WebSockets through a proxy: what works and what to check

WebSockets go through a proxy the same way an https:// page does: your software asks the proxy to open a connection to the site, then talks to the site through it. Any HTTP proxy that supports CONNECT, as every proxy that opens https:// pages does, and any SOCKS5 proxy can carry ws:// and wss:// connections. What changes is that a WebSocket stays open: it keeps one exit address for as long as it lasts, it holds one of your plan’s connections the whole time, and on a plan sold by the GB everything it streams is metered.

Answer · The live comparison uses prices checked up to Oct 24, 2026; every figure in the text keeps the date it was checked.

How the connection is made

The WebSocket standard says that a client set up to use a proxy “SHOULD connect to that proxy and ask it to open a TCP connection to the host given by /host/ and the port given by /port/”, which with an HTTP proxy is a CONNECT request, login included (RFC 6455, section 4.1). The same section suggests software use a SOCKS5 proxy for WebSockets where one is set, or else the proxy set for HTTPS. Chrome’s proxy documentation confirms that “HTTP proxies can proxy http://, https://, ws:// and wss:// URLs” (Chromium: proxy support).

So the setup is the one you already have: the proxy address and login your software uses for web requests. For wss://, as for https://, the encryption runs from your software to the site: the proxy sees the site’s name, not the messages (HTTPS proxies).

What a long-lived connection means on a proxy plan

• One exit address per connection. A connection leaves the proxy from one address and keeps it until it closes, so a rotating gateway’s “new address on every request” applies to each new WebSocket, not within one. When the connection drops and your software reconnects, it may come out somewhere else; if the site ties a session to the address, ask the gateway for a sticky session (sticky sessions and rotation).
• One connection held, all the time. Each open WebSocket occupies a connection for as long as it is open. On a plan that limits sessions or threads at once, a hundred live sockets need room for a hundred; the box above counts the plans that state a limit.
• Traffic that adds up. A socket that streams prices or messages all day is metered like any other traffic on a plan sold by the GB. Measure what one socket moves in an hour before you pick a plan; for heavy streams, a plan sold by the IP or with unmetered traffic can cost less (unlimited or metered).

If it does not connect

A WebSocket that works directly but not through the proxy usually fails at one of three points: the software is not using the proxy for WebSockets at all (some libraries take a separate proxy setting for them), the proxy’s login is not being sent with the CONNECT request (the proxy answers 407, “Proxy Authentication Required”; proxy authentication covers it), or the provider closes connections after a set time. Ask the provider for its connection time limit if your sockets drop at regular intervals.