How do I authenticate with residential proxies?

Authenticating with residential proxies usually works the same way as with other proxies: you either use username/password or IP whitelisting, depending on the provider.

1) Username + password authentication

This is the most common method.

Proxy URL format

http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@PROXY_HOST:PORT

Example

http://user123:pass456@proxy.example.com:8000

In code

Python requests:

import requests

proxies = {
    "http": "http://user123:pass456@proxy.example.com:8000",
    "https": "http://user123:pass456@proxy.example.com:8000",
}

r = requests.get("https://httpbin.org/ip", proxies=proxies, timeout=30)
print(r.text)

curl:

curl -x http://proxy.example.com:8000 -U user123:pass456 https://httpbin.org/ip

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2) IP whitelisting

Some providers let you authenticate by allowing your server’s public IP.

How it works

• Add your machine/server IP to the proxy dashboard
• Then connect with:

http://PROXY_HOST:PORT

without username/password

Example

curl -x http://proxy.example.com:8000 https://httpbin.org/ip

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3) Session or sticky-session auth

Residential proxy providers often support rotating or sticky sessions by adding a session parameter to the username.

Example

http://user123-session-abc123:pass456@proxy.example.com:8000

Or via provider-specific parameters like:

http://user123:pass456@proxy.example.com:8000?session=abc123

This keeps traffic pinned to the same exit IP for a while.

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4) Rotation/auth via API gateway

Some providers don’t give a fixed proxy endpoint directly. Instead, you call a gateway or endpoint that returns/handles rotation automatically, still authenticated with credentials or an API key.

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Common pitfalls

• Use http:// even for HTTPS websites in many cases; the proxy handles the tunnel.
• Make sure your proxy port is correct.
• Residential proxies can be slower and may require retries/timeouts.
• If authentication fails, check:
  • username/password
  • whether your IP must be whitelisted
  • whether the provider requires a session format
  • whether the proxy supports http, https, or socks5

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If you tell me your provider or the language/tool you’re using

I can give you the exact format for:

• Python requests
• aiohttp
• selenium
• Playwright
• curl
• Node.js axios or undici