The Ultimate Guide to HTTP vs. SOCKS Proxies in 2024

HTTP and SOCKS are the two main internet protocols that proxy servers use to receive and forward client connection requests. Both provide anonymity while browsing and allow users to access geo-restricted content regardless of location. However, there are some situations where you should not use an HTTP or SOCKS proxy. You must first understand its benefits and limitations to make the most of an HTTP or SOCKS proxy. 

This article explains what HTTP and SOCKS proxies are, how they work, differences between SOCKS proxies and HTTP proxies, when you should use them, and their advantages.

Top proxy services supporting HTTP & SOCKS protocols

Residential proxies are capable of supporting both HTTP and SOCKS protocols. Our assessment of proxy providers is focused on their residential proxy solutions, evaluating their pricing in this specific area.

Table notes:

Nimble provides residential proxies, includes built-in solutions proxy for unblocking, and a web scraping API. Their residential proxy network can be integrated with your own scraping tools or used in conjunction with other scraping APIs.

Explaining the terms

What is HTTP?

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is an application layer protocol that transfers information, such as text, images, audio, video, etc., between clients and web servers.

What is an HTTP proxy?

An HTTP proxy is an intermediary that receives and forwards HTTP requests between client machines and web servers. 

What is a SOCKS proxy?

SOCKS, which stands for Socket Secure, is an internet protocol that operates at OSI Layer 5 ¹. It monitors and manages network traffic through a proxy server between the client and the server.

A SOCKS proxy server uses TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connections to accept client connection requests. SOCKS proxies, as opposed to HTTP proxies, receive and forward HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, and FTP requests. HTTP proxies are used to transfer HTTP or HTTPS information between a client and server. 

What’s the difference between SOCKS4 and SOCKS5?

SOCKS proxies are classified into two types: SOCKS4 and SOCKS5. SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 are network protocols that handle incoming and outgoing traffic between clients and servers. Even though SOCKS proxies use these two protocols, there are some differences between SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 proxy comparison chart

Explained features:

• TCP connection and UDP connection: TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) are communication protocols that allow data to be transmitted between a user and a web server. SOCKS4 only supports TCP connections, whereas SOCKS5 supports both UDP and TCP. 

• Authentication: Unlike SOCKS4, SOCKS5 proxies provide several authentication methods to verify user identity while connecting to a proxy server, including null authentication, username/password authentication, and GSS-API authentication.

• SSH tunneling: Another key difference between SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 is that a SOCKS5 proxy uses secure shell (SSH) encrypted tunneling to secure data transmissions. 

How do they work? 

SOCKS proxy

SOCKS proxies use Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to transfer data between a client and a web server. Unlike the UDP protocol, which is used by HTTP proxies, TCP establishes a connection between the client and the server to ensure that data reaches its intended destination. After establishing the connection, the SOCKS proxy transmits incoming and outgoing data between the client and the destination. This slows down data transmission in the TCP protocol but ensures that data is delivered to the correct destination.

SOCKS proxies, as previously stated, use two SOCKS protocol types: SOCKS4 and SOCKS5. SOCKS5 is an enhanced version of SOCKS4. Unlike SOCKS4, SOCKS5 encrypts data in a  network traffic using the SSH (Secure Shell) encrypted tunneling method (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Representation of how SOCKS proxies work

HTTP proxy

An HTTP proxy communicates with web servers on behalf of the client who makes a connection request to servers by hiding their IP addresses. It monitors and transfers both incoming and outgoing HTTP data. We explained how HTTP proxies work in six steps with a high-level diagram (see Figure 3):

1. A client sends an HTTP request to the targeted website. 
2. HTTP proxy creates a tunnel between client and destination web server. 
3. HTTP proxy receives the request and assigns the client a different IP address to hide their real IP address. 
4. HTTP proxy makes the connection on behalf of the client. 
5. Once the website accepts the connection request, HTTP proxy accesses the website and forwards the requested HTTP information to the client.

Figure 3: Diagram of how HTTP proxies work.

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Advantages of HTTP/HTTPS proxies

• HTTP(s) proxies provide an extra layer of security between the client and the server. Because data is encrypted with HTTPs proxies, no one can access incoming and outgoing network traffic (see Figure 4). Only the client, proxy server, and the destination web server can see what data is sent over the network.

Figure 4: Through network traffic, HTTPS proxy encrypts incoming and outgoing data.

• HTTP proxies can interpret data in network traffic. HTTP proxies filter or restrict specific web content to protect the user’s machine from malicious activity. This is especially useful in web scraping projects. It is challenging to separate relevant and irrelevant data while scraping a large amount of data from various websites. After downloading the scraped data, you must remove any incorrect, irrelevant, or duplicate data from your dataset. HTTP proxies help businesses collect relevant data and avoid data that does not make sense.

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Smartproxy residential proxies can interpret and work with HTTP traffic. The proxy provider offers 55M+ rotating residential proxies provided by internet service providers (ISPs), making them suitable for high-volume tasks like web scraping.

Advantages of SOCKS proxies

• A SOCKS5 proxy is more secure than an HTTP proxy because it supports multiple authentication methods to prevent unauthorized clients from connecting to the server.
• Unlike SOCKS proxies, HTTPS proxies only use the HTTP protocol. While HTTP proxy servers can only process HTTP and HTTPs traffic between the client and the web server, SOCKS proxies can process a variety of protocols, including HTTP, FTP, and SMTP.
• A SOCKS5 proxy is faster than an HTTP proxy since it supports UDP connections. UDP is faster and more efficient than TCP.

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Oxylabs’ SOCKS5 proxies are used for traffic-intensive scraping, bypassing geographic restrictions, and avoiding IP bans or restrictions. SOCKS5 proxies support TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) protocols, ensuring the successful delivery of user data to the destination site.

HTTP vs SOCKS proxies: the main differences

Figure 5: The chart compares HTTP and SOCKS proxy servers in terms of different features.

Which is better for you: HTTP or SOCKS proxies?

We cannot say that HTTP(s) proxy servers are superior to SOCKS proxies or that SOCKS proxies are superior to HTTP(s). Depending on your use case, both HTTP(s) and SOCKS proxy servers bring their benefits. The important thing is to understand your needs and the outcomes you want. 

For example, if you aim to transfer data using the HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, or FTP protocols, HTTP proxies are not the best option. However, if you need to extract a large amount of data and avoid collecting irrelevant information to save time, you should consider using an HTTP proxy server, which filters content. 

Further Reading

If you want to learn more about web scraping and how it can benefit your business, feel free to read our articles on the topic:

• Firewalls vs Proxy Servers: Overview, Techniques and Benefits
• The Ultimate Guide to Proxy vs. VPN: Which One Is Better?
• The Ultimate Guide to Proxy Server Types

Also, feel free to check our sortable/filterable list of proxy service /server.

If you want to learn more about HTTP and SOCKS proxies you can reach us:

External Links

• 1. “OSI model“. Wikipedia. October 15, 2022. Retrieved  November 3, 2022.