Proxy Cost Optimization
Reduce proxy spend without killing success rates — tiered pools, caching, request dedup, and quality-based routing.
Reduce proxy spend without killing success rates — tiered pools, caching, request dedup, and quality-based routing.
Measure unit economics
Cost per successful fetch, not cost per proxy line in a file.
Related: pool metrics.
Tactics
- Cache stable pages
- Dedup URLs early
- Use cheaper pools for easy domains
- Reserve residential for hard targets
Related: free vs paid.
False savings
Free pools with 5% success can cost more engineering than paid pools at 95%.
Need proxies at scale?
proxies.st offers health-checked HTTP and SOCKS pools with dashboard access, API keys, and plain-text bulk feeds for pipelines.
Related guides
How to Use Plain-Text Proxy API Feeds
Fetch HTTP and SOCKS proxy lists from plain-text API endpoints, cache refreshes, and upgrade paths to authenticated JSON APIs.
Free vs Paid Proxy Pools: Tradeoffs and When to Upgrade
Compare free and paid proxy pools on cost, churn, security, and throughput — plus hybrid strategies for teams.