How To Use Proxies with Axios – The Definitive Guide

ByPaul Christiano Last Update on

If you‘re working with Axios to make HTTP requests in your JavaScript applications, using proxies can provide significant benefits. Proxies allow you to mask your IP address, avoid rate limits and IP bans, bypass geo-restrictions, and more.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll dive deep into everything you need to know about integrating proxies with Axios. Whether you‘re new to proxies or an experienced developer, you‘ll find detailed information and code samples to help you implement proxies in your Axios projects with ease.

Here‘s what we‘ll cover:

  • What is Axios and why you should use it
  • The benefits of using proxies with Axios
  • Different types of proxies supported
  • Step-by-step setup for HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS proxies
  • Handling proxy authentication
  • Setting proxies globally vs per-request
  • Using environment variables for proxy configuration
  • Implementing proxy rotation to avoid IP bans
  • Downsides of free proxies
  • Comparing the top paid proxy services

Let‘s get started!

What is Axios?

Axios is a popular, promise-based HTTP client for JavaScript. It provides an easy-to-use API for making HTTP requests to fetch or post data. With a simple and intuitive interface, Axios has become one of the most widely used libraries for handling HTTP communication in frontend and backend JavaScript applications.

Some key features of Axios include:

  • Make HTTP requests from the browser or Node.js
  • Intercept requests and responses
  • Transform request and response data
  • Cancel requests
  • Automatic transforms for JSON data
  • Protect against XSRF

Why Use Proxies with Axios?

There are many reasons why you should consider integrating proxies when using Axios to make HTTP requests:

1. Hide Your Real IP Address

When you make a request, the server can see your real IP address. By routing your requests through a proxy server, the target website will only see the IP of the proxy, allowing you to keep your real IP hidden. This improves privacy and anonymity.

2. Avoid IP-Based Rate Limits

Many websites track IP addresses to limit the number of requests coming from each one. If you exceed the allowed limit, your IP may get banned or blocked. By using proxies to distribute your requests across multiple IP addresses, you can avoid triggering rate limits.

3. Bypass Geo-Blocking and Content Restrictions

Websites often restrict access to content based on the user‘s geographic location. By connecting through a proxy server located in a different country or region, you can bypass these restrictions and access blocked content.

4. Improve Network Performance

A good proxy server can cache frequently accessed data and reduce network latency. This results in faster response times and improved overall performance when making requests.

5. Scrape Data at Scale

If you need to scrape large amounts of data, sending all requests from a single IP is not feasible. Using a pool of rotating proxies allows you to make a large number of requests without getting blocked.

Now that you understand the benefits, let‘s look at how to actually use proxies with Axios.

Types of Proxies Supported by Axios

Axios has built-in support for several types of proxies:

HTTP: These proxies are used for making regular, unencrypted HTTP requests. The proxy URL looks like http://[username:password@]ip:port.

HTTPS: HTTPS proxies are used when you need to make encrypted requests using SSL/TLS. They are configured similar to HTTP proxies, but with "https" in the URL.

SOCKS4/5: These proxies provide additional capabilities like UDP tunneling and chained requests. SOCKS proxies can handle HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SMTP and more. However, using SOCKS proxies requires an additional agent library.

Most common projects will use HTTP or HTTPS proxies. SOCKS are generally only needed for more advanced use cases. In the next section, we‘ll show you how to set up each type step-by-step.

How to Set Up Proxies in Axios

Setting up proxies only requires a few lines of code. Let‘s look at each proxy type:

Using an HTTP/HTTPS Proxy

To make requests through an HTTP or HTTPS proxy, you can use the proxy config parameter when making a request:

const axios = require(‘axios‘);

let axiosConfig = {
  proxy: {
    protocol: ‘http‘,
    host: ‘proxy-server-ip‘,
    port: 3128,
    auth: {
      username: ‘my-username‘,
      password: ‘my-password‘
    }
  }
};

axios.get(‘https://api.example.com/endpoint‘, axiosConfig)
  .then((response) => {
    console.log(response.data);
  });

This tells Axios to route the request through the specified proxy server using the HTTP protocol on port 3128. If the proxy requires authentication, you can provide the credentials in the auth field.

Note: For HTTPS proxies, simply change the protocol to "https".

Using a SOCKS Proxy

To use a SOCKS proxy, you first need to install an additional library as a dependency in your project:

npm install socks-proxy-agent

Then you can create the proxy agent and pass it to the httpAgent/httpsAgent config options:

const axios = require(‘axios‘);
const SocksProxyAgent = require(‘socks-proxy-agent‘);

let socksProxyAgent = new SocksProxyAgent({
  host: ‘my-socks-server.com‘,
  port: 1080, // default port for socks
  username: ‘my-username‘,
  password: ‘my-password‘
});

let axiosConfig = {
  httpAgent: socksProxyAgent,
  httpsAgent: socksProxyAgent  
};

axios.get(‘https://api.example.com/endpoint‘, axiosConfig)
  .then((response) => {
    console.log(response.data);  
  });

By passing the SOCKS agent to both http and https requests, we ensure that Axios will route all outbound requests through the SOCKS proxy.

Handling Proxy Authentication

If your proxy server requires authentication, you need to provide the proper credentials. There are a few ways to do it:

1. In the Proxy URL

Pass the username and password directly in the proxy URL:

http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT

2. Using the auth Parameter

With HTTP/HTTPS proxies set via the Axios config, you can specify the username and password in the auth field:

let axiosConfig = {
  proxy: {
    host: ‘proxy-server-ip‘,
    port: 3128,
    auth: {
      username: ‘my-username‘,
      password: ‘my-password‘
    }
  }
};

3. When Creating the Agent

If using a SOCKS proxy agent, authentication can be provided when initializing the agent:

let socksProxyAgent = new SocksProxyAgent({  
  host: ‘my-socks-server.com‘,
  port: 1080,
  username: ‘my-username‘,
  password: ‘my-password‘
});

Choose the approach that best fits your setup and security requirements. Whenever possible, use environment variables instead of hardcoding sensitive credentials.

Setting Proxies Globally vs Per-Request

So far, we‘ve seen how to enable a proxy for a single request by passing the proxy configuration to axios.get() or axios.post().

But what if you want to use the same proxy configuration for all requests?

Axios allows you to set proxies globally when creating an instance:

const axiosInstance = axios.create({
  baseURL: ‘https://api.example.com‘,
  proxy: {
    protocol: ‘https‘,
    host: ‘proxy-server-ip‘,
    port: 3128,
    auth: {
      username: ‘my-username‘, 
      password: ‘my-password‘
    }
  }
});

Now, any request made using axiosInstance will automatically use the configured proxy. This is much more convenient than specifying the proxy on every request.

You can even combine global and per-request configurations. The proxy set on a specific request will override the global one.

Using Environment Variables for Proxy Configuration

Hardcoding proxy URLs and credentials directly in your code is generally a bad practice. Instead, you can use environment variables to store this configuration securely.

When Axios detects specific env variables, it will automatically use them to configure the proxy settings.

The variables are:

HTTP_PROXY / http_proxy  
HTTPS_PROXY / https_proxy
NO_PROXY / no_proxy

Set them before running your app:

export HTTP_PROXY="http://proxy-server-ip:3128"
export HTTPS_PROXY="http://proxy-server-ip:3128"
export NO_PROXY="localhost,127.0.0.1"

With this setup, Axios will route all HTTP requests through the specified proxy, except those to localhost and 127.0.0.1.

Using env variables keeps your code cleaner and allows you to easily switch between different proxy configurations without changing a single line of code.

Implementing Proxy Rotation

To avoid rate limits and IP bans, it‘s critical to spread out your requests across multiple proxy servers. This is known as proxy rotation.

The simplest way to implement proxy rotation is to prepare a pool of proxy servers and choose a random one for each request:

let proxyServers = [  
  ‘http://proxy-ip-1‘,
  ‘http://proxy-ip-2‘,
  ‘http://proxy-ip-3‘,
  ‘http://proxy-ip-4‘
];

function getRandomProxy() {
  let randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * proxyServers.length);
  return proxyServers[randomIndex];
}

function makeRequest(url) {    
  let axiosConfig = {   
    proxy: {  
      // Rotate to a random proxy for each request
      host: getRandomProxy()  
    }
  };
  return axios.get(url, axiosConfig); 
}

By randomizing the proxy on each request, you can distribute the load and minimize the risk of being detected and blocked.

Of course, this is just a simple example. In a real world scenario, you would need a larger pool of proxies and a more robust rotation algorithm. You may also want to remove dead proxies and periodically refresh the pool.

Overall, proxy rotation is an essential technique for any large scale web scraping or data gathering project.

The Downsides of Free Proxies

When searching for proxies online, you‘ll find countless free proxy lists and services. While they may be tempting, free proxies have some significant drawbacks:

Unreliability: Public proxies often go offline without notice or become unresponsive.

Poor Performance: Free proxies are usually slow, overloaded with traffic, and have high latency.

Security Risks: Malicious free proxies can steal sensitive data and infect your systems with malware.

Lack of Support: Don‘t expect any customer support or help if you run into issues with free proxies.

For these reasons, it‘s highly recommended to avoid free proxies for any production applications or projects. Stick to well-established, paid proxy providers that deliver reliable performance and prioritize security.

Choosing the Right Proxy Provider

With so many proxy services on the market, choosing the right one can be challenging. Here are some of the top proxy providers known for their performance and reliability:

1. Bright Data: With a pool of over 70 million residential IPs, Bright Data is one of the largest networks available. They deliver exceptional speed, geo-targeting, and flexible rotation options.

2. Oxylabs: Oxylabs offers a solid mix of datacenter and residential proxies with worldwide coverage. Their proxies are known for strong performance and ethical sourcing.

3. Smartproxy: Smartproxy provides high-quality residential and datacenter proxies at competitive prices. They have good location coverage and reliable uptime.

4. Geosurf: Geosurf specializes in residential proxies with sticky sessions and flexible geo-targeting. Their proxies work well for web scraping and ad verification.

5. NetNut: NetNut offers static residential proxies sourced from DiViNetworks. While more expensive, the proxies are fast and allow unlimited concurrent connections.

Our recommendation for most use cases is Bright Data. They have the largest IP pool, an extensive worldwide presence, and deliver unmatched performance. With plans for every budget and top-notch customer support, Bright Data is hard to beat.

Whichever provider you choose, pick one that aligns with your scale, target locations, and reliability requirements.

Final Thoughts

Congratulations! You now have a solid understanding of how to use proxies with Axios to supercharge your HTTP requests.

As you‘ve seen, Axios makes it easy to integrate proxies into your code with just a few lines. Whether you need to make one-off requests or configure proxies globally, Axios has you covered.

You also learned some advanced techniques like handling authentication, using environment variables, and implementing proxy rotation.

While free proxies are tempting, remember that their performance and security issues make them unsuitable for serious projects. Invest in a reputable paid proxy service to ensure your applications run smoothly and reliably.

If you‘re looking for the best all-around proxy provider, we highly recommend Bright Data. Their extensive network, flexible customization, and excellent support make them an ideal choice for any use case.

Now it‘s your turn – set up a pool of proxies and start integrating them into your Axios projects. Overcome rate limits, hide your IP address, and take your applications to the next level!

I am Paul Christiano, a fervent explorer at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and their broader implications for society. Renowned as a leading figure in AI safety research, my passion lies in ensuring that the exponential powers of AI are harnessed for the greater good. Throughout my career, I've grappled with the challenges of aligning machine learning systems with human ethics and values. My work is driven by a belief that as AI becomes an even more integral part of our world, it's imperative to build systems that are transparent, trustworthy, and beneficial. I'm honored to be a part of the global effort to guide AI towards a future that prioritizes safety and the betterment of humanity.

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