Rotating vs Sticky Proxy Sessions

🔄 Rotating Proxies Explained

With rotating proxies, your IP address changes with every request (or at configured intervals). Each time you connect, you get a fresh IP from the pool.

Benefits of Rotating IPs

📌 Sticky Sessions Explained

Sticky sessions maintain the same IP address for a specified duration. All requests during that window use the same IP, enabling stateful operations.

Common Sticky Session Durations

Side-by-Side Comparison

Configuration Examples

# Rotating - new IP every request
proxy_url = "http://user:pass@gate.proxies.sx:1000"

# Each request gets a different IP
response1 = requests.get(url, proxies={"http": proxy_url})
response2 = requests.get(url, proxies={"http": proxy_url})
# response1 and response2 use DIFFERENT IPs

# Sticky - same IP for 30 minutes
# Add session ID to username
session_id = "session-abc123"
proxy_url = f"http://user-session-{session_id}:pass@gate.proxies.sx:1000"

# All requests with same session_id use SAME IP
response1 = requests.get(login_url, proxies={"http": proxy_url})
response2 = requests.get(dashboard_url, proxies={"http": proxy_url})
# response1 and response2 use THE SAME IP

# Use different strategies for different tasks
import uuid

def scrape_product(url):
    # Rotating for scraping - no session needed
    proxy = "http://user:pass@gate.proxies.sx:1000"
    return requests.get(url, proxies={"http": proxy})

def manage_account(account_id, actions):
    # Sticky for account ops - maintain session
    session_id = f"account-{account_id}"
    proxy = f"http://user-session-{session_id}:pass@gate.proxies.sx:1000"

    for action in actions:
        # All actions use same IP
        response = requests.post(action['url'],
                                data=action['data'],
                                proxies={"http": proxy})

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Quick Decision Flowchart