TL;DR
Pass your Proxyon credentials into Playwright's launch() proxy option. Every page in that browser instance routes through it, works the same for Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit.
Playwright drives a real browser, which is exactly what JS-heavy or fingerprint-sensitive sites need. Pair it with residential proxies, and that browser gets a real household IP instead of a flagged datacenter one. In this article, we'll explore how to configure the proxy, handle authentication, target specific locations, and test the connection before scraping.
Setting the Proxy
Proxy config belongs in the launch options, not per request:
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
with sync_playwright() as p:
browser = p.chromium.launch(
proxy={
"server": "http://gate.proxyon.io:8000",
"username": "your-username",
"password": "your-password"
}
)
page = browser.new_page()
page.goto("https://httpbin.org/ip")
browser.close()Same syntax for p.firefox.launch() and p.webkit.launch(). Need different proxies per tab? Set it on browser.new_context() instead, since context-level settings override the browser default. Full parameter list is in Playwright's network docs.
Also Read: How to Scrape JavaScript-Heavy Sites With Playwright and Proxies
Authentication and Rotation
Username and password sit directly in the proxy dict, no separate auth step. For rotation, change the session ID in the username before each new_context() call. For sticky sessions, keep it the same across a login or checkout flow. Playwright doesn't auto-retry failed proxy connections, so wrap goto() in your own retry logic when scraping at volume. BrowserStack's proxy guide covers the same setup for test environments.
Targeting a Specific Location
Proxyon covers 195 countries with city-level targeting, and you set it the same way you set auth: through the username string. Append the country and city code (user-country-us-city-chicago) instead of switching your whole proxy pool. This matters most for ad verification and localized SERP checks, where the wrong city returns the wrong result even if the country is correct.
Also Read: How to Do Web Scraping Without Getting Blocked
FAQ Section
Does Playwright support SOCKS5?
Yes, use socks5:// instead of http:// in the server field.
Different proxies per tab?
Yes, open a separate browser.new_context() per tab with its own proxy.
Does this work with datacenter proxies?
Same setup. Datacenter is faster, residential is harder to detect.
Does the proxy work with Playwright Test?
Yes, set it under use.proxy in playwright.config.ts and it applies to every test in the run.
Can I bypass the proxy for specific domains?
Yes, add a bypass field to the proxy object with a comma-separated list of hosts.
Will using a proxy slow down my tests?
Slightly, since traffic makes an extra hop. Datacenter proxies keep the delay minimal; residential adds a bit more due to real-device routing.
Final Thoughts
Plugging Proxyon into Playwright comes down to one config block at launch. Authentication, rotation, and location targeting all happen at the session level; after that, no extra middleware is needed. It's a five-minute setup that saves hours of debugging blocked scrapes. Proxyon runs pay-as-you-go with no subscriptions, so you only pay for what you use.
