Proxies come in two generations: IPv4 and IPv6. You connect to both the same way — host, port, login and password. The difference is the address the proxy uses to reach the internet, and that decides the price, which websites will open through it and what it is good for.
In short: IPv6 proxies are cheaper, you can buy them by the hundred, and every address belongs to one customer — but they only open websites that support IPv6. Every website understands IPv4, but those addresses are expensive and often shared. Below are the details and a table of what to pick for which task.
How IPv4 and IPv6 differ
An IP address is a device's number on the internet. Websites see it for every visitor, and a proxy replaces your address with its own.
- IPv4 is four numbers, such as
203.0.113.25. It has 32 bits, which gives about 4.3 billion addresses for the whole world. - IPv6 is eight groups of hexadecimal digits, such as
2001:db8:85a3::8a2e:370:7334. It has 128 bits — roughly 3.4 × 10³⁸ addresses. That is enough for every grain of sand on Earth, with plenty to spare.
The free IPv4 pool ran out back in the 2010s: the regional registries handed out their last blocks, and addresses are now resold on a secondary market for tens of dollars apiece. That is why IPv4 proxies are expensive — and why cheap IPv4 proxies are often shared: several customers use one address at the same time, and what they do damages the reputation of "your" IP.
IPv6 is the opposite. A server gets a whole /64 subnet — about 18 quintillion addresses (2⁶⁴). So IPv6 proxies cost several times less, and each address can be assigned to a single customer.
The main limitation: the website must support IPv6
An IPv6 proxy only opens websites that work over IPv6 themselves. Such a site has an AAAA record in DNS — the IPv6 address of its server. If a site only has an A record with an IPv4 address, the proxy has nothing to connect to and the page won't load. That isn't a fault in the proxy; it is how the website is set up.
The good news is that almost every major service supports IPv6: Google and YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, Telegram, Wikipedia, Netflix, Yandex and many sites behind Cloudflare. According to Google's own statistics, nearly half of its users already connect over IPv6. Small online shops, local services, some banks and government sites lag behind — many of them still run on IPv4 only.
How to check a website in a minute
- Open the IPv6 test on our website and enter the address — it shows whether the domain has an IPv6 address.
- Or check it yourself from the command line:
nslookup -type=AAAA example.comon Windows ordig AAAA example.com +shorton macOS and Linux. If the answer contains an address with colons, the site has IPv6.
Check the exact domains you are going to work with. A service often uses several: the home page may open over IPv6 while the sign-in page lives on a separate, IPv4-only domain.
Does your internet provider need IPv6?
No. You connect to the proxy server over an ordinary IPv4 address, just like any other proxy, and the server then reaches the website from its IPv6 address. IPv6 proxies therefore work from a home connection without IPv6, from mobile internet and from a server.
Where IPv6 proxies win
- Your own IP for the whole term. The address is assigned to you and nobody else — you don't share it with neighbours who might have ruined its reputation.
- Lots of addresses for little money. The "one account, one proxy" rule costs less on IPv6 than on IPv4, especially when you run dozens or hundreds of accounts.
- Multi-accounting in anti-detect browsers. Every profile in Dolphin Anty, AdsPower or Octo Browser gets its own address, so websites can't link your accounts by IP.
- Major services with IPv6: Google, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram.
When IPv6 proxies are the wrong choice
- A website without IPv6. It simply won't open — check it in advance.
- Scraping with per-IP proxies. Per-IP IPv6 proxies are yours for the term and don't change, while data collection usually needs many addresses in different countries. That is what Pay-per-GB is for: the same IPv6 proxies, but you pay for gigabytes of traffic and create as many ports as you need. Bear in mind that some websites rate-limit a whole subnet rather than a single IPv6 address, so test the limits on a small volume before launching a large job.
- Platforms with strict anti-fraud checks. Ad accounts, registering and warming up social media accounts go better through mobile proxies: many real subscribers of the carrier sit behind a mobile IP, so websites are more careful about blocking such addresses. Mobile proxies also open websites without IPv6.
Which to choose for your task
| Task | Best fit |
|---|---|
| Accounts on Google, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram — a permanent IP for each | Per-IP IPv6 proxies |
| Multi-accounting in an anti-detect browser on IPv6 websites | Per-IP IPv6 proxies |
| Scraping, monitoring prices, search results and rankings on IPv6 websites | Pay-per-GB — you pay for traffic |
| The website only works over IPv4 | Mobile proxies |
| Ad accounts, registering and warming up social media accounts | Mobile proxies |
There is more on the difference between proxy types in our FAQ: "Which to choose: IPv6, traffic or mobile?".
How to connect an IPv6 proxy
The same way as any other. In your software or anti-detect browser, pick SOCKS5 or HTTPS as the type and enter the host, port, login and password — or paste the whole line, for example host:port:login:pass. If the software expects a different format, convert the list with our proxy converter.
Once connected, open any IP-check service that supports IPv6: it should show an address with colons. If the check page doesn't open, the service itself most likely has no IPv6 — try another one.
FAQ
Are IPv6 proxies more anonymous than IPv4?
No, the level of anonymity is the same: the website sees the proxy's address, not yours. What differs is the price, the number of addresses available and which websites will open.
Why won't a website open through an IPv6 proxy?
Most often the site has no IPv6 — check it with the IPv6 test. If it does have IPv6, double-check the protocol, login and password, and if that doesn't help, contact support.
Are IPv6 proxies good for scraping?
Per-IP ones aren't: their addresses stay assigned to you for the whole term. For scraping and monitoring IPv6 websites, take Pay-per-GB: you pay for traffic and create ports yourself in the countries you need.
What if the website I need only works over IPv4?
Use mobile proxies: mobile carrier IPs open any website.
You can choose the country and number of IPv6 proxies in our configurator: the price per proxy drops as the volume grows, and you pick the protocol and line format when the proxies are issued. If you are not sure IPv6 fits your task, check the websites you need first.