Sharing is caring, as the old saying goes. When your online privacy and security are at stake, however, you might want to have tools that are fully dedicated just to you. In this case, are the optimal choice for you.
In this overview, we will look at what makes proxies private and how they differ from other proxy types. Additionally, you will see how this type of proxy enhances various online use cases.
What makes proxies private?
Any proxy server is an intermediary between your device and the internet. It receives your request, hides it behind a new IP, and routes it to the target website. Then it gets the response from the website and sends it to you. This way you stay anonymous and protect your actual IP from IP bans.
Private proxies are proxy IPs that you do not share with any other users. They are also known as dedicated proxies, as all their and features are fully dedicated to a single user.
You can get private proxies from a trustworthy proxy provider who will ensure that you are the only one using the server.
Can websites tell that you are using a private proxy?
When you are using a proxy server, websites you connect to do not know your actual IP address. However, do they know that you are using a proxy? That depends on what type of proxy IP you are using.
If you are using a residential private proxy they cannot. Residential proxies give you the IP address of a real homeowner issued by the internet service provider (ISP). Thus, from the website’s perspective, it seems that a real organic user with that IP address is connecting.
However, the website knows that it is a proxy connecting if you are using a datacenter proxy server. These proxies are hosted by servers in data centers and are not associated with any actual device. As ISPs do not issue IP addresses for these proxies, end servers know that the traffic is coming from a datacenter proxy.
Private proxies can be both residential and datacenter. Even if the web resource knows that you are using a proxy, they cannot tell if it is shared or private much less anything about your actual IP address or other private details.
5 Main benefits of using private proxies
Using private proxies comes with a host of advantages. Here are the top five benefits that might make private proxies the most attractive choice when the budget fits the price.
- Enhanced privacy and security. With dedicated proxies, you not only increase your overall online anonymity but also run fewer privacy and security risks. When sharing a proxy, the activity of another user might expose you to security risks and leak your data. Your privacy depends completely on your own actions when you use a private proxy.
- Fastest in the game. Sharing proxies will usually decrease the speed of responses for all users. When you are the only one connecting to the proxy server, it runs at its top speed for all your tasks.
- Full control. You are completely in control of a proxy that is dedicated to you. All parameters, data usage, and configurations are between you and your provider to agree upon with no third parties involved.
- More reliable. The activity of someone else using the same proxy might get its . This could lead your operations to a halt. Private proxies are more reliable as you can trust them almost as much as you can trust your own actions.
- All resources are dedicated to you. You have no one to share the proxy resources with when using a private one. This means that all its features will run at peak performance for whatever task you have at hand.
These benefits make private proxies the best choice when it is available. However, these proxies have alternatives that might at times suit your circumstances better.
Alternatives to dedicated proxies
There are two main alternatives to private proxies that differ in how many people can access the same IP address.
Shared proxies
Depending on the provider you might be sharing your proxy with lots of other people. Even more so if you find a free proxy online from an unknown source.
Shared proxies are slower and less private and thus might not be suited for important business tasks. However, they are cheaper and might work just fine to protect your online anonymity as long as you are dealing with a trustworthy provider.
Semi-dedicated proxies
When only a few people use the same proxy server it is known as a semi-dedicated proxy. Usually, the number of users who share such a proxy is no more than three.
Semi-dedicated proxies provide a middle ground between private and shared proxies. They are not as expensive as the former and faster than the latter. Thus, when the full package of features offered by private proxies is not necessary, semi-dedicated proxies might be a good choice.
When do you need private proxies?
Choosing the right proxy should always be done on a case-by-case basis, considering all circumstances. However, private proxies are the natural first choice for many large-scale business cases, as you would not want others interfering with your work.
These cases include but are not limited to the following.
- – automatically checking whether digital ad inventory has not been hijacked and is used in accordance with the brand’s policies.
- Social media management – managing multiple social media accounts for your own business or as a service to other brands.
- App testing – automatically checking the parameters of a software program you are developing.
- Market research and other tasks requiring large-scale data collection also need private proxies to ensure continuity.
To sum up, businesses and are often better off investing in private proxies. Private users might also prefer having a dedicated proxy to maximize online privacy, but could also do with proxy sharing for more casual use cases such as accessing geo-blocked content.