Clear, plain-language definitions of every important proxy term. From residential proxies to SOCKS5 protocols and IP rotation — demystified.
Featured Term Guides
What Is a Residential Proxy?
A residential proxy is an intermediary server that routes your traffic through an IP address belonging to a legitimate ISP customer, making your requests appear to come from a real person.
What Is a Datacenter Proxy?
A datacenter proxy is an intermediary server that routes your traffic through an IP address assigned to a commercial server, not a residential ISP customer.
What Is IP Rotation? Complete Guide to Rotating Proxies
IP rotation automatically assigns a new IP address from a proxy pool for each request or after a defined time interval, making each request appear to come from a different user.
What Is a Sticky Session? Proxy Sticky Session Explained
A sticky session is a proxy configuration that binds a user's requests to a single IP address for a defined period — typically 1 minute to 30 minutes — maintaining session continuity.
What Is SOCKS5? Complete SOCKS5 Proxy Guide
SOCKS5 (Socket Secure version 5) is a proxy protocol that operates at the transport layer, routing all TCP and UDP traffic through the proxy, regardless of the application protocol.
What Is Geo-Targeting? Proxy Location Targeting Guide
Geo-targeting in proxies means selecting proxy IPs from a specific geographic location — from country-level down to specific cities — to collect locally accurate data.
What Is a Mobile Proxy? 4G/5G Proxy Explained
A mobile proxy routes your traffic through IP addresses assigned by mobile carriers to real smartphones and tablets. Each mobile IP is shared among thousands of carrier customers, giving it extremely high trust scores.
What Is an ISP Proxy? Static Residential Proxy Explained
An ISP proxy is a static residential IP address registered with a real internet service provider but hosted on datacenter hardware, providing residential trust scores with datacenter-level speeds.
Quick Definitions
Backconnect Proxy: A rotating proxy that connects through different exit nodes (IPs) for each request.
Sticky Session: A proxy session that maintains the same IP address for a set duration rather than rotating.
IP Whitelisting: Authenticating proxy access by adding your IP to an approved list instead of using credentials.
SOCKS5: A network protocol for proxying any type of traffic, including UDP — more versatile than HTTP proxies.
Exit Node: The final server in a proxy chain that makes the request on behalf of the client.
Proxy Pool: A large collection of proxy IPs that can be rotated through for high-volume requests.
Transparent Proxy: A proxy that identifies itself and passes the original client IP — not useful for anonymity.
Elite Proxy: A high-anonymity proxy that hides both your IP and the fact you're using a proxy.
Geo-targeting: The ability to select proxies from specific countries, states, or cities for location-accurate requests.
IP Rotation: The practice of automatically changing IP addresses between requests to avoid detection.
Bandwidth: The amount of data transferred through a proxy, typically measured in GB and used for billing.
Concurrent Sessions: The number of simultaneous proxy connections allowed at one time on a plan.
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