What is a Rotating Proxy?
Daniel Tarasov
Daniel Tarasov Published: 2024/01/08

Rotating proxies can be a perfect tool when you need to establish several connections to websites without risk of being blocked. IP rotation may assist you in receiving a new address for each fresh connection.

In this manner, each connection you establish will yield a fresh IP address and identity. In this article, we will see what is a rotating proxy and how to use all its benefits.

Rotating Proxy Definition

A rotating proxy can be described as a server that changes your IP address automatically to one from a premade group of IPs. For each new connection or over some period of time, the proxy will provide you with a new IP and identity. In other words, there is no requirement to establish and manage a set of proxies yourself. Alternatively, you can configure a rotating proxy and enjoy every benefit of a pre-made rotation.

Why Use Rotating Proxies?

Any rotating proxy can help you simulate the activity of numerous distinct users simultaneously. This means you can create numerous different connections from addresses that will look like connections from a regular user, as opposed to making connections from a single address. This lets you prevent block risks as well, because sites will need to use advanced programs to monitor and report on your activities.

Even when one IP is tracked and blocked, the next connection that utilizes the new IP will appear entirely distinct and independent. You’re able to utilize both datacenter rotating proxies and residential or dedicated proxies this way. In all of these situations, rotation can significantly boost your rate of success while scraping. This may be extremely useful when it’s necessary to collect information for urgent financial or statistical analysis. The necessary information in this case can be gathered and aggregated much faster.

How Does IP Rotation Work?

IP rotation actually works through simple rules. Your IP will change each time you connect because your server is rotating. You can create multiple requests entirely automatically by using rotating proxies to accomplish this automatically. Remember that your actual IP address will remain hidden all the time while you use proxies in your system.

Basically, when the server receives a request from you, it chooses an IP from the existing pool and applies it to the connection you’re creating. The web server will then route your connection to any necessary websites that utilize this IP. After some time, or when a fresh connection is established, the proxy will carry out the entire procedure and change the IP. If you don’t want the contacts to be restricted in time, you can choose sticky sessions. This option will provide you with more time before rotation to manage your tasks. This can be useful if you utilize aggregators or other specific software.

What is a Datacenter Rotating Proxy?

A proxy that allocates new IPs depending on the datacenter to each new connection is called a datacenter rotating proxy. In this case, the IP for your connections will be selected from a pool of IPs related to a certain datacenter. This kind of IP is not linked to any specific ISP; rather, it is owned by the company that manages the datacenter.

You personally will not be tracked with this IP; yet websites may track this address back to the datacenters and see that it’s not tied to a regular ISP. So, certain sites can track and block suspicious connections from datacenter-related IPs. Nonetheless, datacenter-based servers are a good option if you want to access pages that are blocked from your personal IP or geo-restricted websites.

What is a Residential Rotating Proxy?

To talk about residential proxy servers further, we must first comprehend the definition of a residential IP. Every IP address is a distinct number that can identify your location and your ISP. A residential IP represents essentially an individual Internet user. Also, these IPs are linked to an actual device that is registered at a particular residence. So, any residential IP will look just like any other regular and legitimate IP address. This feature allows residential IPs to pass more security checks while staying undetected.

In other spheres, residential proxies operate similarly. Therefore, each time you send a new request, your IP address will change to the one that looks real when rotating residential proxies are used. You’re able to utilize static residential proxies as an alternative to rotating ones. This may come in handy if you’re in need of one IP address over a long period of time.

How to Use a Rotating Proxy?

You need to find a provider that provides rotating proxies before starting your project. You need to look for proxies that can rotate IPs automatically without your interaction. Use the address and port given by the provider to integrate these proxies into the project you are working on.

Alternatively, you can purchase a set of datacenter proxies and create your own software for rotation. Remember that datacenter IPs won’t last long, so you also need to constantly bring up to date your proxy list for rotation.

Is Using Rotating Proxies Legal?

Using a proxy to access content on the Internet is perfectly legal in the majority of countries. In the same way, you can legally use IP rotation for any of your proxy base connections.However, countries with strong censorship can ban access to certain sites or pages and punish people for any attempts at access. In this case, your use of a proxy to access  these sites can violate the law. So, before creating a project or starting data aggregating that involves proxies, it is wise to double-check all the legal aspects.

Rate this article, if you like it:

Frequently Asked Questions

Please read our Documentation if you have questions that are not listed below.

  • What is a rotating proxy?

    A rotating proxy can be described as a regular proxy that rotates your IP address. In other words, for each new connection, you will get a new IP address.

  • Where can you use a rotating proxy?

    Rotating proxies are especially useful for web scraping and data collection tasks. This way, you can send as many requests as you need while staying protected from blocks.

  • What kind of rotating proxy exists?

    Rotation can be added to any regular proxy type. So, you can use rotating residential or datacenter proxies for any needed tasks.

Get 100% Clean DC & Residential Proxies

Contact Us