Backconnect Proxy
IntermediateA single gateway address that automatically routes each of your requests through different IPs from a large pool — rotation without managing IP lists.
In depth
A backconnect proxy is a gateway server that sits between you and a provider's IP pool. You configure one stable endpoint — something like gate.provider.com:7777 — and the gateway assigns each connection an exit IP from the pool behind it. The rotation, health-checking, and pool management all happen on the provider's side.
Why gateways replaced IP lists
Early proxy services handed customers raw lists of addresses to rotate through themselves — dead IPs, manual refreshes, and client-side rotation logic included. The backconnect model moved that burden to the provider: you always connect to the same hostname, and the provider swaps exit IPs behind it, retires dead ones, and adds fresh ones invisibly. Virtually every modern residential and mobile proxy service works this way.
Controlling the rotation
- Per-request rotation: the default — every new connection exits from a different IP.
- Sticky sessions: appending a session ID to your proxy username pins an exit IP for a period, so logins and multi-step flows survive.
- Geo-targeting: country, state, or city parameters in the credentials restrict which pool segment the gateway draws from.
One endpoint, many identities
Because targeting and session behavior are encoded in the username string, one backconnect endpoint can serve completely different configurations per request — no infrastructure changes needed on your side.
Examples
- A scraper points every worker at gate.provider.com:7777 and each request exits from a different residential IP.
- Adding session-abc123 to the proxy username pins one exit IP for ten minutes while a bot completes a checkout flow.
- Setting country-de in the credentials makes the gateway return only German exit IPs.
Common use cases
FAQs
They overlap but describe different things: 'rotating' describes the behavior (IPs change), 'backconnect' describes the architecture (a gateway in front of a pool). Modern rotating proxies are delivered through backconnect gateways almost universally.
Yes, if you use sticky sessions. Pure per-request rotation breaks authenticated flows because each request arrives from a new IP; a session parameter pins the exit IP long enough to log in and act, typically for one to thirty minutes.
Each request may exit through a different physical device — one a fast fiber household, the next a congested mobile connection. Variable per-request performance is inherent to pool-based routing.