Sticky vs rotating sessions: when to use which

The technical difference between persistent and changing IPs. When it's critical to hold the same IP across a session, and when you need to rotate as aggressively as possible.

What sticky and rotating proxies are

Rotating — every request goes from a new IP. Send 100 requests in rotating mode, get 100 different IPs. The default for most residential proxies.

Sticky — the IP is pinned to your session for N minutes (typically 1-60). All requests within the session go from the same IP, after which rotation happens automatically or with a new session.

When you need rotation

Rotating fits tasks where maximising the number of unique IPs matters more than preserving state:

• Scraping large sites with rate limits (Amazon, Google SERP)
• Pulling prices from marketplaces
• Brand monitoring across SERPs in N countries
• Automated URL availability checks

The logic is simple: more different IPs = lower risk of rate-limit or temporary bans for a sequence of requests.

When you need sticky

Sticky fits tasks where changing IP mid-session triggers a re-auth or a ban:

• Authenticated sessions: social, banking, customer accounts
• Multi-step navigation with CSRF tokens
• E-commerce carts (changing IP can wipe them)
• Checkout and payment forms
• Multi-account farming on Facebook/Instagram
• Bookmakers with aggressive anti-fraud

Sticky session length

The standard length is 30 minutes (Bright Data, Decodo, Oxylabs). SOAX goes up to 24 hours on residential. Mobile dedicated ports have no time limit at all (a permanent SIM).

As a rule, picking sticky adds 20-30% to the budget — sticky sessions cost more. But it brings the overall task cost down: one authenticated session = one cookie set = fewer re-logins = less traffic.