What is a Proxy and a Reverse Proxy, and what is the difference between them?

A proxy server is an intermediate server that acts as a intermediary between a client application and a target server on the internet. When a client requests a resource, the request is first sent to the proxy server, which forwards it to the final source and then returns the response to the client. This allows masking the user's real IP address, caching data, and filtering unwanted traffic.

A reverse proxy performs the opposite task and is located in front of a company's server infrastructure, handling all incoming requests from the internet. It distributes the load among multiple backend servers, terminates SSL connections, accelerates the delivery of static content, and protects internal services from direct network attacks, such as DDoS. The main differences between them can be summarized as follows:

Understanding the difference between these types of proxy servers is critically important when designing scalable web applications and organizing secure access to corporate resources. Popular software solutions for implementing a reverse proxy today include Nginx, HAProxy, and Traefik.