Cybercriminals and hackers are ruthlessly attacking businesses and individuals more than ever. As per the report by Juniper Research, over 33 billion records will be stolen by hackers in 2023 alone, an increase of about 175% from 2018. As a result, governments, businesses, and security professionals are embracing innovative measures, applications, practices, and protocols to control cyberattacks, which also include the use of a proxy.
A proxy is a gateway that anonymously transfers data between users and the internet. It can be set up as a firewall to act as a layer of cybersecurity that protects your device against malware and other cyber threats. There are different types of proxy servers, but they can be generally divided into two main categories: shared and private proxies. Their use differs as per the user’s budget, needs, and other preferences.
To help you choose, we’ll discuss the differences between private and shared proxy servers in this post, along with covering circumstances under which they are beneficial to use.
Private Proxy Server
A private proxy is a proxy type that one user exclusively uses at a given time through user and password authentication or IP authentication. It masks the real IP address of a user and presents the dedicated IP address as the user’s IP address. This provides the user with complete anonymity to put a stop to censorship and monitoring and find a way around geolocation restrictions online.
Advantages
- More secure and legitimate
- Higher speed as nobody else works with the same proxy
- Ability to bypass filters and firewalls
- Offers IP addresses from various locations
- Unlimited bandwidth
Disadvantages
- All advantages come at a considerable cost
- When compromised by a hacker, all data and browsing activity points directly to the user
- Users do not get the same anonymity as one individual uses the IP address
Shared Proxy Server
A shared proxy is an IP address used and controlled by multiple users at one and the same time. A number of users share the same IP address given by a shared proxy server in order to hide their actual IP addresses while using the internet anonymously, gaining access to geo-restricted content, bypassing web filters, and so on.
Advantages
- Low price
- A higher degree of anonymity
- An equal proportion of unrestricted bandwidth for all users
- Possibility to integrate web scrapers for data extraction
- Integration of extra functions to boost efficiency for specific applications
Disadvantages
- Compromised speed, performance, and reliability
- Issues of privacy and network maintenance
- IP bans due to bad neighborhood effects
- CAPTCHAs blocks
Key Features: Shared vs. Private Proxy
Both proxy servers provide users with website access while hiding their real IP address and location. However, this is the only similarity. Here, this section covers the key features of both private and shared proxies in contrast with each other.
- Speed – The speed of a shared proxy server decreases with an increase in the number of users using the same IP address to access websites. In contrast, private proxies enable the user to benefit from the IP address alone, resulting in higher speed and performance (click here now to find out more about private proxy performance).
- Security – When it comes to security, shared proxies are unreliable since they can infiltrate your device and obtain access to sensitive information. On the other hand, a private proxy gives a unique IP address with authenticated access to a single individual at one time.
- Anonymity – Many shared proxies are transparent and pass your IP address to the site you are visiting, whereas a private proxy server guarantees complete anonymity when using the internet.
- Reliability – Most shared proxies are available for everyone, and many users often jump on the same proxy, leading to bandwidth overload and causing the server to crash. As a result, a shared proxy server is unreliable, unlike a private proxy that lasts considerably longer due to no abuse by so many users.
- Pricing – While a shared proxy costs less than its other types as it assigns the same IP address to multiple users, a private proxy may require a considerable one-time-only or monthly charge.
Use Cases of Private and Shared Proxies
Based on our experience, here are the most common use cases of both private and shared proxies:
- Ad Verification – It is a common application of private proxy that deals with detecting ad fraud, improving ad performance, and protecting the brand. Ad verification agencies use a private proxy server to check advertisers’ pages anonymously. This enables them to ensure their clients’ advertisements are displayed on the right website in the right region.
- Travel Fare Aggregation – Travel fare aggregators use private proxy servers that enable automated data collection from online travel agencies, flight company sites, and other sources with no IP bans. These proxies search hundreds of travel websites to find the best available deals.
- Backlinking – Backlinks are important for brands to enhance their standing on search engine ranks. Shared proxy servers give several IP addresses for various locations to build unique backlinks. These proxies alternate the addresses such that every backlink creation request uses a different IP, thereby protecting you against blocks by Google.
- Access to Geo-blocked Content – Many websites have implemented geo-restrictions so that only people located in their region can have access to their content. Shared IP addresses in various countries worldwide enable users to bypass geo-restrictions and access such content.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know the difference between shared and private proxies, you can choose the type best suited for your business or personal preferences. While shared proxies are affordable, they often fail to provide added privacy and anonymity. A private proxy, on the other hand, is fast and offers more security. However, they can be expensive. So, make the right choice, depending on your budget and needs, to get complete peace of mind while surfing the internet.