Proxy or VPN? The Difference, and Which One You Need
The quick answer: both put a different IP address between you and the websites you visit, but they're built for different jobs. A VPN (virtual private network) encrypts all of your device's traffic and sends it through one server at a time, mainly to protect your privacy. A proxy handles traffic for the particular app or task you set it up in, and a proxy service gives you a big pool of addresses in many places that you control.
Lots of people already have a VPN app on their phone or laptop, so it's a fair question to ask before buying anything. A simple way to decide:
- Want your whole connection kept private on café or hotel Wi-Fi? That's a VPN job.
- Want to see websites from particular countries or cities, or spread a task over many addresses? That's a proxy job.
- Need both? Use each one for its own purpose.
Whichever you use, research, testing and checking should stay within each website's terms of service and the law that applies to you.
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 each one does to your connection
- Five differences that matter
- Proxy and VPN side by side
- So which one do you need?
- Common mix-ups
What each one does to your connection
What a VPN does
A VPN builds an encrypted tunnel from your whole device to a VPN server. Every app's traffic goes through that tunnel and comes out at the server's IP address. The point is to scramble everything you send and show the outside world one steady exit address, which is reassuring on networks you don't trust, such as public Wi-Fi.
What a proxy does
A proxy works one app or request at a time. You point a particular browser, tool or script at it, and only that traffic goes through. The big difference is choice: a proxy service gives you a pool of many IPs, whether datacenter, residential or mobile, and you can rotate through them or fix them to particular places. That control is why proxies are the usual tool for collecting public data and testing how sites look elsewhere.
Five differences that matter
- What's covered. A VPN wraps every app on the device at once. A proxy only carries the app or request you set it up for.
- How many addresses. With a VPN you normally get a single exit IP at any one time. A proxy service gives you a large pool to move between, which matters when you have many requests to spread out.
- What kind of addresses. Most VPN servers sit in data centres. A proxy provider also offers residential and mobile IPs that look like real people at home or on their phones.
- How exact the location is. VPNs usually let you pick a country. Residential proxies can go down to a city in the major markets.
- How much at once. Proxies are made to run many sessions side by side through different IPs, which one VPN connection can't do.
Proxy and VPN side by side
Here's the same comparison as a quick table.
| Factor | Proxy | VPN |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | One app or request | The whole device |
| Addresses | Many, and you can rotate them | One exit IP at a time |
| Kinds of address | Datacenter, residential and mobile | Mostly datacenter |
| Location choice | Country, and city with residential | Usually country only |
| Running many at once | Yes, many sessions side by side | One connection |
| Good for | Research, testing, ad checks and collecting public data | Privacy for the whole device on untrusted Wi-Fi |
So which one do you need?
Use a VPN when you want everything on one device encrypted for privacy, for example on public Wi-Fi, and one steady exit address is all you need.
Use proxies when you need a pool of addresses, a choice of exact locations, lots of requests at once, or addresses that look like real users. That covers jobs such as collecting public web data, ad verification, SEO checks, market research and testing how a site behaves in each region, always within each site's terms of service.
Proxies here start at $2.49/GB. Work out how much you need on the proxy calculator, compare the types on the pricing page, or buy now.
Common mix-ups
- "A proxy encrypts my traffic like a VPN." Not by itself. If the website uses HTTPS (the padlock in your browser), your data stays encrypted on its way through the proxy, but the proxy doesn't add a layer of encryption for your whole device.
- "I set a proxy in my browser, so my other apps use it too." Only if you set it for the whole computer. A proxy set inside one browser covers that browser alone.
- "A new IP means the website's rules don't apply." They still apply, whichever tool you use.
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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