What are Rotating Proxies and Why Should You Choose Them?

Proxies help enhance user anonymity and security online. However, not all proxies are built the same. There are shared proxies, public proxies, private proxies, and many others. If anonymity is the goal, no proxy type is more useful than rotating proxies.

A rotating proxy makes a user’s online activity untraceable when used correctly. Because of this, they are the go-to proxies for data scraping and collection and other activities that involve numerous requests and a need for anonymity. Read on to learn what rotating proxies are, how they work, and when to choose them for your tasks.

What is a Rotating Proxy?

A rotating proxy server automatically changes the IP address associated with internet traffic and connections at regular intervals during sessions. The constant changing of IP addresses improves the anonymity provided by the proxy, and helps users avoid issues such as rate limits, etc. 

You might come across some strange terms when researching, purchasing, or using rotating proxies. Here are some you may come across and what they mean:

1. IP Rotation. This is straightforward and refers to automatically changing the IP address associated with a connection. Proxy providers allow users to determine the criteria guiding IP rotation. Users can link the rotation to time intervals and adjust the interval as needed. Alternatively, they can set the IP rotation to kick in after several requests have been sent from the device. 
2. Proxy Pool. A proxy pool is the collection of IP addresses through which a rotating proxy service chooses addresses to rotate through. As such, the only proxy addresses that a user can use under the service are those contained within the pool. Any other address not within the pool but owned by the same providers will remain inaccessible.
3. Rotation Trigger. The rotation trigger in a rotating proxy service indicates that the IP address needs to change. The trigger may be an elapsed time interval or a target number of requests.
4. Rotation Interval. If the rotation trigger is time-based, the rotation interval is the specific time interval selected. After the set time interval expires, rotating proxies switch the connection’s IP address to a randomly selected one from the proxy pool.
5. Dynamic IP address. A dynamic IP address is a term that describes frequently changing IP addresses, like those of rotating proxies. Dynamic IP addresses give the impression that groups of user requests actually originate from multiple users in various locations.
6. Session Persistence. Session persistence is the characteristic of a rotating proxy service that allows users to maintain a single IP address for the duration of a session, task, or activity without change. It sounds antithetical to the operation of a rotating proxy, but such a feature is necessary if the user needs to complete sensitive tasks, like financial transactions, logging into certain accounts, etc.

How does a Rotating Proxy Work?

A rotating proxy works the same as any other web proxy, with the minor (or major) difference that it changes IP addresses after a while. Here is a step-by-step process showing how rotating proxies work:

1. Request Initiation. Here, the user sends a request from their device to initiate access to a website, platform, or online resource. 
2. Proxy Selection and Interception. Depending on the point during a session, the proxy server selects an IP address to intercept the user’s request and reroute it. As such, the request is sent to this IP address, from which it is resent to the destination server of the website, platform, or resource.
3. Proxy Reception. After the request is received by the website, platform, or resource and is processed, a response is generated and sent back to the proxy IP address. The proxy then modifies the response by its configuration and resends it to the user’s device. If the proxy is intended for access control or content filtering, this is where it filters out unwanted material.
4. IP Rotation. After the proxy has worked for a preset interval or has completed the set number of requests, the proxy server randomly picks another IP address for the device to continue connecting with. Subsequent requests after the rotation will appear on the website’s destination server as though they came from a different user in a different location. 
5. Continued Operation. The process will repeat for the duration of the session, with the proxy server periodically changing the connection’s IP address per its settings.        

Why Should You Choose Rotating Proxies

Rotating residential proxies are popular for their high anonymity, however, that is not all. They also offer additional excellent benefits which include: 

Enhanced Anonymity

The process of rotating through a pool of IP addresses and distributing requests among them makes it difficult for websites to attribute the total internet activity to the proxy user. Similarly, trackers looking to craft user profiles of visitors will also find themselves at a loss. 

Avoidance of IP Bans

Rotating proxies also helps prevent IP bans, especially during data scraping. One problem with scraping is that it utilises multiple requests to the web server in a decidedly inhuman way. As such, web admins frown on using scraping bots because of the strain they can put on server performance. Rotating proxies distribute these scraping bot requests across many IP addresses, thus making them less detectable. It can also help avoid anti-scraping measures like CAPTCHAs that websites implement to impede bots.

Bypassing Rate Limits

Another habit of websites is to impose IP-dependent rate limits to help conserve server performance. These rate limits impose access and speed restrictions on users’ activities after a while. Rotating proxies avoids them by making the user seem new every time the IP address changes. 

Scalability

Rotating proxies grants their users access to a pool of millions of IP addresses. As such, they offer a scalable solution for users looking to expand their capacity while remaining anonymous. 

Geolocation Flexibility

The pool of IP addresses in a rotating proxy is spread over many countries and regions. As a result, it can provide elite anonymity while helping users target certain locations. 

Load Testing

Load testing is performance testing that assesses how a system behaves under different load conditions. Websites may use rotating proxies to incorporate load testing and identify weaknesses in the performance of their servers and sites.

Where to Buy Rotating Proxies

There are many providers of rotating proxies on the market. However, none match Proxy Cheap premium proxies for value. We offer customizable rotating proxies at affordable rates and with pricing flexibility for prospective customers wanting more. Our rotating proxies are residential, granting them elite anonymity outside the automatic rotations. 

When using Proxy Cheap rotating proxies, users can rest assured that they will enjoy the following:

1. Responsive Customer Support. We offer experience-specific onboarding to help prospective buyers facilitate purchases and 24/7 support to help users get the best out of our proxies.
2. Cost-Effective Proxy Solutions. Proxy Cheap offers quality IP addresses that are free from damaging histories and are constantly updated to ensure activity and expanding coverage. Best of all, though, is the affordability of these proxies and the possibility of bulk purchase deals to sweeten things for users. Put simply, with Proxy Cheap, you get market-leading rotating proxies at a reasonable price for the present and long term.
3. Broad Geographical Coverage. Proxy Cheap rotating proxies tap into a pool of nearly 7 million IP addresses spread across 100+ locations. We can distribute your requests across several countries, making it nearly impossible for any website to piece it all together and link it to your device.  
4. User-Friendly Interface. Our friendly interface allows users to monitor their proxy use. This interface includes a proxy dashboard through which users can top up their accounts and view their active and expired proxies, among other things.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is proxy rotation?

Proxy rotation is a technique employed by proxy vendors and providers to enhance the anonymity of their users and reduce the likelihood of IP bans or blocking. The technique involves setting the proxy to automatically change the user’s IP address during a session after a number of requests or at fixed intervals. The proxy usually dips into a pool of IP addresses owned by the provider. The effect produced is that the websites or platforms you are visiting  can’t piece together your activity for tracking or punishment. Proxy rotation is useful for data scraping where the sheer number of requests from a user’s device may throw up red flags. 

What is a rotating proxy service?

A rotating proxy service is a service that supplies a pool of IP addresses for its users, from which it automatically changes their address during sessions. The changes are set to occur after several requests or at fixed time intervals. The advantage of this proxy service over others is it improves anonymity, and users do not need to change their IP addresses manually to achieve it. Furthermore, the pool of addresses employed in a rotating proxy service is significantly more than any single user would consider logical to buy. As such, they can not recreate the usefulness of a rotating proxy with any other proxy type. 

Should I use sticky or rotating proxies?

The decision to use sticky or rotating proxies should depend on your specific needs. A sticky proxy maintains the same IP address for a user over a period of time or for the duration of a browsing session. As such, it presents a consistent connection location to websites and online platforms. The consistency makes it important for session-based activities (like logging in to online accounts or performing financial transactions), submitting forms, and corporate communications/accessing corporate resources. On the other hand, a rotating proxy changes user IP addresses after several requests or after a fixed time has elapsed. By changing IPs in this way, the proxies enhance anonymity and stump online trackers. A rotating proxy is, thus, suitable for large-scale data scraping, avoiding rate limits on websites and tasks that require high anonymity.