Proxy vs Reverse Proxy vs Load Balancer Explained (With Real-World Examples)
Web servers, network security, and traffic management can get confusing fast—especially when terms like proxy vs reverse proxy and load balancer vs reverse proxy get thrown around interchangeably. Many developers and system administrators struggle to understand when to use which solution and why it matters for their infrastructure. This guide is for developers, DevOps engineers, and IT professionals who need to make informed decisions about proxy server types and load balancing techniques for their applications. Whether you’re building your first web service or scaling an existing system, you’ll get practical insights that actually matter. We’ll break down forward proxy explained concepts and show you how reverse proxy servers work behind the scenes. You’ll also discover load balancer architecture principles and see real examples of when Netflix uses reverse proxies versus how Cloudflare implements forward proxies. Finally, we’ll cover server load distribution strategies and proxy co...
