Most proxy providers are honest companies that want to give good service and earn some profit. But as with all products, there are some industry-accepted practices that users should know about before purchasing. I’m here to uncover some basic things everyone should know before purchasing a proxy server.

Why provider choice is so important?

The fact that you’ll be paying hundreds of dollars per month to one company is enough justification to research it. But, the need to research providers goes deeper with proxies. Proxies are devices (usually servers, smartphones, or PCs) that act as intermediaries routing your connection to the internet.

This means that every website you visit will see the IP address of the provider’s proxy device and not your original one. The provider controls the data flow – it can share the access with others, might intercept your data, restrict certain use cases, or even infect you with malware.

It should be noted that these are rare cases with reputable paid providers, but a lot is at stake. Not to mention that the performance of the proxy server is also under the provider’s control. You have little control over how they set up and maintain their servers, especially if you paid for a lengthy subscription.

The first step in avoiding these risks is understanding them and being able to see the signs before you enter your payment card details. Below are some of the things you should know when purchasing a proxy service. All of them can be tested by simply researching the provider’s website and using their free trial.

The level of anonymity 

While the general level of anonymity you achieve with proxies depends on other factors, such as the software you use, proxies have a huge impact. And it’s somewhat measurable too. Technically, nothing bad can happen to an IP address, but if it’s misused for too long, websites will start to notice.

The more websites you can visit without receiving CAPTCHAs or IP blocks, the more anonymity you get from a proxy service. Some providers let users go rampant with web scraping, breaking ToC, or even doing illegal things with their proxies.

The proxies might be cheap and well-marketed, but when you start using them, you’ll see that suddenly, every website knows you are using a proxy. Even worse, they might suspect you are a bot.

The first thing you should research is whether the provider supplies anonymous proxies. That is if their proxies hide the fact that they are proxies from web servers. The second thing is to test whether websites you intend to visit often see you as a proxy user.

Location selection

Every major provider brags about the hundreds of locations they support. While it’s great that they have many locations, you should not make a purchasing decision based on location count alone. The proxy performance in these countries is much more important.

Make a list of locations that are the most relevant to you and read reviews about how they work there. A proxy server UK, USA, DE, IN, and BR is more than enough for most purposes. Simply take a free trial of the proxy provider and see how it works in these countries. Also, take note of what proxy types are available there.

Proxy types

The main proxy types to look for when choosing a provider are – static residential proxies, shared datacenter proxies, and mobile proxies. All types must have at least twenty thousand IPs per location. Otherwise, you risk only getting shared proxies, which isn’t always optimal.

Sharing proxies and rotating IPs should be optional. You want as much flexibility as possible because if you leave it to the provider, he might not optimize it in your favor. Proxy protocols usually depend on the technical setup of proxies, but you also want more choices. I recommend buying only from those providers who offer both HTTPS and SOCKS5 proxies.

There is an argument to be made that a specialized proxy provider with only one or two proxy types is better. While I had some good experiences with such providers, I do not recommend them for the long term.

More often than not, projects like web scraping, bulk purchasing, social media management, SEO testing, or others will require one to use multiple types. Purchasing all the proxies from one provider is more cost-efficient since when you buy proxies in bulk, you can ask for special deals.

Read the terms of use

By terms of use, I’m referring to the general information about pricing policy, supported use cases, and the source of IP addresses. Every provider has a different name for this information, and some make it very difficult to access it, which is a red flag in itself. Here are a few general questions you should ask.

Is it clear what I will be paying for? Is it bandwidth, IPs, or number of connections? Will I be charged more if I want to switch to a different proxy type?

Where can proxies be used without breaking terms and conditions? Can I collect any data on the internet with these proxies? Can I use port forwarding? Can I run automation software on social media? (These questions depend on your use case)

How are the IPs sourced? Are the people who share their residential or mobile connections compensated? Do they know that their IPs are used?

If you can’t find the answers yourself, reach out to customer support with these questions. Don’t take their word for it. Ask for links to where these points are discussed officially. If you get into a dispute, there will be something to cite.

Conclusion

I hope the tips here will serve as signs for potential proxy service buyers. It isn’t a silver bullet. Your proxy use case might be unique, so you’ll need to test the proxy provider in some other way. However, I’m sure that as far as general advice goes, this is what’s most important.