How to Use a Proxy: A First-Timer's Walkthrough
In plain English: a proxy is a middleman for your internet traffic. Your browser or app hands each request to the proxy, the proxy collects the page for you, and the website records the proxy's address rather than yours. Setting one up isn't programming. It feels more like filling in a short form: four details go into a settings box, and most people are done within a minute or two.
Quick start in three steps:
- Place your order and open the dashboard. Your proxy details are already waiting there.
- Paste them into your browser, your computer's network settings or your script.
- Open an IP-check page and make sure it shows the proxy's address instead of your own.
Still deciding what to buy? Read how to choose a proxy first, plus what are proxies if the whole idea is new, so your money goes on the right type. Is this allowed? Using a proxy for legitimate jobs is fine, but it changes none of the rules: collect only publicly available information, follow each website's terms of service and stay within the law where you live.
Written and kept up to date by the people who run Budget Proxies. If a step no longer matches what you see on your screen, let us know through the contact page.
What this guide walks you through
- What you need: four details from your dashboard
- No code needed: set it up in a browser or on your computer
- Learning to code? The same details in a script
- Two choices to make, each with a safe default
- Test it first, and dodge the usual slips
What you need: four details from your dashboard
Every proxy setup, from a browser to a Python script, asks for the same four things, and all of them sit in your dashboard once your order is live. If it helps, picture the proxy as a building you're visiting:
- Host, also called the gateway, is the street address: the server your traffic reaches first. Ours looks like
gateway.budgetproxies.com. - Port is the door number at that address. Different doors lead to different protocols or rotation modes;
8080, for example, is the HTTP/HTTPS door. - Username and password are your key. A key works wherever you carry it, so the same login does the job at home, at work or on public Wi-Fi.
- IP whitelist is the guest list. Add your own IP address in the dashboard and the proxy waves that address through with no login at all.
You need the key or the guest list, never both together, and every plan comes with both so you can change your mind later. If you can't decide, proxy authentication explained shows which one suits a laptop and which suits a server with a fixed address.
No code needed: set it up in a browser or on your computer
If you only want to browse through the proxy now and then, you can ignore code completely. The one decision is how much of your computer should use it:
- Just one browser: Firefox can have a proxy of its own. Open Settings, scroll to Network Settings and choose Manual proxy configuration. Firefox then uses the proxy while every other app connects as usual, which makes it a gentle first test.
- The whole computer, on Windows: open Settings, then Network & internet, then Proxy. Under Manual proxy setup, switch the proxy on, enter the host and port, and save.
- The whole computer, on a Mac: open System Settings and choose Network. Select the connection you're on, click Details, then Proxies, switch on the protocol you bought and enter the host and port.
On the username-and-password method, a login box appears the first time a page loads through the proxy; type the details from your dashboard and carry on. Bear in mind that a whole-computer setting reaches further than people expect. Most browsers and plenty of other apps follow it, so switch it off when you've finished. Want several browser profiles, each with its own proxy? A multi-account browser can organise that for you.
Learning to code? The same details in a script
Learning Python, or happy in a terminal? Most programming tools take the whole proxy as one line of text shaped like http://USER:PASS@HOST:PORT. Swap the capital letters for your own details and give that line to your tool. Whitelisted your IP instead of using a login? Then leave out the username, the password and the @ sign.
In Python, the popular Requests library needs only two lines. The first stores your proxy details and the second fetches a page through them:
proxies = {"http": "http://USER:PASS@HOST:PORT", "https": "http://USER:PASS@HOST:PORT"}requests.get("https://example.com", proxies=proxies)
In a terminal, cURL takes a single extra flag: curl -x http://USER:PASS@HOST:PORT https://example.com. As your projects grow, Scrapy, Playwright, Puppeteer and Selenium accept exactly the same details. If a setting name puzzles you, the table below says what each one means in everyday words.
| Setting | Example | In plain words |
|---|---|---|
| Host | gateway.budgetproxies.com | Where your requests are sent before anything else |
| Port | 8080 | Picks HTTP/HTTPS for web traffic |
| Protocol | HTTP / HTTPS / SOCKS5 | The kind of traffic the proxy carries |
| Login method | User:Pass or IP whitelist | How the proxy recognises you |
| Rotation | Per-request or sticky | A fresh IP each time, or one IP kept for a while |
Two choices to make, each with a safe default
Before your first real task you'll make two small decisions. Neither is permanent, and each has a sensible starting point.
- Protocol is the "language" your app and the proxy speak to each other. For websites, pick HTTP/HTTPS. For other kinds of traffic, or an app that asks for it by name, pick SOCKS5.
- Rotation decides whether you get a fresh IP address on every request or keep one address for a few minutes, which is called a sticky session. Our guide to rotating vs sticky sessions explains both with everyday examples.
The safe default works like this. Just reading public pages without logging in? Use HTTPS and rotate on every request. Signing in and clicking through several pages? Use a sticky session, so the website sees one steady visitor from start to finish.
Test it first, and dodge the usual slips
Before you rely on the proxy, test it. With the proxy switched on, open an IP-check page (sometimes called an IP-echo service), such as our free IP checker. The address it shows should now be the proxy's, and checkers that also display a location should show the proxy's country. If your own address appears instead, the app isn't using the proxy yet, and the cause is usually one of these:
- A typo in the host, or a port that doesn't match the protocol you chose.
- The proxy went into one browser, but the test ran in another.
- Your own IP address changed after you whitelisted it, so the proxy no longer recognises you.
Once the check passes, send your real task to the same gateway. To see how far your data will stretch, try the proxy calculator and compare plans on the pricing page. When you're ready, buy now from $2.49/GB, with instant delivery and locations in 55+ countries.
Questions beginners ask
Not sure what to buy? Start at step 1
Here are our four types, from the lowest price per GB upwards. Try a small amount of the first one that could work for your project, and only move up a step if a quick test lets you down.
Sites without bot protection, big batches of public pages, automation and SEO tools
Protected sites, ad checks, market research and seeing what one place really sees
Apps and platforms built for phones, plus testing your own mobile app
Well-guarded sites, where a better success rate is worth the higher price
Small first order? Datacenter from $2.49/GB · billed on the data you actually move · ready straight away · 30 days to use it · no traffic logs.
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Read the guide →Got a particular job in mind?
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