Free VPS proxy for SEO and anti-detection browsers

Many of us encounter situations when we need to access content from another region or ensure anonymity online. Standard solutions on the market often hit the pocket hard:

Commercial proxy services with monthly subscription starting from $10-20
Residential proxies priced at $3-5 per gigabyte of traffic
Ready-made VPN solutions with limited location options

Many do not need complex infrastructure with IP address rotation or hundreds of proxies - a stable connection through a specific location for specific tasks is sufficient.

Who is Budget SOCKS Proxy on VPS Suitable For

For SEO Specialists

If you are already paying for a VPS for hosting websites and need to check search results in the region where your server is located, why pay for an additional proxy service? Your personal proxy server based on the Dante program will allow you to utilize existing resources.

Owners of antidetect browsers

To work with Undetectable or other anti-detection browsers, you need a stable proxy with a fixed IP. If you already have a VPS in the required location, configuring Dante will provide you with the necessary proxy without additional costs.

For Proxifier Users and Equivalents

If you utilize programs for managing proxy connections, SOCKS proxy based on Dante will become a reliable backend for your applications, without requiring additional investments.

For Those Avoiding VPN Complexity

Setting up OpenVPN or WireGuard can be complex for an unprepared user. Dante offers a simpler alternative when you just need to redirect traffic through another location.

Advantages of a Budget Solution

Cost Saving: Use your existing paid VPS instead of buying additional services.
Full Control: You are the owner of your proxy – no intermediaries or prying eyes. Only you decide how to configure the connection, and only you have access to the logs. Nobody will monitor your traffic or sell data about your actions to third parties. It's like having your own car instead of a taxi – you go wherever you want, and nobody asks why you're going there.
Connection Stability: Dedicated IP address without competition with other users.
Minimal System Requirements: Dante consumes minimal server resources.
Compatibility: Works with most programs that support the SOCKS protocol.

When this solution is NOT suitable

If you need frequent IP address changes for parsing or mass registration.
When a high level of anonymity and encryption is required (VPN will be the best choice).
In the absence of technical skills for basic server setup.
If you don't have a VPS in the required location and acquiring one would be more expensive than ready-made solutions. To choose the optimal VPS in terms of price/quality ratio, we recommend checking out our VPS hosting ranking.

Real-life Use Cases

Checking SEO results: "I need to see how search results look in Germany, where I already have a VPS for hosting a client's website"
Bypassing geographic restrictions: "I want to access content available only in the USA using my American VPS"
Working with social media accounts: "I need a stable IP from a specific region to work with local marketplaces"
Website testing: "It's necessary to check how geotargeting works on a client's website from different countries"

Installation guide for Dante SOCKS proxy on Ubuntu

We have tested this guide on Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS, but don't worry - it will also work for older versions. If you have Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS or newer, then everything will be simple: Dante Server can be installed in the usual way directly from the standard Ubuntu repository. There are no difficulties with searching for packages or compiling from source - everything is available in official sources.

System Requirements

To set up and run the Dante SOCKS server on a VPS, you need very few resources. This is a major advantage over VPN servers - Dante is not only less demanding on hardware, but also easier to configure, making it an excellent choice for small virtual servers. However, if you plan to handle many simultaneous connections or expect high traffic, it is advisable to allocate additional resources for RAM.

To implement such a solution, you will need a VPS in the required location. If you don't have one yet, use our VPS/VDS hosting rating to choose a reliable provider in the desired country.

Dante Installation

To begin with, it is necessary to update the package lists in the OS to ensure the operating system is up-to-date before installing new software. Connect to the terminal of your server and execute the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade

After that, install Dante using the command:

To install the dante-server package, run the following command:

sudo apt install dante-server

It is important to make sure that Dante is added to the startup. To do this, run the command systemctl is-enabled danted

The outcome should be "enabled", meaning that the service will start automatically when the system loads.

Setting up a SOCKS server

To configure the Dante SOCKS server, you need to edit the configuration file /etc/danted.conf. It is recommended to first remove the default configuration file and create a new one. Let's rename the default configuration file:

sudo mv /etc/danted.conf /etc/danted.conf.bak

Now you can proceed to creating our configuration file. Open it using a text editor:

sudo nano /etc/danted.conf

Our working configuration looks as follows (simply copy and paste for yourself):

logoutput: stderr

internal: ens3 port = 1080
external: ens3

socksmethod: username

user.privileged: root
user.unprivileged: nobody
user.libwrap: nobody

client pass {
        from: 0.0.0.0/0 to: 0.0.0.0/0
        log: error connect disconnect
}

client block {
        from: 0.0.0.0/0 to: 0.0.0.0/0
        log: connect error
}

socks pass {
        from: 0.0.0.0/0 to: 0.0.0.0/0
        log: error connect disconnect
}

socks block {
        from: 0.0.0.0/0 to: 0.0.0.0/0
        log: connect error
}

In this file, you may need to change the interface name (in our file it's ens3), to view available network interfaces, use the command:

sudo ip addr list

After changing the configuration, to apply the new settings, you need to restart the service with the command:

sudo systemctl restart danted

The Dante server will be used to authenticate regular Linux user accounts. It is better to create a separate SOCKS user with no other system privileges.

Let's create a user who will use our SOCKS server, deny access via SSH, and add them to the proxy group or to the group specified in the Dante config parameter user.privileged.

sudo useradd -s /bin/false proxyuser1 && passwd proxyuser1

sudo usermod -aG proxy proxyuser1

In the firewall, do not forget to open port 1080 for incoming connections. If you are using ufw, execute the command:

sudo ufw allow 1080

You can check the service status using systemctl status danted.service to ensure that it is running correctly.

After completing all these steps, your SOCKS5 proxy server Dante is ready to use. You will be able to connect to it from other devices by specifying the IP address of your server, port 1080, and user credentials.

Proxy Check in Anti-detect Browser

Now we need to connect a proxy to a modern anti-detect browser with SOCKS v5 support. The anti-detect browser Undetectable is perfect for our purposes.

Go to the Proxy tab and fill in the details. Click the Check button, see that the IP is determined as German, city Frankfurt-am-Main.

Don't forget to connect a proxy to your profile in the anti-detect browser.

Let's now check with third-party services, let's take a couple of popular ones, for example Whoer, Pixelscan. Everything is great!

Your budget-friendly and fully controlled proxy is ready to work. Good luck with your work.

Conclusion

Budget SOCKS proxy on VPS is not a universal solution for everyone, but for a certain range of tasks, it provides an optimal balance of price and functionality. If you already have a VPS in the required location, and you don't need a complex infrastructure with IP address rotation, Dante can be the tool that solves your tasks without additional costs.

This article was prepared by the experts of the DIEG.info team, led by Dmitry Yakovenko - professionals with years of experience in network technologies and security. We aim to share knowledge that will help you effectively solve tasks in the dynamic world of modern IT technologies. Our mission is to make the complex simple!