Targeting

Sticky sessions

The difference between rotating and sticky IPs, how -session- and -life- work, and when to use each.

Updated Sep 15, 2026 · 2 min read

Rotating vs. sticky

By default every new connection through the gateway can land on a different exit IP — that's rotating mode, and it's what you get from a bare credential or one with only geography options (-country-, -state-, -city-, -asn-):

curl -x "http://ofp_0123abcd-country-us:PASSWORD@proxy.oneforproxy.com:8080" https://api.ipify.org

Sticky mode pins one exit IP to a session id for a set number of minutes, so repeated requests look like they come from the same visitor. Add -session-<id> (letters and digits, max 32 chars) and, optionally, -life-<minutes> (1–1440):

# same IP for 10 minutes under session id "job42"
curl -x "http://ofp_0123abcd-country-us-session-job42-life-10:PASSWORD@proxy.oneforproxy.com:8080" https://api.ipify.org
curl -x "http://ofp_0123abcd-country-us-session-job42-life-10:PASSWORD@proxy.oneforproxy.com:8080" https://api.ipify.org   # → same IP

The two calls above return the same address as long as both run inside the 10-minute window and use the exact same session id.

Running sessions in parallel

Each distinct session id gets its own IP, independent of every other id, so parallel sticky sessions are just parallel ids:

curl -x "http://ofp_0123abcd-session-worker1-life-30:PASSWORD@proxy.oneforproxy.com:8080" https://api.ipify.org &
curl -x "http://ofp_0123abcd-session-worker2-life-30:PASSWORD@proxy.oneforproxy.com:8080" https://api.ipify.org &
curl -x "http://ofp_0123abcd-session-worker3-life-30:PASSWORD@proxy.oneforproxy.com:8080" https://api.ipify.org &
wait

worker1, worker2 and worker3 each hold a different IP for the duration. This is the pattern to use for concurrent threads, browser profiles or scraper workers that each need a stable-but-separate identity — see Multi-profile browser tools for a worked example.

Renewing or dropping a session

Reusing the same session id inside its life window keeps the same IP. Once life expires, the next request with that id gets a new IP and starts a fresh window. To force a new IP immediately, switch to a session id you haven't used before, or drop -session- entirely for rotating mode.

When to use which

Rotating — bulk scraping, sampling many exit IPs, or anything where a new identity per request is what you actually want.
Sticky — logging into an account, a multi-step checkout or form flow, or anything that checks your IP stays consistent across requests within one session.

Sticky and rotating traffic cost the same per GB — see Pricing. For more on how per-GB billing works, see Per-GB billing, explained. For the full username syntax including geography keys, see Targeting and the Docs.