Dedicated Proxies vs Shared Proxies

In this short article, we will go over the differences between dedicated and shared proxies. These are two sorts of classifications when it comes to proxy types, and each are important for their own reasons when browsing the internet with a proxy server. 

Shared Proxy

Shared proxies are any type of proxies that are shared by more than one user for the same proxy server (IP address). Many internet users in the proxy industry use this type of proxy since they are very cheap to buy and they are abundant in quantity, which also makes it easy to quickly change or access new IP’s if one stops working or is banned from a website being targeted. The negatives of a shared proxy is that they have low security protections since it is a publicly accessible server which can be cyber attacked by hackers. Another issue is slow connectivity given the server experiences large bandwidth usage, which can range from minutes to hours to access a website and scrape the data needed. One last issue is reliability since shared proxies represent  the lowest quality kind of proxy since they have little maintenance and are over-used by a group of people, making it easier for the IP address to get completely blacklisted overtime. 

Dedicated Proxy

Dedicated proxies are any IP address that is exclusive to one internet user - not just for their session time, but the entire duration of that IP existence belongs to the one user. Dedicated proxies are also popular in the market since they offer several great benefits. One benefit is the fast connectivity speed rates to a website since there's only one proxy user, granting greater bandwidth usage. Another advantage is that the IP address has a very low chance of being blocked by websites since it is not heavily exploited or distributed around by multiple people, which means the majority of websites will whitelist (clearance) the IP for entry. Another benefit is higher security protection for the exclusive proxy, both from cyber criminals trying to steal personal data and other users who could have the IP banned for conducting illegal online activities-- hence the Exclusive IP is also more reliable as a result. With a dedicated proxy, the user has complete authority over the IP  for their discretion, and is only used when the user decides. With these great benefits comes a few drawbacks, the most significant being the price: with the previous reasons of greater speed, connectivity, reliability, autonomy, and security, the dedicated proxy will invariably cost more since there is much greater upkeep and maintenance provided by the proxy provider. Greater quality = higher price tag. 

Final thoughts

Even though it may seem obvious that dedicated proxies are superior to shared proxies, it all depends on the use-case for the online consumer. Not all web activities require the greater effects of a dedicated proxy. For most simple, low-intensive tasks, shared proxies are the smart choice since it would be unnecessary to utilize a more expensive proxy  when it can be done with the cheaper option. 

If you are not quite sure which type of proxy best suits your needs, feel free to contact us and one of our experts will help you decide the correct proxy needed; or if you are a current user of our proxies and need additional information or have any questions, you can contact us at: info@spider.com