In plain English: when you use a proxy, you choose how often your IP address changes. Rotating means a new address for every request (a request is a single ask from your app to a website, such as loading one page). Sticky means the same address for a set time, then a new one. Choose the wrong one and your proxy can seem broken when it's really just set up for a different job.
A simple way to picture it
Think of popping into a shop. If you walk in, glance at one thing and leave, it makes no difference whether you come back next time wearing a different coat. That's rotating. If you're going to fill a basket, queue and pay, you need to be the same person from the door to the till. That's sticky.
When rotating suits the job
- Checking lots of separate public pages, where each visit stands on its own.
- Looking up search results, one search per address.
- Big batches of one-off page visits, where it doesn't matter which address each one comes from.
- Seeing how an advert appears to lots of different visitors.
When rotating gets in the way
- Anything you're logged in to. Sign in from one address, open the next page from another, and many sites will log you out or ask you to prove it's really you.
- Forms that run over several pages, and checkouts.
- Online queues that remember your place by your address.
When sticky suits the job
A sticky session keeps one address for the window you choose, usually between 1 and 30 minutes. That's long enough to sign in, look around, fill in a form and pay.
- Looking after your own social media accounts.
- Step-by-step journeys such as browse → basket → checkout.
- Keeping your place in an online queue.
- Any task that should look the same from beginning to end.
When sticky gets in the way
- Big jobs made of many separate requests. If the one address you're on gets slowed down by the site, everything waits behind it.
- Any job where you'd actually prefer a fresh address each time.
The mix-up that causes the most trouble
The classic mistake is staying logged in, with the same cookies (small files a site saves in your browser to remember you), while the proxy rotates. The site watches one signed-in person appear from one address, then another, then another. Real people don't do that, so many sites treat it as a sign the account may have been taken over, and they lock it or ask you to confirm who you are. If you're logged in, stay sticky. If you want a new address, start a fresh session along with it.
Using both at once
You don't have to pick one setting for everything. A common arrangement is a sticky address for each account you manage and rotating addresses for any separate job that collects public pages. Keep the two apart and each does what it does best.
How to switch on our service
Open your dashboard, choose a proxy and change its rotation setting. Switching costs nothing extra. The options you see depend on the proxy type you bought, and a sticky window can usually be anything from 1 to 30 minutes. Our sticky sessions guide walks through it with examples.
Beginner questions
Does rotating make me harder to track?
Only partly. The address changes, but if you're logged in, or your browser keeps its cookies, the site can still tell it's you.
How long should my sticky window be?
Longer than the task. If signing in and finishing up usually takes you ten minutes, don't choose a five-minute window, or the address will change halfway through.
