IP Ban

An IP ban is a rule that blocks or restricts requests based on the public source address they come from. A destination can reject the connection, return an error page, require an extra challenge, or reduce access instead of applying a complete block.

Services may ban an address after abusive behavior, excessive request volume, repeated authentication failures, or a reputation signal from earlier activity. A rule can target one IP, a subnet, or a larger network range. Range-level blocks cause activity from one address to affect neighboring addresses, including unrelated users behind shared infrastructure or carrier-grade NAT.

Changing an address may restore access when the rule applies only to the old IP, but rotation does not correct the behavior that caused the block. Immediate retries at the same rate can lead to more bans across the proxy pool. A safer recovery path is to stop the affected work, interpret the response, lower request pressure, apply backoff, and confirm that the access is permitted before resuming.

The guide to residential proxies for bypassing IP bans discusses address choice and responsible request behavior.

Related terms: rate limiting and IP rotation.