How to Check the Quality of Proxies? Methods and Tools Galore!

Proxy IPs have always been a must-have for cross-border businesses. High-quality proxy IPs play a significant role not only in cross-border business but also in areas like SEO monitoring, web scraping, and market research. However, it's essential to test and verify the quality of proxy IPs before using them. So, how can we quickly determine the effectiveness and quality of proxy IPs?

In this article, we will provide you with detailed information on methods and criteria for testing proxy IPs. If you're interested, keep reading!

I. Checking Tools

There are several widely used IP testing tools, including Ipapi, Ip2location, Whoer, and Ipinfo. When you use these tools, they automatically analyze your IP address and provide various metrics. Let's understand some of these metrics.

II. Interpreting Results

Without further ado, let's take an example of testing a pure proxy IP from IPFoxy, which is commonly used. We'll explain the results of the test:

1、Whoer

This tool is based on the browser to get the corresponding information, so the most basic GPS location, signal base station, cell phone operator, and then some deeper hardware information whoer are not reflected. It is mainly used for DNS detection, and stealth detection is the main focus. Its popularity has something to do with the development of TK.

• IP address: it shows the IP of the current Internet access, and you can check whether the proxy is effective or not;
• ISP: simple to understand, it is like China Unicom, Mobile, Telecom and other operators in China;
• Host: host name is the name of the server;
• OS Operating System: it is the system of your cell phone or computer;
• Browser: what browser you use to open shows what browser;
• DNS: the computer first addresses the DNS servers before addressing the site itself. The same domain name is assigned a different IP by the DNS in each location. If the DNS in the area where the IP is located is unstable or too busy to handle the request immediately, it will be automatically resolved to the best nearby DNS node;
• Proxy: refers to whether a proxy server is used for Internet access;
• Anonymizer: it can hide the IP address without saving the IP connection data;
• Blacklist: it means that the proxy IP is detected to be blacklisted in this detection website database. For example, sending spam, illegal behavior of the ip.

2、Ipinfo

The main business is IP geolocation query API, IP proxy monitoring.

• ASN: Autonomous system, realize IP to ASN mapping and ASN lookup;
• company: the company or organization that owns the ip, usually divided into ISP, enterprise or hosting;
• private: detects various methods used to mask a user's real IP address;
• vpn: virtual network; proxy: agent; tor: Tor (a type of proxy); relay: relay use; service: service
• Abuse: contact information for abusive IP addresses to help research track down counter-abusers or misappropriators.

These are the parsing terms that will appear in basically all proxy detection tools, and the four tools mentioned above detect basically this information.

III. Determining IP Types

Native IP: This refers to an IP where the DNS and IP address belong to the same country. In most cases, it can be considered native. However, some special cases exist, such as Southeast Asian and European countries where DNS may be resolved to a nearby country. For example, the ISP proxies provided by IPFoxy are considered purely native and have had minimal issues in terms of business use.

Dual ISP: The term "dual ISP" often refers to the type property found in the ASN and Company data. Some so-called residential IPs have an ASN associated with the ISP, making them single ISPs. However, true residential IPs should have both the ASN and the company name matching the local ISP. For example, the IP tested from IPFoxy is a dual ISP, theoretically making it more stable.

IV. Conclusion

These are the methods and detailed explanations for testing IP proxies. If you are interested, you can try testing them yourself. Based on extensive user testing, IPFoxy's pure proxies have proven to be stable and of high quality, providing peace of mind for business use. Before purchasing and using IP proxies, it's advisable to test them using free trial IPs for your specific business needs. After all, there is no one-size-fits-all proxy, only proxies that suit your requirements.