Troubleshooting

Most proxy problems come down to a handful of causes. Find your symptom below and work through the checks in order. Test each change with curl, so you know whether the proxy or the tool is at fault.

Start with one curl command#

curl -v -x http://USERNAME:[email protected]:8080 https://api.ipify.org

Use the host and port of your product, see Endpoints and ports. If this prints an IP, your plan and credentials work, and the problem is in the tool's settings. If it fails, the error message points to the cause, see Error codes.

The connection times out#

The client cannot reach the gateway.

1. Check the host and port against Endpoints and ports. Each product has its own.
2. Check that the protocol matches the port. On Residential and Mobile, 8080 is HTTP only and 1080 is SOCKS5 only.
3. Test whether the port is reachable at all, as shown in Firewalls and outbound ports. Office, school and cloud networks often block unusual ports such as 30, 50, 666 or 777.
4. Try another network, such as a phone hotspot. If it works there, a firewall on the first network is blocking the port.

407 Proxy Authentication Required#

The gateway rejected the login.

1. Copy the username and password again from the plan's Connection card. Watch for spaces at the start or end.
2. Make sure the host belongs to the plan's product. A Residential login does not work on the Datacenter host.
3. If the password has @, :, / or #, encode it or set a simpler password.
4. Check in My plans that the plan is active and has traffic left.
5. Changed the password recently? Update every tool that still has the old one.

The IP does not change#

1. Make sure the username has no -session- part. With a session, the IP stays the same on purpose.
2. Open a new connection for each request. HTTP clients and browsers reuse connections, and every request on one open connection uses the same IP. See Connections and tunnels.
3. Remember that targeting narrows the pool. A small city has fewer IPs than a country, so repeats are more likely.

The IP changes during a session#

1. Use the same session ID in every request that should share the IP. A typo or a newly generated ID means a new IP.
2. Check the time value. After that many minutes the session ends.
3. On Residential, Mobile and Unlimited Residential, the exit is a real device. If it goes offline, the session continues on a new IP. Keep sessions as short as the task allows and let your code resume.
4. Residential Budget rotates only. Use Residential for jobs that must keep one IP.

The location is wrong#

1. Check the spelling of the parameters: lower case, no spaces, -country-gb for the United Kingdom.
2. Check that the product supports the level you asked for. Only Residential has state and city targeting. See Location targeting.
3. Compare two geolocation services. Databases disagree, and a site may use a different one than your check.
4. Remember that a browser also reveals its time zone and language, which do not follow the IP.

The website blocks you#

A 403, a CAPTCHA or a challenge page comes from the website, not the proxy.

1. Move to a stronger IP type: Datacenter, then Shared ISP, then Residential, then Mobile.
2. Slow down and spread the requests. Fewer requests per IP looks more natural.
3. Send realistic headers, or use a real browser through Playwright or Puppeteer for sites that check JavaScript.
4. For sites that need a login, keep one sticky session per account, with its cookies.

Responses are slow#

1. Residential and Mobile exits are home connections and phones, so they are slower than Datacenter or ISP. That is normal.
2. Target wider. A city or an ASN target has fewer exits to choose from.
3. Reuse connections for jobs that do not need rotation, and use a sticky session to avoid a new exit on every request.
4. On speed-based plans, check that your traffic stays under the speed you reserved. The plan page shows the throughput for Datacenter, Shared ISP and IPv6.

Works in curl, not in my tool#

1. Check that the tool puts the username and password in its proxy fields, not in the host field.
2. Pick the right protocol in the tool: HTTP for the HTTP port, SOCKS5 for the SOCKS5 port.
3. Chrome and tools built on it cannot send SOCKS5 passwords. Use the HTTP port with them.
4. Look up the tool's page under Integrations in the sidebar.

Certificate errors on HTTPS sites#

The gateway does not decrypt HTTPS traffic, so it never causes certificate warnings on its own. If you see one:

• Check that the proxy URL starts with http://, not https://.
• Turn off HTTPS scanning in antivirus software or a corporate proxy that sits in between, and test again.

Traffic runs out faster than expected#

1. Images, video and fonts make up most of a page's weight. Block them in headless browsers when you only need the data.
2. Retries and redirects count too. Log them to see where the traffic goes.
3. The plan page shows usage by interval and the activity pattern by hour, so you can match spikes to your jobs. See Manage your plans.

Ask for help#

Live chat answers around the clock. Send the plan ID, the exact error message and the command or tool you used. Never send your password.