5 Best Ways to Test Proxies

In this guide, you’ll learn about practical methods and tools to help you achieve optimal proxy performance and reliability.

Online Proxy Checker Tools

Online proxy checkers offer a quick and convenient way to assess proxies, benefiting a wide range of users and use cases. For example, they are useful for online shoppers accessing region-specific deals, gamers bypassing regional restrictions, travelers maintaining access to their usual services while abroad, and cybersecurity professionals conducting network tests. These tools are easy to use, requiring only basic browser skills, and provide valuable insights into proxy performance, helping identify potential issues. The following are some popular tools.

Bright Data Online Proxy Checker

The Bright Data Online Proxy Checker is a straightforward tool that allows you to test your proxies for speed, anonymity, and IP stability. It provides information about your proxy’s location, the connection type, the last time it was seen online, and the risk level that indicates how secure it is. This is important as your proxy IP address can compromise your anonymity.

Whatismyproxy

Whatismyproxy offers a simple and user-friendly interface for viewing your IP address and anonymity level. It automatically detects your proxy IP address and provides information that helps you verify if your proxy is successfully masking your real IP address and preventing websites from tracking your online activities.

Manual Testing Methods

While online tools offer convenience, manual testing methods provide a deeper understanding of your proxy’s behavior and can be more reliable in certain situations. This approach is often favored by those who prefer a hands-on approach and have some technical proficiency, such as system administrators, network engineers, security professionals, and tech-savvy individuals. The following are some popular tools for manual proxy testing.

Ping

Ping is a command that sends a request to a specific server and measures the time it takes to receive a response. This helps you test basic connectivity and identify potential latency issues with the proxy server. For example, running ping -c 4 brd.superproxy.io sends four packets to brd.superproxy.io, as seen in the following image:

Check for successful responses and average response time. High response times may indicate a slow proxy or network connection. Also, dropped packets may indicate an unstable service.

curl

curl is a command line tool that allows you to retrieve information from a web server. You can use it to check your proxy’s IP address and verify if it’s successfully masking your real IP. For example, the command curl -x http://your-proxy-ip:port https://geo.brdtest.com/welcome.txt retrieves your IP address, location, and other details, as seen by the target website. You can also add --proxy-user to specify authentication credentials if needed. Replace your-ip:port with the IP address or hostname and port of your proxy server, as seen in the following image:

As seen earlier, the image output should display the IP address of your proxy server, not your real IP address. This also shows other location details that are related to your Proxy IP, not your real location.

Learn more about how to use cURL with a proxy.

Automated Testing with Scripts

Automated proxy testing allows for more efficient, continuous monitoring and evaluation of your proxies. This can help with early issue detection compared to manually running checks. Also, you can easily make scripts send you alerts once a specific condition is noticed during the automated checks on your proxy. This approach is particularly beneficial for those managing large numbers of proxies or requiring frequent testing, such as businesses with large proxy pools, proxy providers, web scrapers, developers, and system administrators. This method requires basic scripting or programming knowledge.

The following is a simple example of such a script written in Go, though you can use any language you are familiar with:

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "log"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "os"
    "time"
)

type IPInfo struct {
    IP       string `json:"ip"`
    City     string `json:"city"`
    Region   string `json:"region"`
    Country  string `json:"country"`
    Loc      string `json:"loc"`
    Org      string `json:"org"`
    Timezone string `json:"timezone"`
    Readme   string `json:"readme"`
}

func main() {
    // Declare and initialize your list of proxy IPs or hosts.
    proxyList := []string{
        "http://10.0.0.1:3128",
        // Add more proxies here...
    }
    // Create a TXT log file if it doesn't exist yet. If it already exists, append a new log to the existing file.
    logFile, err := os.OpenFile("proxy_test_log.txt", os.O_APPEND|os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY, 0644)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer logFile.Close()

    // Set the created file to contain logged outputs from this program.
    log.SetOutput(logFile)

    // Looping/iterate over the list of proxy servers for checks.
    for _, proxy := range proxyList {
        // Parse the proxy URL.
        proxyURL, err := url.Parse(proxy)
        if err != nil {
            log.Printf("Error parsing proxy URL %s: %v\n", proxy, err)
            continue
        }

        // Create an HTTP client with the proxy settings.
        myClient := &http.Client{
            Transport: &http.Transport{Proxy: http.ProxyURL(proxyURL)},
            Timeout:   10 * time.Second, // Set a timeout for the request
        }

        // Fetch IP information.
        fetchIPInfo := func() (*IPInfo, error) {
            start := time.Now()
            resp, err := myClient.Get("https://ipinfo.io/json")
            if err != nil {
                // Return an error if any encountered when trying to visit page.
                return nil, err
            }
            defer resp.Body.Close()

            // Read the JSON response from the HTTP request.
            var ipInfo IPInfo
            err = json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&ipInfo)
            if err != nil {
                return nil, err
            }

            // Record the response time of the request.
            elapsed := time.Since(start)
            ipInfo.Readme = fmt.Sprintf("%s - Response time: %s", ipInfo.Readme, elapsed)

            // Return the IP information obtained from a successful response.
            return &ipInfo, nil
        }

        // Try fetching IP information.
        ipInfo, err := fetchIPInfo()
        if err != nil {
            log.Printf("Error fetching IP info for proxy %s: %v\n", proxy, err)

            // Retry once.
            time.Sleep(2 * time.Second) // Wait before retrying
            ipInfo, err = fetchIPInfo()
            if err != nil {
                log.Printf("Retry failed for proxy %s: %v\n", proxy, err)
                continue // Continue to the next proxy.
            }
        }

        // Log successful connection and details.
        log.Printf("Successful connection to proxy %s\n", proxy)
        log.Printf("IP Info: %+v\n", *ipInfo)
    }
}

This script takes a list of proxy servers and checks each one by visiting a web URL or retrieving information, such as the IP address or country of origin. It then logs the request results, whether it was a success or failure, to a file named proxy_test_log.txt and proceeds to the next proxy in the list.

You can obtain your proxy list from any source of your choice, including databases, proxy providers like Bright Data, or other free sources online. You can also enhance this type of testing by adding conditional authentication for hosts that require it or implementing email alerts for specific thresholds. Key elements to log include the following:

• Connectivity: Track successful and failed connections to identify unstable proxies.
• Response times: Monitor response times to detect performance degradation or latency issues.
• IP address changes: Verify consistent IP addresses and detect any unexpected changes.
• Error codes: Analyze HTTP error codes to diagnose specific problems (eg 403 Forbidden, 500 Internal Server Error).

The possibilities are almost endless, but it does require some time to set it up for the first time.

Benchmarking Performance

Benchmarking your proxies is essential to understand their capabilities and ensure they meet your specific needs. This involves assessing various performance aspects, primarily speed, and latency.

Speed Tests

Speed tests measure how fast your proxy can download and upload data. They also provide indicators for throughput, which is the total amount of data that can be transferred at a given time through your proxy. Higher throughput indicates better performance for handling multiple requests or large data volumes, which is required for bandwidth-intensive tasks, like streaming or downloading large files. Websites like Speedtest or Fast.com can be used with a proxy to measure download and upload speeds.

FOGLDN Proxy Tester is a free and easy-to-use tool specifically designed for measuring proxy latency. It sends requests to a target website through your proxy and reports the connection time:

With its simple interface and easy-to-read results, the FOGLDN Proxy Tester is accessible even to nontechnical users, making it an excellent choice for anyone looking to assess proxy performance without complex configurations. It’s also great at handling rotating proxies, which are proxies that change IP addresses. You can run this on a Windows PC or macOS. However, it does have a few limitations, such as limited metrics as it primarily focuses on latency and doesn’t provide detailed speed or throughput measurements. There is also a lack of diagnostic information for failed tests or detailed error analysis.

Security and Anonymity Checks

Ensuring your proxy provides adequate security and anonymity is paramount, especially when dealing with sensitive information or bypassing restrictions. Here’s how to test these critical aspects:

SSL/TLS support: Verify if the proxy supports SSL/TLS encryption for secure communication. This protects your data from eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks. You can test this by using a browser to access an HTTPS website through the proxy. If the connection is successful and the website’s security certificate is valid, the proxy likely supports SSL/TLS.

Anonymity levels: As discussed earlier, visiting websites like Whatismyproxy and WhatIsMyIPAddress through your proxy should show you only the information about your proxy and nothing about your real IP. When possible, you should avoid open and free proxies as they may be used by others for malicious activity, leading to bans and other security concerns. You can always rely on Bright Data’s Residential Proxies for a much more secure and reputable proxy.

hidemy.name offers a proxy checker tool with a focus on anonymity and security:

It offers features that identify the proxy protocol (HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4, SOCKS5), speed and latency tests, and anonymity checks. You can easily paste a list of proxies for testing at once. You can download detailed results in a TXT or CSV file.

Comparison of Different Proxy Methods

The following table provides a concise comparison of the different proxy testing methods and tools discussed in this article, highlighting their key features, target users, and skills required to utilize them effectively.

Remember to choose the methods and tools that best align with your specific needs and technical expertise.

Conclusion

This article explored various proxy testing methods, ranging from simple online checkers to manual command line techniques and automated scripts. By understanding these methods and utilizing the appropriate tools, you can effectively evaluate your proxies and make informed decisions about their suitability for your needs.

Remember that selecting the right proxy is crucial and factors like speed, anonymity, and security should be carefully considered. For a reliable and comprehensive solution, Bright Data offers a range of proxy services with features like high-speed connections, robust security measures, and advanced anonymity options.

Sign up now and start your free proxy trial!