What Are Static Proxies?
Static proxies assign you one IP address that remains constant during your entire session and subsequent sessions are later dates.
Every request is routed through the same IP address until you manually switch the proxy in your application. This persistence has advantages and limitations depending on your use-case and target website.
How do Static Proxies Work?
The technical infrastructure behind static proxies is straightforward but effective. Proxies will be set up on dedicated servers and configured with proxying software such as Squid Cache, or at Ping Proxies, our in-house Rust-based proxy solution called Ancelotti. Using the software, each proxy is assigned a specific static IP address and then requests to that proxy are routed to that specific IP address consistently and regardless of whether the request uses HTTP or SOCKS5 protocol.
To achieve this, the proxy provider must have control or ownership over the IP addresses for a prolonged period of time, allowing them to continuously route them to the dedicated server so they’re available for the proxy software to use. This is usually only possible in datacenter environments where the provider can lease subnets and have complete control over them.
This is the reason that proxies in residential peer networks can never truly be static since the proxy provider does not have ownership or control over the IP addresses in their network and nodes can leave or join the network at any given time meaning prolonged IP address availability is not guaranteed.
However, you can get Datacenter and Static Residential ISP Proxies in a static configuration since these proxies are provisioned in datacenter environments where a proxy provider can have total control over IP addresses and subnets for prolonged periods.
Importantly, though Static Residential ISP Proxies are operated in datacenters, the proxies and IP addresses are announced to residential carriers like AT&T, Spectrum, Windstream and others to make them look like real residential connections.
Common Use Cases for Static Proxies
One of the main use-cases for Static Proxies is account management. Many platforms and websites track IP address patterns to detect suspicious activity, so maintaining consistent IPs addresses when using accounts helps to avoid locks and account bans. Many Social Media managers operate customer accounts using a single Static Residential ISP Proxy per account to ensure each has its own dedicated, static IP address.
Other use-cases like Market Research and bypassing geo-restrictions are also important. When you need to consistently access content from specific regions, static proxies let you maintain stable connections through IPs in those locations. This proves invaluable for verifying local search results, testing geo-restricted services, or monitoring regional pricing differences.
Advantages of Static Proxies
Stability and consistent IP address availability stands out as the primary advantage of static proxies and is essential for certain applications but another benefit over rotating or sticky proxies is performance.
The direct connection through a single IP often means lower latency and more predictable speeds since your connection usually doesn’t have to flow through a backconnect proxy network. You're not dealing with the overhead of proxy rotation or the variable performance of different IPs in a pool. This makes static proxies ideal for latency-sensitive applications.
Disadvantages of Static Proxies
Website bans pose the biggest challenge for static proxies. Using the same IP address for too many requests makes pattern detection easier for websites that don't want you to scrape or access their website. Once a website flags your IP address, that proxy becomes banned on that target until you manually switch to a new one. This limitation particularly hurts during heavy scraping or automation tasks and can be expensive since most providers do not offer free static proxy replacements.
Limited geographic flexibility also causes headaches. Static proxies are hosted in datacenter environments and by nature, this limits the number of available locations proxy providers will offer.
Each datacenter a proxy provider operates from will have a fixed monthly cost associated with it for things like colocation, server hosting and connectivity. For datacenter proxy operations, this fixed cost can be quite low but for Static Residential ISP Proxies the fixed monthly cost for connectivity can easily run into the thousands of dollars. This, along with the fact many cities don’t have datacenters, are the reasons you’ll usually only find static proxies in a limited number of locations, usually major cities in large countries.
What Are Rotating Proxies?
Rotating proxies handle IP address assignment dynamically, automatically cycling through a pool of proxies based on your configuration. Rather directly all your traffic through a single IP address, you connect to a backconnect server that handles IP address assignment, rotation and load balancing.
Different proxy providers will offer different rotating options such as changing IP addresses on each request or after a certain time period. This flexibility lets you optimize for different use cases. For example, web scraping might use per-request rotation to prevent pattern detection, while other applications might rotate IPs every few minutes to balance anonymity and stability.
How do Rotating Proxies Work?
The technology behind rotating proxies is usually more complex than static proxies as the rotation mechanism relies on your request being handled by a backconnect proxy server.
Your computer will first connect to a backconnect server and this backconnect server will either route you out of a random IP address attached to the machine, or more likely, route you to another proxy in the region you have selected - this is often referred to as proxy chaining.
For residential proxies, these downstream IP addresses which form the last part of the chain are usually part of the providers residential peer network and formed by running proxy software on end-user devices like laptops and mobile phones. These peers are usually added to the network through ethical SDKs which compensate developers for including proxy software in their free apps or compensation programs which allow end-users to earn money in return for routing proxy traffic through their devices but there are also unethical providers which work with cybercriminals to maliciously install malware on end-user devices - these malicious networks are illegal to use and you should always check your proxy provider sources their IP addresses ethically.
The backconnect routing logic is heavily dependent on the provider and the technology they offer but it is common for proxy providers to now offer geolocation by country and city level along with ISP targeting. Users will specify their desired country, city and carrier (or all three) by passing in parameters in the proxy username or password field and the provider's proxy software will look at these parameters, find a matching proxy in their network, and then chain your connection to that proxy. In a rotating proxy configuration, each request you make will then be routed to a different proxy than the one before but still matching the specification passed in by the user.
Common Use Cases for Rotating Proxies
Rotating proxies can be used for a wide range of use-cases but the most common is high-volume web scraping. The constant IP address rotation allows web-scrapers to avoid being detected by anti-scraping systems that rely on request pattern detection. Major e-commerce sites, travel booking platforms, and price aggregators all employ rotating proxies to collect data at scale without getting blocked.
Ad verification forms another key use case. Advertisers need to check how their ads appear from different locations and to different users. Rotating proxies let them automatically verify ad placement, content, and targeting across very specific geographic regions.
Advantages of Rotating Proxies
The constant IP address rotation makes pattern detection extremely difficult for target websites and therefore providers a benefit to web-scrapers. Even if the website flags one IP address, your requests will continue through fresh addresses. This resilience makes rotating proxies great for any high-volume data collection or automation task.
Geographic flexibility provides another major advantage. Rather than manually switching proxy locations by changing your entire proxy, you can edit just your geolocation parameters in your rotating proxy to access content from different regions. This capability proves invaluable for tasks like local SEO monitoring or verifying geo-restricted content across multiple markets.
Disadvantages of Rotating Proxies
The main disadvantage for rotating proxies is pricing, particularly, for high-bandwidth tasks. Since rotating proxies give you access to many IP addresses, they usually do not charge per IP address and instead charge per request or per GB of bandwidth that is routed through them and this can get very expensive, very quickly in high-volume applications.
Performance variability also causes challenges. Different IP addresses in the pool deliver different speeds and latencies. Some requests might route through fast residential connections while others hit congested networks. This variation makes rotating proxies poorly suited for applications requiring consistent performance.
What are sticky proxies?
Sticky proxies sit in between rotating and static proxies and offer consistent IP address routing for as long as possible or a connection session. Proxy providers can’t guarantee a node in their network will be available forever but there is a high probability that the node will be online in the short-term immediate future and this allows them to offer proxy configurations which try to route a clients request through the same IP address for as long as possible while the node remains online - this is a sticky proxy or sticky session proxy.
Some providers also allow users to set the session ID in the proxy username or password section. When a backconnect server sees a session ID, it will try to connect the request to the IP address assigned to that session. The user can then change the session ID to a new one to force an IP address rotation.
Sticky proxies are usually charged per request or by bandwidth routed through them, similar to rotating proxies.
Avoiding Bans
Static proxies offer great network performance but their consistent IP address makes traffic patterns more noticeable and this predictability makes it easier for websites to block your traffic over time.
If you’re purely trying to avoid bans and you’re doing a high-volume of requests then rotating proxies may be a better fit for your use-case but since they’re charged per GB they may also be more expensive.
Key Differences Breakdown
To summarize the key differences between static, sticky and rotating proxies we have made a table breakdown of their features.
Cost Considerations
Static proxy pricing typically follows a per-IP address model. You pay for dedicated access to specific IP addresses, usually with unlimited bandwidth. This model works well for consistent usage patterns but gets expensive if you need many different IP addresses.
Rotating and sticky proxies usually charge by bandwidth consumption. You pay for the data transferred through the proxy network regardless of how many different IPs you use. This usage-based pricing better suits variable workloads but can shock users doing high-volume transfers.
Residential IP addresses will cost more than datacenter equivalents in both models due to their increased cost of operation and acquisition. However, they often deliver better success rates on challenging target websites, justifying the higher expense.
Conclusion
Proxies come in three main types: static, sticky, and rotating. Static proxies maintain a single IP address for extended periods up to months or even years, making them ideal for account management and tasks requiring consistent connections.
Conversely, rotating proxies automatically cycle through different IP addresses, either per request or at time intervals set by the user, making them great for web scraping and avoiding bans. However, they can be more expensive for high-volume activities since they're usually charged by bandwidth rather than per IP address like static proxies.
Sticky proxies are also usually charged by bandwidth and are similar to rotating proxies. However, they try to keep the same IP address for as long as a connection session lasts or as long as the node in the proxy network stays online, offering a middle-ground solution.
In general, static proxies work best for tasks needing stability and consistent connections, while rotating or sticky proxies excel at high-volume data collection where avoiding detection is crucial.
