The IPv4 vs IPv6 proxies question is not decided by the quality of the protocol but by a single fact: does the site you need open over IPv6 at all? Google, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram do. Avito, VK, Ozon and most Russian platforms do not, and no proxy will change that.
This article is for anyone budgeting for scraping, multi-accounting or advertising who has noticed the price gap: IPv6 at ProxyFarm starts at 12 ₽ (≈ $0.13) per address per month, a dedicated IPv4 at 79 ₽ (≈ $0.85). We explain where that gap comes from, where IPv6 genuinely saves money and how to choose between IPv4 and IPv6 for a specific platform.
The technical difference between IPv4 and IPv6
IPv4 is a 1981 protocol with a 32-bit address. There are only about 4.3 billion such addresses, and they are gone: regional registries handed out the last blocks between 2011 and 2019. No new addresses appear; they are only resold and leased.
IPv6 uses a 128-bit address that looks like 2a02:6b8::2:242. There are so many of them that a hosting provider receives a /48 or /64 subnet and can carve billions of individual addresses out of it. That is exactly why IPv6 proxies are sold by the hundreds and thousands for small money.
From the website's point of view, an IPv6 address does not come from the familiar databases and often has no history. For anti-fraud systems that is both a plus (no accumulated negative record) and a minus (easy to issue and easy to ban an entire subnet).
Why IPv6 proxies cost 12 ₽ and IPv4 costs 79 ₽
The price of a proxy is almost entirely the price of the address itself. IPv4 is a scarce resource: the provider leases blocks on the secondary market, and every address costs money each month. Hence 79 ₽ for a dedicated IPv4 used by one customer, and 35 ₽ per address in a shared proxy pack, where one IP is split between several customers.
IPv6 addresses come to the provider practically free along with the server. The only costs are the server itself, bandwidth and support. That is why 100 IPv6 addresses at ProxyFarm start at 1 200 ₽ a month, while 100 dedicated IPv4 addresses start at 7 900 ₽. Bandwidth and uptime are identical for both types: they run on the same servers.
The savings are real, but only for tasks where IPv6 is applicable at all. Otherwise a cheap address is an address through which the site will not open.
Which platforms support IPv6: the table
For a site to open through an IPv6 proxy, its domain needs an AAAA record and its infrastructure must accept connections over the newer protocol. Checking is easy: open the site through an IPv6 proxy. If the page does not load at all, there is no support.
| Platform | Works over IPv6 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Google (Search, Maps, Play) | Yes | The main IPv6 use case: scraping SERPs and suggestions |
| YouTube | Yes | Viewing, checking search results, comments |
| Yes | Registration and account management work, but trust in IPv6 is lower | |
| Yes | Fine for browsing and scraping; for accounts mobile proxies are better | |
| Telegram | Yes | Telegram's data centers accept IPv6 |
| Wikipedia, Netflix, Microsoft | Yes | Large Western services moved to IPv6 back in the 2010s |
| Yandex | Partially | Some services answer over IPv6; do not count on all of them |
| Avito (Russia's largest classifieds site) | No | IPv4 only; mobile or dedicated proxies are better |
| VK, Odnoklassniki | No | IPv4 only |
| Ozon, Wildberries, Yandex Market | No | IPv4 only |
| Twitter (X), Amazon, most Russian sites | No | IPv4 only |
The table reflects the situation at the time of publication. Large sites enable IPv6 gradually, so before a big purchase test the target platform with a single trial address.
IPv6 proxies: what they are good for
Which proxy is better, IPv4 or IPv6, is decided by the platform, not the protocol. IPv6 wins where you need a lot of addresses for a site that supports the protocol and does not demand a very "human" IP.
- Scraping Google. Collecting SERPs, suggestions and rankings for thousands of queries across dozens of threads. Each thread gets its own address, captchas are spread out, and 500 addresses cost from 6 000 ₽ a month. More on this scenario on the proxies for scraping page.
- Monitoring YouTube and Google Maps. Checking results by region, collecting business listings, reviews and prices.
- Bulk checks. Link validation, page availability checks, metadata collection from sites that have an AAAA record.
- Registering and warming up Facebook and Instagram accounts in large volumes, when the cost of a mistake is low and the accounts are disposable.
IPv4 remains the choice for everything else: Russian platforms, marketplaces, Avito, VK, ad accounts, long-lived accounts, service APIs without IPv6 and any task where every single account matters.
Risks of IPv6 proxies: subnet bans and software support
The main risk is a subnet ban. Platforms know that millions of addresses can be generated from a single /64, so they block the whole subnet rather than an individual IP. If a hundred of your addresses sit in one /64 and one of them gets flagged, the other 99 stop working with it. Take addresses from different subnets; at ProxyFarm you can specify this when ordering.
The second risk is software. Older program versions, some anti-detect browsers and mobile emulators cannot work with an IPv6 exit: the connection to the proxy is established, but the site never opens. Before buying a pack, test one address in your setup.
The third is trust. An IPv6 address has no history, and some anti-fraud systems treat it with suspicion: more captchas, more phone verification prompts. Tolerable for disposable accounts, not for an ad account with a budget behind it.
ProxyFarm replaces an address that does not fit for free within the first 24 hours, and if you picked the wrong proxy type altogether, refunds the payment within the same period.
IPv4 or IPv6 for your task: a five-step checklist
- Check the target platform. Open it through any IPv6 proxy. If it does not open, the question is settled: you need IPv4.
- Weigh the value of the account or task. Disposable accounts, scraping, checks: IPv6. Long-lived accounts, advertising, sales: IPv4 or mobile.
- Count the volume. Up to 10 addresses the budget difference is negligible, take IPv4. From 100 addresses on Google or YouTube, IPv6 saves thousands of rubles a month.
- Test your software. A single trial IPv6 address in your program will show whether it can handle it.
- Spread addresses across subnets and never take all your IPv6 from one /64.
If the task is mixed, say scraping Google while also working with Avito, take both types: IPv6 proxies for Western platforms and dedicated IPv4 for Russian ones. Both types work over HTTP(S) and SOCKS5 and are delivered automatically 2 minutes after payment.
Related questions
Can I use IPv6 proxies for Avito or VK?
No. Avito, VK, Odnoklassniki, Ozon and Wildberries do not accept IPv6 connections, so the site simply will not open through such a proxy. For these platforms you need dedicated IPv4 or mobile proxies.
Why doesn't a site open through an IPv6 proxy?
Almost always because the domain has no AAAA record, meaning the site does not support IPv6. Less often, the program cannot work with an IPv6 exit. Check the same site through an IPv4 proxy: if it opens, the problem is protocol support, not the proxy.
How many IPv6 addresses do I need per scraping thread?
For Google, plan on one address per thread plus a 20–30 % reserve for swapping on captchas. For 20 threads take 25–30 addresses from different subnets. If you rotate addresses between requests, you can increase the thread count without a rise in captchas.
What is cheaper for Russian sites: shared IPv4 or IPv6?
For Russian platforms IPv6 is not an option, since they do not support it. The cheapest working choice here is shared IPv4 from 35 ₽ per address, where the IP is split between several customers. If you need a clean address of your own, a dedicated IPv4 starts at 79 ₽.