How many proxies do I need? A sizing formula by job

Originally published on proxymint.

How many proxies you need depends on the job: requests per hour, concurrent sessions, accounts or GB. Formulas, a pilot test and a worked example for each job.

TL;DR

• The count depends on the billing model. Static ISP and datacenter IPv4 sell IPs, so the number is literal; rotating residential and mobile sell GB, so the pool supplies the IPs and the job sizes traffic and sessions.
• For collection, size by concurrency, not by a per-IP rate. Rented IPs equal requests in flight divided by the connections one IP carries, at least one per country, plus a 10-30% reserve.
• The target sets the pace for the whole job. Its terms, API limits and robots.txt decide it; a 429, block page or challenge in the pilot means slow down or stop, not add IPs.
• Accounts need one static IP per login location, not per account. Teams using the platform's own team or partner access from their own office often need none.

Key takeaways

• Name the billing model first. Decide whether the order buys IPs or GB before running any formula, because the question changes with it.
• Size for peak and for concurrency. Requests in flight equal requests per second times seconds per request, and sticky sessions need one exit per session running at once.
• Run a pilot before ordering. Send the job's own pace from one IP on public pages the target permits, log status codes and response times, and stop at the first 429 or challenge.
• Treat a block as a stop signal. More IPs do not change a target's answer; check its terms and official API before going further.
• Measure bytes per page on per-GB tiers. A 20-page sample through the real client beats any median, and the fetch mode moves the bill far more than the pool does.

Read the full guide on proxymint, with the commands, tables and sources.