Sticky vs rotating proxy: which one to use

2026-10-05

A proxy sits between your code and the target site and changes the IP the site sees. Whether that IP should stay the same or change depends on what your code is doing.

Sticky sessions

A sticky session keeps one IP for the whole session. Use it when the target links requests to the visitor: logging in, paging through results with a cookie, or filling a multi-step form. Changing IP in the middle of such a flow often logs you out or triggers extra checks.

Rotating sessions

A rotating session changes the exit node, so requests do not all come from the same address. Use it for independent requests such as collecting many unrelated pages or checking prices across many products, where no state needs to survive between requests.

Create a session

Pick a country, a protocol (https, http, socks5 or socks5h) and a mode (rotating or sticky). Keep the returned session ID and treat the proxy credentials as secrets.

curl -s -X POST "https://axioapi.com/api/v1/proxy/sessions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AXIOAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"country": "US", "protocol": "https", "mode": "sticky"}'

Rotate and close

If an exit node stops working, rotate it instead of creating a new session. Close the session as soon as you are done; reading and closing a session are free.

# Change the exit node of an existing session
curl -s -X POST "https://axioapi.com/api/v1/proxy/sessions/$SESSION_ID/rotate" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AXIOAPI_KEY"

# Close the session when you are done
curl -s -X DELETE "https://axioapi.com/api/v1/proxy/sessions/$SESSION_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AXIOAPI_KEY"

Verify the exit IP

A session record does not prove that traffic is routed. Send a request through the proxy details returned by the session and check the IP that the target sees.

Always follow the terms of service of the sites you access and the laws that apply to you.