What are examples of proxies?
TL;DR
Common proxy examples: residential proxies from ISPs (appear as real users), datacenter proxies from cloud providers (fast and cheap), mobile proxies from cellular networks (hardest to block), and rotating proxy services that manage everything automatically. Or use Firecrawl—proxy management handled for you.
What are examples of proxies?
Proxies come in different types based on their origin. Residential proxies use home ISP IP addresses (like Comcast or Verizon users). Datacenter proxies use cloud hosting IPs (AWS, DigitalOcean). Mobile proxies use cellular carrier IPs (AT&T, T-Mobile). Rotating proxy services manage pools of thousands of IPs automatically. Each serves different scraping needs.
Residential proxy examples
Real home internet connections: Bright Data, Smartproxy, Oxylabs provide residential IPs from actual ISP customers. These appear as genuine users—hardest for sites to detect. Used for social media scraping, sneaker sites, classified ads with aggressive bot detection.
Cost: $5-15 per GB. Best for high-value targets with strong anti-bot systems.
Datacenter proxy examples
Cloud hosting IPs: providers like Proxy-Cheap, MyPrivateProxy, HighProxies offer datacenter IPs from AWS, GCP, or private data centers. Faster and cheaper than residential but easier to detect.
Cost: $1-3 per proxy/month. Perfect for general web scraping—price monitoring, content aggregation, SEO tools.
Mobile proxy examples
Cellular network IPs: Soax, Airproxy provide mobile carrier IPs that rotate through cellular connections. Nearly impossible to block—sites can’t ban entire carrier ranges. Most expensive option.
Cost: $50-100+ per GB. Use for extremely protected sites only.
Rotating proxy services
Services like Luminati (Bright Data), Smartproxy, Oxylabs manage entire proxy pools. They handle rotation, monitoring, replacement automatically. You just send requests—they route through healthy IPs.
These eliminate proxy management complexity. Pay for bandwidth or requests, not individual proxies.
The simplest option
Firecrawl handles proxy management automatically. No choosing providers, configuring rotation, monitoring health, or replacing burnt IPs. Built-in proxy infrastructure works transparently—you get data without managing proxies.
This is the modern approach. Proxy management is infrastructure overhead. APIs abstract it away—focus on using data, not managing IPs.
Key Takeaways
Proxy examples include residential (ISP IPs), datacenter (cloud hosting), and mobile (cellular networks). Residential proxies best for bot detection, datacenter for general scraping, mobile for maximum stealth. Rotating services manage pools automatically. Or use Firecrawl—proxy infrastructure built-in, no management needed. Modern scraping APIs eliminate proxy complexity entirely.
data from the web