Why Rotating Proxies are the best

What is a rotating proxy?

A rotating proxy is a server that assigns a new IP from the proxy pool with each connection request. They are taken from a proxy pool consisting of millions of active IPs, ensuring that you won’t get stuck with the used ones. By adopting this rotation algorithm, proxies can help you scrape websites even with tough anti-bot systems. 

Rotating proxies can be both residential and datacenter IPs. Residential ones are generated from real desktop and mobile devices, which makes their connection requests inconspicuous to the target website and protects you from subnet bans. On the other hand, datacenter proxies are usually the product of data centers and cloud hosting services. This means that these proxies are easier to detect but are way faster and more stable than residential IPs. 

How does IP rotation work?

IP rotation does a simple yet vital thing – it assigns a new IP for every connection request. Rotating proxies serve a great deal while imitating massive real-time connections of different users. By choosing rotating proxies, you can send thousands of connection requests and be sure that the server rotates IPs every time. 

To make your proxy experience even more epic – you can rotate Smartproxy IPs connecting via sticky or rotating sessions. The latter means connecting with a different proxy for each request. If you wanna use the same IP longer, choose sticky sessions. They enable you to use the same IP for up to 1, 10, or 30 minutes, depending on your needs.  

Our rotating proxy service has convenient backconnect nodes for the whole pool or location-targeted IP pools. For instance, you can use thousands of residential US proxies by connecting to a single backconnect node for US-targeted IPs. According to the same logic, you can reach any country, state, or city worldwide. Here’s a short explanation with examples of how to deal with endpoints. 

Proxy lists vs. rotating proxy service

Proxy lists are an alternative to rotating IP sessions, however, it’s an old-school way to integrate IPs into your software. There are different types of them – free, public, or private – and the effectiveness and safety of IPs will depend upon which list you choose. Still, using a rotating proxy service would probably be more effective because of several reasons:

• There’s no need to gather thousands of IPs;
• Proxy uptime isn’t a thing you should worry about;
• You can forget about importing proxy lists or dealing with “dead” IPs.

Are free proxy lists safe?

If you’re starting to dig into a proxy topic, you might feel tempted to start with free proxy lists. We feel you – everybody is hyped about free stuff. However, we recommend staying away from them at any cost. They’re almost always malicious proxies with a sugar-coated label. 

Seriously, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch – most such proxies don’t allow HTTPS connection meaning your data isn’t encrypted, and you “pay” for those IPs by disclosing your personal information to third parties. Even if there’s no shady side behind the free proxy lists, they’re often overused and highly sluggish. Therefore, it’s always better to use quality rotating proxies as a less time-consuming and safer alternative.

Why use rotating proxies?

Rotating proxies can be handy for various use cases, including load testing, scraping, creating multiple social media accounts, automating sneaker copping, etc. They're endless possibilities where to use rotating proxies and quite common benefits:

1. Spreading requests over millions of IPs. The bigger the provider’s IP pool, the greater chance for you to scale your tasks by routing your requests via different IPs.
2. Overcoming blocks and CAPTCHAs. Rotating IP addresses for each request lower your chances of getting banned from the targeted sites.
3. Improving anonymity and security. By constantly changing your IP, you make it harder for anyone to track you down. Rotating proxies become your shield against various attacks.

The best rotating proxies

Looking for effective yet affordable rotating proxy services? We hear you and have something that really works. Our rotating proxy pool consists of 40M+ rotating residential and datacenter proxies. With the latter, you can enjoy lightning fast US and European IPs, while the residential ones give you a chance to target over 195 worldwide locations, including cities and 50 US states.

Some other technicalities we thought might be handy for you:

• Our residential rotating proxies' average response time is <0.61 sec, according to Proxyway’s research;
• Datacenter proxies are responding even faster, at 0.3 sec, according to our speed test;
• Proxyway research shows that Smartproxy IPs have the highest success rate in the market – 99.47%;
• The Pay As You Go option enables you to buy as many residential proxy GBs as you need without a subscription.

In a nutshell

Rotating proxies seems to be an excellent value for money compared to how much time and effort they can save you. If you’re ready to optimize your IP rotation process, check our best value offers for residential or datacenter proxies. And for any questions about how it works or what are the best tools in your case, drop a line to our always-active support team.