It’s much easier to choose a product when you know what specifications are the most determinant for good performance. It’s quite clear, for example, that you want a lot of cores when buying a CPU. But purchasing a service is much more difficult as you aren’t the one in charge of the hardware.
Proxies servers are one such service. The internet is full of discussions about what one should consider when subscribing to a provider. After almost a decade of web scraping with various proxies, I have distilled three main factors you must consider.
Proxy type
On the face of it, proxy servers are a simple technology. Instead of connecting to the internet directly, you use another device to route your network requests. Since it’s not your device that connects, the web server isn’t aware of your original IP address. Tracking your activity becomes almost impossible.
However, the performance and privacy features of proxies vary highly depending on what device is used to route requests and how it’s set up. At first, only powerful servers at data centers were used. They were able to ensure enough speed to service many clients at low costs. Such setup is also very fast since commercial-tier internet is used.
Web developers caught up with this trend, and it became harder and harder to conceal your identity with data center IPs properly. Since they aren’t verified by residential Internet Providers (ISPs) and are created in bulk on servers, it’s easy to detect them and request CAPTCHAS.
The problem is solved with residential proxies. They are hosted on physical devices in common residential areas. Usually, it’s a person running proxy software on his home computer. Detecting and restricting such proxies is much more difficult than datacenter proxies.
Unfortunately, while they aren’t slow by past standards, the performance drop is significant when you switch from data center proxies. When choosing between them, you must evaluate two things. First, how much data you’ll need to transfer? Second, bot or proxy detection methods on your target website.
If you need much data that isn’t heavily protected, go with data center proxies. In every other scenario, residential proxies are preferred. With one exception – websites that only allow access from mobile devices and IPs. In such cases, you should use mobile app proxies.
Such proxies use mobile devices with cellular data to route your traffic. Since the bulk of internet users are surfing with smartphones, mobile proxies are an easy way to avoid detection. Unfortunately, quality 5G mobile proxies are quite expensive. It’s more economical to go with other types unless you need it. Although, this situation is bound to change in the upcoming years.
Proxy Location
Some argue for choosing a proxy location first and only then worrying about its type. The idea involves the concept of network hops. Each time a request travels from one device network to another, it makes a hop. The more hops your requests make, the slower, on average, your connection will be.
So, if you need to connect to a server in London, it makes sense to buy UK proxies. Even if you choose slow residential ones, they will be faster than data center proxies on the other side of the globe. Of course, in developed countries, you’ll get more types of forms to choose from.
The choice might be more limited if you are looking for proxies in Africa or South America. Sometimes, you must make such compromises because you face various geo-restrictions. This is another reason for choosing a proxy location first.
If your proxy cannot access the needed content at all because of its IP address, there is no point in comparing the performance. So, you must look into the available locations when choosing the proxy type. That’s where the third factor comes in – striking the correct balance is only possible with a good provider.
Provider Trustworthiness
Most providers advertise a similar number of locations from which you can choose. However, the most important thing to evaluate is the amount of IP addresses each location has. Even if the proxy servers are of high quality, if you need to share them with other users, the performance will be lower.
A low number of IPs also creates a risk of buying IPs that are already banned on popular websites. When there are thousands of IPs, the chance is lower because the provider is resourceful enough to take them out of rotation.
Another important aspect of provider trustworthiness is the frequency of server downtimes you might experience. They happen because of server overload when too many users connect simultaneously or because of undisclosed internet outages. The second type might be related to your proxy location, but to evaluate the first, you’ll need to read customer reviews.
Checking popular online forums, like Reddit, and platforms like TrustPilot is a good start and will give you some idea about whether you can trust the provider. It’s also important to chat with the provider’s customer support and read their blog for integration guides. The provider is the contact that will give you the most help when issues arise.
However, I found it more trustworthy to get in contact with the communities of your particular use case. For example, various web scraping forums have plenty of discussion about what good providers are and which ones to avoid.
Getting up to date with discussions on Discord and other live chat rooms is essential as the proxy market is constantly in flux. One month, a provider might be great, while after half a year, its quality and offerings get reduced. Most probably, it’s because of the fierce competition between proxy sellers.
Conclusion
There you have it – Proxy type, location, and provider trustworthiness are the main things to look into. It may not be easy to get through the marketing, but it’s worth it. Your project’s success might depend on the quality of proxies you choose. Don’t be afraid to take your time.
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