Paid vs free proxies: which ones to choose

Proxy is a server between the user and the website. It helps to maintain anonymity, protect traffic, and so on.

Initially, proxies are divided into two types: paid and free.

Paid proxies are created to help users maintain anonymity, bypass IP bans, and so on. And free ones are often created for the creators to profit from them.

We will tell you about the disadvantages of each type and the tasks they handle in the article.

What tasks proxies solve

Create anonymity. A proxy changes a person's IP and the website does not know who is interacting with it.

This is convenient if you need to access a website and protect yourself from advertisers collecting information.

Maintain security. Many proxies operate on protocols with encryption. It protects against hacker attacks and helps to keep confidential information safe.

Help test websites and ads. For example, a developer has implemented a new feature on a website and wants to see how it looks to customers. Connects a proxy → changes IP → accesses the site and sees how the resource looks to the customer.

A similar scenario applies to advertising: proxies help track where ads appear and who sees them. This helps to remove non-targeted platforms and narrow down the audience.

Help gather information. To work with traffic and content, you have to gather a lot of information on the internet, make hundreds of requests. Some sites restrict access or give bans for this. If you use a proxy, the likelihood of being filtered decreases.

More about the other purposes for which proxies are used are discussed in the article "What are proxies and how do they work".

Pros of free proxies

✔️No need to pay for usage. You simply find a free proxy server, connect to it, and your IP address changes automatically.

✔️You can connect to any proxy server. For example, if you tried one service and the proxies on it turned out to be not working, you can easily switch to another resource and try servers there. And you don't have to pay for this, or write to support asking for a refund.

✔️A new proxy server may work just as well as a paid one. If you manage to find a server that has recently appeared and is used by few people, it may not differ from a paid one. You will get the same high speed and low ping.

But finding such a server is very difficult, you need to constantly monitor specialized resources, for example, Anonymouse, Whoer.net, or FilterByPass

✔️You can build a chain of connected servers. Since all proxies are free, you can connect to several at once and change your IP address multiple times. This will help increase anonymity and security on the network. But it will negatively affect connection speed.

Cons of free proxies

❌Few working proxies. Because hundreds and thousands of users try to use free servers, it is very difficult to find a free and working one. All free proxies either have low reliability or low connection speed. This makes them unusable.

Sometimes services offer completely non-working proxies. They may appear on the site, but when a user tries to connect to them - they do not work.

❌Can harm PC security. The first danger is viruses. For example, the provider will infect you with malware through ads with malicious code. Or steal your cookie files using other malicious codes.

The second danger is advertising. To use free proxies, you often have to watch ads. Another option is that the proxy provider will show you pop-up ads when you use their free servers.

The third danger is earning on your traffic. It looks like this: first you connect to a free proxy, and the creators use your IP address and resell it to other network participants. So your PC becomes a proxy itself, and you won't even know about it.

The fourth danger is JS injections and content substitution. For example, once a cybersecurity expert created a fake proxy and injected a malicious JavaScript file into it. In a couple of days, 5000 people used the proxy and here's what could happen to them because of the infected .js file:

• The computer could turn into a botnet that listens to commands from a remote central station and carries out DDoS attacks.
• Spyware could end up on the PC, which would record keystrokes, camera position, and even mouse movements.
• A hacker could steal confidential information, such as login, banking data, or credit card information from authorization forms or browser cookie files.

And in proxies that work without encryption, the proxy provider can modify your content. When transmitting data over the HTTP protocol, the proxy owner sees all the content being transmitted. Therefore, unscrupulous owners can substitute content on websites. And it's one thing if it's advertising, another if they will insert malicious code directly into website pages.

And here is the statistics of a white hat hacker who tested 25443 free proxies in 2015 and concluded whether they are safe or not:

Comparison between the number of safe and unsafe free proxies. Source Statistics on free proxies for 2015. Source ❌They work on weak protocols. Mostly free proxies transmit traffic through the HTTP protocol, which works without encryption. Therefore, hackers can easily hack and intercept information when the user is making a request or receiving information from the server. For example, if you use an unprotected proxy and enter your credit card information or internet banking password - a hacker can see and steal this information when they hack the internet connection. This type of hacking is called a man-in-the-middle attack (MITM). What a MITM attack looks like In addition, providers of free proxy servers often collect information that is transmitted over the unprotected HTTP protocol, and then sell it to advertisers.There are proxies on HTTPS and SOCKS protocols. But they are harder to find and usually they are always busy with connected users.❌It can greatly reduce speed and increase ping. The quality and type of proxy affect the final speed. After all, if no one is monitoring the proxy and many people are connecting to it - the load on it increases and the final speed can be low, and the ping - high.❌High risk of IP blocking. Hundreds of people can use the same proxy and it is unknown for what purposes they are used. Therefore, there is a risk of the "bad neighbor effect" - for example, if one person aggressively parses social networks - the proxy IP address may end up on the blacklist of sites and search engines. As a result, all users will have to look for other proxies whose work is not limited.❌Small selection of geolocations. Usually, free proxies provide few regions to connect to. For example, the USA, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. This is inconvenient if you need to connect to a proxy in a specific country. Olga Popova, Product Manager at OnlineSim, talks about the disadvantages of free proxies. Free proxies are usually not password protected, available to a large number of people, so other people may use them along with you. The quality of such proxies is questionable. Often, such proxies are unstable, have low bandwidth. If you access search engines through such proxies, you may encounter a ban or a large amount of captcha. How to choose a free proxy? Sometimes it is still not necessary to buy a paid proxy. For example, if it is needed for one-time use. In this case, a free one will do. Olga Popova, Product Manager at OnlineSim, explains how to choose a quality service. Free proxies are best chosen on platforms you trust. If there are none, then use those with reviews.When choosing a proxy, it is worth checking its popularity on the internet. To do this, you can search for it by address through a search engine. If this proxy appears on many sites, this increases the likelihood of a large number of users, which can negatively affect stability and bandwidth. In general, it is better to have several free proxies for your needs, to switch between them if any problems arise. ## Paid Proxy Benefits ✔️ **Security.** Usually, paid proxies work on HTTPS and SOCKS protocols. The first is the same as HTTP, but with SSL encryption. It creates a secure tunnel through which traffic is transmitted from the client to the server, and vice versa. SOCKS provides even greater security compared to HTTPS. It does not show information about the user's IP address and hides from the network what the person is requesting through the proxy. ✔️ **Confidentiality.** Paid proxies can be anonymous or transparent. Transparent proxies do not hide the user's real IP address. Anonymous proxies replace the user's real IP address and hide their personal data, making it impossible to determine the person's true location. Minus: anonymous proxies inform the site that the request is going through an intermediary. This problem can be solved by using highly anonymous proxies: they identify themselves as regular users. ✔️ **Stability.** Paid servers are constantly monitored for performance. Therefore, there will not be a situation where the proxy suddenly breaks down and the internet stops working. And if this happens, the company will promptly provide a replacement. ✔️ **Allow you to choose the type of proxy.** When you buy a proxy, you can choose any type: server, residential, or mobile. Each of them will have its own features and speed. For example, a person can choose a server proxy to bypass a ban, and a mobile one for parsing in social networks. After all, the first one is not suitable for parsing - they are quickly blocked.

There is no choice in free proxies. More often they offer only server proxies.

✔️Allow you to choose the location. In addition to the type of proxy, the location of the servers also affects the final speed. For example, if you live in Germany, you can buy a server from Europe and use the internet at a good speed.

✔️Save time. It will take a lot of time to find a good free proxy. And then it will stop working anyway and you will have to look for a new one. Therefore, it is easier to buy a proxy once and use it constantly. This will save time, which can be used to earn more than the cost of renting a proxy.

✔️Support work. If there are any problems with the server, you can write to technical support and they will promptly resolve it.

✔️You can build a reliable chain of proxies. Such a chain is a sequence of several servers connected to each other. The chain can consist of proxies of the same type, as in free proxies, or different ones. Special software is required to create such a chain.

Olga Popova, Product Manager at OnlineSim.

When you buy paid proxies, you get a stable connection and higher bandwidth.

In addition, a small number of people can connect to paid proxies at the same time, and sometimes they are designed for one person. It all depends on the tariff. This minimizes the number of bans and restrictions on access from popular internet services.

Also, paid proxies always have technical support, which will help solve problems and promptly replace the server if there are any issues with the current proxy.

Cons of paid proxies

❌You have to pay for them. At the same time, the price for different types of proxies varies. For example, server proxies can be purchased from 50 cents, while residential proxies can cost $20 and above. In addition, the price is influenced by the location of the proxy.

And in residential proxies, you need to pay not only for renting the address, but also for the traffic you used.

❌Also subject to the bad neighbor effect. Some paid proxies are also used by several users at the same time. It all depends on the tariff that customers choose. Therefore, if an IP address gets blocked because of one person, everyone who paid for the subscription will suffer.

On the other hand, paid services always offer a replacement if their server stops working. In addition, you can buy a private proxy that will belong only to you. Therefore, you can decide for yourself whether to share the IP with someone or use it alone. In free options, the choice has already been made for you.

Olga Popova, Product Manager at OnlineSim.

On one hand, paid proxies are not the cheapest pleasure. On the other hand, stability and quality are important, so such expenses are justified.

Comparison: which type of proxy is still better?

	Free	Paid
Security	Low. High probability that the connection can be hacked	High. Work under the protection of HTTPS and SOCKS protocols
Confidentiality	Low	High. But there are transparent proxies that do not hide the real identity of the user
Speed	Significantly decreases	Practically does not change. Much depends on the location and type of server
Ping	High	Low
Helps test site advertising	Yes	Yes
Helps gather information	Yes, but the risk of being banned is higher	Yes
Ban probability	High. There is a risk of the bad neighbor effect. A new proxy company will not provide Low, but depends on the type of proxy. There is also a risk of the bad neighbor effect, but the company will promptly provide another server Support No Yes Setting up the server to meet your own needs No Yes Try our mobile proxies In OnlineProxy you will find mobile proxies from all over the world with daily billing from $0.7 and IP rotation. Proxies are great for work tasks. We guarantee quality or refund money. Sign Up