IP whitelisting or username and password — which should I use

LimeProxies supports both authentication methods on the same proxies. You can use either, and you can switch at any time.

IP whitelisting

You register the public IP your traffic comes from, and requests from that address are allowed through with no credentials.

Good for: a fixed server, an office with a static IP, tools that have no field for proxy credentials.

Bad for: home connections with a changing IP, laptops that move between networks, and any container that gets a new address on restart — every change means re-whitelisting before anything works.

Set it up: How to add authorized IPs.

Username and password

You send credentials with each request, usually as http://user:pass@host:port.

Good for: dynamic IPs, cloud workers, laptops, teams, and anything containerised.

Bad for: the handful of legacy tools with no credential fields, and any environment where you cannot keep the password out of source control.

Set it up: How to enable username based authentication for the proxies.

Recommendation

Use username and password unless a tool forces your hand. It survives network changes, it works from anywhere, and it does not break when your ISP hands you a new address overnight.

If you get a 407 with credentials configured, see How do I handle a 407 error message.