---
title: "IP whitelisting"
url: https://proxy.wiki/glossary/ip-whitelisting/
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/
---

# IP whitelisting

> Authorising a proxy by the address you connect from, instead of sending a username and password.

**IP whitelisting authorises use of a proxy based on the address your requests originate from.** You register your server’s public address with the provider, and requests from it are accepted without credentials.

## Why it is used

- No credentials in configuration files, environment variables or logs.

- Slightly lower overhead, since there is no authentication exchange.

- Convenient for fixed infrastructure with a stable address.

## Where it breaks

- **Dynamic addresses.** A home connection or an autoscaling instance changes address and access stops without warning.

- **Shared addresses.** Anyone else behind the same NAT can use your allocation.

- **Slow propagation.** Whitelist changes are not always instant, which is painful during an incident.

## Choosing between the two

For fixed servers, whitelisting is clean. For anything that moves, scales or runs on a laptop, [credential authentication](/glossary/proxy-authentication/) is more robust. Some providers allow both at once, which is usually the pragmatic answer.