bots use proxies while laptops on hotel Wi-Fi use VPNs.

Read →11 min readPicking a proxy type, Billing and the meter

The best cheap proxy providers in 2026, us included

Cheap residential proxy providers compared on what a small buyer pays at 1, 10 and 100 GB, plus minimums, expiry, refunds and targeting. Sources linked.

Read →10 min readCode you can paste, Picking a proxy type

Scraping Amazon prices with proxies, without hammering Amazon

Track Amazon prices on a budget: the official API route first, then a polite Python scraper with proxies, parsing, pacing and the cost per 1,000 pages.

Read →6 min readBrowsers and profiles, Picking a proxy type

Antidetect browsers and proxies: one stable IP per profile

Which proxy to put behind an antidetect browser profile, why a rotating IP breaks it, and how to match timezone, language and location to the address.

Read →7 min readPicking a proxy type, Billing and the meter

Cheap residential proxies: what to check before you top up

Eight questions to ask any cheap residential proxy provider, us included: what the meter counts, whether GB expire, what refunds cover, what the IPs are.

Read →6 min readPicking a proxy type, Code you can paste

SOCKS5 vs HTTP proxies: which one your tool actually needs

What SOCKS5 and HTTP proxies each do, where DNS gets resolved, which tools support which, and the one-line switch between them in curl, Python and Node.

Read →7 min readCode you can paste, Picking a proxy type

Build your own proxy checker in Python

A small async proxy checker: is it alive, how fast is it, what IP and network does the target see, does it leak headers. Works on any provider, ours included.

Read →7 min readStart here, Picking a proxy type

Free proxy lists: what they actually cost you

A script that tests a free proxy list for you: how many answer, how many leak your real IP or rewrite pages, and when free is enough and when it is not.

Read →7 min readStart here, Picking a proxy type

Which proxy type do I need? A flowchart for broke people

Four questions that pick between residential, ISP, datacenter and no proxy at all, with what each answer costs at today’s prices.

Read →9 min readPicking a proxy type, Code you can paste

Rotating vs sticky: when your IP should change, with code

When a new IP per request helps, when it gets you flagged, and working Python, Scrapy and Node code for both patterns.

Read →8 min readCode you can paste, Picking a proxy type

Proxies for price tracking on a side project

A price tracker that runs on cron, reads prices from structured data, skips unchanged pages, and runs on the cheapest proxy plan we sell.

Read →7 min readPicking a proxy type, Start here

Residential vs datacenter: stop buying the expensive one

Most people reach for residential proxies when datacenter would have done the job. How to tell which one a target needs, in five minutes.

Read →

The community layer

Did not find your problem?

Ask in Discord. Most guides here started as a question someone asked twice.

Join the Discord

4,200+monkeys in the Discord

Help from humans
Post your error, get an answer. Usually in minutes, usually from someone who has hit the same wall.
A status bot that tells on us
Pool health, incidents and maintenance posted automatically. Including the bad days.
Deals and free traffic
Bonus GB drops, early access to new pools, and the occasional giveaway for a good bug report.