Why Is My Proxy Not Working?

Run the same request three ways. Use -v so cURL prints where it stops; --noproxy '*' makes cURL ignore any proxy set in environment variables (curl manual).

# A. Direct, no proxy at all
curl -v --noproxy '*' https://www.example.com/

# B. Through the proxy, to an IP-check page
curl -v -x gate.proxyfield.io:7000 -U "<login>-country-us-city-new_york:<password>" https://api.ipify.org

# C. Through the proxy, to your target
curl -v -x gate.proxyfield.io:7000 -U "<login>-country-us-city-new_york:<password>" https://www.example.com/

Test 1 proxy line or up to 100 at once in the proxy checker; your list and results are not stored.

What cURL's error tells you

cURL prints an exit code and a message when a request fails before any HTTP response. These are cURL's own codes, the same for any proxy (curl manual, "Exit codes"):

If you get an HTTP status instead, the request reached a server. In general HTTP terms (MDN: HTTP status codes), 407 Proxy Authentication Required comes from a proxy that wants credentials, while 502 Bad Gateway and 504 Gateway Timeout mean a gateway got a bad reply or no reply from upstream; the target site may sit behind its own CDN, so a 502 or 504 is not proof of where it failed (502 Bad Gateway and 504 Gateway Timeout). ProxyField's own gateway responses: 407 Proxy Authentication Required for a wrong login or password, an IP not on the allowlist or a malformed location, 402 Payment Required when no traffic is left and 502 Bad Gateway when no exit could be connected; a restricted site gets no separate response, and a 403 comes from the site itself.

See which layer answered

--write-out prints the proxy's reply and the site's reply separately:

curl -s -o /dev/null -x gate.proxyfield.io:7000 -U "<login>:<password>" \
  -w 'proxy CONNECT: %{http_connect}  site: %{http_code}  error: %{errormsg}\n' \
  https://www.example.com/

%{http_connect} is the proxy's answer to the HTTPS tunnel request (200 means the tunnel opened) and %{http_code} is the target's status. A 200 for the tunnel with a 403 from the site means the proxy worked and the site refused; a non-200 tunnel code means the proxy side. %{errormsg} needs cURL 7.75 or later; %{proxy_used} (cURL 8.7 or later) shows whether a proxy was used at all.

Work through the connection in order; each item is the most common cause at that stage.

1. Host and port. Copy them again from your account: for ProxyField, host gate.proxyfield.io, port 7000 (with the IP allowlist, the port you set up in the dashboard). No http:// in a host-only field, no spaces. Where each value goes: proxy server address.
2. Protocol. Set the tool's proxy type to HTTP, HTTPS or SOCKS5. On ProxyField all three use the same host, port and login, so pick the one your tool supports; in a proxy URL the scheme must match (http:// for HTTP, socks5h:// for SOCKS5).
3. Login. Username and password exactly as given; targeting options such as -country-us-city-new_york are part of the username, in lowercase with underscores. A full line: gate.proxyfield.io:7000:<login>-country-us-city-new_york:<password>. Or put your current public IP on the allowlist and connect to the port you set up in the dashboard; your IP changes when you switch networks.
4. Stray proxy settings. cURL and many libraries read http_proxy, https_proxy, ALL_PROXY and NO_PROXY; an old value sends requests to a proxy you no longer use, or past the one you want. env | grep -i proxy lists them (everything curl: proxy environment variables). cURL reads http_proxy only in lowercase.
5. Network. Office, school and public networks may block proxy ports. Test from a phone hotspot to rule it out, and allow your app in the firewall.
6. Account. The dashboard shows real-time usage and remaining gigabytes; access opens once the payment is confirmed. Traffic never expires, so an old balance still works. With no traffic left, the gateway answers 402 Payment Required with the text ProxyField: no traffic left. Top up at https://proxyfield.io.
7. Format in your tool. Tools disagree on host:port:user:pass versus URL form; proxy format shows both and how to convert. A password with @, : or # must be percent-encoded in URL form.

The proxy delivered your request; the website answered with a refusal. Read the status code and the page:

A proxy changes the IP the site sees; it doesn't change your headers, browser fingerprint, cookies or request rate. When a site blocks you on those, a different IP won't fix it. ProxyField's gateway adds no Via, X-Forwarded-For or Forwarded header, so the site sees only the headers your client sends.

The browser, the script and cURL don't share proxy settings. The usual differences:

• The script doesn't use the proxy at all. Some HTTP libraries read HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY environment variables and some don't; pass the proxy explicitly in code. See command-line proxy settings.
• Only one scheme is set. In Python requests, set the proxy for both http and https keys, or HTTPS requests go direct.
• The login isn't sent on HTTPS tunnels, giving 407 on HTTPS only.
• Special characters in the password break the proxy URL; percent-encode them.
• The browser has its own layer: an extension, a VPN, DNS-over-HTTPS or a saved old login can override the system proxy. Test in a clean profile.
• The site treats the script differently: it accepts your browser and refuses your client's headers, cookies or TLS fingerprint. That is a site block, not a proxy fault.

Python examples: proxies in Python; Node.js: Node.js.

• SOCKS5 uses the same gateway and port as HTTP on ProxyField: gate.proxyfield.io:7000, with the same username and password. Test it: curl -v -x socks5h://gate.proxyfield.io:7000 -U "<login>:<password>" https://api.ipify.org.
• In code, install SOCKS support (for Python requests, pip install "requests[socks]") and use socks5h:// to let the proxy resolve host names; socks5:// resolves them on your machine, which fails where your DNS can't see the name.
• Check that the tool supports SOCKS5 with a username and password; some only support SOCKS5 without a login. If yours doesn't, allowlist your IP instead and use SOCKS5 on the port you set up in the dashboard.
• UDP: ProxyField residential proxies carry UDP over SOCKS5 (HTTP/3, QUIC), but many tools and apps send only TCP through SOCKS5.

Collect the time and time zone, the exact error, the target URL, the exit location you requested and the output of the three cURL tests, then contact our 24/7 live chat, which helps with setup and integration.