What is a sticky session proxy?
A sticky session is a proxy connection that keeps one exit IP for a period you choose. Every request you send with the same session ID leaves from the same address until the lifetime runs out, so the website sees one visitor working through several pages rather than many strangers making one request each.
Nefo sticky sessions run on the rotating residential proxies, so the IP is a real home connection in the country, state, city or ISP you target. When the lifetime ends, or when you change the session ID, the next request gets a new IP.
Sticky vs rotating proxies
| Sticky session | Rotating session | |
|---|---|---|
| IP behavior | Same IP for 1 minute to 24 hours | New IP on every request |
| Best for | Logins, carts, multi-step forms, paginated crawls | Independent lookups, price checks, broad crawling |
| HTTP(S) port | 10000 | 9000 |
| SOCKS5 port | 12000 | 11000 |
| Price | Same per-GB balance | Same per-GB balance |
Both modes draw on one balance, so a scraper on rotating lines and an account session on a sticky line can run side by side. The rotating vs sticky comparison goes deeper into the trade-offs.
When to use sticky sessions
Use a sticky session whenever the site ties what you do to the address you came from. Typical cases:
- Stepping through a multi-page flow, such as a search with filters, a cart or a checkout test
- Keeping a consistent regional view while you compare prices or content across pages
- Managing authorized business accounts that expect a stable location during a session
- Paginated crawls where the site keeps state between pages
- Running a browser or antidetect profile where each profile should keep its own IP
Use rotating sessions for high-volume, stateless collection, such as sampling many public pages where each request stands alone. Spreading those requests across many IPs avoids the rate limits a single address would hit.
How to set up a sticky session
The session lives in the username, so there is nothing to configure in the dashboard beyond your credentials. Pick a session ID of 8 hex characters, add a lifetime in minutes, and connect to the sticky port on gw.nefo.net.
# The same US home IP for 30 minutes (HTTP sticky, port 10000)
curl -x http://gw.nefo.net:10000 \
-U "USERNAME-country-us-session-a1b2c3d4-lifetime-30:PASSWORD" \
https://api.ipify.org- Choose the location:
-country-us, and optionally-state-…,-city-losangelesor-asn-…. - Add
-session-<id>(8 hex characters) with a new ID for each identity you want to keep. - Add
-lifetime-<minutes>, anywhere from 1 to 1,440 minutes (24 hours). The dashboard offers presets from 5 minutes to 24 hours. - Use port 10000 for HTTP(S) or 12000 for SOCKS5. To start over with a fresh IP, change the session ID.
The proxy generator in the dashboard builds these usernames for you, and code samples for Python Requests and Puppeteer are in the integrations section.
How long can a sticky IP really last?
The lifetime you set is the maximum. Residential IPs are real home connections, so if a device goes offline during the session the gateway moves you to a new IP. For work that cannot tolerate any change, use a fixed address instead:
- 24-hour residential proxies: pick one home IP and keep it for a day, $0.09 per IP with unlimited bandwidth
- Static residential ISP proxies: the same ISP-registered IP for 7 to 360 days
- Static datacenter IPs: a dedicated IPv4 or IPv6 for allowlisting
- Rotating 4G/5G mobile proxies also support sticky sessions, up to 2 hours
Sticky session pricing
Session mode does not change the price. You pay for the gigabytes that pass through your credentials: residential bandwidth starts at $4.50 for 5 GB and falls to $0.53/GB at 10 TB, and it never expires. Concurrency is unlimited, so you can hold as many sticky sessions at once as your work needs. Full details are on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
From 1 minute up to 24 hours on Pool 1, the default residential pool; Pool 2 holds sessions up to 60 minutes. You set the lifetime in minutes in the proxy username. After it ends, or if the home device behind the IP goes offline, the next request gets a new IP.
Sticky sessions keep the same IP for a set duration; rotating sessions assign a new IP on each request. On Nefo both use the same gateway and balance, on different ports. See rotating vs sticky proxies.
No. Session mode does not change pricing; you are billed for the data that passes through your credentials, from $4.50 for 5 GB. Bandwidth never expires.
Yes. Use port 12000 for sticky SOCKS5 and 10000 for sticky HTTP(S). Session mode and protocol are independent choices. See SOCKS5 proxies.
Yes. Combine city or ISP targeting with a session ID, for example -country-us-city-losangeles-session-a1b2c3d4-lifetime-60. City targeting covers 22,417 cities worldwide.
Change the session ID in the username. A new ID starts a new session with a new IP, while the old one keeps its IP until its lifetime ends.