Quick start

Choose the exit country

How country targeting works, which codes to use and how to verify the country you really got.

This guide is part of the ProxyOnly quick-start series. It assumes nothing and takes a few minutes. Prices are live, and you can start with a balance of one US dollar in any of the 63 countries we stock.

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Guide: Choose the exit country
Series: 13 quick-start guides
Minimum balance: US$1

How country selection works

The exit country is the country that the website sees when your request arrives. With gateway access you choose it in the username, by adding -country- and a two-letter code after your account name. With static proxies such as datacenter and ISP proxies, you choose the country when you order, and every address in that order belongs to it.

ProxyOnly sells by country. We do not promise a particular city, and we do not guarantee that an address sits in a given neighbourhood. In the United States, state-level and city-level options are available where the pool supports them, and that is shown where it applies.

Country codes

Use the standard two-letter ISO code. Some that people mix up: the United Kingdom is gb and not uk, Germany is de, Japan is jp, Brazil is br, India is in, Australia is au and the United Arab Emirates is ae. A code for a country that is not in stock is rejected, which is better than being quietly served a different country.

The locations directory lists every country with its live stock and starting price, and each country page shows which proxy types are available there.

username-country-us
username-country-gb
username-country-de
username-country-jp

Check the country you got

Never assume. Verify every time you change country, and again when something looks wrong.

Send a request through the proxy to an IP lookup page.
Read the country in two different lookup tools. Their databases are built separately and do not always agree, especially for recent address changes.
Run the ProxyOnly tester for the same country and compare.
If the country is wrong in both, contact support with the proxy and the lookup results.

When the country matters and when it does not

For price checks and ad verification the country matters a great deal, because content, prices and ads depend on it. For general collection of public pages, the country matters less, and a cheaper country close to the target is often faster. If a site shows a language that does not match your country, check the browser language headers too, because many sites use them as well.

Which proxy type fits any country

Pick the proxy type from the job rather than the price. Here is how the types we sell compare, so you can match one to your work in any country:

Datacenter IPv4. The default choice for most jobs. These are dedicated IPv4 addresses hosted in a datacenter, fast and inexpensive, and the best fit for high-volume reading of public pages, monitoring and automation. Some websites treat datacenter ranges more cautiously than consumer connections, so test your target before you commit to a long rental.

ISP proxies. Static addresses that are registered to an internet service provider rather than a hosting company. They keep the speed of datacenter hardware and look more like an ordinary home or office connection, which helps with destinations that are strict about hosting ranges.

Shared IPv4. A shared address is used by more than one customer and costs less. It suits light tasks, quick checks and testing where a clean, exclusive address is not essential.

IPv6. IPv6 addresses are very cheap and plentiful, and they work well with destinations that serve IPv6 traffic, such as many large search, video and social platforms. Many smaller sites are still IPv4 only, so check that your target supports IPv6 before you buy.

Mobile proxies. Addresses from mobile carrier networks. Many phones share the same carrier address, so websites tend to be tolerant of this traffic, which makes mobile proxies the right choice for testing mobile ads, apps and landing pages. They cost more than datacenter addresses.

Residential proxies. Addresses from home internet connections, billed by the amount of traffic you use and not by the IP. They suit light, bursty jobs on sites that block datacenter and ISP ranges. Heavy traffic gets expensive quickly, so estimate your monthly volume first.

If you are unsure, rent one address of the type you think you need, run your real task against it for a day, and look at the success rate. Because rental periods start at a few days, trying a type costs very little.

Using proxies responsibly in any country

A proxy is a networking tool and it is lawful in most places, but what you do with it still has to be lawful and fair. Follow the laws that apply to you and to the place you send traffic to, read the terms of the sites you visit, honour robots rules and rate limits, and never use an address to access accounts or data that are not yours. ProxyOnly cannot give legal advice, and our acceptable use policy applies to every order.

In practice that means reading public pages, checking your own sites and ads, and testing your own products. If a task would be unwelcome to the site owner when done by hand, it is unwelcome when done through a proxy too.

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose the country in the username?

Add -country-xx after your account name, with xx the two-letter code, for example username-country-de.

Can I choose a city?

ProxyOnly sells by country. In the United States, state and city options are available where the pool supports them.

Why does a lookup tool show a different country?

Lookup databases are built separately and update at different times. Compare two or three of them.

What happens if I ask for a country that is not in stock?

The request is rejected, so you notice the problem immediately.

Ready to try it?

Create an account, add funds from US$1 and pick your country and proxy type.

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