Forward vs Reverse Proxy: Which One Does Your Team Use?
“Proxy” means two different things depending on which side of a connection it serves. A forward proxy works for the people sending requests and passes them out to the internet. A reverse proxy works for the website receiving requests and handles incoming traffic on its behalf. They solve opposite problems, and they are easy to confuse.
An online business can easily use both: the shop sits behind a reverse proxy that the web team runs, while the marketing team buys forward proxies to monitor other sites. This guide covers each type, the jobs it does, and which of the two you get when you buy from a proxy service like ours. Everything here assumes legitimate use within each site’s terms of service.
We write these guides for e-commerce, marketing and agency teams that pay for proxies by the gigabyte.
Forward proxies: what marketing and data teams buy
A forward proxy represents the client. Your browser, monitoring tool or script sends its request to the proxy, the proxy passes it to the destination, and the reply comes back the same way. The destination records the proxy’s IP rather than your team’s.
Data collection, ad verification and location-specific testing all run through forward proxies, and every datacenter, residential or mobile proxy belongs to this group.
Reverse proxies: what your web team runs
A reverse proxy represents the server. It accepts requests from the public internet and hands each one to one of several backend servers, so the outside world sees a single front door. Site operators use reverse proxies to balance load, terminate TLS, cache content and add a protective layer — Nginx, HAProxy and Cloudflare are familiar examples. Visitors deal with the reverse proxy alone, and the machines behind it stay out of sight.
How the two directions differ
A quick way to keep them apart: a forward proxy stands in for the client, while a reverse proxy stands in for the server. The table sets out the practical differences.
| Aspect | Forward proxy | Reverse proxy |
|---|---|---|
| Sits in front of | Clients | Servers |
| Works for | The user making the request | The website receiving requests |
| Hides | The client IP | The backend servers |
| Typical use | Data collection, verification, testing | Load balancing, caching, TLS, security |
| Examples | Datacenter, residential, mobile proxies | Nginx, HAProxy, Cloudflare |
Typical jobs for each
- Forward proxy — marketing, data and research teams: collecting public data, ad verification, SEO monitoring, location-specific testing, and presenting a chosen location to a site.
- Reverse proxy — web and IT teams: spreading load across servers, caching to take pressure off the backend, terminating TLS, and guarding the entrance to an application.
Neither replaces the other. One works at the sending end of a connection and the other at the receiving end, and a single page visit often passes through both without anyone noticing.
Which type our plans provide
What Cheapest Proxies sells are forward proxies. Your team’s tools connect to our gateway, and their requests go out from whichever IP and location you select; your own website is untouched. New to proxies? What are proxies covers the basics, and how to use a proxy walks through setup.
Coverage spans 55+ countries, and plans start at $3.50/GB. Work out a budget with the proxy calculator, see each tier on the pricing page, or buy now.
Match the pool to the workflow
Every pool is billed per GB and run from the same dashboard, so one team can keep low-cost volume work and high-trust checks side by side.
High-volume collection from unprotected sites, automation, SEO tools
Market research, ad verification and geo-accurate checks on protected sites
Phone-first platforms, app and mobile ad testing
Hard targets where every failed request is costly
Covering several markets in one report? MIX packages combine multi-country residential traffic in a single order. Agencies buying on behalf of clients can apply for the reseller programme.
Get your team running
Per-GB pricing from $3.50 · 55+ countries · instant delivery · 30-day validity · no traffic logs · 24/7 human support
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1
Size the job
Pick a proxy type in the proxy calculator and enter the gigabytes you expect to use to see the order total.
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2
Order and pay
Choose the pool on the proxies page and pay by card through Stripe or in crypto through Cryptomus. Each order is billed per GB and does not renew on its own.
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3
Share access
Credentials appear in the dashboard as soon as payment clears. Add them to each tool with a login or an IP whitelist, then send one test request before the real job starts.
Questions team leads ask
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