---
title: "Backconnect proxy"
url: https://proxy.wiki/glossary/backconnect-proxy/
type: Glossary Term
author: "proxy.wiki editorial"
published: 2026-08-19
updated: 2026-08-19
site: proxy.wiki
topics: ["Proxy fundamentals"]
license: CC BY 4.0 — quote freely with attribution to https://proxy.wiki/
---

# Backconnect proxy

> A single gateway address that transparently routes each request through a different address in the provider's pool.

**A backconnect proxy gives you one endpoint that resolves to many addresses behind it.** You configure one host and port; the provider maps each connection onto a different member of the [pool](/glossary/proxy-pool/).

## Why it is built this way

Managing thousands of individual addresses in client code is impractical: they change, they fail, and they need health checks. A backconnect gateway moves all of that to the provider. Your configuration stays a single line even as the pool underneath changes continuously.

## Practical consequences

- Your firewall rules and connection settings reference one host, not thousands.

- You cannot choose a specific exit address directly — you express intent through parameters such as country or [session](/glossary/sticky-session/) identifier.

- The gateway’s own location is not the [exit](/glossary/exit-node/) location.

Nearly all modern [residential](/glossary/residential-proxy/) and [mobile](/glossary/mobile-proxy/) services are backconnect. Per-address lists are now mostly a [datacenter](/glossary/datacenter-proxy/) and [ISP](/glossary/isp-proxy/) arrangement.