Use case · Market research and local search
Proxies for market research and local search
Compare permitted offers, catalogues and search results with the network route, browser settings and account state recorded alongside each observation.
The job
What this actually is.
Two teams share this page. Search and content teams need to know how a query ranks in a given country, and product or market teams need to know what is on sale, at what price and with what message before they enter a market.
Treat the network route, region or store setting, browser locale and account state as separate inputs. A proxy does not clear your history, select a language or make one result representative of everyone in a market. Record the actual catalogue, currency or search result returned. When it does not match the requested market, investigate a country mismatch before interpreting the observation.
Which pool
Mobile or residential for this job.
Choose residential when the research calls for a peer-network connection. The pool includes home broadband and mobile peer connections; it does not select a desktop audience. Check the locations page for devices online now in the country you need before ordering or scheduling a run. Both pools are shared and use the same credential and GB balance.
Choose mobile 4G/5G when the research needs a carrier-network exit. A mobile IP does not select a phone layout or a particular search result set: set the browser, viewport, locale and search settings separately, then record them with each observation. You can compare pools with the same credential by changing peer to mbl while keeping the other test conditions consistent.
Mobile 4G/5G proxies by the GB · Residential proxies by the GB · Check countries online now
Settings
Rotation, and the username that sets it.
| Mode | Username | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Per-connection rotationFor checks that do not require a continuing proxy session. Addresses can repeat. Browser cookies, storage and account state are separate controls; rotation does not turn each query into a different visitor. | USERNAME-peer-tw-rot-ondemand | For checks that do not require a continuing proxy session. Addresses can repeat. Browser cookies, storage and account state are separate controls; rotation does not turn each query into a different visitor. |
| Sticky sessionFor a permitted sequence through one catalogue. Keep the browser context and proxy session together. The selected device is reused while available, but its IP may change and the connection can be interrupted. | USERNAME-peer-tw-sid-study3-rot-sticky | For a permitted sequence through one catalogue. Keep the browser context and proxy session together. The selected device is reused while available, but its IP may change and the connection can be interrupted. |
| Timed rotation (5-minute example)For a repeated check designed to tolerate scheduled route changes. The timer does not wait for a query or catalogue walk to finish, and addresses can repeat. | USERNAME-mbl-us-rot-auto5 | For a repeated check designed to tolerate scheduled route changes. The timer does not wait for a query or catalogue walk to finish, and addresses can repeat. |
USERNAME stands for the account part of your username; it and the password appear in the dashboard after a fulfilled purchase. Swap the two-letter country code for an available market. Every token is listed in the docs.
# Example countries: choose currently available ones for your permitted endpoint
for CC in us es mx; do
curl --disable --silent --show-error --fail-with-body --noproxy '' \
--connect-timeout 5 --max-time 15 -x "http://gw.portproof.org:7000" \
--proxy-user "USERNAME-peer-$CC-rot-ondemand" \
-H "Accept: text/html" --compressed \
-o "results-$CC.html" "https://example.com/search?q=running+shoes"
doneReplace the example URL with a permitted endpoint and USERNAME with your account value. Each response is an independent observation; curl does not render JavaScript or reproduce a browser profile. Use an interactive terminal for the password prompts. The transfer timeout does not set a deadline for entering the password.
Cost
How to think about the GB.
Measure a representative permitted job using the same resources, redirects and retry policy as the planned study. Count completed observations and transferred bytes, then scale the sample by markets and scheduled runs. Browser resources can add traffic; retain the ones needed to verify your result. Compare the client estimate with dashboard usage before increasing the workload.
Keep the query, client, language, store or region settings and account state consistent for comparable observations. Use a fresh browser context when testing first-visit behaviour, or retain one when the task needs continuity. For a search engine, run a controlled search-results comparison that records its region setting as well as the network route. Save capture time, requested country and the result actually verified. Repeat observations before describing a trend; these controls reduce setup differences but do not prove that geography caused every remaining difference.
Traffic is EUR 4.50 per GB for a small order and EUR 2.50 per GB at the largest step, on either pool. The paid trial is 0.5 GB for EUR 2.90, once per customer and subject to eligibility. View pricing and traffic validity.
Limits
What we will not help with.
This is reading public pages. It is not account creation, not scraping behind a login, and not defeating a protection a site has put up. Respect robots.txt and rate limits, and stop when a site says stop.
Read the acceptable-use policy before ordering. You accept it at checkout.
Start