What is the best proxy for your business?

We all know that a formula to success in stopping account bans for a multi-account business is Multilogin + proxy, but what kind of proxy does this actually mean? We explore the types of proxies out there and how you can choose the right ones, including the best residential proxies for your business.

The best types of proxies when running multiple accounts

For our purposes, there are two main types of proxies: residential proxies and datacenter proxies. There's also the subset of mobile proxies: look out for future discussion on this topic.

Residential proxies are essentially replicating the way in which you or I would connect to the internet from our homes. They use real IP addresses, owned by ISPs, that are attached to physical addresses. They are generally more expensive than datacenter proxies, but usually appear as more authentic.

Datacenter proxies, on the other hand, are connected to bulk datacenters and cloud hosting sites, as their name implies, rather than the usual ISPs.

They can be speedy, but they don’t necessarily appear as natural as a residential proxy. A datacenter proxy appears a bit like a ‘wall’, where third parties only see the datacenter proxy address and information associated with the owning company.

How do you choose between residential and datacenter proxies?

For the purposes of stopping account bans for businesses in sectors like e-commerce and affiliate marketing, you’ll generally find yourself turning to residential proxies.

The best residential proxies by and large appear as more legitimate than a datacenter proxy, as they’re attached to a real ISP. Plus, it’s simply more natural for a normal user to be connecting from this type of proxy instead of a datacenter one. Consider the sort of behavior you’re carrying out when you’re warming up an account, like scrolling through Facebook or visiting stores on Amazon, and see how this fits more with a normal residential user.

Datacenter proxies on the other hand provoke suspicion in these circumstances. The lack of transparency and the fact that they are easy to acquire in bulk means they have a bit of a history of being used for less above-board activities. As we’ve previously discussed, this can very well mean you find yourself in a smaller group of users under greater scrutiny, because of the likelihood of being linked to more malicious intents.

That said, as we have talked about in a recent interview, it’s not the end of the line for datacenter proxies. A technique some have found success with is to set up your profiles initially using a residential proxy for that extra layer of protection, but then managing them with a datacenter proxy.

This theory rests on the registration stage being the most sensitive in terms of showing that you are a legitimate user, but then that in the management period, were you to constantly log in through different IPs, you could still face a ban, so it may work better to stick to a small static group of datacenter proxies.

How do you choose the best residential IPs and datacenter IPs to purchase?

This is another important part in choosing the right proxy: you need to remember that not all are created equal.

The best proxy sites have strong sourcing protocols. When you hear people talking about ethical proxy sourcing, this isn’t just to make you feel good about your business – it’s a crucial part of stopping account bans.

The best residential proxies, if they are related to physical devices, should have homeowner consent for the use of the IPs (often by participating in some kind of reward scheme): this is a sign that you are buying from a trusted provider. And a trusted provider is foundational to your success because you need to be assured that these IPs have not been blacklisted or otherwise raise red flags to third-party platforms like Facebook or Amazon.

If you’re using datacenter proxies, be very careful too with sourcing and activities – remember that one banned IP address can lead to bans across the subnet.

Secondly, you naturally also need to consider location. Make sure you’re accessing whatever platforms you want to use via a proxy whose geo coordinates make sense and are consistent with what you’re doing. If you want to appear from the US, it simply won’t work to buy a cheaper residential proxy from elsewhere and then set your anti-detect settings to the US, because your location is staring third parties right in the face.

Does Multilogin offer proxies?

At Multilogin, we don’t have our own proxies, but we do have an industry-leading partnership scheme with some of the best residential and datacenter proxy sites. Not only that, but Multilogin can get exclusive discounts – meaning you get a top proxy for less. To find out more and browse our deals, visit our Partners page.