The NetNut FBI seizure raises a question nobody asks: where do residential IPs actually come from?

The NetNut FBI seizure raises a question nobody asks: where do residential IPs actually come from?

I went down the rabbit hole reading about the NetNut situation last night and honestly, the FBI seizure wasn't even the craziest part for me lol

The craziest part was realizing that somewhere out there, a guy is probably watching Netflix on his Samsung TV while his TV is simultaneously acting as infrastructure for somebody running a scraping operation on the other side of the world (I have a really old TV that and I don't watch it that much honestly, so I think I avoided this bullet)

LIKE WHAT? That's not even a joke anymore

According to the news coverage happening at the moment, researchers found proxy SDKs embedded in a huge number of smart TV applications. Not sketchy APKs from some random forum. actual apps running on LG and Samsung TVs

I think that in this case, the conversation quickly shifted from NetNut to a much bigger question that I don't think someo people don't think about:

Where do residential IPs actually come from???

Don't get me wrong, I don't think about this question either that much and it's a really complex answer to a complex question

The sourcing side always felt like somebody else's problem honestly

But after reading about the alleged connection between NetNut and the Popa botnet, I started realizing how little visibility most of us actually have into the supply chain behind residential proxies

What surprised me most wasn't the claim that millions of devices were involved. It's 2026. Every month there's another story involving millions of compromised devices, so unfortunately that part barely registers anymore

The surprise part for me happened when learning how many layers can exist between the person buying a residential proxy and the device providing that residential IP (like wth)

The part I keep coming back to is whether this is even a problem that can be solved completely

If residential proxy inventory passes through multiple layers of aggregators, partners, SDK providers and resellers, how many companies can honestly say they know the origin story of every IP in their network

At what point does a provider stop being a network operator and become a network consumer just like the rest of us?

What struck me while reading all this is that the proxy industry spends an enormous amount of time talking about performance metrics. We compare success rates, country coverage, session length, pool sizes, pricing, uptime and all the usual stuff. Yet I can barely remeber seeing a serious discussion about where these networks actually come from. Maybe that's because the answer is complicated, but after reading through the NetNut reporting it suddenly feels like one of the most important questions we could be asking.

SO very few people seem interested in tracing the supply chain behind the product itself, which is funny because that's ultimately the foundation everything else is built on

One thing that comes to mind in this situation is that some providers seem to be putting more effort into transparency than others and I've seen that happen pretty recently. I've seen providers like nodemaven, Iproyal or proxygonzo openly talk about IP quality filtering, network quality standards, and support processes. Others have started publishing more information about sourcing, partnerships, compliance policies, or how they acquire residential inventory in the first place. This should probably be the standard moving forward for everyone that's affected in this case

I'm not saying anyone deserves a free pass, and honestly this whole story makes me want to be more skeptical rather than less. But I do think there's a meaningful difference between providers that are willing to discuss where inventory comes from and providers that treat the entire supply chain as a black box.

Maybe that's where the industry needs to go next. We already compare success rates, uptime, sticky sessions and pool sizes. Maybe a few years from now we'll also be comparing transparency reports, sourcing disclosures, consent models and network provenance and being sceptical of each proxy provider?

Sources where I found this story: https://hivesecurity.gitlab.io/blog/netnut-popa-botnet-fbi-seizure-residential-proxy/

Also huge props to this user as he predicted the future lmao - https://www.reddit.com/r/ProxyEngineering/comments/1u00w9f/my_samsung_tv_is_literally_being_rented_out_as_a/

u/mckrile — 3 days ago

I tracked every CAPTCHA I received for 30 days. Here's what actually triggered them

A little over a month ago, I found myself dealing with a problem that most people involved in scraping, browser automation, account management, or AI agents have probably experienced at some point which are captcha isuses

At first it was just the occasional challenge but it has became a nightmare over a longer period of time

Like most people (sometimes even here in this subreddit), my first instinct was to blame the proxies

The problem was that I kept running into situations that didn't fit that explanation. Sometimes a workflow would run perfectly for days and then suddenly start accumulating a lot of captchas. Other times I would switch to a completely different residential IP and somehow end up with even more instabilities than before

For the next thirty days, I kept a log of every CAPTCHA, Cloudflare challenge, browser verification page, and unexpected access restriction I encountered. Every time a workflow started falling apart, I would go back and look at what had changed beforehand

Going into this experiment, I expected to find that most challenges were directly tied to IP quality but I found a few other things as well that might help yo uout

1. The first trigger that showed up repeatedly was something I didn't expect at all: brand-new browser profiles

For years I assumed fresh profiles were safer and always the best option, these accounts have no cookies, no browsing history, no leftover session data. Everything starts clean and controlled. That's how a lot of automation setups are built.

What I kept seeing in the logs was that some of the highest challenge rates appeared during the first few sessions of a completely new identity

Meanwhile, browser profiles that had accumulated weeks of browsing history often moved through the same websites with significantly less friction. These weren't abandoned profiles collecting dust somewhere. They were actively used identities that had built a believable trail of activity over time. They had cookies, session history, previous visits, and interaction patterns that made them look more like returning users than brand-new visitors.

2. The second trigger was aggressive rotation

This one genuinely surprised me because for years I operated under the assumption that more rotation meant more safety. If one residential IP is good, rotating through hundreds of them should be even better.

The workflows that remained stable for the longest periods usually maintained continuity. They stayed on the same identity long enough to build history. The browser remained consistent. The browsing behavior remained predictable. The session looked like a user who arrived on a website, spent time there, came back later, and continued where they left off

Some of the heavily rotated setups started looking strange when viewed as a complete journey. A session would appear from one IP, perform a few actions, disappear, reappear elsewhere, start over, and repeat the process. Every individual request looked legitimate, but the overall pattern felt unnatural and weird

3. The third trigger was signal mismatches

This was one of those things that didn't immediately break workflows, which is probably why it's easy to overlook

I had several browser profiles where the timezone, language settings, browser behavior, and network location weren't perfectly aligned. Nothing was obviously wrong. Pages loaded correctly. Requests completed successfully. The proxies themselves worked fine

Yet when I reviewed the logs, these profiles appeared disproportionately often in sessions that accumulated challenges over time

What made this interesting was that a single mismatch rarely seemed to matter. The problems started appearing when multiple small inconsistencies stacked together. A browser configured for one region, an IP from another region, and a fresh profile with no history might all be harmless individually. Combined together, they often showed up in workflows that attracted more verification checks

4. The fourth trigger was session resets

This was another finding that challenged some assumptions I had for years.

Whenever a profile suddenly lost cookies, local storage, or other accumulated session data, challenge rates often increased during the next few browsing sessions. This was especially noticeable on websites where the identity had previously established a history of normal activity.

From the website's perspective, a user that has been behaving consistently for weeks suddenly shows up as if they've never visited before. Looking back, it's not difficult to understand why that might attract additional scrutiny

5. The fifth trigger wasn't a technical setting at all. It was my online behaviour

For some workflows my behaviour was simply too efficinet. I landed directly on target pages, extracted information, moved to the next page, and repeated the process with almost no variation. Technically everything worked. Operationally everything looked correct

But when I compared those workflows against sessions that navigated more naturally, opened supporting pages, spent more time browsing, and behaved more like actual users, the difference was noticeable.

The more human-looking sessions consistently accumulated fewer challenges.

What surprised me most wasn't any individual trigger.

It was the fact that all five of them pointed toward the same conclusion.

Fresh profiles, aggressive rotation, signal mismatches, session resets, and unnatural browsing behavior all have one thing in common: they create inconsistencies in the identity.

The funny thing is that after thirty days of collecting all this data, I became less interested in arguing about which proxy provider is best. Over the years I've run workflows through various residential networks including NodeMaven, Bright Data, Decodo, IPRoyal, and several others. While there are certainly differences between providers, the largest improvements I observed during this experiment rarely came from changing providers. More often than not, the biggest gains came from eliminating inconsistencies elsewhere in the identity stack

The more I reviewed the logs, the less it felt like I was seeing bad proxies and the more it felt like I was seeing broken identities

I'm curious whether anyone else has gone looking for a proxy problem and ended up discovering an identity problem instead

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 13 days ago

I bought the cheapest residential package from 10 proxy providers and benchmarked them against Zillow, Indeed, and Cloudflare

Hey all, I've seen plenty of proxy comparisons over the years and now especially on reddit in recent months where everyone is focusing on "who is best provider" or "who has best proxies" which is getting really boring honestly, but no one actually posts results from real tests

I wanted to share something a bit more measurable

Over the last two weeks I purchased the cheapest residential package from 10 different providers and ran them through the same workloads. My goal wasn't to rank providers or declare a winner. I was more interested in trying to help others understand which characteristics correlate with successful scraping on websites these days

For anyone curious about the setup, everything ran from the same Hetzner Cloud VPS in Virginia. I used Playwright with Chromium 137, kept the browser fingerprint identical across all runs, disabled WebRTC leaks, matched timezone and geolocation settings, and maintained the same concurrency limits for every provide

The providers included Bright Data, Oxylabs, NodeMaven, NetNut, Decodo, SOAX, IPRoyal, Rayobyte, Webshare, and Packestream

I used Quotes.toscrape.com as a baseline sanity check because it has virtually no anti-bot protection. The goal wasn't to compare providers on this website, since nearly every provider can achieve almost perfect success rates on this. Instead, I used it to validate that the scraping setup itself was functioning correctly before moving on to more challenging website targets like Zillow and Indeed (these were my benchmark websites where I will share data below) as they have Cloudflare-protected endpoints

Each provider received roughly 10,000 requests distributed across the same workflows. For Zillow, the workflow involved browsing property listings, navigating pagination, and opening individual property pages. For Indeed, it involved keyword searches, pagination, and job detail pages

I made sure to intentionally avoid extremely aggressive concurrency because I wanted to evaluate the quality of the proxy network itself rather than DDoS-style resilience

The lowest latency network averaged 612ms response times across all requests. Another network averaged 1.74 seconds. Despite that difference, their Zillow success rates were only a few percentage points apart

Here's the sample from my dataset:

Provider Avg latency Zillow success Indeed success
Bright Data 612ms 86.1% 92.4%
Oxylabs 853ms 87.5% 93.2%
NodeMaven 789ms 88.4% 94.1%
NetNut 1.15s 84.9% 91.1%
Decodo 1.12s 81.7% 88.6%
SOAX 1.03s 82.5% 90.8%
IPRoyal 1.28s 75.2% 87.4%
Rayobyte 1.41s 78.8% 89.3%
Webshare 1.36s 76.9% 88.2%
PacketStream 1.57s 80.1% 86.7%

After seeing those numbers I stopped paying much attention to latency and started looking at what was actually different between the providers that consistently performed well

One metric that ended up being surprisingly useful was ASN diversity

For every provider I collected roughly 2,500 assigned residential IPs and extracted ASN information

Also, I wasn't trying to validate marketing claims about pool size because I don't believe in marketing pool sizes and numbers of IPs that other proxy providers say. I was more interested in understanding how concentrated each network was

Here I used two metrics, unique ASNs tested and duplicate IP rate according to the IPs

Provider Unique ASNs tested Duplicate IP rate
Bright Data 487 7.1%
Oxylabs 452 8.4%
NodeMaven 391 6.8%
SOAX 367 9.2%
Decodo 324 12.1%
NetNut 287 10.7%
Rayobyte 241 13.4%
IPRoyal 223 14.1%
Webshare 198 15.7%
PacketStream 171 16.3%

The providers with broader ASN distribution generally performed better on Zillow and Cloudflare

That's not enough data to claim the best one, but it was one of the strongest correlations in the benchmark

Another thing I became interested in was session longevity and sticky sessions

Most benchmarks focus on raw success rates, but in real-world scraping I care more about how long an identity survives before challenges start accumulating. If I can stay on a site for 20 minutes without friction, that's often more valuable than a provider having 2% higher success rates on fresh sessions.

To measure this, I tracked how long a browsing session could continue on Zillow before challenge rates exceeded 10%.

Provider Avg session duration before challenge accumulation
NodeMaven 21.6 minutes
Bright Data 18.2 minutes
Oxylabs 17.4 minutes
NetNut 16.4 minutes
SOAX 16.1 minutes
Decodo 15.1 minutes
PacketStream 14.8 minutes
Rayobyte 13.7 minutes
Webshare 12.9 minutes
IPRoyal 12.4 minutes

The providers that maintained longer sessions also tended to generate fewer CAPTCHA challenges and fewer abrupt session resets, this was really good

The biggest surprise of the entire benchmark came when I started testing rotation strategies

For years I've operated under the assumption that more rotation is safer. If one residential IP is good, rotating through hundreds of them should be even better.

I tested three different approaches against the same Zillow workflow: rotating every request, rotating every ten requests, and maintaining a 30-minute sticky session.

Rotation strategy Success rate Challenge rate
Every request 61.4% 17.9%
Every 10 requests 73.8% 11.2%
30 Minute sticky session 82.7% 4.8%

Looking back, it makes sense. A real user doesn't change cities, ISPs, and IP addresses every page load. Even if every IP individually looks legitimate, the overall identity becomes really inconsistent

At this point I thought I was getting close to identifying which providers were genuinely better

But the more data I collected, the less convinced I became that there is a universal "best" proxy network.

What I expected to be a proxy benchmark gradually turned into an identity benchmark

The providers absolutely mattered, but the gap between a well-configured browser identity and a poorly configured one was often larger than the gap between several reputable residential networks

Hope this coudl help someone

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 19 days ago
▲ 1 r/Uganda

5 best free WebRTC leak test tools for freelancers

The funny thing about WebRTC leaks is that most people don't know they exist until something weird happens. Like if a a website starts throwing verification checks at you constnatly or maybe your account gets flagged or maybe your browser fingerprint suddenly looks like it belongs to two different people living in two different countries

And then begins the sacred ritual of opening 17 browser settings tabs, watching three YouTube tutorials, and questioning every life decision that led you here

The good news for me and for others? Finding a WebRTC leak is usually much easier than fixing one

I compiled a list of free tools that might be really useful for you, hope it helps

1. NodeMaven WebRTC Leak Test

If you've ever spent 20 minutes configuring a proxy, launched your browser profile, opened a leak checker, and immediately thought "well that's not good", this tool was built for you.

Most WebRTC leak tests simply dump a bunch of IP addresses on the screen and leave you to figure out what they mean. The NodeMaven WebRTC Leak Test takes a different approach. It compares your HTTP connection against the WebRTC candidates your browser exposes and tells you whether those two identities match.

The tool automatically compares your normal HTTP connection against the WebRTC candidates your browser exposes. If both identities match, you're generally in good shape. If WebRTC is exposing a different network path, you'll see it immediately.

It also checks for:

  • Public IP exposure
  • Local LAN IP exposure
  • IPv6 leaks
  • mDNS candidates
  • ICE candidates
  • Browser WebRTC capabilities
  • SDP information

What makes it particularly useful for proxy users is that it was designed around real-world browser setups rather than generic VPN testing

If you're using antidetect browsers or any automation tools, this one is for you

And yes, it saves you from having to stare at ICE candidate logs wondering if you've accidentally become a networking expert overnight

2. Browserleaks WebRTC Test

BrowserLeaks is basically the Swiss Army knife of browser fingerprint testing

You start by checking for a WebRTC leak

Thirty minutes later you're testing your canvas fingerprint, WebGL fingerprint, fonts, audio stack, timezone, battery API, and questioning every browser setting you've ever changed.

I personally think that its WebRTC test remains one of the most detailed available online. The tool communicates with STUN servers and displays exactly what your browser exposes through WebRTC

The biggest advantage is transparency. BrowserLeaks shows raw information instead of trying to simplify everything. For technical users, that's extremely valuable

The potential downside?

Some beginners might open the page and immediately feel like they accidentally enrolled in a network engineering course lol

Still, I think if you're troubleshooting a stubborn browser profile, BrowserLeaks is one of the best resources available

3. IPLeak

I know that IPleak has been around forever, and the reason why peeople use it is because it works and it's simple, also It's pretty old school and I like it

Instead of focusing only on WebRTC, it gives you a broader picture of your privacy setup. You can test DNS leaks, IPv6 leaks, torrent leaks, and WebRTC leaks from a single page

This was really useful for me when setting up a new VPN, proxy chain, or anti-detect browser profile

One thing many users discover is that fixing a WebRTC leak doesn't necessarily mean everything is configured correctly. Sometimes DNS requests are still escaping through the local ISP, or IPv6 traffic is taking a completely different route

The interface definitely looks like it belongs to an internet era from 2000s, but that's part of its charm. Nobody visits IPLeak because it's pretty, people visit because it works

4. vpnMentor WebRTC leak test

Sometimes you don't want ICE candidates and SDP logs

You just want somebody to answer:

"Am I leaking my IP address?"

That's where vpnMentor does a good job I think

The tool checks for local IP leaks, public IP leaks, IPv6 leaks, and even identifies devices such as cameras and microphones that may be exposed through WebRTC.

The explanations are clear, beginner-friendly, and written for people who may never have heard the term "ICE candidate" before

If you're helping a teammate troubleshoot a setup or introducing someone to browser privacy for the first time, vpnMentor is often easier to understand than more technical alternatives

5.  WebRTC leak test

Hide takes the opposite approach from BrowserLeaks in my opinion

Their philosophy seems to be:

"Run the test. Get the answer. Move on with your day."

The page loads quickly, runs the check automatically, and shows whether WebRTC is exposing information that it shouldn't

There isn't a huge amount of technical detail, but that's fine if all you're looking for is a quick sanity check before launching an automation workflow or starting a browsing session

It's definitely not a full security audit, but it gets the job done

Why WebRTC leaks still matter in 2026

I have seen a lot of my colleagues and friends still believe that if their proxy or VPN changes their visible IP address, they're fully protected

My research has repeatedly shown that WebRTC can expose network information through ICE candidates even when users are connected through VPNs or other anonymity tools.

That's particularly important for:

  • Multi-account management
  • Browser automation
  • Web scraping
  • Social media management
  • Ad verification
  • Anti-detect browser users

In other words, exactly the people most likely to be using proxies in the first place

My recommendation

If you're a normal internet user, vpnMentor or Hide will probably give you everything you need.

If you're troubleshooting browser fingerprints, BrowserLeaks remains one of the best technical resources available.

If you want a broader privacy health check, IPLeak is still a classic

And if you're specifically running proxies, anti-detect browsers, browser automation, or multi-account setups, start with the NodeMaven WebRTC leak test because it focuses on the thing proxy users care about most: the sync between proxies and your browser

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 21 days ago

After 10 years around anti-bot systems, I don't think either side is winning

I've spent roughly 10 years around browser automation, managing multiple accounts, scraping, proxies, anti-detect browsers, and figuring out anti-bot systems. Watching the space evolve has been fascinating because I don't think either side is actually winning

For people unfamiliar with this world, there are essentially two industries growing at the same time

On one side, you have companies like Cloudflare, Akamai, DataDome, and others investing heavily in bot detection, fraud prevention, and traffic verification. Their goal is one thing only: figure out whether a visitor is a legitimate user or some form of automation (and they are constantly trying to implement new ways of figuring out who's a legitimate user lol)

On the other side, there's a rapidly growing automation ecosystem. For example companies like Bright Data, Oxylabs, and Nodemaven provide the network layer. Then companies like Dolphin anty, Octo browser and MUltilogin focus on browser identity. Browserbase and similar platforms abstract away browser infrastructure. AI agents sit on top of all of it now. They're different pieces of the stack, but they ultimately push in the same direction: making software better at operating websites that were originally designed for humans

What surprises me is that both sides seem to be growing faster than ever

The anti-bot market is obviously much larger because massive enterprises are willing to spend huge amounts of money protecting accounts, preventing fraud, and filtering traffic
But I'm noticing that demand for automation infrastructure is also exploding. I have noticed that companies now increasilgy rely on web data, automated workflows, competitive intelligence, account management, and AI-powered processes that need reliable access to websites

And now what's happening is that AI agents seem to be accelerating both markets at the same time. Every new agent framework creates more demand for automated browser interactions, while every increase in automated traffic creates more demand for detection systems

One thing I've noticed over the years is that anti-bot systems still struggle with false positives. The more sophisticated detection becomes, the higher the chance that legitimate users get caught in the process. Most people have experienced this without even realizing it. You visit a website, solve a challenge, solve another one, refresh the page, get challenged again, and suddenly you're wondering why proving you're human feels harder than logging into your bank account lol

On the automation side, the challenge is totally different though. The hardest websites are becoming increasingly expensive to automate reliably. In many cases the solution isn't some magical bypass technique anymore. It's simply throwing more resources at the problem. More powerful machines, more browser instances, higher quality proxies, better browser environments, and more engineering effort. A setup that worked comfortably a few years ago can require significantly more infrastructure today.

That's why I don't think we're heading toward a future where one side wins and the other disappears

The relationship feels almost symbiotic. Better detection systems create demand for better automation infrastructure. Better automation infrastructure creates demand for better detection systems. Both industries push each other forward and, as a result, both continue growing

My broader prediction is that the web becomes increasingly programmatically accessible, even if many platforms resist it. Companies want data and companies want automation. They want agents that can interact with software on their behalf. As AI improves and compute becomes cheaper, more web interactions will have an automated component attached to them

That was my Ted talk, thank you

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 22 days ago

Is anyone having loading issues with YouTube in the last week?

Everytime I click a video or something it just stops loading, or if I want to fast forward a video, when I click on a certain part of the video, it just freezes

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 27 days ago

Best antidetect browser + proxies combos (guide on personal experience)

Hey all, I wrote this post thinking it could be really valuable who do not know about the best antidetect browser + proxy pairing, so this might be able to help you out, I have been quite extensively working on some really big multi-accounting workflows, so I hope this helps you out or at least gives you some valuable advice

I juggles between a lot of social media platforms and have a lot of ad accounts so if anyone is in the similar space as me, I am happy to help

What i mean by multi accounting is that I’ve gone through workflows such as:

  • running approx hundred of browser profiles
  • managing social media accounts that i managed to keep stable for a long time
  • scaling automation workflows using these accounts
  • testing GEO-sensitive setups using good quality IPs from various countries
  • warming accounts that need to stay alive
  • browser automation
  • scraping social platforms
  • maintaining session trust over long periods

And after A LOT of testing, I made one big conclusion which I think some people don’t think about

People massively underestimate how much the browser + proxy pairing affects stability

You might think about these things first:

“What’s the best antidetect browser?”
“What’s the best proxy provider?”

And I think that’s not really the right quesiton, I think the right question

Which combination breaks the least under your actual workflow?

Because once you scale browser-based automation, tiny problems start becoming big problems

  • session invalidation
  • repeated email verification
  • suspicious login prompts
  • failed warmups
  • dead cookies
  • browser memory leaks
  • profile corruption
  • unstable automation flows

I started testing different combinations specifically to figure out:

  • which setups survive longer
  • which setups feel stable after weeks
  • which ones create hidden maintenance problems
  • which ones scale cleanly

How I tested everything and each proider

My testing was real and detailed

I wasn’t running “speed tests” or checking homepage load times as i tested these setups in actual multi-accounting environments

Main workflows I tested

  • TikTok account warmups
  • Facebook account management
  • Reddit automation
  • X/Twitter workflows
  • browser scraping
  • session persistence testing
  • automation through Playwright/Puppeteer
  • anti-detect browser automation
  • long-running login sessions
  • GEO switching
  • cookie persistence

What were my success metrics for each provider

I mainly tracked:

  • session longevity
  • account survival rate
  • random re-verification frequency
  • IP consistency
  • browser stability over time
  • memory usage
  • automation interruption frequency
  • login invalidation rate
  • CAPTCHA frequency
  • profile corruption issues

Testing duration

Most combinations were tested for:

  • 2–6 weeks
  • multiple browser profiles
  • repeated automation cycles
  • varying concurrency levels

Because if you think about it almost every setup looks “good” during the first 24 hours

The real problems usually appear later in the workflow and automation aspect

Here's my list

1. NodeMaven + Multilogin

This was probably the cleanest long-session setup I tested because it lasted the longest without any issues

And what was refreshing for me is that this combo solved one of the biggest problems I had which is session instability during long-lived browser workflows (SO CRUCIAL FOR THESE SETUPS) and it was so refreshing to have this

I mainly tested this combo for:

  • TikTok warmups
  • Reddit account management
  • persistent social sessions
  • browser automation with long login retention
  • affiliate account management

The problem I had before with previous providers

With many rotating residential providers, I kept seeing:

  • random session invalidation
  • cookie distrust
  • weird location inconsistencies
  • browser sessions suddenly behaving differently
  • accounts getting logged out unexpectedly

So why is their combo good?

NodeMaven’s sticky residential + ISP sessions paired really naturally with Multilogin’s browser persistence and they seem to have some sort of collaboraiton so their pairing works REALLY well together. Also what I liked is that nodemaven now providers some sort of quality guarantee, so if some of their IPs are not working well, they will give you back the money and I have experienced only one IP not working properly

Their setup actually solved a lot of problems for me which were:

  • mid-session IP inconsistency
  • session resets
  • account distrust
  • login interruptions

What stood out most is that the sessions simply behaved predictably and i could just keep the automation going

Technical observations that might interest you as well

  • Lower CAPTCHA trigger rate
  • Better cookie retention
  • More stable long-running sessions
  • Fewer browser trust resets
  • Better automation continuity over multiple days

Weaknesses

The setup is not optimized for:

  • hyper-aggressive rotation
  • ultra-cheap scaling
  • high-churn scraping

This pairing clearly favors:

  • quality
  • stability
  • persistence

over raw volume and scraping large volume of data

2. Dolphin{anty} + Decodo

This setup felt very different operationally

IT was Much faster and muuch more rotation-oriented

I tested this combo mostly for:

  • rapid account cycling
  • Facebook setups
  • TikTok profile scaling
  • GEO testing
  • account segmentation

What worked well

Dolphin’s workflow style naturally favors:

  • quick profile management
  • high operational speed
  • fast deployment

And Decodo’s rotating residential pools paired well with that

This setup worked especially well when:

  • profiles didn’t need ultra-long persistence
  • accounts rotated frequently
  • GEO flexibility mattered
  • account quantities increased quickly

Problems it solved

Compared to stickier setups:

  • easier traffic separation
  • easier profile scaling
  • faster environment resets
  • simpler operational management

Issues I still encountered

Under longer sessions, I occasionally noticed:

  • more re-verification
  • shorter “trust lifespan”
  • more session inconsistency over time

This setup felt really optimized for speed and scale, but it might just be my use case

3. AdsPower + Webshare

This was one of the most budget-efficient setups I tested. Probably the cheapeast option you can find but this can possibly break your workflow if it runs for too long

I used this combo for

  • lightweight account farming
  • testing automation flows
  • burner workflows
  • lower-risk scraping
  • mass profile creation

What surprised me

AdsPower tolerated lower-quality proxies better than I expected

Some antidetect browsers become extremely unstable once proxy quality drops slightly

AdsPower stayed relatively usable even with:

  • cheaper residential pools
  • mixed IP quality
  • higher profile quantities

Problems I encountered

Webshare is actually quite known for having the cheapest proxies possible on the market,g but their proxies can get quite bad during longer-period use, which can be a problem if you need to have a stable working flow of many accounts

So critical issues with this setup can be:

  • longer session persistence
  • trust-sensitive platforms
  • older account management

I started seeing:

  • more login challenges
  • more verification prompts
  • weaker session trust over time

BUT, if you are on budget, and just starting out, or a freelancer who doesn't simple have the money for, this is a really good combo for:

  • testing
  • scaling cheaply
  • operational experimentation

+ and the setup honestly performed better than expected

4. Octobrowser + MarsProxies

This setup felt very natural and I was able to use it for quite a long time actually

I used them for managing multiple accounts and was able to run sessions with 15-20 accounts with ease in one go

This combo also works well with:

  • browser automation at higher concurrency
  • regional account testing

What stood out

MarsPorixes routing flexibility was probably the biggest strength because they are a bigger provider and were able to provide me with good stability

Especially I think thy have good:

  • GEO precision
  • ASN targeting
  • traffic routing consistency
  • large-scale reliability

Problems it solved

This setup significantly reduced:

  • GEO mismatches
  • localization inconsistencies
  • unstable routing behavior

Especially useful when:

  • testing regional content
  • scraping localized SERPs
  • running region-sensitive workflows

Downsides

Honestly this setup doesn't have many downsides, I didn't experience a lot of problems but like a few random proxy kills and banned IPs so for my workflow this worked like a charm

And for smaller operators, it’s definitely an overkill

5. Undetectable + Oxylabs

This setup performed extremely well under heavier automation loads as I believe oxylabs proxies are also built for that in some way. This is basically a setup for enterprise users mostly? (because I don't see any regular users or people needing tihs in really big scale)

I used this combo for:

  • browser scraping
  • higher concurrency automation
  • Playwright integrations
  • larger scraping sessions

What I liked

The setup stayed surprisingly stable under load (which is expected out of an enteprrise proxy provider any basically any antidetect browser combo)

Some combinations start degrading badly once:

  • concurrency increases
  • memory usage grows
  • browser workers scale

This one remained relatively clean operationally

Problems it solved

  • worker instability
  • session crashes
  • automation interruption
  • browser lag under scale

Technical observations

  • Good browser stability
  • Lower crash frequency
  • Strong scaling consistency
  • Better concurrency handling

6. Incogniton + IPRoyal

This felt like the best beginner-friendly pairing because iproyal has cheaper prices, and incognitioin is quite intuitive as a browser

I used this combination for:

  • smaller affiliate workflows
  • basic browser automation
  • moderate account quantities
  • testing ideas quickly

Why I liked it

Simple to setup, it’s actually really cheap and it’s low-friction

Not every workflow needs enterprise infrastructure so the combination between incognition + iproyal gives you this

Sometimes you just need:

  • acceptable stability
  • decent residential IPs
  • manageable costs
  • enough flexibility to test ideas

And honestly, this setup delivered that pretty well

What does each setup realistically cost per month?

Setup Browser cost Proxy cost Approx. monthly budget best use case
Multilogin + NodeMaven Multilogin Pro (10 profiles) ~$11/mo NodeMaven 20GB plan ~$75/mo ~$86/mo Long-term account management
Dolphin Anty + Decodo 10$ per month (for 10 profiles) 81.25$ for 20GB ~$60–120/mo Fast account scaling
AdsPower + Webshare 9.6$ per month (for 20 profiles) 27$ per month (for 1000 proxies) ~$20–50/mo Budget testing
Octobrowser + MarsProxies 9$ per month (for 20 profiles) 75$ for 20GB $90+/mo Good for multi accounting as well as the NodeMaven workflow
Undetectable + Oxylabs 11$ per month (for 20 profiles) 100$ per month $110+/mo Enterprise workflows and scraping
Incogniton + IPRoyal 13.99$ for 10 profiles 52.5$ for 10GB ~$30–60/mo Beginners
reddit.com
u/mckrile — 28 days ago

Is Openclaw really that good? Can you share tips?

One of my friends was able to build a basically ai assistant that is helping him monitor a lot of things at once, he combined a lot of his actual work workflows with openclaw and it is helping him out quite a lot with work, is it really that good? Were you able to build something with it that is worth mentioning

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 1 month ago

Which antidetect browser works best with which proxies? Real testing from a multi-accounter running automation

Hey all, I’m following this subreddit fo ra while but haven’t seen these type of post so I thought it would be useful to share it from my experience

I am a fellow multi-accounting addictive hustler who juggles between a lot of social media platforms and has a lot of ad accounts so if anyone is in the similar space as me, I am happy to help

What i mean by multi accounting hustlering is that I’ve gone through workflows such as:

  • running approx hundred of browser profiles
  • managing social media accounts that i managed to keep stable for a long time
  • scaling automation workflows using these accounts
  • testing GEO-sensitive setups using good quality IPs from various countries
  • warming accounts that need to stay alive
  • browser automation
  • scraping social platforms
  • maintaining session trust over long periods

And after enough testing, one I made one big conclusion which I think some people don’t think about

People massively underestimate how much the browser + proxy pairing affects stability

Most discussions online are focused either around

“What’s the best antidetect browser?”
“What’s the best proxy provider?”

And I think that’s not really the right quesiton, I think the right question

Which combination breaks the least under your actual workflow?

Because once you scale browser-based automation, tiny problems start becoming big problems

  • session invalidation
  • repeated email verification
  • suspicious login prompts
  • failed warmups
  • dead cookies
  • browser memory leaks
  • profile corruption
  • unstable automation flows

I started testing different combinations specifically to figure out:

  • which setups survive longer
  • which setups feel stable after weeks
  • which ones create hidden maintenance problems
  • which ones scale cleanly

How I tested everything and each proider

My testing was real and detailed

I wasn’t running “speed tests” or checking homepage load times as i tested these setups in actual multi-accounting environments

Main workflows I tested

  • TikTok account warmups
  • Facebook account management
  • Reddit automation
  • X/Twitter workflows
  • browser scraping
  • session persistence testing
  • automation through Playwright/Puppeteer
  • anti-detect browser automation
  • long-running login sessions
  • GEO switching
  • cookie persistence

What were my success metrics for each provider

I mainly tracked:

  • session longevity
  • account survival rate
  • random re-verification frequency
  • IP consistency
  • browser stability over time
  • memory usage
  • automation interruption frequency
  • login invalidation rate
  • CAPTCHA frequency
  • profile corruption issues

Testing duration

Most combinations were tested for:

  • 2–6 weeks
  • multiple browser profiles
  • repeated automation cycles
  • varying concurrency levels

Because if you think about it almost every setup looks “good” during the first 24 hours

The real problems usually appear later in the workflow and automation aspect

1. NodeMaven + Multilogin

This was probably the cleanest long-session setup I tested because it lasted the longest without any issues

And what was refreshing for me is that this combo solved one of the biggest problems I had which is session instability during long-lived browser workflows (SO CRUCIAL FOR THESE SETUPS) and it was so refreshing to have this

My use case

I mainly tested this combo for:

  • TikTok warmups
  • Reddit account management
  • persistent social sessions
  • browser automation with long login retention
  • affiliate account management

The problem I had before with previous providers

With many rotating residential providers, I kept seeing:

  • random session invalidation
  • cookie distrust
  • weird location inconsistencies
  • browser sessions suddenly behaving differently
  • accounts getting logged out unexpectedly

So why is their combo good?

NodeMaven’s sticky residential + ISP sessions paired really naturally with Multilogin’s browser persistence and they seem to have some sort of collaboraiton so their pairing works REALLY well together. Also what I liked is that nodemaven now providers some sort of quality guarantee, so if some of their IPs are not working well, they will give you back the money and I have experienced only one IP not working properly

Their setup actually solved a lot of problems for me which were:

  • mid-session IP inconsistency
  • session resets
  • account distrust
  • login interruptions

What stood out most is that the sessions simply behaved predictably and i could just keep the automation going

Technical observations that might interest you as well

  • Lower CAPTCHA frequency
  • Better cookie retention
  • More stable long-running sessions
  • Fewer browser trust resets
  • Better automation continuity over multiple days

Weaknesses

The setup is not optimized for:

  • hyper-aggressive rotation
  • ultra-cheap scaling
  • high-churn scraping

This pairing clearly favors:

  • quality
  • stability
  • persistence

over raw volume and scraping large volume of data

2. Dolphin{anty} + Decodo

This setup felt very different operationally

IT was Much faster and muuch more rotation-oriented

My use case

I tested this combo mostly for:

  • rapid account cycling
  • Facebook setups
  • TikTok profile scaling
  • GEO testing
  • account segmentation

What worked well

Dolphin’s workflow style naturally favors:

  • quick profile management
  • high operational speed
  • fast deployment

And Decodo’s rotating residential pools paired well with that

This setup worked especially well when:

  • profiles didn’t need ultra-long persistence
  • accounts rotated frequently
  • GEO flexibility mattered
  • account quantities increased quickly

Problems it solved

Compared to stickier setups:

  • easier traffic separation
  • easier profile scaling
  • faster environment resets
  • simpler operational management

Issues I still encountered

Under longer sessions, I occasionally noticed:

  • more re-verification
  • shorter “trust lifespan”
  • more session inconsistency over time

This setup felt really optimized for speed and scale, but it might just be my use case

3. AdsPower + Webshare

This was one of the most budget-efficient setups I tested. Probably the cheapeast option you can find but this can possibly break your workflow if it runs for too long

My use case

  • lightweight account farming
  • testing automation flows
  • burner workflows
  • lower-risk scraping
  • mass profile creation

What surprised me

AdsPower tolerated lower-quality proxies better than I expected

Some antidetect browsers become extremely unstable once proxy quality drops slightly

AdsPower stayed relatively usable even with:

  • cheaper residential pools
  • mixed IP quality
  • higher profile quantities

Problems I encountered

The limitations became obvious during:

  • longer session persistence
  • trust-sensitive platforms
  • older account management

I started seeing:

  • more login challenges
  • more verification prompts
  • weaker session trust over time

But for:

  • testing
  • scaling cheaply
  • operational experimentation

…the setup honestly performed better than expected

4. GoLogin + Bright Data

This setup felt very enterprise-oriented and brighdata requires KYC so this setup might be a good setup for enterprise scaling or some s*it like that

My use case

  • larger scraping workflows
  • GEO-sensitive browser testing
  • browser automation at higher concurrency
  • regional account testing

What stood out

Bright Data’s routing flexibility was probably the biggest strength because they are a huge provider and are able to provide these things

Especially I think thy have good:

  • GEO precision
  • ASN targeting
  • traffic routing consistency
  • large-scale reliability

Problems it solved

This setup significantly reduced:

  • GEO mismatches
  • localization inconsistencies
  • unstable routing behavior

Especially useful when:

  • testing regional content
  • scraping localized SERPs
  • running region-sensitive workflows

Downsides

Honestly the biggest downside this setup is quite expensive and i don’t see how it could work for my use, but for some it could work

And for smaller operators, it’s definitely an overkill

5. Undetectable + Oxylabs

This setup performed extremely well under heavier automation loads as I believe oxylabs proxies are also built for that in some way

My use case

  • browser scraping
  • higher concurrency automation
  • Playwright integrations
  • larger scraping sessions

What I liked

The setup stayed surprisingly stable under load

Some combinations start degrading badly once:

  • concurrency increases
  • memory usage grows
  • browser workers scale

This one remained relatively clean operationally.

Problems it solved

  • worker instability
  • session crashes
  • automation interruption
  • browser lag under scale

Technical observations

  • Good browser stability
  • Lower crash frequency
  • Strong scaling consistency
  • Better concurrency handling

Incogniton + IPRoyal

This felt like the best beginner-friendly pairing because iproyal has cheaper prices, and incognitioin is quite intuitive as a browser

My use case

  • smaller affiliate workflows
  • basic browser automation
  • moderate account quantities
  • testing ideas quickly

Why I liked it

Simple to setup, it’s actually really cheap and it’s low-friction

Not every workflow needs enterprise infrastructure.

Sometimes you just need:

  • acceptable stability
  • decent residential IPs
  • manageable costs
  • enough flexibility to test ideas

And honestly, this setup delivered that pretty well

What does each setup realistically cost per month?

Setup Browser cost Proxy cost Approx. monthly budget best use case
Multilogin + NodeMaven Multilogin Pro (10 profiles) ~$11/mo NodeMaven 20GB plan ~$75/mo ~$86/mo Long-term account management
Dolphin Anty + Decodo Dolphin Free/Team plan Decodo residential traffic plan ~$60–120/mo Fast account scaling
AdsPower + Webshare AdsPower Professional Webshare residential plan ~$20–50/mo Budget testing
GoLogin + Bright Data GoLogin Professional Bright Data residential traffic $200+/mo Enterprise workflows
Undetectable + Oxylabs Undetectable subscription Oxylabs residential traffic $200+/mo Heavy scraping
Incogniton + IPRoyal Incogniton Starter IPRoyal residential traffic ~$30–60/mo Beginners

Final thoughts

The biggest lesson from all this?

There’s no universally “best” antidetect browser or proxy provider

The best setup depends entirely on

  • your workflow (as in my example the best combination for was managing multiple accounts)
  • your session length
  • your scaling model
  • your tolerance for instability
  • your budget

Some setups optimize for:

  • trust
  • persistence
  • stable identities

Others optimize for:

  • rotation
  • speed
  • high concurrency

And once you start testing these things at scale, you realize something very quickly:

Tiny infrastructure inconsistencies eventually become operational nightmares

That’s why the pairing matters so much

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 1 month ago

I barely knew Python, now I build scraping infrastructures with ease

Over the last year I started experimenting heavily with Cursor, Claude and GPT for coding

Not because I wanted to become a “real developer,” but because I kept running into scraping problems where existing tools got me 80% moving forward when I was stuck with some scraping projects

And honestly, the biggest realization for me was this:

AI coding is insanely useful for people who understand scraping workflows better than programming itself

Most of what I do is SERP/data scraping, browser automation and scraping platforms thta aggressively rate limit or fingerprint traffic

Also I wouldn’t call myself a proper Python developer. My knowledge is actually really basic

But with AI-assisted coding I’ve managed to build:

  • proxy rotation systems
  • local APIs
  • scraping helpers
  • queue-based workers
  • Telegram monitoring bots
  • browser automation utilities
  • retry/failure handling
  • image processing tools
  • account management workflows

What surprised me most is that the hard part usually isn’t the code itself.

It’s:

  • structuring the architecture properly
  • handling retries
  • avoiding race conditions
  • making sessions stable
  • organizing proxies cleanly
  • preventing spaghetti code
  • figuring out where bottlenecks actually happen

That’s where AI became really helpful for me case

For example, instead of prompting:

>“make me a scraper”

I started prompting like:

>“Build a modular Python scraping system with rotating residential proxies, retry logic, queue workers, FastAPI endpoints, logging, rate limiting and browser session management.”

The difference in output quality is massive

One workflow I’ve been using a lot lately:

  • FastAPI running locally
  • scraping workers communicating through localhost
  • rotating residential/mobile proxies
  • anti-detect browsers for harder targets
  • Telegram bots for monitoring/control
  • queue systems handling retries automatically

Honestly, AI feels especially powerful for writing “glue infrastructure.”

Things like:

  • proxy rotation layers
  • retry logic
  • task queues
  • logging systems
  • browser wrappers
  • local APIs
  • automation scripts
  • monitoring tools

A lot of this used to feel inaccessible unless you were a serious engineer

Now solo scrapers can prototype infrastructure ridiculously fast

I’ve also noticed stable sticky sessions matter WAY more than raw proxy speed once you scale browser-based scraping or account workflows. Been testing some setups with a few proxy providers like node maven and brightdata recently for that reason because cleaner residential sessions + an antidetect browsers reduce random failures quite a bit actually

Biggest lesson so far: don’t try to build perfect systems immediately as this will not work, at least it didn't work for me

Now I mostly:

  1. Build minimum working infrastructure
  2. Stress test it
  3. Fix bottlenecks as they appear

Way faster than overengineering from the start

Curious if other scrapers here are using AI coding tools heavily now for infrastructure/tooling?

Feels like the barrier to building custom scraping systems dropped massively in the last year.

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 2 months ago
▲ 2 r/eink

Built a Google Calendar display on an e-ink screen (Inkplate), pretty happy with how it turned out

I’ve been playing around with low-power e-ink projects lately and had an idea to create myself a useful calendar which looks cool, so I ended up building a Google Calendar display using an Inkplate board

The idea is simple:

  • it pulls upcoming events from Google Calendar (about 1–2 weeks ahead)
  • shows titles, times, and all-day events
  • updates over Wi-Fi
  • and just sits there like a paper calendar

What has been my favorite outcome of this whole project is that:

  • it stays visible all the time (no backlight, no distractions)
  • it only refreshes occasionally
  • it runs for weeks (or longer) on a single charge

Hardware & setup

For this build I used:

  • Inkplate 6 from Soldered(but this should work on other Inkplate boards too)
  • Wi-Fi connection
  • Google account (for API access)

The code is based on the Inkplate examples, so setup was pretty straightforward

Here's the end result:

I used older calendar data to test it

How I created this

There are 3 main pieces to get working, at least it worked for me:

1. Wi-Fi connection

Just add your SSID and password in the sketch that should look like this:

const char *ssid = "YOUR_SSID";
const char *password = "YOUR_PASSWORD";

2. Google Calendar API

You need to:

  • create a project in Google Cloud
  • generate an API key
  • enable the Google Calendar API

Then drop the key into the code:

String apiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY";

3. Calendar ID + access

From Google Calendar:

  • go to settings
  • grab your Calendar ID
  • make the calendar public (required for access)

​

String calendarID = "your_calendar_id@group.calendar.google.com";

4. Time sync

It uses NTP to keep track of time, so just set your timezone:

int timeZone = 2; // example: UTC+2

Why I actually really liked this project

A few things stood out while building this:

  • didn’t have to fight the display much, Inkplate handles a lot for you
  • power consumption is insanely low
  • UI is simple but effective
  • way less distracting than checking a phone or laptop
reddit.com
u/mckrile — 2 months ago

How I scaled a small local marketing side hustle into something 20x bigger

I want to share something that took me way too long to figure out (but currently I'm running a google scraping business that is really stable and employs 7 people) - I feel like this is one of really popular side hustles or actual business now try to open and do

A couple years ago I quit my software engineering job and started helping local businesses with Google stuff (Maps, reviews, visibility, basic presence)

At first it was super chill:
one client was a big one, then a couple of more reached out, then I had like 10+

And I thought, okay… this is it. Just get more clients and scale and it's a piece of cae

But not everything is easy as scaling a business to 20x

Not in an obvious way, but in a really annoying, subtle way:

  • accounts getting flagged randomly
  • actions not going through
  • weird inconsistencies between accounts
  • things working one day and not the next

I assumed it was like bad automation or just google being google

So I kept trying to “fix” everything else

The real issue was how everything looked from the outside

If you’re running multiple Google accounts, they don’t see: “oh this is a guy managing clients”

They see: “why are all these accounts coming from the same place?”

So if you're planning on doing this, you need ot make sure each account feels like a separate user

Not just different logins… but different environments overall (like using antidetect browsers + proxies)

I tried a bunch of proxy providers (not gonna lie, mostly picked based on price at first 😅)

At some point I stopped caring about “cheap” and just wanted something that works consistently

Once I found a setup that was stable (for me it ended up being NodeMaven, but honestly the bigger lesson is just: don’t cheap out on this part), things got… quiet.

Scaling the actual business

Once that was stable, scaling became straightforward:

What I changed:

  • Standardized the process: Same workflow for every client and no more guessing
  • Handled more accounts in parallel: Instead of babysitting each one, I could run multiple safely
  • Took on more clients confidently: Before I was hesitant because things would break After and I knew the system could handle it
  • Reduced time per client: Less debugging = more time actually delivering results

And that’s when I could finally:

  • take on more clients without stress
  • run multiple accounts properly
  • actually scale without everything breaking

Looking back, that one change probably grew my business like 20x.

Not because it made me smarter or better at marketig
but because I removed the invisible bottlene

If I started again:

  • I’d fix the infrastructure before trying to scale clients (this is really important i think)
  • I wouldn’t waste time on cheap/unstable setups
  • I’d test everything in small batches first (this part I actually did right)
reddit.com
u/mckrile — 2 months ago

Does anyone know any good proxy setup guides? Would appreciate it

Hi, I'm looking for like a basic proxy setup guide, maybe an article, a guide or someone who provides this, thanks

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 2 months ago
▲ 15 r/arduino

I'm not sure how many similar projects you are doing here, but over the past 9 months I’ve been experimenting with a few Arduino-based projects using e ink display / e paper display setups, mostly trying to build something low-power that can run for days or even weeks on battery

The main project I focused on was a battery-powered dashboard (weather + calendar + notifications) that updates every 10–15 minutes using WiFi (I strated doing this for my friend and I used this for my home actually in the end, and yes I made him one as well)

I went through a few different setups and hardware providers while trying to figure out what actually works well with Arduino without spending hours debugging display issues

Not affiliated with any of these, just sharing what worked for me and what didn’t

If you need help with a similar project please let me know (you can contact me in DMs)

Components I tested during this process

  • ESP32 (Arduino IDE)
  • Inkplate 10 (e ink display board)
  • Waveshare 2.9” and 4.2” e ink displays
  • BME280 (temperature + humidity)
  • Li-ion battery (3.7V)

Also tested:

  • Adafruit e-paper modules
  • Seeed Grove components (for prototyping)

What I was trying to achieve with this project

  • low power consumption (deep sleep most of the time)
  • clean refresh without too much ghosting
  • stable WiFi reconnect on wake
  • minimal setup friction with Arduino libraries

What didn’t work great (initially)

1. Waveshare e ink display modules

These were the first ones I tried since they’re everywhere and probably the most popular modules out there

They do work, but for me:

  • needed more manual setup (controller + wiring)
  • some Arduino libraries weren’t plug-and-play
  • took time to get consistent refresh working

Nothing wrong with them honestly, just more time spent getting everything stable

What worked better than expected

2. Inkplate from Soldered - was quite surprised with this one)

This is what I ended up using for the main dashboard.

Biggest difference:

  • ESP32 already built in
  • works directly with Arduino IDE
  • power management already handled
  • no need to wire display + controller separately

I didn’t have to “make the display work” first, it just worked, and I could focus on the logic, so this was a surprise for me how easily and really good it work

Other things I liked:

  • fully open-source hardware
  • good Arduino examples
  • deep sleep + wake cycles behaved predictably
  • low-power usage actually practical

3. Adafruit

Used this for a smaller status display project

What stood out:

  • very clean Arduino examples
  • libraries worked reliably
  • documentation is probably the best out of all

Still more “component-level” than integrated:

  • you’re wiring things yourself
  • more setup than Inkplate

I would say this was a overall smooth sailing experience

3. Seeed Studio (Grove)

Used Grove modules for quick prototyping before I actually made the project

What I liked:

  • super fast to connect everything
  • less wiring headache
  • easy to test ideas quickly

Not as focused on e ink display setups, but great for building prototypes

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 2 months ago

I’ve been testing a bunch of proxy providers over the past few months for automation and multi-account setups, and honestly… most of what you see on landing pages doesn’t hold up in real usage.. This has happend to me to many times

You know the usual stuff that providers say in their ads:

“50M+ IPs”, “99.9% uptime”, “perfect for any use case” and all that jazz (this of course isn't always the case)

Then you actually run traffic through them and things get a bit different from my experience

So instead of trusting marketing, I started focusing on a few things that actually matter:

First: pool quality > pool size
I’d take 1M clean IPs over 50M garbage ones any day.
If IPs are already flagged (Cloudflare, Spamhaus, etc.), it doesn’t matter how big the pool is. One bad IP can ruin an account.

Second: are they actually residential?
Some providers quietly mix datacenter IPs into “residential” pools. DO NOT TRUST THESE PROVIDERS WHO OFFER LIKE A proxy for 0.49$ per GB - IT'S A SCAM! No proxy is actually this cheap
That’s basically a guaranteed red flag for most platforms

Third: how they behave under real load
Ping doesn’t mean much form my experience. I’ve seen proxies with great latency completely fall apart when a browser opens 20+ connections and tries to load a JS-heavy page

How I tested (nothing fancy)

I didn’t use any fancy dashboards, just simple scripts:

  • Light test (Axios) → check IP, GEO, ASN (to confirm it’s really residential)
  • Heavy test (Puppeteer) → load a fingerprinting site and see how long it actually takes to render

That second one is where most proxies start struggling.

What surprised me

  • Some providers looked decent in simple tests… then completely slowed down in real browser scenarios
  • Lower ping didn’t mean better performance at all
  • And yeah every single one still triggered WebDriver detection

That last one is important.
Proxies help with IP trust, but they don’t fix a bad browser fingerprint.

Quick ranking from what I tested

This is just my experience, not sponsored or anything:

1. NodeMaven
Probably the most consistent overall. Clean IPs and handled heavy pages way better than others. Felt like less babysitting was needed

2. Asocks
Solid budget option. Not amazing, but reliable enough if you’re scaling and watching costs

3. Floppydata
Works fine for lighter tasks. Starts struggling when things get heavier

4. Thordata
Could be useful for specific GEOs, but I wouldn’t rely on it for stable workloads

5. Bright Data
This one was frustrating. Expensive, requires KYC, and I ran into setup issues with their SSL handling. Didn’t feel worth the effort for my use case

Hope this helps

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 2 months ago
▲ 43 r/diyelectronics+1 crossposts

I’ve been building a few projects over the past 9 months (mostly low-power stuff with e ink display / e paper display / eink display setups), and I kept testing the products of 4 hardware providers trying to figure out what is best for my work

This isn’t sponsored or affiliated with anyone, just sharing what I’ve personally used and what worked (and didn’t) from a maker perspective

Also if you need any help with working on similar projects, feel free to DM me

Figured I’d put this together in case someone else is deciding between options

1. Soldered

I’ll start with Soldered because I ended up using them the most for anything related to e paper display projects

Project I used it for: I worked on a battery-powered home dashboard (weather + calendar + notifications) using their Inkplate 10 model

What stood out pretty quickly is that Inkplate isn’t just a raw eink display, it’s more of a complete system with:

  • ESP32 already integrated
  • power management handled
  • libraries + documentation actually usable

What I really liked here is I didn’t have to spend time figuring out how to “make the display work”, bcs I could focus on the actual work

Other things I liked:

  • fully open-source hardware (not just software)
  • Arduino-compatible out of the box
  • good examples that feel like real use cases
  • low-power mode that’s actually practical

2. Waveshare

I’ve been using their products for almost 5 years now and was never disappointed in this

Project I used it for: I used a Waveshare e ink display for a smaller status screen project, where I wanted more control over the setup and didn’t mind doing the integration myself.

I specifically like this for a status project because:

  • huge selection of eink display sizes and variants
  • widely available and easy to source
  • works with a lot of platforms (Raspberry Pi, Arduino, etc.)
  • pretty well-documented for most common use cases

Still a great option if you want flexibility and don’t mind putting the pieces together yourself

3. Adafruit

Adafruit is probably the easiest to work with if you value documentation and polish

Project I used it for: A small eink display status screen for a Raspberry Pi server

What stood out for me here are:

  • extremely well-written guides
  • strong CircuitPython ecosystem
  • consistent product quality
  • beginner-friendly but still powerful
  • good community + examples

They offer e paper display / eink display modules, but they’re more component-level

You’ll still do the integration yourself, which is good for learning but takes more time

4. Seeed Studio

In my experience, Seeed is more about modular systems, especially with Grove

Project I used it for: A quick environmental monitoring prototype using Grove sensors

What I liked from them:

  • Grove system makes prototyping really fast
  • wide range of modules
  • easy to swap and test ideas
  • decent balance between price and quality
  • strong manufacturing capabilities

They also have e ink display options, but again, more modular

Works well if you like building systems piece by piece

If you have any questions, please let me know

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 2 months ago

I've seen this in one discussion on one forum and was interested in your opinion, but most providers give 1000MB per GB. Would it make a difference to you?

reddit.com
u/mckrile — 3 months ago