How to use a proxy in Chrome

Setup guide · Last revised Oct 20, 2026

The system setting (every browser that follows it)

• Windows: Settings, Network & internet, Proxy, Manual proxy setup (step by step).
• Mac: System Settings, Network, your connection, Details, Proxies (step by step).
• Android and iPhone: the Wi-Fi network’s proxy setting (Android, iPhone).

Only this Chrome: the --proxy-server option

Chromium documents --proxy-server as the way to run it “with custom proxy settings”: --proxy-server="foopy:8080" “will use the proxy at foopy:8080 for all traffic”. To keep your everyday Chrome as it is, start a second Chrome with its own profile folder:

• Windows (in a shortcut’s Target, or the Run box): "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --user-data-dir="%TEMP%\chrome-proxy" --proxy-server="http://proxy.example.com:8000"
• Mac (in Terminal): open -na "Google Chrome" --args --user-data-dir="/tmp/chrome-proxy" --proxy-server="http://proxy.example.com:8000"

The separate profile matters: a Chrome that is already running may open the new window in the existing browser, without the option. We ran Chrome 156 (Chrome for Testing) with --proxy-server against a test proxy on Oct 19, 2026, through Puppeteer; the address it showed was the proxy’s.

The login

Do not put the username and password in the --proxy-server address; Chrome asks for them in a sign-in box when the proxy requests them. Enter the proxy login from your provider’s dashboard. With a wrong login, pages fail with ERR_INVALID_AUTH_CREDENTIALS, Chrome’s name for a 407 from the proxy.

SOCKS5

--proxy-server="socks5://proxy.example.com:1080" works with a SOCKS5 proxy that needs no password. Chrome does not send a username and password to a SOCKS5 proxy: our run with a password-protected SOCKS5 proxy failed with ERR_SOCKS_CONNECTION_FAILED. Use the provider’s HTTP port, or SOCKS5 with IP allowlisting (username and password vs IP whitelist).

Check that it works

Open https://api.ipify.org: it should show the proxy’s address. https://ipinfo.io/country shows its country. An everyday Chrome window beside it, without the option, shows your own address, which makes the difference easy to see.

What a browser costs in traffic

A browser loads every image, script, video and ad on a page, and keeps background connections open (sync, updates, extensions). On a plan billed by the GB, that is all traffic you pay for. A separate profile with no extensions and no sync, used only for the job, keeps it down. What a GB costs today: residential proxy prices.

Next

How to test a proxy. For pages that fail: proxy errors, by who sends them.