Have you ever wondered how you can navigate the internet without your IP address being detected? Well, besides using a virtual private network, you can use proxy servers.
In fact, proxy servers are the better option if you intend to use a single proxy server account on multiple computers. So, what is a proxy server?
A proxy server is an application-based intermediary that reroutes traffic from your browser, deletes any digital footprint that may cause a web host to recognize your computer, i.e., your IP address and location, before connecting to the target website.
The proxy server assigns you a new IP address. Owing to the many uses of proxy servers, numerous types of proxy servers exist.
These include:
- Residential proxies
- Datacenter proxies
- Mobile proxies
- High anonymity proxies
- Anonymous proxies
- Transparent proxies
- Reverse proxies
Just to mention a few. Additionally, these types are further categorized into free, shared, and private proxies, each of which has distinct characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages.
The disadvantages of free proxy servers greatly outweigh the benefits, thereby informing why free proxies don’t fall within this article’s scope. Below we will go into the differences between shared proxies vs. private proxies.