How to Use a Proxy With Httpx: Tutorial [2025]

Are you facing blocks and bans while scraping websites with the httpx library? Websites are increasing their measures to block bot traffic, so you'll need an HTTP proxy to access your desired data.

In this article, you’ll learn how to configure a proxy in httpx to avoid getting blocked, from basic configuration to handling authentication.

How to Set Your Proxy With Httpx in Python

A httpx proxy acts as a bridge between your scraper and the target server. It routes your requests from its server, increasing anonymity and allowing you to distribute traffic across multiple servers.

To set a proxy in httpx, use the proxies\ parameter when making a request. This parameter lets you include your proxy configurations as URL query parameters in the request.

Let's put it into practice.

First, here's a basic httpx script to which you can add proxy configuration.

import httpx
 
r = httpx.get("https://httpbin.io/ip")
print(r.text)

The code snippet above navigates to HTTPbin, a test website that returns the client's IP address and prints its content. Since no proxy settings were added, it will return your machine's IP address.

Step 1: Add a Proxy in Httpx

Start by defining your proxy settings using the following format: <PROXY_PROTOCOL>://<PROXY_IP_ADDRESS>:<PROXY_PORT>.

import httpx
 
# define your proxy settings
proxies = {
    "http://": "http://216.137.184.253:80",
    "https://": "http://216.137.184.253:80"
}

The code snippet above defines separate proxy URLs for HTTP and HTTPS connections. This is essential to tailor the proxy configuration to each protocol's specific requirements and security considerations, ensuring better performance.

Next, include the proxy configuration in your request using the `proxies` parameter. Then, print the text content to verify your code works.

Putting everything together, you'll have the following complete code.

import httpx
 
# define your proxy settings
proxies = {
    "http://": "http://216.137.184.253:80",
    "https://": "http://216.137.184.253:80"
}
 
# make a request with the specified proxy
r = httpx.get("https://httpbin.io/ip", proxies=proxies)
 
print(r.text)

Run it, and you'll get your proxy's IP address.

{
  "origin": "216.137.184.253:40335"
}

Awesome!

Httpx also provides the httpx.Client constructor that allows you to specify a proxy URL directly as an argument. You only need to create a Client and pass the proxy to the Client, like in the example below.

import httpx
 
# create a client with the specified proxy
with httpx.Client(proxy="http://216.137.184.253:80") as client:
    # make requests using the client
    r = client.get("https://httpbin.io/ip")
 
print(r.text)

This will yield the same result as the one above.

However, you should know that free proxies are only suitable for testing since they're unreliable and easily detected by websites. In real-world use cases, you'll need premium web scraping proxies. These proxies often require additional configuration because you must include the necessary credentials in your request.

Let's see how to authenticate a httpx proxy.

Step 2: Proxy Authentication With Httpx: Username and Password

Proxy authentication is necessary when the proxy server requires additional information, such as username and password, to allow access. This is common in corporate environments or when using premium proxy services.

To authenticate your httpx proxy, define your proxy settings using the following format: <PROXY_PROTOCOL>://<YOUR_USERNAME>:<YOUR_PASSWORD>@<PROXY_IP_ADDRESS>:<PROXY_PORT>

Here's how to modify the previous code to authenticate your proxy.

import httpx
 
# define your proxy settings
proxy_url = "http://<YOUR_USERNAME>:<YOUR_PASSWORD>@216.137.184.253:80"
 
# create a client with the specified proxy and credentials
with httpx.Client(proxy=proxy_url) as client:
    # make requests using the client
    r = client.get("https://httpbin.io/ip")
 
print(r.text)

Step 3: Rotate Proxies With Httpx

Scraping at scale often requires rotating between multiple proxies to avoid rate limiting, throttling, or IP bans. Websites often implement restrictions on the number of requests allowed per time frame, and exceeding this limit can result in getting blocked.

By rotating proxies, you distribute your requests across different IP addresses, making it appear as if they originate from various locations or devices.

To rotate proxies with httpx, maintain a pool of proxy URLs and dynamically select a different proxy for each request.

Let's put this into practice.

Import the necessary module (random) and define your proxy pool or list to start. For this exercise, you can grab a few proxies from the Free Proxy List.

# import the necessary libraries
import httpx
import random
 
# define your proxy list
proxy_urls = [
    "http://20.210.113.32:8123",
    "http://47.56.110.204:8989",
    "http://50.174.214.216:80",
    # add more proxy URLs as needed
]

Next, select a proxy at random from the list using the random.choice() method, a function provided by the Python random module. Then, make your request using the selected proxy.

# select a random proxy URL
random_proxy = random.choice(proxy_urls)
 
# make a request using the selected proxy
with httpx.Client(proxy=random_proxy) as client:
    r = client.get("https://httpbin.io/ip")
    print(r.text)

Putting everything together, your complete code should look like this:

# import the necessary libraries
import httpx
import random
 
# define your proxy list
proxy_urls = [
    "http://20.210.113.32:8123",
    "http://47.56.110.204:8989",
    "http://50.174.214.216:80",
    # add more proxy URLs as needed
]
 
# select a random proxy URL
random_proxy = random.choice(proxy_urls)
 
# make a request using the selected proxy
with httpx.Client(proxy=random_proxy) as client:
    r = client.get("https://httpbin.io/ip")
    print(r.text)

To verify it works, make multiple requests. You should get a different IP address each time. Here are the results for two requests:

{
  "origin": "20.210.113.32:8888"
}
 
{
  "origin": "47.56.110.204:3128"
}

Nice job!

Premium Proxy to Avoid Getting Blocked

Free proxies come with significant limitations for web scraping. Their inconsistent performance, security vulnerabilities, and compromised IP reputation make them unreliable for professional applications. Most target websites can easily detect and block these free proxies.

Premium proxies offer a more reliable solution for avoiding detection. By utilizing residential IPs from actual users, premium proxies can seamlessly mimic genuine user traffic. Features like automatic IP rotation and geographic targeting capabilities make them particularly effective for web scraping.

ZenRows' Residential Proxies is one of the best premium proxy services, providing access to more than 55M+ residential IPs distributed across 185+ countries. It includes powerful features like dynamic IP rotation, intelligent proxy selection, and flexible geo-targeting, all backed by 99.9% network uptime. This makes it an excellent choice for reliable scraping with httpx.

Let's integrate ZenRows' Residential Proxies with httpx.

First, sign up, and you'll be redirected to the Proxy Generator dashboard. Your proxy credentials will be generated automatically.

Copy your proxy credentials (username and password) and replace the placeholders in the following code:

import httpx

# define your proxy settings
proxy_url = "http://<ZENROWS_PROXY_USERNAME>:<ZENROWS_PROXY_PASSWORD>@superproxy.zenrows.com:1337"

# create a client with the specified proxy and credentials
with httpx.Client(proxy=proxy_url) as client:
    # make requests using the client
    r = client.get("https://httpbin.io/ip")

print(r.text)

When you run this code multiple times, you'll see output similar to this:

# request 1
{
  "origin": "178.62.45.183:39754"
}
# request 2
{
    "origin": "178.62.45.183:39754"
}

Excellent! The above output confirms that your httpx requests are successfully routed through ZenRows' residential proxy network. Your HTTP client is now using premium proxies that significantly reduce the risk of being blocked during web scraping.

Conclusion

Setting a httpx proxy in Python can help you route your requests through a different IP address and avoid IP bans. However, it's important to remember that proxies aren't foolproof. Even premium proxies can be blocked by advanced anti-bot systems.

For guaranteed web scraping results, give ZenRows a try today.