Proxy & Web Scraping Glossary

An anonymous proxy hides your real IP address from the target server but identifies itself as a proxy in the HTTP headers.

A caching proxy stores copies of web responses so it can serve repeat requests faster without contacting the origin server again.

A CGI proxy is a type of web proxy built with the Common Gateway Interface scripting standard to fetch and display web pages on a server.

A datacenter proxy routes traffic through an IP address hosted in a commercial data center, not tied to any ISP or residential connection.

A dedicated proxy is an IP address assigned exclusively to a single user.

A distorting proxy hides your real IP address while telling the destination server it is a proxy connection.

An elite proxy (also called a high-anonymity proxy) hides both your real IP address and the fact that you are using a proxy.

A forward proxy sits between a client and the internet, sending requests on behalf of the client to external servers.

A gaming proxy is a proxy server optimized for low latency and stable connections during online gaming.

An HTTP proxy is a server that handles HTTP requests on behalf of a client, forwarding unencrypted web traffic to the target server.

An HTTPS proxy handles encrypted web traffic by establishing a secure TLS tunnel between the client and the proxy server.

An ISP proxy combines the speed of a datacenter with the trust level of a residential IP by hosting IPs registered to Internet Service Providers on datacenter infrastructure.

A mobile proxy routes traffic through IP addresses assigned by mobile carriers (3G, 4G, 5G) to real cellular devices.

An open proxy is a proxy server that anyone can use without a username, password, or other authentication.

A proxy is a server that sits between your device and the internet, forwarding your requests so the destination sees the proxy's IP address instead of yours.

A residential proxy routes your traffic through an IP address assigned by a real Internet Service Provider to a home device.

A reverse proxy sits in front of one or more backend servers, accepting client requests and forwarding them to the appropriate server.

A rotating proxy automatically assigns a different IP address for each request or at set time intervals from a large pool of available IPs.

A semi-dedicated proxy is an IP address shared among a small group of users, usually two or three, instead of one user or a large pool.

A shared proxy is an IP address used by multiple users simultaneously.

A sneaker proxy is a proxy built for buying limited-release sneakers and other high-demand drops online.

SOCKS5 is a proxy protocol that routes any type of network traffic (TCP and UDP) without modifying the data packets.

An SSL proxy is a proxy server that handles encrypted HTTPS traffic between a client and a destination server.

A static proxy assigns you a fixed, dedicated IP address that does not change between requests or sessions.

A streaming proxy is a proxy server built to unblock geo-restricted video and audio content by routing traffic through an IP address in an allowed region.

A transparent proxy intercepts network traffic without requiring any client configuration or awareness.

A virgin proxy is an IP address that has never been used for proxy traffic before.

A web proxy is a proxy server you access through a website instead of configuring it in your browser or device settings.

Anycast is a network routing method where multiple servers in different locations share the same IP address, and traffic automatically routes to the nearest or best-performing one.

An ASN (Autonomous System Number) is a unique identifier assigned to a network or group of IP prefixes controlled by a single entity (ISP, hosting company, or enterprise).

Bandwidth is the maximum rate of data transfer across a network connection, measured in bits per second (bps, Mbps, Gbps).

A CDN, or content delivery network, is a group of servers spread across many locations that store copies of website content closer to visitors.

CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) is a method for allocating IP addresses and routing traffic using variable-length subnet prefixes instead of fixed address classes.

Connection pooling is a technique that maintains a set of open, reusable network connections instead of creating and closing a new one for every request.

DNS (Domain Name System) is the protocol that translates human-readable domain names (like example.com) into IP addresses (like 93.184.216.34) that computers use to route traffic.

DNS over HTTPS, often shortened to DoH, is a method of performing DNS lookups through an encrypted HTTPS connection instead of sending them in plain text.

Edge computing is a setup where data processing happens on servers located close to the user instead of in a distant, centralized data center.

Geolocation is the process of determining the geographic location of a device or IP address.

HTTP headers are key-value pairs sent with every HTTP request and response that carry metadata about the connection, client, content, and caching.

HTTP/2 is a version of the HTTP protocol that allows multiple requests and responses to travel over a single connection at the same time.

HTTP/3 is the newest version of the HTTP protocol, built on top of QUIC instead of the traditional TCP connection.

ICMP, or Internet Control Message Protocol, is a network protocol used to send error messages and diagnostic information between devices.

An IP address is a unique numerical label assigned to every device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.

IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) is the fourth version of the Internet Protocol, using 32-bit addresses written as four decimal numbers separated by dots (e.g., 192.168.0.1).

IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) is the successor to IPv4, using 128-bit addresses written in hexadecimal (e.g., 2001:0db8:85a3::8a2e:0370:7334).

Jitter is the variation in delay between data packets arriving at their destination over a network connection.

Keep-Alive is an HTTP feature that lets a single TCP connection stay open and handle multiple requests instead of opening a new connection for each one.

Latency is the time delay between sending a request and receiving the first byte of the response, measured in milliseconds.

A load balancer is a system that distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers instead of sending it all to one.

MTU, or maximum transmission unit, is the largest size a single data packet can be on a network connection.

Multicast is a network communication method where data is sent from one source to a specific group of interested receivers at the same time.

NAT (Network Address Translation) is a method that maps multiple private IP addresses to one or more public IP addresses.

Packet loss is the percentage of data packets sent across a network that never arrive at their destination.

Ping is a network utility that measures the round-trip time it takes for a small packet to travel from your device to a server and back.

A network port is a numbered endpoint (0-65535) that identifies a specific process or service on a device.

Proxy Protocol is a networking standard that preserves the original client IP address and port information when traffic passes through one or more proxy layers.

QUIC is a transport protocol built on UDP that was originally developed by Google to make internet connections faster and more reliable.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) are cryptographic protocols that encrypt data transmitted between a client and server.

A subnet (subnetwork) is a logical division of an IP network into smaller segments.

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is a core internet protocol that provides reliable, ordered delivery of data between applications.

Throughput is the actual amount of data successfully transferred over a network connection in a given period of time.

Traceroute is a network diagnostic tool that shows the path data takes across routers between a source and a destination.

TTL, or time to live, is a value that limits how long a packet or DNS record stays valid before it expires or gets discarded.

Unicast is the standard method of network communication where data travels from one sender to exactly one receiver.

WebSocket is a communication protocol that keeps a single connection open between a client and a server for ongoing two-way data exchange.

AJAX rendering is when a webpage loads or updates content using background JavaScript requests instead of a full page reload.

Cookie handling is how a scraper stores, sends, and manages cookies across requests to a website.

A CSS selector is a pattern used to target specific HTML elements on a page, based on their tag, class, ID, or other attributes.

Data parsing is the process of analyzing raw HTML, JSON, or XML responses and extracting specific data fields into a structured format.

Exponential backoff is a retry strategy that doubles the wait time between each failed request attempt.

A headless browser is a web browser that runs without a visible graphical user interface.

An HTTP method is the action a client tells a server to perform on a given resource, such as GET or POST.

Iframe scraping is the process of extracting data from content embedded inside an iframe element on a webpage.

Infinite scroll is a web design pattern that loads new content automatically as a user scrolls down the page.

Pagination is the practice of splitting large datasets across multiple pages on a website.

A proxy cascade is a setup where traffic passes through more than one proxy server in sequence before reaching its destination.

A query parameter is a key-value pair added to the end of a URL after a question mark, used to pass extra data to a server.

Rate limiting is a technique that restricts the number of requests a client can make to a server within a given time window.

A redirect chain is a sequence of HTTP redirects a request follows before reaching its final destination URL.

A request header is a piece of metadata a client sends to a server along with an HTTP request.

A response header is metadata a server sends back to the client along with an HTTP response.

Retry logic is code that automatically resends a failed web request instead of giving up after one attempt.

robots.txt is a plain text file placed at the root of a website (example.com/robots.txt) that tells web crawlers which pages or sections they are allowed or disallowed from accessing.

Session management in proxy usage is the practice of maintaining consistent state (cookies, IP, headers) across multiple requests to a target website.

Shadow DOM is a web standard that lets developers attach a hidden, separate DOM tree to an element on a page.

A status code is a three-digit number a server sends back with every HTTP response to describe the result of the request.

URL encoding is the process of converting special characters in a URL into a format that is safe for transmission over the web.

A user agent is an HTTP header string that identifies the client software making a request, including the browser name, version, operating system, and rendering engine.

A web crawler (also called a spider or bot) is a program that systematically browses the internet by following links from page to page.

Web scraping is the automated extraction of structured data from websites using software tools.

XPath is a query language used to select specific elements or data from an XML or HTML document.

An anti-detect browser is a specialized web browser that creates unique, randomized browser fingerprints for each browsing session.

An AudioContext fingerprint is a tracking method that identifies a device based on tiny variations in how it processes audio signals through the Web Audio API.

Behavior analysis is a bot detection method that studies how a visitor interacts with a page, such as mouse movement, typing speed, and click timing.

Bot detection is the broad set of methods websites use to identify and block automated traffic instead of real human visitors.

Browser fingerprinting is a tracking technique that identifies users by collecting unique attributes of their browser and device, including screen resolution, installed fonts, WebGL renderer, timezone, and canvas rendering output.

A canvas fingerprint is a tracking method that uses the HTML5 canvas element to identify a device based on tiny differences in how it renders graphics.

CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) is a challenge-response test designed to determine whether a user is human.

A challenge page is an interstitial screen a website shows to verify a visitor is human before allowing access to the requested content.

Click pattern analysis is a bot detection method that studies the timing, location, and sequence of clicks on a page.

A device fingerprint is a set of hardware and software details collected from a device during a visit to create a unique identifier.

A font fingerprint is a tracking method that identifies a device based on the specific list of fonts installed on it.

Headless browser detection is a set of techniques websites use to identify browser sessions running without a visible user interface.

A honeypot is a hidden trap element built into a webpage to catch bots that interact with parts of the page a real human would never see or use.

IP reputation is a trust score assigned to an IP address based on its past behavior across the internet.

Mouse movement analysis is a bot detection technique that tracks the path, speed, and pattern of a cursor as it moves across a page.

Plugin detection is a technique that identifies a browser based on the list of plugins and extensions it reports as installed.

A screen resolution fingerprint is a tracking signal based on the display dimensions, color depth, and pixel ratio of a device.

A timezone fingerprint is a tracking signal based on the timezone and locale settings reported by the browser and operating system of a visitor.

WebDriver detection is a technique websites use to identify browsers being controlled by automation tools like Selenium or Puppeteer.

A WebGL fingerprint is a tracking method that identifies a device based on how its graphics processing unit renders 3D graphics through the WebGL API.

A botnet is a network of computers or devices that have been infected with malware and are controlled remotely by an attacker without the knowledge of the owners.

Certificate pinning is a security method that ties an app or browser to one specific SSL certificate or public key for a given server.

Content Security Policy, or CSP, is a browser security rule that limits which sources of scripts, images, and other resources a webpage can load.

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing, or CORS, is a browser rule that controls whether a webpage can request data from a different domain than the one that loaded it.

Cross-site scripting, or XSS, is an attack where a hacker injects malicious code, usually JavaScript, into a webpage that other users then load and run.

A Distributed Denial of Service attack, or DDoS attack, floods a server or network with traffic from many sources at once, aiming to overwhelm it so real users cannot get through.

A DNS leak occurs when your DNS queries are sent directly to your ISP DNS resolver instead of through your proxy or VPN tunnel.

Encryption is the process of converting readable data (plaintext) into an unreadable format (ciphertext) using a mathematical algorithm and a key.

Geo-blocking is a practice where a website or service restricts access to content based on the detected geographic location of a visitor.

Geo-targeting is the practice of showing different content, prices, or ads to users based on their detected geographic location.

HTTP Strict Transport Security, or HSTS, is a web server rule that tells browsers to only connect using HTTPS.

IP allowlisting (also called whitelisting) is a security practice that permits access to a service only from pre-approved IP addresses.

An IP blacklist is a list of IP addresses that have been flagged as sources of spam, fraud, or abuse and are blocked from accessing a service.

IP rotation is the automated process of switching between different IP addresses during a sequence of requests.

IP spoofing is a technique where an attacker forges the source IP address in a network packet to make the packet look like it came from a different, often trusted, address.

A man-in-the-middle attack, or MITM attack, happens when someone secretly intercepts and can alter communication between two parties.

Proxy authentication is the process of verifying a user identity before allowing access to a proxy server.

A proxy chain routes traffic through two or more proxy servers in sequence before reaching the target.

Proxy detection is the set of techniques websites use to identify when a visitor connects through a proxy server instead of a direct connection.

The same-origin policy is a core browser security rule that stops a script loaded from one website from freely accessing data on another website.

SQL injection is an attack that inserts malicious database commands into an input field, tricking a website database into running commands the developer never intended.

SSL stripping is an attack that downgrades a secure HTTPS connection to plain, unencrypted HTTP without the user noticing.

A TLS fingerprint is a unique pattern created by the specific settings a client uses when starting an encrypted TLS connection.

VPN detection refers to the methods websites use to identify traffic coming from a virtual private network instead of a regular home or mobile connection.

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) encrypts and routes all traffic from a device through a secure tunnel, while a proxy routes traffic at the application level without necessarily encrypting it.

A WebRTC leak occurs when the WebRTC protocol in your browser exposes your real IP address to websites, even when you are connected through a proxy or VPN.

API access is a feature that lets customers control and manage a proxy service programmatically through code instead of a website dashboard.

A backconnect port is the specific port number on the gateway server of a proxy provider used to route traffic into a rotating proxy pool.

A backconnect proxy is a gateway server that automatically routes each incoming request through a different IP from a large proxy pool.

Bandwidth allocation is the amount of data transfer, usually measured in gigabytes, that a proxy plan includes for a billing period.

CGNAT (Carrier-Grade NAT) is a large-scale network address translation system used by ISPs and mobile carriers to share a limited pool of public IPv4 addresses among thousands of subscribers.

Concurrent connections refers to the number of simultaneous active proxy connections you can have open at the same time.

Datacenter location refers to the physical country or city where the servers of a proxy provider are hosted.

A gateway server is the entry point a user connects to when accessing a proxy network, which then routes traffic to the correct backend IP address.

The IP rotation interval is the amount of time a rotating proxy keeps the same IP address before switching to a new one.

Pay-per-GB is a pricing model where customers are charged based on the exact amount of data, measured in gigabytes, they use through the proxy.

A proxy pool is the total collection of IP addresses available to a proxy provider for assignment to users.

Session duration is the length of time a sticky proxy session keeps using the same IP address before it changes.

A Service Level Agreement, or SLA, is a formal commitment from a provider that defines the expected level of service, such as uptime, speed, or support response time.

A sticky session is a proxy configuration that maintains the same IP address for a defined period, typically 1-30 minutes.

A sub-user is an additional account created under a main proxy subscription, allowing separate access with its own settings and usage limits.

A thread limit is the maximum number of simultaneous connections or requests a proxy plan allows a user to run at the same time.

A trial plan is a limited free or low-cost offer that lets new customers test a proxy service before committing to a full subscription.

Unlimited bandwidth is a proxy plan feature that removes any fixed cap on the amount of data a customer can transfer during a billing period.

An uptime guarantee is a stated promise from a provider about how often its service will be available and working, usually expressed as a percentage like 99.9 percent.

A usage dashboard is a web-based interface where proxy customers can track account activity, including bandwidth used, active sessions, and remaining balance.