Choosing a proxy mode

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The default: standard

await reader.read({ url }); // implicit proxyMode: "standard"

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When to force premium

• The target is known-hostile. Amazon, LinkedIn, booking sites, ticket resellers, most aggressive e-commerce. These sites block datacenter IP ranges entirely, so standard mode will always fail. Go straight to premium and get clean data on the first try.
• Standard is returning thin or wrong content. If metadata.statusCode is 200 but the markdown is very short, or contains phrases like “checking your browser” or “access denied”, the site is blocking standard mode. Switch to premium.
• You need consistent results across a batch. Some sites block standard inconsistently: some pages work, others don’t. Forcing premium gives you a uniform experience across the run.

await reader.read({
  url: "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N5WRWNW",
  proxyMode: "premium",
});

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When to stick with standard

• You know the target is friendly. Your own blog, a partner’s public docs, a government site, a content API. No need to pay 3x.
• You want a cost guarantee. With standard explicit, every scrape is exactly 1 credit. For a 10,000-URL batch where budget certainty matters, lock the mode.
• You want an error signal for blocks. If you force standard and the target blocks you, Reader returns an error rather than silently costing more. You find out immediately that something changed.

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Per-site cheat sheet

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Per-URL split in a batch

1. Pre-split the batch. Route friendly URLs to a standard batch and hostile URLs to a premium batch.
2. Run all hostile URLs at premium. If you know certain domains always need premium, use a lookup to route them to a separate call.

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Checking what mode was used

const result = await reader.read({ url });
if (result.kind === "scrape") {
  console.log(result.data.metadata.proxyMode); // "standard" or "premium"
}

const premiumCount = result.data.results.filter((r) => r.proxyMode === "premium").length;
const total = result.data.results.length;
console.log(`Premium rate: ${((premiumCount / total) * 100).toFixed(0)}%`);

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Next

• Proxy modes (concept)
• Credits and billing
• Cost estimation