For some time the only choice in proxy scripts was between CGI or PHProxy. While these scripts are still some of the most popular, today there is a veritable wealth of other proxy scripts to choose from. Do remember though that all of these scripts essentially perform the same function, and when integrated into our templates, will look (almost) identical.
So rather than appearance, when deciding on which script you will install what should you be looking for?. Some scripts are friendlier towards JavaScript than others. Some cope better with logins, others with streaming media and so on. Think of your end users’ needs. Also of consideration should be how much you can afford to spend on hosting. This is important because some scripts (such as CGI proxy) can be quite demanding on RAM/CPU while others (like PHProxy) can eat up bandwidth. Balancing user requirements, running costs and available resources can be a difficult juggling act.
PHProxy
This is probably the most popular web proxy script. By far our own download stats reflect this. As the name suggests, PHProxy is coded in PHP, a very common web scripting language. For this reason it is easy to get the code adjusted to your specific requirements with an almost infinite number of coders and freelancers online to make changes for little outlay. By contrast Perl (the heart of CGI proxy) is a ‘messier’ scripting language which is used less and less online.
CGI Proxy
CGI proxy, being one of the original proxy scripts means that it remains popular (though less so than PHProxy or Glype). The script is quite demanding on RAM, so it is probably necessary to invest in a dedicated hosting provider, meaning higher expenses. CGI proxy was always known to be better for sites which require logins (i.e. the majority of social networking sites). While that may have been true a couple of years ago, today the majority of scripts have been tweaked to allow site login through the proxy server.
Zelune
Zelune has been around for a couple of years (though not as long a PHP or CGI). It quickly became a very popular alternative to the old daddies because it was considerably quicker at retrieving sites. This is because the script is based on PHP but utilises cURL to download pages. In fact, when it was first launched the script was referred to as ‘Curl proxy’. Zelune is probably also the least resource intensive script, meaning hosting specifications do not need to be as high. I would certainly recommend Zelune as a good alternative to PHProxy or Glype. All of our free
templates are available to download in Zelune so give it a try.
Glype
Glype is one of the newest proxy scripts available and is relatively popular with webmasters (though less so than PHProxy). The script is written in PHP and like Zelune uses the cURL library. Glype is also fairly unique because it supports caching, reducing server load when serving popular sites (such as the Facebook homepage). The script options are also fairly accessible, allowing webmasters to restrict access to bandwidth-draining sites (such as youtube or last.fm). One feature of Glype which may confuse new proxy webmasters is that the proxy script is completely separate from the theme ‘skin’. This is similar to the way wordpress blogs are installed, with themes added and activated afterwards. Since the developers of Glype do not permit the distribution of their script you have to download the proxy from their website before uploading any of our Glype themes.
Bblocked
This is another proxy script coded in PHP. The script aimed to use extremely streamlined code and to be resource friendly. Although initial development appeared promising, webmasters reported a number of coding issues and bugs. Since it appears that the developer is no longer updating or supporting the script it is not utilised by many webmasters. For this reason, we do not currently develop templates for bblocked.
Surrogafier
This is yet another PHP-based script. It is probably the most simplistic proxy script since it only consists of a single PHP file. Unfortunately Surrogafier is not used by many webmasters. It is deemed relatively difficult to customise the script and the developer has not updated the script for several years. Due to lack of demand, we do not code our templates into Surrogafier.