Quick start
Find your proxy credentials
Where the host, port, username and password are shown, and how to write them as a proxy URL.
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.
- Guide
- Find your proxy credentials
- Series
- 13 quick-start guides
- Minimum balance
- US$1
The four values
Every proxy you use needs four values: a host, a port, a username and a password. They are shown on the order page after delivery. Some tools ask for them in four separate boxes, and some want a single proxy URL, which is the same four values written together.
- Open Order history in the dashboard and click the order.
- Find the proxy in the list. The host and port are shown for each one.
- Copy the username and the password. Passwords are secrets and should be pasted straight into your tool, not into chat or email.
- Write the URL as http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT if your tool wants one.
Writing the proxy URL correctly
The URL form is http://username:password@host:port. The scheme is http, because the connection to the proxy is an HTTP proxy connection even when the website you visit is HTTPS. The proxy opens a tunnel for the secure connection and cannot read what goes through it.
If your password contains characters that have a meaning in URLs, such as @, :, / or #, encode them as percent codes in the URL form, for example @ becomes %40. Tools that have separate boxes for the username and password do not need that. Most 407 errors that people hit on a first try come from a mistyped password or from characters that were not encoded.
http://username-country-us:[email protected]:8000Gateway usernames
Gateway access uses one host for everything and a port for each service. Residential traffic uses port 8000, datacenter uses 8001, ISP uses 8002 and mobile uses 8003. You choose the country by adding it to the username, and you can pin an exit by adding a session name. The dashboard shows what applies to your order, and that is always the source of truth.
Examples: username-country-us for a United States exit, and username-country-us-session-qa42 for the same exit across several requests.
Keeping credentials safe
Treat a proxy password like any other password. Store it in a password manager or an environment variable, keep it out of source code and shared documents, and do not paste it into support tickets. If you think it leaked, tell support at once and stop using it.
Which proxy type fits any country
The right type depends on how strict the destination is, how much traffic you will send and how long you need the address. A short comparison of the types we sell:
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
Where do I see my username and password?
On the page of the order you placed. Open it from Order history.
Do I use http or https in the proxy URL?
Use http. The proxy connection is an HTTP proxy connection, and websites that are HTTPS still work through it.
My password has special characters. Is that a problem?
In the URL form, encode characters such as @ and : as percent codes. In tools with separate boxes, paste it as it is.
Is the password shown again later?
Keep a safe copy when you receive it. The order page shows the credentials that belong to your order.
Ready to try it?
Create an account, add funds from US$1 and pick your country and proxy type.