Rotating vs Sticky Sessions: Proxy Routing Explained
Should your IP change on every request, or stay the same for a whole session? Understand the key differences for successful web automation.
At a glance
| What you care about | Rotating (Per-Request) | Sticky Sessions |
|---|---|---|
| IP Rotation | Changes automatically on every single HTTP request | Keeps the same IP for up to 30 minutes (customizable) |
| Primary Use Case | Stateless scraping, brute-forcing, high volume GET requests | Account logins, multi-step checkouts, stateful scraping |
| Anti-bot handling | Avoids rate-limits by distributing traffic across millions of IPs | Avoids 'suspicious login' flags by keeping IP consistent |
| Implementation | Simply send requests to the proxy entry node | Requires passing a session ID in the proxy username/password |
IP Rotation
Rotating (Per-Request)
Changes automatically on every single HTTP request
Sticky Sessions
Keeps the same IP for up to 30 minutes (customizable)
Primary Use Case
Rotating (Per-Request)
Stateless scraping, brute-forcing, high volume GET requests
Sticky Sessions
Account logins, multi-step checkouts, stateful scraping
Anti-bot handling
Rotating (Per-Request)
Avoids rate-limits by distributing traffic across millions of IPs
Sticky Sessions
Avoids 'suspicious login' flags by keeping IP consistent
Implementation
Rotating (Per-Request)
Simply send requests to the proxy entry node
Sticky Sessions
Requires passing a session ID in the proxy username/password
Why you need both
Most modern scrapers use rotating proxies to fetch the initial page and bypass rate limits, but switch to sticky sessions when they need to log in or add items to a cart.
When to use which
Rotating (Per-Request)
Price monitoring, SERP scraping, real estate data extraction
Sticky Sessions
Social media management, ticketing, e-commerce purchasing bots
Seamless switching with BytesFlows
Our infrastructure lets you toggle between rotating and sticky sessions simply by adding a '-session-xyz' flag to your proxy username. No separate pools required.