Choose static or rotating proxy: key factors analysis

In modern web crawling and data collection tasks, choosing the right proxy technology is the key to ensuring successful and efficient crawling. Whether it is SEO data monitoring, competitor analysis, or advertising optimization, proxies play a vital role in it. The choice of proxy type, especially the use of static proxies and rotating proxies, will directly affect the stability, efficiency, and privacy protection of crawling. This article will deeply analyze the difference between static proxies and rotating proxies and discuss the best use scenarios for each proxy.

What is a static proxy and its types?

A static proxy (also called a fixed proxy or dedicated proxy) is one that uses the same IP address for network requests each time. This means that when you use a static proxy, you will continue to use a fixed IP address to connect to the target website. Static proxies are sometimes divided into two categories: static data center proxies and static ISP proxies.

Static data center proxies

Static data center proxies come from servers in data centers and are usually high-performance and relatively inexpensive proxy types. These proxies do not rely on the real Internet Service Provider (ISP) network, but provide stable connections through the server network.

Static ISP Proxy

Static ISP proxies are IP addresses from real Internet Service Providers. They usually have higher credibility and IP address characteristics closer to ordinary users, and are suitable for tasks that require high-reputation connections.

Application scenarios of static proxies

Static proxies are widely used in the following scenarios due to their fixed IP addresses and stability:

Long-term session maintenance: If you need to maintain long-term sessions (such as login status, shopping cart information, etc.), static proxies can ensure that consecutive requests use the same IP address and will not lose session status.

Tasks that require high reputation: If the crawling tasks you are performing need to be considered as legitimate visits by the target website, static proxies are particularly suitable. They are usually not easily considered malicious or abnormal traffic.

Price monitoring: When performing price comparison and monitoring, static proxies can provide higher stability and reduce the instability caused by frequent changes in IP addresses.

Advantages and disadvantages of static proxies

Advantages:

High stability: Using the same IP address for each request helps maintain long-term sessions and authentication.

Suitable for tasks that require IP reputation protection: such as advertising and crawling tasks with high trust requirements.

Supports crawling in specific regions: Suitable for tasks that require specific IP address regions.

Disadvantages:

Easy to be blocked by the target website: If the target website detects a fixed IP address through frequent requests, it may be blacklisted.

Relatively high cost: Because these proxies usually require long-term rental and provide high stability and anonymity, the price may be expensive.

Poor flexibility: Once the IP is blocked, the effectiveness of the entire proxy pool will be affected, resulting in task interruption.

Understand rotating proxies and their types

Rotating proxies (also known as dynamic proxies or IP rotating proxies) refer to using different IP addresses for each request. Rotating proxies are usually managed through a proxy pool, which can assign a new IP address for each request. According to the source of the proxy, rotating proxies are divided into two categories: residential proxies and data center proxies.

Residential proxies

Residential proxies are IP addresses from real users, assigned to home or office users by Internet service providers (ISPs). They are usually highly concealed and difficult to be identified as proxy traffic.

Data Center Proxy

Data Center Proxy comes from the data center. Their IP addresses are usually different from the real user IP addresses and are easily identified as crawler traffic by the target website. However, their advantage is that they are relatively cheap and suitable for high-frequency, large-scale crawling tasks.

Application scenarios of rotating proxies

Rotating proxies are suitable for scenarios that require large-scale, high-frequency requests, especially in the following tasks:

Large-scale crawling: When crawling a large number of web pages and crawling search engine result pages (SERP) data, rotating proxies can provide dynamic IP addresses to avoid blocking and restrictions.

Breaking through anti-crawler mechanisms: Many websites use anti-crawler mechanisms to detect and block abnormal traffic. Rotating proxies can effectively bypass these restrictions by constantly changing IP addresses.

SEO ranking monitoring: When performing SEO ranking monitoring, rotating proxies can simulate requests from different regions and devices to effectively obtain search results worldwide.

Price crawling: If you need to perform real-time price crawling and frequently request the same website, rotating proxies can avoid IP blocking due to high-frequency access.

Pros and Cons of Rotating Proxy

Pros:

High anonymity: Since each request uses a different IP address, rotating proxy greatly improves anonymity and is difficult to be identified as a machine request by the target website.

Breaking through the blockade: It can effectively bypass the website's IP restrictions, frequency detection and CAPTCHA verification.

Strong flexibility: Suitable for high-frequency, large-scale crawling tasks.

Disadvantages:

Poor stability: Using a different IP address for each request may cause session loss or inconsistent information.

Low credibility: Some websites may find requests from the same IP but frequently changing and regard them as malicious behavior.

Higher price: High-quality rotating proxy pools are usually expensive, especially residential proxies.