# Proxy Scraper (`mstephen190/proxy-scraper`) Actor

Free proxy scraper and checker. Search dozens of free proxy websites. Get list of 100% working public proxies in seconds. Automatically test proxies based on target URL and maximum timeout.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/mstephen190/proxy-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Matthias Stephens](https://apify.com/mstephen190) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, Open source
- **Features:** Full permissions
- **Stats:** 3,081 total users, 3 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 27 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

### What is Proxy Scraper?

This online proxy scraper searches a number of different free-proxy websites and scrapes all of them. Then, optionally, it can test each of those proxies for you on a specified target and timeout, then only return back the proxies which pass the test.

### Why use Proxy Scraper?

There are lots of free public proxies available out there, such as [Geonode](https://geonode.com/free-proxy-list/) and [free-proxy-list.net](https://free-proxy-list.net/). All proxies listed on these sites vary in terms quality, speed, and security. Some of them are painfully slow, while others don't work at all.

This proxy scraper tool is the best way to quickly obtain a list of working public proxies. It uses multithreading to run its automated tests in true concurrency while it scrapes multiple proxies simultaneously, and has a straightforward configuration process, fast runtimes, and reliable outputs.

Proxy Scraper performs two key tasks every time you run it:

- It scrapes all currently available proxies from 17 different free proxy websites and APIs
- It individually tests each proxy

This makes the process of retrieving data from free proxy websites much more accessible, as it removes the need to check each proxy manually.

### Just need to scrape the web using proxies?

If you only want to use proxy servers for web scraping, [Apify Proxy](https://apify.com/proxy) gives you both residential and datacenter proxies, intelligent proxy rotation, and a large pool of IP addresses. Even better, if you run your web scrapers on the Apify platform, our industry-leading browser fingerprinting research will make your scraping bots indistinguishable from humans.

### How to use Proxy Scraper

1. Choose which proxies to use while scraping the proxies.
2. Select 'true' or 'false' to choose whether or not to test the proxies and only return the ones that pass.
3. Select 'true' or 'false' to choose whether or not to run the actor in debug mode.
4. Choose the name of the key-value store in which to save a .txt of the proxies.
5. Select your preferred 'build', 'timeout', and 'memory' options.
6. Click Start.
7. View and download your data in any of the available formats.

### What are Proxy Scraper's limitations?

Currently, Proxy Scraper can find anywhere from 20-60 reliable proxies out of the 2,500 that it scrapes every run. In the future, Proxy Scraper will scrape proxies from more than just the 17 sources currently being used.

### How much does it cost to use Proxy Scraper?

With an Apify Free plan, you can run the scraper 400 times (about 10 times a day to get a fresh list of working proxies). You get 4,000 runs with a Personal plan, and 40,000 runs with a Team plan. Check out [Apify pricing](https://apify.com/pricing) to see which plan is best for you.

### Input example

```JSON
{
    "testProxies": true,
    "testTimeout": 7,
    "testTarget": "https://google.com",
    "kvStoreName": "reliable-proxies-store",
    "pushToKvStore": true,
    "datasetName": "test-dataset"
}
```

### Output example

The output will be an array of objects looking like this:

```JSON
{
  "host": "164.27.6.74", // string
  "port": 8080, // number
  "full": "164.27.6.74:8080" // string
}
```

### What's happening under the hood?

1. All of the current proxies from these free proxy resources are added to the request queue (with certain filters applied):

- https://free-proxy-list.net/
- https://www.sslproxies.org/
- https://www.us-proxy.org/
- https://www.socks-proxy.net/
- https://proxylist.geonode.com
- https://geonode.com/free-proxy-list/
- https://spys.one/en/
- https://vpnoverview.com/privacy/anonymous-browsing/free-proxy-servers/
- https://hidemy.name/en/proxy-list/
- https://www.proxynova.com/proxy-server-list/
- https://free-proxy-list.com/
- https://anonymouse.cz/proxy-list/
- https://www.coderduck.com/free-proxy-list
- https://www.proxyrack.com/free-proxy-list/
- https://www.proxy-list.download
- https://www.proxyscan.io/
- http://pubproxy.com

2. Each site is scraped, and the results are stored temporarily in a global state

3. Each scraped proxy is tested by making a request to a target URL specified by you with a specific timeout set. If the request fails, the proxy is removed from the list.

4. All duplicate results are cleaned from the list.

5. The proxies are finally pushed to the dataset.

## Actor input object example

```json
{}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("mstephen190/proxy-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("mstephen190/proxy-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call mstephen190/proxy-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,mstephen190/proxy-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/UvkeX4n0DvIkcyIY3/builds/EkmTPcHlyUXTWKxYX/openapi.json