Proxy Services / Servers

Proxy services act as intermediary servers while receiving resources from web pages. Clients seeking resources send a request to the proxy service and the proxy service gets requested resources from the provider on behalf of the client.

Proxy services act as intermediary servers while receiving resources from web pages. Clients seeking resources send a request to the proxy service and the proxy service gets requested resources from the provider on behalf of the client.

Proxy managers, proxy management software and proxy servers are all proxy services. These tools are used mostly by security and privacy reasons.

To be categorized as a proxy service, a product must:

  • Enable the users to connect to the internet from different IP addresses
  • Provide a UI or API to manage users’ connections
If you’d like to learn about the ecosystem consisting of Proxy Service / Server and others, feel free to check AIMultiple IT / Tech.

Compare Best Proxy Service / Server

Results: 19

AIMultiple is data driven. Evaluate 19 services based on comprehensive, transparent and objective AIMultiple scores.
For any of our scores, click the information icon to learn how it is calculated based on objective data.

*Products with visit website buttons are sponsored

Proxy Service / Server Leaders

According to the weighted combination of 7 data sources

Apify

Bright Data Proxies

Oxylabs Proxies

FoxyProxy

Scraping Bee

What are Proxy Service / Server market leaders?

Taking into account the latest metrics outlined below, these are the current proxy service / server market leaders. Market leaders are not the overall leaders since market leadership doesn’t take into account growth rate.

Bright Data Proxies

Apify

Oxylabs Proxies

FoxyProxy

Scraping Bee

What are the most mature Proxy Services / Servers?

Which proxy service / server companies have the most employees?

27 employees work for a typical company in this solution category which is 6 more than the number of employees for a typical company in the average solution category.

In most cases, companies need at least 10 employees to serve other businesses with a proven tech product or service. 22 companies with >10 employees are offering proxy service / server. Top 3 products are developed by companies with a total of 878 employees. The largest company building proxy service / server is Bright Data with more than 400 employees.

Bright Data
Oxylabs
Smartproxy
NetNut
IProyal

What are the Proxy Services / Servers growing their number of reviews fastest?


We have analyzed reviews published in the last months. These were published in 4 review platforms as well as vendor websites where the vendor had provided a testimonial from a client whom we could connect to a real person.

These solutions have the best combination of high ratings from reviews and number of reviews when we take into account all their recent reviews.

What is the average customer size?

According to customer reviews, most common company size for proxy service / server customers is 1-50 Employees. Customers with 1-50 Employees make up 69% of proxy service / server customers. For an average IT / Tech solution, customers with 1-50 Employees make up 138% of total customers.

Overall
Customer Service
Ease of Use
Likelihood to Recommend
Value For Money

Customer Evaluation

These scores are the average scores collected from customer reviews for all Proxy Services / Servers. Proxy Services / Servers is most positively evaluated in terms of "Customer Service" but falls behind in "Value For Money".

A proxy server is an intermediate application between a client, which makes request, and the target server, which provides the requested information.

Proxy servers can be categorized based on factors such as IP source, number of users sharing an IP address, and proxy anonymity level. There are different types of proxies, including:

  • Residential proxies: Residential proxy is a type of proxy server that uses IP addresses assigned by internet service providers (ISPs).
  • Datacenter proxies: Datacenter proxies use IP addresses provided by a cloud-based data center.
  • SOCKS proxies: SOCKS proxy servers utilize Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection to estanblish secure connection between a client and the target web server. There are two versions of SOCKS proxies- SOCKS4 and SOCKS5.
  • HTTP proxies: HTTP proxies, also referred to as a web proxy, transmit HTTP ans HTTPS requests and responses.
  • Forward proxies: Forward proxies place between a client and a host server, makes requests on behalf of the client. This is the most common type of proxy, includes residential and datacenter proxies.
  • Reverse proxies: Unlike forward proxies, reverse proxies sits in front of web servers, providing an additional additional layer of protection againts malicious activities.

A proxy server acts as an gateway between client (computer or smartphone) and the target web server (website). Here's the simplified process of how a proxy server works:

  1. Client makes a request: Sends a request to the proxy server.
  2. Proxy server receives the request: Instead of sending the request directly to the website, the proxy server processes the request and conceals the client's IP address by assigning a different proxy from its proxy pool.
  3. Proxy server forwards the request to the target website: The proxy service transmits the client's connection request to the target server using its own IP address instead of the client's.
  4. Target website reponds to the proxy server: The proxy server shields the client's real identity from the target web server. The web server provides the requested information, thinking it's communicating directly with the actual client.
  5. Proxy server forwards the provided data to the client: The proxy server receives and forwards the data to the client's device.

Proxies can be used for a variety of uses:

  • Web scraping: Prevent IP addresses from being detected and blocked by the target website.
  • Avoiding geographical restrictions: Provide access blocked web sources and bypass geo-restrictions by routing the traffic through a different server.
  • Anonymity: Mask users' real IP addresses and assign a different one from its own proxy pool.

The number of proxies you need depends of your specific requeirements and purposes. There are a few factors that can influence the number of proxies you need, if you: 

  • Are dealing with a high volume of traffic, you might need multiple proxy servers.
  • Intend to access and gather data from web sources that have geographical restrictions, you may require proxies located in different regions.
  • Scrape data on a large-scale, you need multiple proxies to rotate between IP addresses.

Free proxies can pose significant security issues and generally not recommended, here are some of the reasons why you should void using them:

  • Tend to be slower and less reliable
  • Risk of traffic monitoring
  • Lack the robust security measures
  • Malware-ridden ads

The short answer is no. While both VPNs and proxies provide anonymity by hiding users' IP addresses, they function differently. VPNs route all your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel. Proxies work on a per-application level, handling the traffic of a particular application.

A proxy server conceals your network activity and transmits data between your device and the target website on your behalf. On the other hand, a firewall acts as a security barrier between an internal network and a public network. Proxy servers operate at the application layer. This means they can handle traffic for specific applications. Firewalls operate network & transport layer, meaning they monitor traffic based on IP or protocol.