Apr 30, 2020

What is a Proxy Server?

If you are new to the idea of using proxy servers, here is everything you need to know to use them well. We cover the benefits of using proxies, different types of proxies, explain all the jargon and help you get started in the right direction.

What is a proxy server?

Every device on the internet is assigned an IP address that is unique to that device. Right now, as you are reading this, you are using an IP that's unique to you on the internet.

Like everything else in life, IP address allocations follow some patterns. Using these patterns and tracebacks, many web site administrators can tell where the traffic is coming from, including, many times, the specific country, state, city, or even the block and house from which it is coming.

Using this information, they can also tell how many times you have tried to access their website.

Websites may selectively restrict access to their services based on your location or usage.

Sometimes, it may be necessary to bypass this restriction. That's where Proxy servers come into play.

A proxy server is another machine that fetches the website or video you need on your behalf. It is useful if the proxy is in a location that the target website allows access to. For example, if you are in India and you want to access the Hulu streaming service, you can access it through a proxy server that is located in the US because Hulu recognizes your IP and blocks you.

The other use of the proxy is to overcome usage restriction. Then you need to rotate proxy servers around every now and then so you can continue using the service.

  • Using proxies for general web browsing

Many great articles explain how to use proxies when browsing the web.

If you are a programmer and are interested in web crawling, using a rotating proxy service is almost a must.

Otherwise, you tend to get IP blocked a lot by automatic location, usage, and bot detection algorithms, especially if you are trying to scrape big networks like Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Our rotating proxy server Proxies API provides a simple API that can solve all IP Blocking problems instantly.

  • With millions of high speed rotating proxies located all over the world
  • With our automatic IP rotation
  • With our automatic User-Agent-String rotation (which simulates requests from different, valid web browsers and web browser versions)
  • With our automatic CAPTCHA solving technology

Hundreds of our customers have successfully solved the headache of IP blocks with a simple API.

A simple API can access the whole thing like below in any programming language.

curl "http://api.proxiesapi.com/?key=API_KEY&url=https://example.com"

We have a running offer of 1000 API calls completely free. Register and get your free API Key here.

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