Free Proxy Checker

Elite, anonymous and transparent explained

Elite, anonymous and transparent are long-used proxy-list labels. Here they describe what the Databay probe path exposed to a header judge, not whether a person is anonymous online.

Use this grade to describe one network observation only. It is not a privacy certificate and should not be used to claim that an endpoint or person is anonymous.

Run a probe-path header check above ↑

HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 compared

The four result labels describe the path that passed this checker. They are not four encryption levels, and they do not all test the same capabilities.

Protocol and measurement sources

• RFC 9110: CONNECTDefines the HTTP method used to establish a blind tunnel to a destination.
• RFC 1928: SOCKS5Defines method negotiation plus CONNECT, BIND and UDP ASSOCIATE requests.
• RFC 7239: ForwardedDefines a proxy disclosure header and explains why forwarded values are not inherently trustworthy.
• Cloudflare: /cdn-cgi/traceDocuments the trace endpoint family used for the successful route observation.

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.

Auto-detect first probes SOCKS5 and SOCKS4, then verifies the candidate with a real trace request; an explicit protocol skips the unrelated handshakes. An applicable HTTP path then requests a header-echo judge through the same proxy. The classifier compares that response with Databay’s checker address and proxy-revealing headers:

The published latency is only the successful trace attempt, so a failed HTTPS attempt before an HTTP fallback is not added to the number. Country comes from that same trace response. The later header judge and connectivity probe do not inflate the displayed latency.

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

What one proxy check can and cannot prove

A useful checker separates observations from conclusions. This is the evidence contract for one completed Databay run.

The Databay Research Team reviewed and accepted this evidence contract on July 28, 2026.

Four limits to keep with the result

Endpoint format

The public form accepts literal public IPv4 addresses with ports. It rejects hostnames, credentials, private ranges and local addresses before the run.

TCP web probe only

The relay request is HTTP or HTTPS over TCP. SOCKS5 UDP ASSOCIATE, application-specific protocols and DNS delegation are outside this result.

One remote vantage point

Status and latency describe Databay’s checker path at one moment. Network policy and routing can produce a different result from your region.

No trust certificate

A passing row does not prove that an unknown proxy is safe, private, correctly operated, authorized for your work, or unable to modify cleartext traffic.

Diagnose a dead result or client mismatch

Start with the narrowest explanation the result supports. Change one variable at a time and stop when the next step would cross a permission, authentication, quota or access-control boundary.

If the input itself is the problem, normalize a non-secret example with the browser-only proxy format converter. Conversion checks syntax; this page checks one remote network path.

Reproduce the route from your own client

Use one endpoint you own or are authorized to test. The online checker gives a remote observation; this two-request lab tells you whether your actual command-line client follows the same route.

# POSIX shell — enter a non-secret proxy URL such as http://IP:PORT
TARGET_URL='https://databay.com/what-is-my-ip/json'

# 1. Record the direct route.
curl --fail --silent --show-error \
  --connect-timeout 10 --max-time 30 \
  --write-out '\nconnect=%{time_connect}s total=%{time_total}s\n' \
  "$TARGET_URL"

# 2. Enter one authorized endpoint, then record the proxied route.
read -r PROXY_URL
curl --fail --silent --show-error \
  --connect-timeout 10 --max-time 30 \
  --write-out '\nconnect=%{time_connect}s total=%{time_total}s\n' \
  --proxy "$PROXY_URL" \
  "$TARGET_URL"

unset PROXY_URL TARGET_URL

The prompt keeps the endpoint out of this page and the example contains no credential. If your endpoint requires authentication, follow its provider's secure client instructions instead of submitting the credential here. curl documents the accepted proxy URL schemes in its official command reference.

For the DNS difference between socks5:// and socks5h://, use the HTTP versus SOCKS5 wire-trace guide. This checker does not expose the client's DNS choice.

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.

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.