Free and Paid Proxies: Pros and Cons

Let’s first review benefits of paid proxies. When using a paid proxy server, you may select and track some properties, like caching efficiency, connection speed, server response time, etc. In case of any failures that happen rarely you are entitled to contact your service provider and apply for indemnity.

The key downside of using a paid proxy is that you pay for it. Besides, as we stated above, paid servers can break down, which is a bad deal as you pay them for a fail-safe connection.

What about your anonymity? Even a commercial proxy cannot ensure a 100-percent privacy and anonimity on the Internet. To get your personal details, a person can only give a request to the company that operates the servers that you use. But it is fair to say that access to your personal info can only be obtained by law-enforcement agencies.

Some people prefer using a few paid proxies at a time creating a chain, but not everyone can afford to subscribe and pay for 4-5 proxies. However, if you connect via several servers, it may be hard or even impossible to switch from one server to another.

A principal strength of free proxies is that you avoid related expenses. You may use several proxies. For example, a chat room blocks access for your device. The problem is solved by activating another proxy server.

Web anonymity is another great benefit that makes your IP address undetectable during your connection session. To boost your anonymity, you can build a chain of free proxies. Though, it can impact your connection rate.

Pay attention that the bulk of properties of free proxies (connection rate, response time, etc.) is commonly worse than those in paid proxy servers.

Now, we touch upon demerits of free servers. Its major drawback is a low quality of operation, which stems from a low connection speed. Besides, free proxies face frequent connection failures that hinder normal surfing.

Today, it is hard to find properly operating free servers, especially when you need many. They transform into paid proxies or shut down at all.