Forward proxy vs reverse proxy — what is the difference

Both sit in the middle of a connection, but they work for opposite sides.

Forward proxy

A forward proxy acts on behalf of the client. Your request goes to the proxy, the proxy makes it for you, and the destination sees the proxy's address instead of yours.

This is what LimeProxies provides. It is what you want for data collection, geo-testing, ad verification and account management.

Reverse proxy

A reverse proxy acts on behalf of the server. Visitors connect to it believing it is the website; it forwards them to whichever backend should handle the request. Nginx, Cloudflare and load balancers all work this way.

Its job is to hide and protect infrastructure — TLS termination, caching, load balancing, DDoS filtering.

The short version

Forward proxy protects and represents the person making the request. Reverse proxy protects and represents the site receiving it. If you are trying to change how a website sees you, you want a forward proxy.