Reasons Why You Shouldn't Rely On Free Proxies

It is reasonable to think that if you were scraping data from a region-restricted website and had recently learned about proxies, one of your first ideas would be connected to free proxies. In any case, why would you pay for a service if there are free alternatives? However, when reading and investigating further, you would immediately find that free proxies provide a number of troubling difficulties. To explore them further, let’s pose the straightforward question: are they secure?

Free Proxies: Are They Safe?

Free proxies entice with an aura of simplicity. Find the desired location and website, and you’re done. As with other things, though, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Here are five reasons to avoid utilizing free proxies:

Most Free Proxies Don’t Use HTTPS

The HTTPS protocol encrypts your connection; yet, almost 80% of free proxy servers do not support HTTPS connections. This practically translates to the fact that all data you transmit can be easily monitored. Therefore, if data privacy is of any significance, free ones are a poor option.

Connections Can Be Monitored

It is hypothesized that one of the fundamental reasons why the majority of free proxies do not use HTTPS is that they intend to track you. In the past, various free ones have been established for precisely this purpose.

Every time you use a free proxy, you are effectively gambling and, at most, hoping that the owners will not use or sell your data or information, which is a concern you do not want.

Steals Cookie

It is vital to protect your cookies because they save your login information. They exist to streamline the login process (so you don’t have to log in every time) and, as such, save sensitive information. When a proxy server is placed between you and a website, proxy operators can simply steal cookies while they are being created. This would enable them to not only mimic you online, but also gain access to the very sensitive websites you’ve frequented.

Malicious Software Issues

There is a common thread running across all the difficulties highlighted regarding free proxies, and that is the hope that your data will not be abused despite the lack of assurances. Malicious malware, for instance, suffers from the same issues, as there is technically nothing preventing proxy owners from infecting your machine.

Intriguingly, some malware could be injected inadvertently, without the owners’ knowledge. Due to the fact that free proxies frequently rely on advertisements for revenue, they may, even without malice, advertise malware-based advertisements.

Poor Quality Service

Despite assuming all of the aforementioned risks, the reward is subpar. In comparison to premium proxies, free proxies are, on average, significantly slower due to the lack of financing and the amount of concurrent users.

All of these criteria make free proxy servers a high-risk, low-reward service.

Premium Proxy In A Nutshell

In essence, premium proxies are the polar opposite of free proxies. They are efficient, trustworthy, transparent, and entirely secure. Most provide various options, whether you require Datacenter or Residential Proxies, or perhaps a Scraper API. All of these factors allow for extensive customization relevant to your tasks. Moreover, with a premium subscription, you have access to cutting-edge solutions that are not static. Constantly improving quality and speed is a major priority for premium proxy services.