Skip to main contentThe speed of a proxy connection depends on multiple factors. If you are experiencing slow response times, here is a checklist to help you diagnose the cause.
Factor 1: The “Speed of Light” (Geography)
The physical distance between your server, our proxy, and the target website is the most significant factor.
- Scenario: Your scraping server is in New York, your proxy is in Australia, and the target website is in London. Your data has to travel around the world and back.
- Solution: Co-location. Try to choose a proxy geo-location that is physically close to either your server or the target website.
- If the target server is fast, choose a proxy close to your server.
- If the target server is slow, choose a proxy close to the target.
Often, the bottleneck is not the proxy, but the website you are scraping.
- How to Test: Try making the same request to a known fast website (like
google.com) through the same proxy.
- If the request to Google is fast: The problem is with your original target website, not our proxy.
- If the request to Google is also slow: The problem might be with the proxy connection.
Factor 3: The Specific Residential IP
Residential and mobile IPs are real devices, and their connection speeds can vary. Occasionally, you may be assigned an IP on a slower network.
- Solution: Rotate the IP. Simply make your next request with a new session ID (or no session ID) to get a new IP address from our pool. The vast majority of IPs in our network are on high-speed connections.
Factor 4: Your Own Network Connection
Ensure that the network connection of your own server is not the bottleneck. Run a speed test from your server to a nearby location to check its baseline performance. 
