Using proxies fairly: our usage policy

Quick answers before you read on

1. What this policy covers

Think of this page as the practical, everyday side of our rules for the Budget Proxies network. The strict list of what is and isn’t allowed lives in our Acceptable Use Policy (the AUP); here we cover the habits that keep your projects, and the network, out of trouble. You will also find out why we keep no traffic logs and where our IP addresses come from. Using any of our proxies, whether datacenter, residential, mobile or residential premium, counts as agreeing to this guidance and to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

2. Four ideas behind every rule here

A proxy network is a bit like a shared kitchen: it only works when everyone tidies up after themselves. All the rules below come from four simple ideas:

• Keep it legal. If something is against the law for you, for us or for the website on the other end, don’t do it.
• Be kind to websites. Visit other people’s sites the way you would want strangers to visit yours: politely, and without hammering them.
• Own what you do. Whatever you run through our network is your responsibility, including whether it is legitimate and what it leads to.
• Leave room for others. You share the network with other customers, so don’t use it in a way that spoils things for them.

3. Follow each website’s own rules, robots.txt included

Each website decides its own rules for visitors and automated tools. Look them up before you start, and then keep to them:

• Respect its robots.txt file. You can usually read it by adding /robots.txt to the site’s address; it says which pages automated tools may visit. Follow any other crawling guidance the site publishes too.
• Go through its terms of service and stay within them, limits on automated access included.
• Take only the data those terms allow, and only as far as the law that applies to you permits.
• Where the site has an official API (a proper channel for programs to request data), use that rather than scraping, which means copying information off its pages automatically.

This isn’t just politeness. Sticking to these rules is one of the conditions of using our service.

4. Go easy on the sites you visit

Every page, picture or file your software loads is one request. Fire off too many too fast and you can overload a website’s servers, and you will probably be blocked as well. A few simple limits help:

• Keep the pace gentle. Checking a shop’s prices a few times a day is fine; loading thousands of its pages a minute is not.
• Pause between requests, and slow down straight away if a site replies with a rate-limit or error message (an HTTP 429 code, for example, means “too many requests”).
• Keep your “concurrency”, meaning how many requests run at the same moment, to what the site handles comfortably rather than whatever your software allows.
• Split big jobs into smaller runs over time, and stop if the website seems to be struggling.

We won’t pretend a proxy can stop a platform from limiting your access, because none can. What keeps a job going is a slow, respectful pace.

5. Where you can, and can’t, point a proxy

Which sites you use a proxy on matters as much as how you use it. Roughly speaking:

• Allowed targets are legal sites and services that you may use and whose terms permit your activity. Think public pages you read for market research, your own website or app while you test it, or a platform you use by its rules.
• Off-limits targets are systems you have not been given access to, sites whose terms rule out what you are doing, and anything connected with the illegal activity our Acceptable Use Policy describes.

Unsure about a site? Check its terms before you begin, and if access is restricted, get the owner’s permission first.

6. Nothing illegal, with or without a proxy

Our proxies must never be used to reach illegal targets or to support anything unlawful. That includes everything banned in our Acceptable Use Policy: breaking into systems, fraud, spreading malware, attacking websites or networks, and accessing illegal content. A proxy doesn’t make anything legal. Whatever breaks the law without one breaks it with one too.

7. Your accounts on other platforms

Lots of people use a proxy while managing their own accounts on other platforms. That is fine, but the proxy doesn’t change what you agreed to with each platform, and no proxy can promise how an account will be treated. Each platform’s terms still apply to you, and keeping to them is your job. Should a platform restrict, limit or suspend one of your accounts, that is a matter between you and that platform, not a fault in our service, and we give no warranty that our proxies will prevent it.

8. Personal data is your responsibility

Personal data means information about people who can be identified, such as names, email addresses or photos. If you collect or handle any of it through our network, the law treats you as its “controller”: the one who decides why and how it is used. Following every data-protection law that applies, including the UK GDPR and the EU GDPR where relevant, is therefore entirely up to you. In practice: have a lawful reason to use the data, respect people’s rights over it, keep anything you store secure, and follow the terms of the sources you take it from. Budget Proxies supplies the connection and nothing more; the data you choose to collect is not something we direct, look at or control.

9. Why we keep no traffic logs

The content of the requests you send through our proxies is never written down, because we run the network with no traffic logs. We do keep what running your account needs: account details, billing records and the technical information required to provide the service and help you, all described in our Privacy Policy. Since your traffic goes unrecorded, it is firmly up to you to keep your use lawful and within each site’s terms. When misuse is reported, we investigate using the evidence sent to us under our Abuse Reporting Policy.

10. Where our home and mobile IPs come from

The residential (home) and mobile (4G/5G) addresses in our pools belong to real people who decided to join the network, and every step of the sourcing is ethical and based on consent. Treating those people fairly is part of being trustworthy, and we ask you to do the same: use their addresses only for legitimate projects that keep to each website’s published terms.

11. Sharing the network fairly

Your bill depends only on the data you order: you pay per gigabyte (GB), and each order stays valid for a fixed 30 days. Since lots of customers share one network, a fair-use rule keeps it running well for everyone. Please don’t overload the shared equipment, try to dodge the way usage is measured, or run jobs that hog capacity other people need. If your usage begins to put the network’s stability at risk, we may ask you to change it, or throttle (slow down) or suspend the activity responsible.

12. What happens if the rules are broken

Going against this policy also breaks our Acceptable Use Policy. What we do depends on how serious it is: a warning, slowing down or suspending the proxies or account concerned, or closing the account after serious or repeated misuse. If we close an account because of a breach, no refund is due (our Refund & Replacement Policy explains this), and we may report illegal activity to the relevant authorities.

13. How to report misuse

Spotted someone misusing our network? Tell us, and we will look into it and take action. The details to include, and the address to send them to, are in our Abuse Reporting Policy. A quick report with clear evidence helps keep the network healthy for everyone.

14. When this policy changes

As our service grows and the rules around proxies change, this page will be revised now and then. Each meaningful change also moves the “Last updated” date at the top. Carrying on with the service after an update means you accept the revised version.

15. Questions? Ask before you start

If you are unsure whether something you have in mind is allowed, check with us before you begin, using our contact page or [email protected]. A quick question up front is far easier for both of us than fixing a problem later.