In the world of proxies you always need a trusted partner to guide you through the intricacies of technical aspects and performance characteristics of various types of proxies. In our comprehensive guides we try to give you an in-depth description of all things proxy.
This particular guide is devoted to private proxies. We will talk about the origin of such proxies, what makes them different from public and shared IPs, why use private proxies in the first place, and, of course, when their use is redundant and you can save some cash while remaining on the safe side of using proxies.
And clearly the most logical way to start our Guide is from describing the private proxy meaning itself.
So What is a Private Proxy Server?
In short, a private proxy definition will look as follows: It is a proxy server that hides your IP giving you exclusive rights to using this particular server. Unlike shared proxies where the IPs can be used by various users one person at a time, with a private proxy you can be sure that the proxy’s IP will be secured to you for the whole duration of use. It can be a datacenter or residential static proxy or a private proxy server with a rotating mechanism.
From the ownership perspective you can have public, shared or private proxies. Public proxies can be found online for free. Their use involves a high level of risk, since there is a possibility of divulging your online activities while using them. Also, they are normally banned on sites with anti-bot systems. And, of course, the speed of such proxies leaves much to be desired.
With shared proxies, you know that you will be using IPs that can be also used by other users of the same provider. And only with private proxies you will have exclusive rights on using your proxies. This exclusivity comes with a cost, so private proxies are usually the most expensive proxies you can find. For this price you get better performance, better privacy and less chances of getting blocked or red-flagged on websites.
How Do Private Proxies Work?
First thing we need to mention about the private proxies is that they are platform independent. In terms of set up they are rather simple and secure. It means that you can use them on any operating system (Windows, MacOS, Android, Linux and more) by adjusting the corresponding browser settings. And, of course, such proxies can be embedded into specialized bots and scripts that you can use for a number of online missions that we will discuss later on.
Unlike public and shared proxies, private proxies need authentication for operation. That means that each private proxy comes with a username and a password. When a proxy is used inside an app or bot, you will need to enter the authentication information in the corresponding fields. In case you use a proxy inside a browser, all the username and password can be entered into proxy settings in the browser directly.
Now, there are two methods of authenticating private proxies. One is with a username and a password and another one is with IP authentication. The first method is the most popular. Normally, when you buy private proxies from your good private proxy provider they come with usernames and passwords. The passwords for proxies can be changed and it is recommended to change them after a certain time of using a proxy.
The second way of private proxy authentication is called whitelisting. In this scenario you need to enter your own IP (from your ISP) as a legitimate address for using the proxies that you purchase. With this authentication only the “whitelisted” IPs will be able to use the proxies.
What Are the Advantages of Using a Private Proxy Server?
Security and Privacy
The major private proxy benefits are closely tied to the exclusive rights of using such proxies. No other party will have access to them, reducing the chances of compromising the proxies.
If you are choosing between a datacenter and a residential proxy, you need to know that with a residential private proxy you will have an even higher level of privacy since your IP will appear as a regular internet user. You can learn more about residential proxy vs datacenter proxy from our blog post.
Various Locations
With private proxies you will be able to overcome geo-restrictions of some websites while making your original location untraceable. You can specifically order proxies to access services in the UK, US, Europe if you need to. This can be especially helpful if you want to scrape search engine results in a specific country that would be otherwise blocked from your original location. In this case, your choice will be a residential IP rather than a datacenter proxy due to geo specifics.
High Speed and Reliability
Thanks to the fact that you are the sole user of private proxies, your browsing or scraping speed will not be affected. You will be able to operate such proxies at high speeds and normally with unlimited bandwidth. Another great benefit of private proxies is their reliability versus shared proxies, which will mean great uptime of your servers during online operations. Now, if you are concerned about protocols that the private proxies operate on and how the protocol choice affects the key parameters of proxies, you can find out more on that in our blog article devoted to SOCKS vs HTTP proxy comparison. And if you need a proxy for private Internet access read our article on SOCKS5 meaning.
What Is a Private Proxy Good For?
Now that we have considered the main advantages of a private proxy and studied the differences of such proxies from shared and public proxies, it’s time to answer the question of how to use a private proxy by demonstrating to you the most common use cases for such proxies.
Market Research
Imagine you want to sell your product to a broader audience while having market insights from a specific region or location. In order to have a better idea of the market parameters you will need a private proxy to study data from the given area.
A private proxy will make it possible, since you will be able to have impartial data for your analysis from various sources available in the shortest time frame possible. And time, as you may guess, can be critical here.
Monitoring Your Competition
Another great example of using private proxies would be for monitoring your competition online. You can outsell your competition by improving engagement with your prospect buyers and proxies can help you in that.
With private proxies you will be able to study all info related to your competitors in a stealth mode, including pricing and special offers. With this data at your disposal you can tweak your marketing strategies for ensuring better sales in the near future.
Brand Reputation Intelligence
Brands and companies heavily rely on the positive image created online. And so much so that a single bad review can stain the reputation and impact your sales.
By using private proxies, you will be able to take preventive measures against malicious reviews left by some third party intentionally to harm your business reputation. This is a normal practice with a reputable brand that appears to be quite effective online ’hygiene’ to create a positive standing of your brand. Proxies can also be successfully used in implementing MAP monitoring for your company to be able to see how your pricing policy is followed by the showrooms.
SEO Intelligence
Another area of using private proxies with great help to your business needs is SEO. Proxies will be able to help you identify keywords that your competitors are using to get into the top of SERP. Also, you will be able to locate blogs for further placement of valuable backlinks that will put your website ahead of the competition in the search results. Normally such projects involve using tools like Scrapebox and SEO Power Suite with private proxies inside.
For Sneaker Bots
Private proxies can be easily coupled with special bots to help you get ahead of your competition while buying rare footwear (sneakers) online. So, if you are a sneakerhead, you can buy the latest pair using bots like BetterNikeBot (for Nike shoes), ANB AIO (for Footsites), Splash Force (for Adidas) and others powered with private proxies. Proxies for sneakers copping can be controlled with IP address rotation to provide you with time frames to complete the checkout forms. So, when you buy rotating proxies, you can use this feature called ‘sticky sessions’.
Access to Restricted Content
It is probably one of the most common use cases with private proxies. A website with geo restrictions becomes accessible once you have the right proxy with an IP address matching the requirements of such service.
This can be a way to get access to an e-store, a streaming service or a social media that otherwise would be off limits for you. For instance, if you bought our proxies to gain access to Spotify, you can read more on how to manage Spotify proxy settings here.
A private proxy competes in this area with VPNs and, sometimes, it makes sense to use a VPN and proxy together in one setup. Follow the link to read more on the subject.
Multiple Accounts
If your business revolves around selling things online, most likely you will have a need to run several business accounts on one social media. In this case you can start using proxies to manage several accounts. With private proxies your activities on one media will not be red-flagged and you will avoid getting your accounts banned.
Posting Ads Online
Private proxies are a great tool for posting ads across the Globe. Of course, you can use the proxies for placing ads in your off-shore Facebook and Instagram accounts but do not ignore a whole variety of Yellow pages and Craigslist-style sites that can be rather good for B2B sales across the border.
Web Scraping
Web scraping is the process of extracting valuable information from websites and online resources. It can certainly be helpful for business research to gain data intelligence this way. But a lot of sites that contain information prone to scraping are protected with all sorts of anti-bot systems. Good private proxies can resolve this matter for you to avoid detection on websites you want to scrape.
Selling on Social Media
With private proxies you can be ahead of your competition on social media sites. Your prospect clients exchange information and post on such sites and you need to get closer to your audience. You can use proxies to attract leads and scrape details on social media websites without being detected. With that information you can understand which type of content attracts the attention of your audience better and deliver such content.
These were just a few major areas where the use of private proxies is justified and has proven to be highly effective.
Key Moments to Consider Before Buying a Private Proxy
In this section we will provide you with a range of factors to consider before committing your budget to buying private proxies.
Speed and security
Before buying a lot of private proxies you can normally receive one or two for testing from your provider. You can test proxies for their speed using various tools or built-in dashboard tests of the provider. Also, if you ask yourself: “What is my proxy IP address?” You will be able to reveal it through testing. A good private proxy will provide you with the level of protection you need for online scraping operations on sites sensitive to all types of bots.
IP Location
In all those cases when you need proxies to bypass geographical restrictions you need to make sure that your private proxy IP matches the country requirements. If you don’t have a particular country requirement, you can still use IPs of countries that are less prone to be banned by target sites. So, instead of using IPs from Eastern Europe and Africa you can go with IPs from US, Canada, EU and Australia.
Price
As a rule, the price for a good private proxy is in direct correlation with its performance and location. The better the speed and quality of a proxy, the more expensive it can be. Another factor worth considering together with the price is the level of customer service that you are getting from the provider.
Customer Service and Support
It is important to be able to rely on your proxy provider preferably round-the-clock. A good provider will always be able to resolve your problem almost momentarily. If you are unhappy with some proxies, some providers can replace your proxies with new ones. So, make sure you find out about all options of your plan before you buy proxies.
How to Choose The Best Private Proxy Provider
In order to get the best price-to-quality ratio with private proxies, you need to consider the aforementioned factors. You can get a couple of IPs for testing and if you are pleased with the test results see if the customer support meets your expectations. Then, find testimonials or customer feedback online related to this particular provider. If you need more information on how to choose a proxy, enjoy this article in our blog.
Consider PrivateProxy Your Trusted Partner
As you can learn from the name of our company, a lot of our business revolves around providing highly performing private proxies to customers from all over the World. We have over a decade of successful implementation of projects in this area and are ready to share the know-how with our new customers. All our buyers benefit from our 24/7 live customer support. We want you to be happy with our products and our account managers will be there for you in case you have any concerns while using our private proxies.
Final Thoughts
To summarize the ideas of our Guide to private proxies – a private proxy is a great tool that can help you in market research and intelligence, web scraping of search engines and social media sites as well as in buying rare items online. It is exclusive to its owners unlike public and shared proxies and demonstrates much higher speed and security while operating. And, what’s also important, now you know where to go for your set of top-notch private proxies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Please read our Documentation if you have questions that are not listed below.
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What is a private proxy?
A private proxy is a proxy server meant to hide your real IP address while in operation, securing the rights of proxy IP ownership to one single user. This exclusivity of use makes private proxies different from public and shared proxies, where you may not be the sole owner of the proxy IP.
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What is the purpose of a proxy?
The ultimate purpose of a proxy is to hide or conceal your real IP address while you are surfing the web or perform any kind of data harvesting operation. Proxies allow you to stay anonymous while collecting information for further analysis. Also, proxies allow you to bypass geo restrictions to sites otherwise unavailable for accessing from your location.
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Is private proxy good?
In terms of performance (speed, level of security, etc.) a private proxy is the best proxy there is to perform any kind of web scraping or other types of activities involving proxies.
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What private proxies can be used for?
Private proxies can be successfully used for a whole number of activities including but not limited to: market research, monitoring of competition, brand and reputational intelligence, SEO intelligence, buying rare items online (e.g. purchasing sneakers), accessing restricted content, maintaining multiple accounts, posting ads, web scraping, and selling goods on social media.
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Now that you are a happy owner of a set of proxies for your online mission, you want to be sure that the proxies you bought will be just what you were promised in the first place.