Databay probe workbench

Free Proxy Checker

Test up to 100 HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 proxies for liveness, latency, anonymity and exit country, streamed back live.

100
proxies per run
4
protocols + auto
Live
streaming results
Free
no signup, no key

The test runs on Databay's probe network, so the proxies you check never see your browser's real IP address.

Probe pathprobe runs from checker network
  1. Your deviceIP shieldedReal IP stays here, never sent to the proxy
  2. Databay probe networkRuns the test for you, off your machine
  3. Target proxyReal HTTP · HTTPS · SOCKS handshake
  4. Judge endpointgradedGrades anonymity and exit country
HTTPHTTPSSOCKS4SOCKS5Auto

Run a live probe

WebSocket result stream

Scheme prefixes like socks5:// are stripped automatically.

Up to 100 proxies per run

Results stream in live, row by row: status, latency, protocol, anonymity grade and exit country for every proxy, ready to sort, copy or export as .txt/.csv.

Why this checker

Built by the team that runs a proxy network

Databay runs a production proxy network and re-verifies its own free proxy list every 5 minutes. This tool exposes those same probes, with one important difference from most free checkers.

Your IP stays hidden

The test runs on Databay's network, never in your browser. The proxies you check never see your real IP address, unlike checkers that connect straight from your machine.

Real probes, not port scans

Each proxy gets a genuine HTTP or SOCKS handshake and a live request to a neutral endpoint, so liveness, latency and anonymity are measured, not guessed.

Live streaming results

Results appear row by row as each proxy is tested, up to 100 at a time, with one-click copy and .txt export of the working ones.

Check your proxies in three steps

  1. Paste your proxy list. One proxy per line, in ip:port format, for example 45.61.20.11:8080. You can check up to 100 at a time.

  2. Choose a protocol. Select HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4 or SOCKS5, or leave it on Auto-detect and the checker identifies what each proxy speaks.

  3. Run the check and export the winners. Press Check proxies. Live results stream into a sortable table, then copy or download the proxies that pass as a .txt file.

What each column means

The checker reports six signals for every proxy you submit. Here is how to read them.

Status
Alive means the proxy accepted a connection and relayed the test request. Dead means it refused, timed out, or failed to relay.
Latency
Round-trip time of the test request through the proxy, in milliseconds. Lower is better.
  • <300 msfast: ready for scraping and automation
  • 300–800 msmoderate: fine for browsing and light jobs
  • >800 msslow: expect timeouts on time-sensitive tasks
Protocol
The working protocol, confirmed with a real handshake: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4 or SOCKS5. Auto-detect fills this in for you.
Anonymity
Elite hides your IP and leaks no proxy headers, Anonymous hides your IP but reveals a proxy is used, Transparent leaks your real IP.
Exit country
Where the proxy appears to browse from, resolved from the address our judge endpoint actually sees, when detectable.

Elite, anonymous and transparent explained

A proxy's anonymity level decides how much a target site can learn about you. It is the single most important signal for scraping and privacy.

LevelHides your real IPReveals proxy useBest for
Elite (high-anonymous)YesNoScraping, automation, privacy
AnonymousYesYes (proxy header)Casual browsing, geo-unblocking
TransparentNoYesCaching and content filtering only

Grade your own list's anonymity above

HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 compared

The checker tests all four. Which one you want depends on what you are connecting to.

FeatureHTTPHTTPSSOCKS4SOCKS5
Encrypts the connectionNoYes (CONNECT tunnel)NoNo
Traffic it handlesHTTP web trafficAny site over TLSTCP onlyTCP and UDP
AuthenticationBasicBasicNoneUsername and password
Typical useWeb scraping, browsingSecure sitesLegacy appsVersatile, most modern tools

Browse the live free proxy list

Our proxy verification method

Every proxy you submit is routed through Databay's verification pipeline, the same system that re-checks our free proxy list every 5 minutes. The website relays submitted IP:port values to an isolated checker service, which performs the outbound probe from Databay’s network rather than your browser. Credentials are rejected; never paste secrets into the tool.

Each proxy gets a real protocol handshake for HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4 or SOCKS5, then a timed request to a neutral judge endpoint. The anonymity grade comes from the request headers that judge receives:

Signal seen by the judgeClassification
Your origin IP leaks through the proxyTransparent
A Via or X-Forwarded-For header is forwardedAnonymous
No proxy headers, no origin IP: nothing revealedElite

Latency is the round-trip time of that request in milliseconds, and the exit country is resolved from the address the judge actually sees. Because the probe is a genuine request and not a port scan, a proxy that answers a TCP connection but cannot actually relay traffic is correctly reported as dead.

See the free proxy list we re-check every 5 minutes

How Databay's checker compares

Proxy checkers use different architectures. Databay sends the outbound test from its checker network; a browser-side checker sends it from the user’s network. Check another tool’s documentation before assuming which design it uses.

CriterionDatabay proxy checkerBrowser-side checker design
Where the test runsFrom Databay’s checker networkFrom the user’s browser and network
Origin address seen by a tested proxyChecker service addressUser network address
Supported protocolsHTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4, SOCKS5 and auto-detectLimited by the browser and implementation
ResultsStreamed into a sortable table with .txt and .csv exportImplementation-specific
AccessFree, no signup, no API key; abuse limits applyImplementation-specific

When free proxies are not enough

Free and public proxies can support low-stakes testing and learning. Ongoing work usually needs documented controls, support, capacity, and an availability target.

CriterionFree / public proxiesVerified proxies (Databay)
AvailabilityNo service commitment; endpoints can disappearPublished 99.9%+ uptime target
AnonymityVaries by endpoint and must be testedNetwork-specific controls and documentation
SpeedVaries by endpoint and timeManaged capacity with published performance figures
Operator riskUnknown operators may inspect, log, or alter trafficNamed provider with privacy, security, and acceptable-use terms
Best forTesting, learning, one-off tasksProduction scraping and automation
When to use it

When to check your proxies

Any workflow that leans on proxies fails quietly when they die. Verify a list before these jobs, and again if success rates dip mid-run.

Web scraping

Confirm proxies are alive and elite before a crawl, so the job does not stall on dead exits or leak your own IP.

Check before you crawl

Ad verification

Check that geo-targeted proxies exit in the right country before you audit how ads render for local users.

Verify exit countries

Market research

Validate speed and uptime so price and catalog scrapes finish without gaps from dead endpoints.

Validate your list

SEO monitoring

Test exit country and anonymity before pulling localized SERPs, so rankings reflect the right region.

Test before you rank

Ecommerce and retail

Filter a list down to fast, working proxies before price checks or stock monitoring runs.

Filter for speed

Social media management

Use the result as a time-specific diagnostic for authorized, non-sensitive testing. A header check cannot guarantee privacy or future proxy behavior.

Screen for leaks
Keep exploring

More free proxy tools

Free proxy list

Thousands of live public proxies, re-verified every 5 minutes and ready to paste straight into this checker.

Open the free proxy list

What is my IP

See the IP address, location and network that websites detect from your current connection.

Check your IP address

Residential proxies

Real-device IPs with 99.9%+ uptime for jobs where a free list will not cut it.

Explore residential proxies
Databay network

Free proxies for testing, verified proxies for production

Public proxies are useful for short-lived tests but can disappear without notice. For ongoing work, compare Databay paid pools by network origin, location coverage, targeting controls, protocol support, and price.

34M+
residential IPs
200+
countries covered
99.9%+
network uptime
~1.1s
average latency

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a proxy checker?
A proxy checker is a tool that tests whether a proxy server works. It sends a real request through each proxy you submit and reports whether it is alive, its latency in milliseconds, the working protocol (HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4 or SOCKS5), its anonymity level, and its exit country. Databay's checker uses the same probes that verify our live free proxy list.
How do I check if a proxy is working?
Paste your proxies into the box, one per line, in ip:port format such as 45.61.20.11:8080. Choose a protocol or leave it on Auto-detect, then press Check proxies. Live results stream into a table you can sort, copy or export. There is no signup and no API key.
How many proxies can I check at once?
You can check up to 100 proxies per run. Results stream in one row at a time as each proxy is tested, so you see working proxies immediately instead of waiting for the whole batch to finish.
What do elite, anonymous and transparent mean?
They are the three proxy anonymity levels. Elite (high-anonymous) hides your real IP and sends no proxy headers. Anonymous hides your real IP but reveals that a proxy is in use. Transparent forwards your real IP address, so it offers no privacy. The checker classifies each working proxy for you.
Which proxy protocols and formats are supported?
The checker tests HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 proxies in ip:port format, and auto-detects the protocol when you leave the selector on Auto. You can also paste lines with a scheme prefix such as socks5://ip:port or http://ip:port; the prefix is stripped automatically and only the ip:port is tested. Authenticated proxies in ip:port:user:pass or user:pass@ip:port form are deliberately not accepted here: because the check runs on our network rather than in your browser, we never ask for your proxy credentials. If you own private or paid proxies, test them from your provider dashboard.
How do I read the latency column?
Latency is the round-trip time of a test request through the proxy, in milliseconds. As a rule of thumb, under 300 ms is fast, 300 to 800 ms is moderate, and over 800 ms is usually too slow for time-sensitive tasks such as scraping or checkout automation.
Why does my proxy show as dead?
Free and public proxies churn constantly, so one that worked minutes ago may already be offline. A proxy is reported dead if it refuses the connection, times out, or fails to relay the test request. A single test vantage point also matters: a proxy that times out from one location may still answer from another.
Can I check SOCKS5 proxies?
Yes. The checker performs a real SOCKS5 (and SOCKS4) handshake, not just a port scan, so you get a genuine liveness and anonymity result for SOCKS proxies, the same way it does for HTTP and HTTPS.
Does the checker test SOCKS5 UDP?
SOCKS5 supports both TCP and UDP. The checker verifies the SOCKS5 handshake and a relayed TCP request, which is what scraping, browsing and automation rely on, and confirms the proxy speaks SOCKS5 and relays traffic. It does not run a separate UDP relay probe.
Can I check proxies in bulk?
Yes. Paste up to 100 proxies per run and they are checked in parallel, with results streaming in as each one finishes. Export working results as .txt or .csv and run another check within the tool’s abuse-prevention limits; no signup or API key is required.
How are submitted proxies handled?
During a check, the website relays the submitted IP:port values to Databay’s isolated checker service. The UI does not save them to an account, credentials are rejected, and the tested proxies see the checker’s network address rather than your browser’s public IP. As with any online tool, do not submit secrets; operational infrastructure may produce security and diagnostic logs.
How often should I re-check proxies?
Public proxies can drop within minutes, so re-check any list right before you use it, and again if success rates fall during a job. Databay re-verifies its own free proxy list every 5 minutes for the same reason.
Is the proxy checker free?
Yes. The proxy checker is free to use, needs no account, and shows no ads. Abuse-prevention limits still apply.
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Found the proxies that pass? Put them to work.

Check up to 100 free proxies above, and when the job has to succeed, route it through 34M+ residential IPs in 200+ locations with 99.9%+ uptime.

Explore residential proxiesBrowse the free proxy list

Free checker, no signup · paid plans are pay-as-you-go, no contracts