If you've thought about Instagram automation or scraping your platform, you've definitely encountered Instagram proxies. If you want to know why you need them, how they work and which ones to choose, this is the right article to read.
At the end of the article, we'll also give you some important tips for automating your Instagram correctly. So stay tuned till the end this video is jam-packed with valuable info!
What is Instagram Proxy & Why Use Them?
If you want to grow on Instagram, it is usually a lot of work, even with one account. All the liking commenting and posting take a lot of time. But Instagram bots such as Jarvee, Combin, Inflact, and others, let you quickly grow multiple Instagram accounts, follow or unfollow and automatically engage with your followers. Similarly, by using scrapers, you can script valuable data from Instagram. Such as hashtags or user profiles.
Unfortunately, Instagram is very strict about bots and scrapers. If it notices that you've made too many actions at once or that suspiciously many accounts are working from the same IP address. Let's say your phone simply blocks your account and temporarily forbids you from liking and commenting. This way, Instagram fights spam.
But automation is still possible. If You get a good Instagram proxy server, select subtle automation settings that would let you grow without making Instagram suspicious.
But, what is an Instagram proxy? It's an intermediary between you and Instagram or any website on the internet. This intermediary is usually some other device connected to a web somewhere in the world. For example, a phone, a computer, or even a smart fridge. The only thing that matters is that this device has a different ip address to your own.
Which Type of Proxy is Best for Instagram?
Mobile Proxies
Which proxy should we choose if we need proxies for Instagram automation and scraping? After all, there are so many types of proxies and many different providers. Instagram automation experts agree that the best type would be mobile proxies, also called 4G proxies. However, it's the most expensive option for comparison. The same provider can sell residential proxies for $3/GB and mobile proxies for $15/GB.
It means mobile proxies can be five times more expensive. So we recommend searching for 4G proxies when you have a lot of experience with Instagram automation and a good strategy to grant you the biggest return on your investment.
Residential Proxies
The best budget option for Instagram automation and scraping is residential proxies. They are a more common type of proxies. Many providers offer them, so the price is much more competitive. If your provider sells peer-to-peer residential proxies where all users share the same pool, it's much harder to ensure that vapes won't get banned. Still, the odds are pretty good for you with networks spanning millions of residential IP addresses.
IPV6 Proxies
Dock, an honorable mention would be IPV6 proxies. As some automation experts mentioned them among the top three options. Surely, IPV6 proxies have some advantages. For example, it's easier to find virgin IPs – those with no prior usage history. That's because, in general, there are many more IPV6 IPs than IPV4 because they are cheaper. However, only a few proxy providers sell IPV6 proxies, and it's hard to use them.
Datacenter Proxies
Suppose you have no experience with proxies, and most of such proxies in a market are datacenter IPs. In that case, you could get banned just because another IP from the same subnet got blocked.
In general, datacenter Instagram proxies are long past the glory days, and you won't accomplish much with them. But some private datacenter proxies are dedicated specifically to social media. They are cheaper than both mobile and residential proxies. They are not the best choice for Instagram bots, but they are still useful for running scraper Instagram accounts.
Best Instagram Proxies Recommended
1. Smartproxy
Speaking of affordable proxies, let's choose the best proxy provider that would suit your Instagram needs and see if we can make it even cheaper. We mentioned one provider we like a lot is Smartproxy. And for good reasons, it has a large rotating residential proxy network that allows targeting nearly 200 locations and doesn't share subnets IPs from desktop and mobile devices.
Smartproxy offers great customer support and provides plenty of content on how to automate your Instagram posts. This proxy provider is simple to use, and it doesn't cost much for what you get. Prices start from$80 for 8GB, which is $10/GB. There are many reasons why Smartproxy is so popular among customers. All in all, it makes sense to get yourself a subscription.
But Smartproxy isn't perfect for everything. These are still peer-to-peer residential IPs. You can create sticky sessions for up to 30 minutes, but the fee will rotate. You also can't target VAPs by carrier or ASM.
2. Bright Data
If you're willing to invest more with Bright Data – the largest proxy provider today. It offers every kind of proxy in our case. We're interested in Bright Data's static residential and mobile IPs. Both come with country and city targeting, and the mobile proxies even let you choose the carrier. You can use Bright Data for account creation and management if you get peer-to-peer residential IPs scraping.
The good thing is that you can pay-as-you-go. It's more expensive per GB but doesn't tie you up in monthly plans for drawbacks. Bright Data costs a lot, and choosing useful features such as ASM targeting adds to the price. For example, the static residential proxies cost $15/GB plus fifty cents per IP. The monthly plans charge cheaper per GB, but you must pay at least $500 per month. The whole user experience can become fusing at times.
And Bright Data is very strict about compliance, so one day it can simply refuse to serve you for the things you do on Instagram. The website used to have a landing page specifically for Instagram proxies.
3. Netnut
The next proxy provider Netnut sells static residential IPs, basically datacenter proxies registered with an internet service provider. They are hard to detect and don't need to rotate, making Netnut a good choice for account management. The provider has a dedicated pool of proxies for Instagram.
So we should work well starting at 300 choosing this provider is quite an investment. And Netnut doesn't hide that it targets companies with large needs. It's also not very beginner friendly.
4. SOAX
SOAX provides a robust solution for Instagram account management with its vast mobile proxy pool, boasting 3.5M IP addresses on 3G and 4G networks and an impressive success rate of 98.22%. Particularly suitable for Instagram users, SOAX's proxies have flexible filtering options, allowing users to select by country, region, city, and ASN – a crucial feature as many social media platforms prefer addresses with consistent parameters.
The platform's mobile and residential proxies offer rotations ranging from 90 to 600 seconds, with an option for custom durations. Meanwhile, their ISP addresses can maintain sessions for up to 24 hours. However, users should note that they must whitelist their IP addresses and will have limited ports depending on the subscription.
SOAX's pricing for Instagram-centric users is competitive, with mobile proxies and residential proxies both priced at $11/GB ($99 for 9 GB). Both plans come with 300 ports. A 3-day trial is also available for a minimal fee, allowing potential users to test the waters before committing.
5. Proxy-Seller
Proxy-Seller is an outstanding choice for those seeking an affordable yet high-quality private proxy provider, especially for Instagram growth and engagement automation. Despite its budget-friendly prices, which might lead some to question its reliability, Proxy-Seller delivers top-notch service.
It is imperative to use high-quality proxies when running an Instagram bot, as pairing with a subpar proxy service can undermine the bot's efficacy. Proxy-Seller stands out by offering robust server support, including protocols like SOCKS5 and HTTPS. They prioritize not only the quality but also the affordability of their clients. The company's round-the-clock chatbox ensures continuous support, allowing clients to address any concerns or queries instantly.
Moreover, Proxy-Seller entices its customers with a flexible payment system, offering discounts for longer rental periods of their private proxies for Instagram. Given the combination of security, affordability, and quality service, Proxy-Seller presents itself as a top recommendation for Instagram private proxies.
6. High Proxies
Let's not forget an honorable mention among Instagram proxy providers, High Proxies. Back in the day, High Proxies used to be a major provider of Instagram IPs. But I'm passed Instagram go to increasingly protective, and today the provider's datacenter IPs have fallen out of favor.
So now, if you watch an old YouTube video about Instagram and hear about high proxies, you'll know the wires and the house. It can still be used for scraper accounts, and the price starts from $3 and twenty cents for one IP address.
7. Geosurf
For quality seekers interested in precise geo-targeting, there's Geosurf. It is a VPN proxy provider that sells rotating and static residential proxies. For Instagram, it's poorly small but carefully picked and maintained. We confirmed that by running extensive performance tests on the rotating IPs. The results were good, and the proxy server is stable sticky sessions for up to 30 minutes, making even the peer-to-peer option suitable for Geosurf management. However, we should probably pick the static proxies for that.
Geosurf has over 1 000 cities in its database that you can target with precision. But Geosurf is also one of the most expensive providers in the market. This residential IP start from $450, even higher than Netnut. It boils down to how serious you are about Instagram marketing.
8. Zyte
For Instagram scrapers, there's a proxy provider dedicated to that, Zyte. It offers a rotating proxy API called Smart Proxy Manager for scrapping all kinds of websites, including Instagram. These are only datacenter IPs, but don't let that fool you. Smart proxy manager includes all kinds of proxy management features to make them excellent automatically throttles and retries requests, assigns browser headers, and more. This greatly simplifies work with proxies.
And you only have to pay for successful requests. The prices start from $29 for 50000 successful requests. Of course, Smart Proxy Manager is only good for scraping Instagram. You won't be able to use it for running Instagram bots to save a process from bands. It can sometimes be slow, and cheaper plans limit features, like the number of requests you can make. Otherwise, it's a great option for anyone who wants Instagram data without worrying about proxy management.
How to Use Instagram Proxies Properly?
Okay, you know what a proxy is, what type you need, and you've selected your provider. What's next? Of course, you need to know how to use the proxies properly. We don't want you to get action limited or block your IP.
First, out of business, how many accounts should you connect to one proxy? The answer is easy – one proxy accounts for residential IPs and up to 10 for mobile proxies. Technically you could use a proxy for more than one account, but it's risky. Several accounts can get a shadow ban at once if you are connected to the same proxy and make suspiciously similar actions.
Second, consider your needs. If you only want to run two or three Instagram accounts with your bot, then maybe you don't need proxies. Some Instagram bots are called manual bots because we don't require proxies. The same goes for virtual private servers. We can help you run hundreds of accounts, but you don't always need one. Choose your automation tool.
There are many different Instagram bots out there, with Jarvee being one of the most popular picks. But you can also get followers like a story voter on Instagram or Instagram story viewer. A few Instagram automation software are becoming as important or even more import than proxies. Also, some Instagram automation experts advise getting a proxy near where you live to start slow.
If you want to grow your account, don't do anything too drastic in the beginning. Slowly gain followers and make sure to provide lots of value before asking for something in return. You won't be able to reach 400 to 1000 followers a day anymore. Still, one to two hundred is perfectly possible. Mind your actions.
- Don't run your Instagram bot around the clock; instead, use it within a certain time frame, like 12 hours. Because that's what humans do, run your accounts in shifts similarly.
- Don't follow or unfollow users or make a comment to them at the same time every day. It's a sure way to get blocked. Experiment like crazy, but make sure your Instagram proxies work with trial accounts. Play around with the settings on your Instagram bot and push through the process to get comfortable.
Test and don't stop learning. If you’ve been running multiple Instagram accounts without issue until now, it doesn’t mean it will be that way for all time. The game just needs to be continuously updated. The platform will then incorporate new algorithms and offer a new game. So if someone makes a video about what Instagram settings they used three years ago, it doesn't mean it will work for you today, or at all always. Test and adapt and stay up to date by reading the newest blog forums.
