Proxy glossary
Key proxy terms defined in plain English — residential, datacenter and mobile proxies, rotation, sticky sessions, ASN, SOCKS5, geo-targeting and more.
ASN
Autonomous System Number — identifies a specific network/ISP.
Targeting an ASN pins your exit to a particular carrier or ISP, useful when results depend on the network, not just the location.
Read more →Backconnect gateway
A single endpoint that assigns a fresh exit IP per request.
Instead of managing a list of proxy IPs, you connect to one host and port; the gateway picks the exit IP based on the targeting in your username.
Bandwidth billing
Paying per gigabyte of traffic rather than per IP.
Charges for data transferred, which suits rotating pools where you touch many IPs but care only about the gigabytes moved.
Read more →CAPTCHA
A challenge used to separate humans from bots.
A spike in CAPTCHAs usually means a low-trust IP or too high a request rate — a signal to upgrade the pool and slow down.
Read more →Carrier NAT
Sharing one public IP across many mobile subscribers.
Carrier-grade NAT routes many real users behind a handful of IPs, which is why mobile proxy IPs are so costly for a site to block.
Read more →Datacenter proxy
A proxy that exits through a server-grade IP in a data center.
The fastest and cheapest proxy type. Excellent throughput, but its ranges are publicly known and easily blocked by anti-bot systems.
Read more →Exit IP
The IP address the target site actually sees.
The address your request exits from after passing through the gateway — what determines your apparent location and IP reputation.
Fingerprinting
Identifying a client by its combined technical signals.
Anti-bot systems combine IP, headers, TLS and browser traits into a fingerprint. Consistency across these signals is what keeps automation from standing out.
Read more →Geo-targeting
Choosing the country, city or network your proxy exits from.
Set with parameters in the username (e.g. cr.us, city.newyork). Country is included on every pool; finer levels may bill extra.
Read more →HTTP proxy
A proxy that understands and routes web traffic.
Reads HTTP requests and tunnels HTTPS via CONNECT. Universally supported and the default for scraping, SERP and API work.
Read more →IP rotation
Cycling the exit IP across a pool of addresses.
The core defense against rate limits and reputation checks: by changing IPs, no single address looks abnormally busy.
Read more →IP whitelisting
Authorizing a proxy by a registered source IP.
The gateway trusts traffic from a pre-registered address, removing per-request credentials — convenient for a fixed server, awkward for dynamic IPs.
Read more →Mobile proxy
A proxy that exits through a real 4G/5G carrier IP.
Shares carrier-NAT IPs with many real subscribers, giving it the highest trust of any pool — the go-to for social platforms and the strictest targets.
Read more →Residential proxy
A proxy that exits through a real ISP-assigned home connection.
Routes traffic through a genuine household IP, so requests look like an ordinary local visitor. The highest-trust mainstream pool, used for targets that block datacenter IPs.
Read more →Rotating proxy
A proxy that gives a new exit IP on each request.
Spreads traffic across the pool so no single IP draws attention. The default mode for high-volume, stateless work.
Read more →SOCKS5
A protocol-agnostic proxy tunnel for any TCP/UDP traffic.
Operates below the application layer and forwards raw connections, so it carries non-web protocols and UDP, unlike an HTTP proxy.
Read more →Sticky session
Holding one exit IP for a set window, up to 30 minutes.
Keeps the same IP across a sequence of requests so logins, carts and multi-step flows stay coherent. Set with a session id in the username.
Read more →Sub-user
A separate proxy credential under one account.
Lets you isolate projects or clients with their own login and usage, while sharing one underlying plan and pool.
From theory to traffic
Spin up a proxy in minutes — pick a pool, target a location, pay by the gigabyte.