Routing your exports through your own proxies is the single best way to get the full potential out of ExportComments — more headroom for large jobs, fewer rate-limit hiccups, and control over which region your requests come from. Here's how to set one up in a couple of minutes.

Why route exports through a proxy

When every request goes out from the same address, busy platforms throttle you fast. Spreading requests across a pool of proxies — ideally close to the audience you're exporting — keeps jobs running smoothly and lets you pull far more data per export.

  • Higher volume — large comment and review exports complete without tripping rate limits.
  • Better reliability — if one proxy is slow or blocked, the pool rotates to another.
  • Region control — a proxy near the source is strongly recommended for Facebook exports.
  • Your providers, your choice — bring proxies from any provider you like (Bright Data, Oxylabs, Smartproxy, your own servers — anything).

Proxy pools are a paid feature, available on the Premium and Business plans.

How to set up a proxy pool — step by step

Step 1: Open the Proxy Pools page

Sign in, open your account menu, and go to Proxy Pools (under your profile at /user/proxies). This is where every pool you create lives, with a quick count of total pools and proxies.

The Proxy Pools page in ExportComments with the Add Proxy Pool button

Step 2: Create a pool

Click + Add Proxy Pool, give it a clear Pool Name (e.g. “Bright Data US Proxies”), and save. A pool is just a named group of proxies — create separate pools for different providers or regions so you can pick the right one per export.

Step 3: Add your proxies (bulk import)

Open your new pool and choose Import Proxies. Paste one proxy per line — username and password are optional. You can import up to 1,000 proxies at once, and the form shows how many valid proxies it detected before you confirm.

The Import Proxies modal showing the proxy list format and valid proxy count

Step 4: Select the pool on your export

Back on the export form, paste your URL and open Advanced Mode → Network Options. Switch on Use Proxy and pick your pool from the Select proxy pool dropdown — it shows each pool's proxy count. Then click Start Export Process. ExportComments rotates through the pool automatically for the duration of the job.

Selecting a proxy pool under Advanced Mode Network Options on the export form

Proxy line format

Each line is address:port followed by optional ;username;password:

  • 123.123.123.123:3128;login;password — authenticated proxy
  • example.com:8888;username;secret — authenticated by hostname
  • example.com:3128 — no authentication
  • otherhost.org:3218;username; — username only

To pin a protocol, prefix the line — http://, https://, socks4:// or socks5:// (e.g. socks5://192.168.1.1:1080;user;pass). Without a prefix, the proxy is treated as HTTP.

Supported proxy types

  • http — standard HTTP proxy
  • https — secure HTTP proxy
  • socks4 — SOCKS4
  • socks5 — SOCKS5 (with authentication)

Proxy or VPN — which should I use?

The same Network Options panel offers a Use VPN tab as an alternative. Use a proxy pool when you have your own proxies and want rotation and volume. Use the built-in VPN when you just need requests to originate from a specific country and don't want to source proxies yourself. You pick one or the other per export, not both.

Use it responsibly

A proxy changes where your requests come from — it doesn't make you anonymous. For login-gated exports you're still sending your own session cookie, which identifies your account (see how to get your session cookies). Blasting thousands of actions through a proxy will still look like suspicious behavior and can get an account flagged. Keep exports reasonable, and for Facebook in particular, choose a proxy near the content's region.

Plan limits & API access

Results per export by plan: Free 100 / Personal 5,000 / Premium 50,000 / Business 250,000. See Pricing. You can also manage pools and route jobs through the REST API: create a pool with POST /v1/proxies (a name plus a newline-separated proxy list), then pass its UUID on any job via options.pool.

FAQ

  • Do I need my own proxies?
    For a proxy pool, yes — you bring proxies from any provider. If you'd rather not source any, use the built-in VPN option instead for region control.
  • How many proxies can a pool hold?
    You can bulk-import up to 1,000 proxies at a time, and a pool can hold as many as you need across imports.
  • Can I keep separate pools for different regions?
    Yes — that's the recommended setup. Name pools by provider or region and select the right one per export.
  • What happens if I delete a pool?
    All proxies in it are removed and any jobs that referenced it fall back to the default proxies. Deletion can't be undone.
  • Does a proxy hide who I am?
    No. It changes your request origin, but authenticated exports still use your own session cookie, which identifies your account. Use it responsibly.
  • Exporting many URLs at once?
    Bulk URL upload processes each URL as a separate export and bundles the resulting files into one ZIP (one file per URL). Your selected proxy pool applies across the batch.