Databay field notes
Proxy guides, experiments & operator notes
Engineering guides and first-party measurements for people operating proxy-backed data systems.
- 01Guides7
- 02Tutorials3
- 03Comparisons4
- 04Research5
Newest update Jul 19, 2026 · methodology-open research

Proxy Anonymity Levels: Elite vs Anonymous vs Transparent
What common proxy anonymity labels measure, how header-based tests work, and why no label proves privacy, safety, authorization, or undetectability.
4 min readRead articleComparisons
04 entries
HTTP vs SOCKS5 Proxies: Protocol Differences That Matter
Compare HTTP forward proxies and SOCKS5 using their standards, client support, DNS behavior, authentication, UDP capability, encryption...
4 min readRead

Proxy vs VPN: Routing, Encryption, and Trust Differences
Compare application proxying and device-level VPN tunneling by traffic scope, encryption, DNS, operator trust, protocols, and authorized...
3 min readRead

Residential vs Datacenter Proxies: Evidence-Based Comparison
Compare ISP-origin and hosting-network proxy routes by measurable origin, location controls, session behavior, latency, availability...
4 min readRead
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