Purchasing proxies in bulk is much cheaper than buying one or two IPs. Unfortunately, one-man projects rarely need hundreds of proxies or terabytes of bandwidth. The solution is to use proxies for more than one use case, and there are many options.
A great way to get the best out of your proxy surplus is to test some software tools you haven’t yet tried. From browsing to web scraping, everything can be improved with proxies if you know the right tools. This article will introduce you to the five best tools to use with proxies.
What are proxies?
Proxies are devices that act as intermediary points between you and the internet to hide IP address-related information. Each time you connect to the internet without a proxy, your device sends your IP address, which your internet service provider has tied to your location.
Knowing your IP address allows websites to accomplish two things. They can filter the data based on your location. For example, Amazon is known for showing different prices based on the visitor’s location, so some visitors are overpaying just because of their region.
Websites also use IP address as a unique identifier. By the way, the internet is set up, and the IP address functions as a return address, so it can be used to track your every move on the internet. Proxies can be used to conceal your original IP address and make it much more difficult to track you.
SOCKS5 private residential proxies
There are many types of proxies, and almost any device that connects to the internet can be used as a proxy server. Smartphones with at least 3G internet, for example, are commonly used for running mobile proxies. High-end commercial servers are used to host affordable datacenter servers and so on.
However, if you want to be sure that your proxies are compatible with the largest selection of software tools, you should buy SOCKS5 proxies that are either residential or IPS residential type.
Residential proxies are hosted on physical devices in ordinary households with connections verified by a residential Internet Service Provider (ISP). Every website you visit with such a proxy will view you as an ordinary user.
Most residential proxies, by default, are rotating. If you want to retain one residential IP address for longer, you should purchase ISP (also called static) residential proxies.
While the residential type will save you from IP bans and maximize anonymity, some software might not be supported. Therefore, it’s necessary to choose a proxy provider that supports the SOCKS5 protocol.
SOCKS5, an abbreviation for Socket Secure version 5, is an internet protocol that establishes communications between online devices. Technical aspects aside, SOCKS5 provides intermediary authentification and recovery points. It’s a fast and secure connection type that can work in tandem with various other network methods, such as FTP, TCP/IP, IPV5, and most others.
Some proxies work only with HTTP or HTTPS connections. You should avoid them and opt for SOCKS5 proxies instead because they can work with HTTP as well as with other methods. The flexibility of SOCKS5 residential proxies will ensure that every software tool I discuss below will support your proxies.
Dolphin Anty
Dolphin Anty is one of the best anti-detect browsers right now. These browsers enable users to set up multiple fingerprint profiles to not only hide their original connection but also appear on web servers in a specific way.
Hardware parameters, software type, browser version, and even screen resolution are used by websites to track users. Dolphin Anty can spoof such signals you send to the web and enable you to appear the way you want.
While it’s mostly useful for specific uses, such as affiliate marketing and social media management, I found Dolphin Anty useful for anonymous browsing as well. Its free version allows ten different profiles, and the interface is really convenient for everyday use.
Proxy Switcher and Manager
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of setting up an anti-detect browser, the easiest way to supplement your browsing with proxies is to use an extension. Proxy Switcher and Manager is my favorite add-on for managing proxies on Chrome and Firefox.
Proxy Switcher and Manager is open source, doesn’t promote any proxy provider, and has all the needed settings. You can set up automatic proxy rotation, create PAC scripts for rudimentary automation, allow multiple profiles, and even help diagnose proxy server problems.
Proxy providers have better add-ons for their own proxies, but once you need to insert credentials from multiple sources, problems arise. I suggest choosing Proxy Switcher and Manager or some other open-source project for this reason.
Proxifier
If running proxies for browsing isn’t enough, I suggest using a tool like Proxifier. It allows any application that can connect to the internet to run proxies. It works on MAC, Windows, and, recently even on Android.
With a little bit of tinkering and online tutorials, you can achieve almost anything with Proxifier. My favorite feature is setting up proxy chains where multiple proxies route the same request. The best part is that you barely need to code anything with Proxifier.
Octoparse
It’s common to think that online data extraction also requires a lot of coding. While it’s true that you need to know Phyton to create a custom web scraper, most websites can be scraped with tools like Octoparse.
This no-code web scraping tool allows you to visually select actions that the bot must accomplish and data that he needs to extract. It can solve CAPTCHAs, scrape infinite scrolling pages, navigate complicated UIs, and much more. If you haven’t been scraping with proxies yet, Octoparse is great for small-scale projects projects on popular websites.
Conclusion
If you choose the right type of proxy, these programs will help you be more efficient in most tasks for which proxies are used. Even tasks that aren’t meant to be used with proxies can be improved by them if you know the right tools.