Infrastructure & Anti-detect
Proxy Protocol
The connection protocol (HTTP, SOCKS5, etc.) a proxy uses.
Proxy protocol is the connection standard a proxy uses to relay traffic — most commonly HTTP(S) or SOCKS5. HTTP proxies operate at the web-traffic level and can inspect or modify headers, while SOCKS5 works lower in the stack, forwarding any TCP (and UDP) traffic without touching its contents, which makes it more versatile and leak-resistant for anonymity work.
In practice, buyers meet this as a dropdown in every antidetect browser and proxy dashboard, and mismatching it is a classic ten-minute time-waster: credentials are right, but the profile won't connect because the proxy is SOCKS5 and the field says HTTP. SOCKS5 is generally preferred for account work; some tools, integrations, or corporate-style setups only speak HTTP, so check what the provider actually issued.
In buyer speech
“If the profile won't connect, check the protocol dropdown first — that provider issues SOCKS5 and you've probably left it on HTTP.”