proxareWhen to get a new IP on every request and when to keep the same one, how long a sticky session should be, and why sticky IPs sometimes change early.
Every residential proxy line works in one of two modes. Rotating gives you a new IP for each new connection. Sticky keeps the same IP for a set time, usually 10, 30 or 60 minutes. Picking the wrong one is one of the most common reasons scrapers get blocked or logins fail.
Use rotating when requests are independent
- Collecting search results, prices or listings, where each page stands on its own.
- Checking how a page looks from many locations.
- High-volume jobs where spreading requests over many IPs keeps each one under the target's rate limit.
With rotation, one proxy line is usually enough: the gateway hands out a different IP behind the same host and port.
Use sticky when the site expects the same visitor
- Logins and accounts. A session cookie that suddenly arrives from another city, or another country, is a classic fraud signal.
- Multi-step flows: search, then filter, then open details, then checkout. Many sites tie the steps to the IP.
- Pagination on sites that create a server-side search session.
- Anti-detect browser profiles, where each profile should look like one person on one connection.
How long should a sticky session be?
Pick the shortest lifetime that covers one complete task, plus some margin.
- 10 minutes: short flows such as a login and a few page views, or a single checkout.
- 30 minutes: a sensible default for most account work and longer scraping sessions.
- 60 minutes: long browsing sessions in an anti-detect profile, or slow multi-page jobs.
Longer is not automatically better. The longer you hold one IP, the more traffic piles up on it, and the higher the chance that the device behind it goes offline.
Why a sticky IP can change early
Residential IPs belong to real devices on home connections. If that device disconnects, the IP is gone, and the gateway gives you a new one under the same session ID. Build for it: when a request fails in the middle of a flow, start the flow again rather than continuing on a new IP with old cookies.
Running many sticky sessions at once
Each sticky session is identified by a session ID inside the username. Different IDs mean different IPs, so 50 lines with 50 IDs give you 50 parallel identities. In the Proxare dashboard you choose sticky or rotating, the lifetime and how many lines you want, and every line gets its own session ID.
Quick rule
If the site would notice that "the same person" changed address, use sticky. If every request could come from a stranger, use rotating.
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