Buying a US proxy looks simple until you have to decide between protocols, authentication methods, term lengths and order sizes. Getting those choices right up front saves you from re-ordering later. This checklist covers what to check before you buy US proxy IPs from Cloudj, with a focus on dedicated IPv4 static ISP proxies, and points out the cases where a different option fits better.
1. Decide if dedicated IPv4 is the right type
Cloudj offers two proxy types in the United States:
- Dedicated IPv4 (static ISP IP): a static IPv4 address registered to an ISP, fast and stable, assigned to one customer only. Good for automation, monitoring, QA, data collection from public pages and allowlisting a fixed IP with partners.
- Static residential ISP: a residential IP from a home-broadband ISP that stays the same and looks like a regular user. A better fit when the work should look like a household connection, such as account work on consumer apps.
Neither type is a datacenter IP; both are ISP IPs. The difference is home broadband versus a fast, stable fixed address, as explained in datacenter vs ISP proxies.
If most of your work is account management on social or shopping platforms, read the US static ISP proxy guide before ordering. If you are new to the idea of a proxy that belongs only to you, the dedicated proxy guide explains the basics. The rest of this checklist focuses on dedicated IPv4.
2. Confirm the use case is a good fit
Dedicated US IPs work well for:
- checking how a site, ad or app looks to visitors in the United States;
- price and availability monitoring on public pages;
- QA and geo testing of your own services;
- scraping public data at a polite rate, often from a cloud server (see web scraping from a US VPS);
- giving a partner a fixed IP to allowlist.
For short-video and social work aimed at a US audience, the TikTok proxy guide for the US covers the extra care that platform needs. Whatever the use, follow each platform's terms. A proxy does not guarantee that an account or a scraper will never be blocked.
3. Pick HTTP or SOCKS5
US proxies use HTTP or SOCKS5 where the location supports it, and you can switch the protocol of an order in the console later, so this is not a permanent decision.
| If you use | Start with |
|---|---|
| Browsers, antidetect browsers | HTTP |
Python requests, Scrapy, most HTTP clients | HTTP |
| Playwright or Puppeteer | HTTP (SOCKS5 also works for many setups) |
| Desktop apps with a SOCKS setting | SOCKS5 |
Neither protocol carries UDP, so voice, game and other UDP-based traffic will not go through. More detail is in SOCKS5 vs HTTP proxies.
4. Choose how you will authenticate
By default each proxy uses a username and password. The alternative is an IP whitelist of up to 20 addresses, which replaces password access: only connections from those IPs are accepted.
- Use username and password if your team connects from changing networks, laptops or home connections. Rotate the password from the console when someone leaves; the old password stops working.
- Use the IP whitelist if your traffic comes from fixed addresses, such as an office line or a cloud server. No password sits in your scripts.
Credentials (host, port, username, password) are shown in the console, each view is logged and you get a notice. That makes it easy to notice if credentials were opened by someone unexpected. The trade-offs are covered in whitelist vs password authentication.
5. Choose the term length
Terms are 1, 3, 6 or 12 months. A one-month term is the safe way to test whether a US IP works for your use case. Longer terms make sense once you know you will keep the same IPs, for example for accounts or allowlists that should not change.
Within 24 hours of ordering you can stop an order and get the unused part back to your balance, which lowers the cost of a wrong first guess.
6. Size the order with quantity tiers in mind
A single order can contain 1 to 1,000 IPs, and larger orders get a lower price per IP through quantity tiers. Before you buy a big batch, estimate what you really need: one IP per account for account work, or enough IPs to keep request rates per IP reasonable for monitoring. How many proxies do I need walks through both cases.
Prices are listed per IP per month and shown live in the console and on the US proxy page.
7. Plan for renewals
If the IP matters to you, keep it. Turn on auto-renew so the order renews from your balance and the same proxies keep running. Keep enough balance before the renewal date; with auto-renew off, renew manually before the term ends so you do not lose the addresses.
8. Test before you scale
Proxies are usually ready a few minutes after you pay. Test one before you wire the rest into your tools:
curl -x http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT https://ifconfig.meThe command should print the proxy's US IP, not your own. In Python, the same check looks like this:
import requests
proxy = "http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT"
r = requests.get("https://ifconfig.me/ip",
proxies={"http": proxy, "https": proxy},
timeout=15)
print(r.text)The curl proxy testing guide adds checks for SOCKS5 and common error messages.
Pairing US proxies with a US VPS
Many teams run their scrapers or browser automation on a cloud server and send traffic out through dedicated proxies. Cloudj has US cloud servers in New York, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and Miami, so you can keep both pieces in one account and whitelist the server's IP on your proxies instead of storing passwords. See the US cloud servers page for sizes.
FAQ
Is a US dedicated proxy shared, or a datacenter IP?
Neither. Each dedicated IPv4 proxy is a static IP registered to an ISP and assigned to one customer only.
Can I choose a specific US city for my proxy?
The console shows which US proxy options are in stock at the time you order. Choose from what is listed there.
How fast is a US proxy order ready?
Usually within a few minutes of paying from your balance. If an order cannot be set up, the full amount goes back to your balance.
Can I buy just one US proxy?
Yes. Orders start at 1 IP, and you can add more later.
Buy US proxy IPs with a clear checklist
Pick the type, protocol and authentication that match your tools, start with a short term, and scale once your test passes. You can compare all locations on the proxy overview and order in the Cloudj console, which shows live prices before you pay.