Guia Completo de Proxies para Web Scraping

Why Proxies Are Essential for Web Scraping

Every web scraping project hits the same wall: IP-based blocking. Target websites monitor incoming requests, and when they detect too many from a single IP address, they block it — sometimes within seconds. Anti-bot systems in 2026, including Cloudflare, Akamai Bot Manager, and PerimeterX, have become remarkably sophisticated. They analyze TLS fingerprints, mouse movement patterns, request timing, and IP reputation scores in real time.

Web scraping proxies solve this by routing each request through a different IP address. Instead of hammering a website from one server, your scraper distributes requests across thousands — or millions — of residential, datacenter, and mobile IPs. To the target site, each request looks like a normal user visiting from a different location.

Without proxies, even a modest scraping operation collecting a few thousand pages per day will trigger rate limits, CAPTCHAs, and outright bans. With the right proxy setup, you can scrape websites without getting blocked and maintain success rates above 95% at scale.

This guide covers everything you need to know about web scraping proxies: how they work, which types to use, how to set them up in Python, Node.js, and Go, and how to scale your infrastructure for millions of requests per day.

How Web Scraping Proxies Work

A proxy server acts as an intermediary between your scraper and the target website. Here is the request flow:

1. Your scraper sends an HTTP request to the proxy server (the gateway).
2. The proxy server selects an IP from its pool and forwards the request to the target website using that IP.
3. The target website sees the proxy IP — not your server's IP — and responds normally.
4. The proxy server forwards the response back to your scraper.

With rotating proxies, the gateway automatically assigns a different IP for each request (or after a set time interval). This means your scraper never sends more than one or two requests from the same IP to the same target, effectively eliminating IP-based detection.

The key technical components are:

• Proxy gateway: A single endpoint (e.g., gate.proxyhat.com:8080) that handles IP selection and rotation behind the scenes.
• IP pool: The collection of available IP addresses. Larger pools with diverse geographic distribution provide better anonymity.
• Session management: The ability to maintain the same IP for a set duration (sticky sessions) or rotate on every request.
• Protocol support: HTTP/HTTPS for standard scraping, SOCKS5 for lower-level control and non-HTTP protocols.

Types of Proxies for Web Scraping

Not all proxies are equal. The type you choose depends on your target sites, budget, and required success rate. For a deep dive into each type, see our residential vs datacenter vs mobile proxies comparison.

Residential Proxies

Residential proxies route traffic through IP addresses assigned by ISPs to real households. To any website, your request is indistinguishable from a regular user browsing from home.

Best for: Heavily protected websites (Amazon, Google, social media), SERP tracking, geo-restricted content, and any target with aggressive anti-bot measures.

Success rate: 95%+ on most targets, including sites behind Cloudflare and Akamai.

Datacenter Proxies

Datacenter proxies originate from cloud providers and hosting companies. They offer high speed and low cost but are easier for anti-bot systems to identify because their IP ranges are publicly registered.

Best for: High-volume scraping of less protected sites, price monitoring on smaller e-commerce platforms, and targets without sophisticated bot detection.

Success rate: 40-70% on protected sites, 90%+ on unprotected sites.

Mobile Proxies

Mobile proxies use IP addresses from cellular carriers (4G/5G). Because mobile IPs are shared by many users through carrier-grade NAT, websites almost never block them — doing so would affect thousands of legitimate mobile users.

Best for: Social media scraping, targets with the most aggressive anti-bot systems, ad verification, and any site that blocks even residential IPs.

Success rate: 98%+ on virtually all targets.

ISP Proxies

ISP proxies combine the speed of datacenter infrastructure with the trust of residential IP addresses. They are static IPs registered under ISP names but hosted in data centers.

Best for: Long-running sessions, account management, tasks requiring a consistent IP identity with high trust scores.

Proxy Type Comparison

Feature	Residential	Datacenter	Mobile	ISP
Trust score	High	Low-Medium	Very High	High
Speed	Medium	Very Fast	Medium	Fast
Cost per GB	Medium	Low	High	Medium-High
Block resistance	High	Low	Very High	High
Pool size	Millions	Thousands	Hundreds of thousands	Thousands
Geo-targeting	Country/City	Country	Country/Carrier	Country
Best use case	General scraping	High-volume, easy targets	Social media, hardest targets	Long sessions

Recommendation: For most web scraping projects, start with residential proxies. They offer the best balance of cost, success rate, and versatility. Switch to mobile proxies only for targets that block residential IPs, and use datacenter proxies for high-volume jobs on unprotected sites.

Key Features to Look for in Scraping Proxies

When evaluating proxy providers for web scraping, these are the features that directly impact your scraping success and cost efficiency.

IP Pool Size and Diversity

A larger IP pool means less chance of using the same IP twice on a target. Look for providers offering millions of residential IPs across diverse geographic locations. Pool diversity matters more than raw size — 2 million IPs spread across 195 countries outperform 10 million concentrated in a single region.

Rotation Options

Your proxy provider should support both automatic rotation (new IP per request) and sticky sessions (same IP for a configurable duration). Per-request rotation is ideal for scraping product pages or search results. Sticky sessions are necessary when you need to navigate multi-page workflows like pagination or login sequences.

Geo-Targeting

Precise geo-targeting lets you scrape location-specific content — local search results, regional pricing, or geo-restricted pages. The best providers offer targeting at the country, state, and city level. For SERP scraping, city-level targeting is essential because search results vary significantly by location.

Success Rate and Uptime

Proxy success rate is the percentage of requests that return a valid response (not a block page, CAPTCHA, or timeout). High-quality residential proxies should deliver 95%+ success rates. Uptime should be 99.9% or higher — any downtime directly stalls your scraping pipeline.

Speed and Concurrency

Response time matters at scale. If each request takes 500ms longer due to slow proxies, a 100,000-page scraping job takes an extra 14 hours. Look for providers with low-latency gateways and no artificial concurrency limits. ProxyHat's gateway supports unlimited concurrent connections through gate.proxyhat.com.

Protocol Support

HTTP/HTTPS proxies cover most scraping needs. SOCKS5 support (port 1080 on ProxyHat) adds flexibility for non-HTTP protocols, lower-level networking tools, and UDP traffic. Having both options through the same gateway simplifies your infrastructure.

Setting Up Proxies for Web Scraping

Here is how to configure ProxyHat proxies in the three most popular scraping languages. For complete setup guides, see our language-specific tutorials: Python, Node.js, and Go.

Python with Requests

import requests
proxy_url = "http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@gate.proxyhat.com:8080"
proxies = {
    "http": proxy_url,
    "https": proxy_url,
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://example.com/products",
    proxies=proxies,
    timeout=30,
)
print(f"Status: {response.status_code}")
print(f"IP used: check response headers or body")

Python with ProxyHat SDK

from proxyhat import ProxyHat
client = ProxyHat(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")
# Rotating residential proxy — new IP per request
response = client.get(
    "https://example.com/products",
    country="us",
    session_type="rotating",
)
# Sticky session — same IP for 10 minutes
response = client.get(
    "https://example.com/checkout",
    country="us",
    session_type="sticky",
    session_ttl=600,
)
print(response.status_code, response.text[:200])

Install the SDK: pip install proxyhat — GitHub repository

Node.js with Axios

const axios = require('axios');
const HttpsProxyAgent = require('https-proxy-agent');
const proxyUrl = 'http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@gate.proxyhat.com:8080';
const agent = new HttpsProxyAgent(proxyUrl);
const response = await axios.get('https://example.com/products', {
  httpsAgent: agent,
  timeout: 30000,
});
console.log(`Status: ${response.status}`);
console.log(`Data: ${JSON.stringify(response.data).slice(0, 200)}`);

Node.js with ProxyHat SDK

const { ProxyHat } = require('@proxyhat/sdk');
const client = new ProxyHat({ apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY' });
// Rotating proxy request
const response = await client.get('https://example.com/products', {
  country: 'us',
  sessionType: 'rotating',
});
// Sticky session request
const stickyResponse = await client.get('https://example.com/checkout', {
  country: 'us',
  sessionType: 'sticky',
  sessionTtl: 600,
});
console.log(response.status, response.data);

Install the SDK: npm install @proxyhat/sdk — GitHub repository

Go with net/http

package main
import (
    "fmt"
    "io"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "time"
)
func main() {
    proxyURL, _ := url.Parse("http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@gate.proxyhat.com:8080")
    client := &http.Client{
        Transport: &http.Transport{
            Proxy: http.ProxyURL(proxyURL),
        },
        Timeout: 30 * time.Second,
    }
    resp, err := client.Get("https://example.com/products")
    if err != nil {
        fmt.Printf("Error: %v\n", err)
        return
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()
    body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    fmt.Printf("Status: %d\nBody: %s\n", resp.StatusCode, string(body)[:200])
}

Go with ProxyHat SDK

package main
import (
    "fmt"
    "github.com/ProxyHatCom/proxyhat-go"
)
func main() {
    client := proxyhat.NewClient("YOUR_API_KEY")
    // Rotating proxy request
    resp, err := client.Get("https://example.com/products", &proxyhat.RequestOptions{
        Country:     "us",
        SessionType: "rotating",
    })
    if err != nil {
        fmt.Printf("Error: %v\n", err)
        return
    }
    fmt.Printf("Status: %d\n", resp.StatusCode)
}

Install the SDK: go get github.com/ProxyHatCom/proxyhat-go — GitHub repository

Proxy Rotation Strategies

How you rotate proxies is just as important as which type you use. The right rotation strategy depends on your target site, scraping volume, and the type of content you are collecting.

Per-Request Rotation

Every request gets a new IP address. This is the default and most common strategy for web scraping.

When to use: Scraping product pages, search results, article content — any task where each request is independent and hits a different URL.

How it works with ProxyHat: Set session_type=rotating (or omit it, since rotating is the default). The gateway assigns a fresh IP from the pool for each request.

Timed Rotation (Sticky Sessions)

The same IP is maintained for a configurable time window (1-30 minutes typically), then rotates to a new one.

When to use: Multi-step workflows like pagination, form submissions, or any task requiring session continuity. Also useful for scraping sites that track session cookies tied to an IP.

How it works with ProxyHat: Set session_type=sticky and session_ttl=600 (for 10-minute sessions). All requests within the TTL window use the same IP.

Failure-Based Rotation

Keep using the same IP until it gets blocked or returns an error, then rotate to a new one.

When to use: When you want to maximize the value of each IP. Some IPs can handle hundreds of requests before detection, while others get flagged quickly. Failure-based rotation adapts dynamically.

import requests
from time import sleep
proxy_url = "http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@gate.proxyhat.com:8080"
proxies = {"http": proxy_url, "https": proxy_url}
urls = ["https://example.com/page/1", "https://example.com/page/2", "..."]
for url in urls:
    for attempt in range(3):
        try:
            resp = requests.get(url, proxies=proxies, timeout=30)
            if resp.status_code == 200:
                # Process successful response
                break
            elif resp.status_code in (403, 429, 503):
                # Blocked — next request gets a new IP automatically
                sleep(2)
                continue
        except requests.RequestException:
            sleep(2)
            continue

Geo-Distributed Rotation

Route requests through IPs in different geographic locations to match the content you are scraping.

When to use: SERP scraping across regions, monitoring geo-specific pricing, scraping location-restricted content.

from proxyhat import ProxyHat
client = ProxyHat(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")
target_regions = ["us", "gb", "de", "fr", "jp"]
for country in target_regions:
    response = client.get(
        "https://www.google.com/search?q=web+scraping+proxies",
        country=country,
        session_type="rotating",
    )
    print(f"{country.upper()}: {response.status_code}")

Common Scraping Challenges and How Proxies Solve Them

IP Blocks and Bans

The problem: Websites detect multiple requests from the same IP and block it with 403 responses or redirect to block pages.

The proxy solution: Rotating residential proxies ensure each request comes from a different IP. Even if one IP gets flagged, your next request uses a clean IP from a pool of millions. For the hardest targets, mobile proxies provide near-zero block rates.

CAPTCHAs

The problem: Sites serve CAPTCHAs when they suspect automated traffic. Solving CAPTCHAs adds cost and latency to your pipeline.

The proxy solution: High-quality residential proxies reduce CAPTCHA rates by 80-90% compared to datacenter proxies. When a CAPTCHA does appear, rotate to a new IP and retry — the new IP typically passes without a CAPTCHA. Combining proxy rotation with realistic headers and request timing makes your traffic indistinguishable from human browsing.

Rate Limiting

The problem: Websites limit requests per IP per time window (e.g., 100 requests per minute). Exceeding the limit returns 429 Too Many Requests.

The proxy solution: Distribute requests across thousands of IPs so no single IP exceeds the rate limit. If a target allows 100 requests per minute per IP and you need 10,000 requests per minute, you need at least 100 concurrent IPs — easily achieved with a residential proxy pool.

JavaScript-Rendered Content

The problem: Many modern websites load content dynamically via JavaScript. Simple HTTP requests return empty pages because the content has not been rendered.

The proxy solution: Use proxies with headless browsers (Puppeteer, Playwright) that execute JavaScript before extracting content. ProxyHat proxies work seamlessly with headless browsers — configure the proxy in the browser launch options:

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');
const browser = await puppeteer.launch({
  args: ['--proxy-server=http://gate.proxyhat.com:8080'],
});
const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.authenticate({
  username: 'USERNAME',
  password: 'PASSWORD',
});
await page.goto('https://example.com/dynamic-content', {
  waitUntil: 'networkidle0',
});
const content = await page.content();
console.log(content);
await browser.close();

Geo-Restricted Content

The problem: Content varies by location or is completely blocked for users outside certain regions.

The proxy solution: Geo-targeted proxies let you route requests through IPs in specific countries and cities. Access content as a local user in any supported region.

Scaling Your Scraping Infrastructure with Proxies

Moving from scraping thousands of pages to millions requires a systematic approach to proxy management, concurrency, and error handling.

Architecture for Scale

A production scraping pipeline at scale typically includes:

• URL queue: Redis or RabbitMQ holding the list of URLs to scrape.
• Worker pool: Multiple scraper instances pulling URLs from the queue and making requests through the proxy gateway.
• Proxy gateway: A single entry point like gate.proxyhat.com:8080 that handles all IP rotation, so your workers do not need to manage proxy lists.
• Result storage: Database or object storage for scraped data.
• Monitoring: Track success rates, response times, and bandwidth consumption per target domain.

Concurrency Management

Start with 10-20 concurrent requests per target domain and gradually increase while monitoring success rates. Different sites have different thresholds — an e-commerce site may tolerate 50 concurrent connections while a social media platform flags anything above 5 per IP. The advantage of rotating proxies is that concurrency limits apply per IP, not globally — with thousands of IPs, you can run hundreds of concurrent requests to the same domain.

Bandwidth Optimization

Residential proxy pricing is typically per GB. Optimize bandwidth usage by:

• Disabling image and CSS loading when you only need text content.
• Using HTTP compression (Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br).
• Caching responses to avoid re-scraping unchanged pages.
• Filtering requests — only fetch URLs that match your data requirements.

Error Handling and Retry Logic

At scale, network errors, timeouts, and blocks are inevitable. Implement exponential backoff with proxy rotation:

import requests
from time import sleep
import random
proxy_url = "http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@gate.proxyhat.com:8080"
proxies = {"http": proxy_url, "https": proxy_url}
def scrape_with_retry(url, max_retries=3):
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            response = requests.get(url, proxies=proxies, timeout=30)
            if response.status_code == 200:
                return response
            elif response.status_code in (403, 429, 503):
                wait = (2 ** attempt) + random.uniform(0, 1)
                sleep(wait)
                continue
        except requests.RequestException:
            wait = (2 ** attempt) + random.uniform(0, 1)
            sleep(wait)
            continue
    return None

Legal and Ethical Considerations

Web scraping with proxies is a powerful tool, but it comes with legal and ethical responsibilities.

Legal Landscape

The legality of web scraping varies by jurisdiction, but several key precedents shape the current landscape:

• hiQ v. LinkedIn (2022): The U.S. Ninth Circuit ruled that scraping publicly available data does not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).
• EU Copyright Directive: Allows text and data mining for research purposes while requiring compliance with opt-out mechanisms.
• GDPR/CCPA: Scraping personal data requires compliance with data protection regulations, including having a lawful basis for processing and providing data subject rights.

Ethical Best Practices

• Respect robots.txt: While not legally binding, it signals the site owner's preferences for automated access.
• Rate limiting: Do not overwhelm target servers. Space your requests to avoid impacting site performance for real users.
• Data usage: Use scraped data for analysis, not for republishing copyrighted content.
• Transparency: When practical, identify yourself through User-Agent headers or contact information.
• Authentication: Never bypass login screens or access controls. Scrape only publicly available pages.

Important: This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult with a qualified legal professional regarding the specific laws and regulations that apply to your scraping activities in your jurisdiction.

Key Takeaways

• Proxies are mandatory for web scraping at any meaningful scale. Without them, your IP gets blocked within minutes on most websites.
• Residential proxies offer the best balance of success rate, cost, and versatility for general scraping. See our 2026 proxy comparison for detailed benchmarks.
• Rotation strategy matters as much as proxy type. Per-request rotation for independent pages, sticky sessions for multi-step workflows, geo-targeting for location-specific data.
• Combine proxies with proper scraping hygiene: realistic headers, random delays, retry logic, and bandwidth optimization.
• Scale gradually. Start with low concurrency, monitor success rates, and increase only when your pipeline handles errors gracefully.
• Code integration is straightforward in Python, Node.js, and Go with just a few lines of configuration.
• Stay legal and ethical. Scrape public data, respect rate limits, comply with data protection laws, and use data responsibly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are web scraping proxies?

Web scraping proxies are intermediary servers that route your scraping requests through different IP addresses. Instead of sending all requests from your server's single IP — which gets blocked quickly — proxies distribute requests across thousands of IPs, making each request appear to come from a different user. Residential proxies are the most effective type because they use real ISP-assigned addresses that websites trust.

How many proxies do I need for web scraping?

The number depends on your scraping volume and target sites. For light scraping (under 10,000 pages/day), a rotating residential proxy pool with a few GB of bandwidth is sufficient. For heavy scraping (100,000+ pages/day), you need access to a larger pool with geo-targeting capabilities. With ProxyHat's rotating residential proxies, you access a pool of millions of IPs through a single gateway endpoint, so you do not need to manage individual proxy lists.

Are residential proxies better than datacenter proxies for scraping?

For most scraping tasks, yes. Residential proxies use real IP addresses assigned by ISPs, giving them much higher trust scores with target websites. Datacenter proxies are faster and cheaper per GB but easier to detect because their IP ranges are publicly known. For heavily protected sites like Amazon, Google, or social media platforms, residential proxies deliver success rates above 95%, while datacenter proxies often fall below 60% on the same targets. See our full proxy type comparison.

How do I avoid getting blocked when scraping with proxies?

Use rotating residential proxies to change your IP with each request, implement random delays between requests (1-5 seconds), rotate User-Agent headers, respect robots.txt directives, and avoid scraping during peak hours when anti-bot systems are most aggressive. Set up retry logic with automatic proxy rotation on failures. For a complete anti-blocking guide, read how to scrape websites without getting blocked.

Is web scraping with proxies legal?

Web scraping of publicly available data is generally legal in the United States and the European Union. The hiQ v. LinkedIn case established that scraping public data does not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. However, you must respect website terms of service, avoid scraping personal data without GDPR/CCPA compliance, never bypass authentication or access controls, and use scraped data for legitimate business purposes. Always consult legal counsel for your specific use case and jurisdiction.