Proxy means a stand-in — a person or system that acts on someone else’s behalf. That is the whole definition. Everything else is context.
Everyday examples
- In a company vote, a proxy vote is one cast by someone else on your behalf.
- A proxy marriage is one where one party isn’t physically present; someone else stands in for them.
- A proxy war is one where larger powers back opposing sides, supplying money, weapons or advice, instead of fighting each other directly.
In all of these, you have your own opinion or role, but a stand-in carries it out for you.
On the web
A proxy server is a computer that fetches web pages on your behalf. Your device asks the proxy, the proxy asks the destination site, and the page comes back through the proxy. The destination sees the proxy’s address and location, not yours, though it still sees your browser’s details and anything you type or sign in with.
Caption: Cloudflare’s trace page opened through AnyProxy’s Singapore server, 15 October 2026. The site recorded a visitor in Singapore (loc=SG); the IP line is hidden.
Types of web proxies
- Forward proxy — stands in for the visitor. This is what AnyProxy is. You use it to reach a site your local network won’t fetch for you directly.
- Reverse proxy — stands in for the server. Sits in front of a website and handles incoming requests. See our longer piece on what a reverse proxy is.
- Transparent proxy — one you didn’t ask for. Your ISP or workplace inserts it into the path, usually to cache popular content or filter what you can reach.
AnyProxy is a particular kind of forward proxy, a web proxy: a website that does the fetching, so nothing is installed or configured on your device.
Proxy vs VPN
Both move where a network request appears to come from. A VPN moves your whole device onto a different network; a proxy moves one browser tab. See the proxy-vs-VPN comparison for the full breakdown.
Try one
If you have a site your current network won’t open, type its address into anyproxy.site and pick a region (Singapore, Frankfurt or Virginia on the free tier). We fetch the page, you see it in your tab. That is what “proxy” means in practice. One caution: a proxy is a stand-in you have to trust, because it handles everything it fetches for you; AnyProxy is not a no-logs service, as its privacy policy explains.