Websites, games, and applications can block a specific IP address, which prevents anyone using that IP address from accessing their service. This is called an IP ban. Administrators can block IP addresses for a number of reasons, such as making excessive requests or suspicious activity. However, these bans can make it much harder to scrape public data or access online content.
What is an IP ban?
An IP ban is a way for a network service (like a website or an online game) to block requests from a specific public IP address. When a service bans an IP address, it configures its network to refuse any requests coming from that address. This means if you try to access the service from a banned IP address, you’ll be blocked.
Online services implement IP bans for a number of reasons, including:
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Security purposes
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Terms of service (ToS) violations
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Geographical restrictions
IP bans can be temporary, in which case the online service that issued the ban will lift it after a certain period of time. However, repeated violations or serious offenses can lead to permanent bans.
IP bans on shared IP addresses
An IP address works as your location on the internet, which is why people can use your IP address to discover some information about you. Every device on your home network shares the same public IP address (assigned to your router by your ISP), and your router uses Network Address Translation (NAT) to allow all your devices to communicate over the internet using it. So if a website bans your IP address, none of the devices connected to your home network will be able to access its content.
The same applies to people who are routing their internet traffic through a shared server, such as a VPN or proxy server. All the traffic that goes through a shared server has the same IP address, so if one user's activity leads to a ban, all other users sharing that server will also be affected and lose access to the site in question.
You will encounter this problem very frequently if you use a free proxy or free VPN service, as the IP addresses are shared between a large number of people, and free services may not have the resources to ensure that people use their service ethically.
How to tell if a service has blocked your IP address
If you’re unable to access a website, there could be another reason other than an IP ban. For example, you may not be connected to the internet, or the website itself might be down. There are a few ways to check if you are experiencing an IP ban:
Error messages
When you can’t access a web service like a website or app, your device will usually present an error message. If the error message says “Your IP has been banned” or similar, then you’ll know the website has banned your IP. Other error messages, like “Access denied”, or “403 forbidden” don’t rule out the possibility of an IP ban, whereas messages like “Unable to connect” or “Server not found” can be a sign of another cause.
Check with others
You can ask friends or colleagues who use a different network to check if they can access the website. If they can, it’s likely that there’s a problem with your IP address.
Try a different connection
Try accessing the service using a different internet connection – for example, you can switch to mobile data or a different wifi network. If you can access the online service on another connection, then it’s more likely that the service has banned your IP address.
Use a proxy server
You can use a proxy server as an intermediary between your router and the website, game, or application you want to visit. Routing your traffic through the proxy server masks your real IP address, so the online services you access only see the IP address of the proxy server. If a service blocks you from accessing it before you connect to the proxy server, but not afterwards, then the original IP address is the problem.
Check online tools
You can use online tools like Down for Everyone or Just Me to check if other people are able to access a specific website. If they can, it’s likely that your IP address is the issue, and that the web service may have blocked it.
You can also use a blacklist checker tool to see if your IP address is listed on any anti-spam databases. However, these tools don’t always have up-to-date information, and some services use blacklists that aren’t listed on blacklist checkers.
Contact the service
If you suspect a website or other online service has banned your IP address, you can contact their support team directly to inquire. They may be able to provide more information (including the reason for your IP ban, if any) or help you to resolve the issue.
Why is my IP banned?
Discovering that an online service has banned your IP address can be confusing, especially if you don’t know why the service chose to lock you out.
There are a few reasons why a service might implement an IP ban:
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Security – for example, to protect against malicious activities like brute force attacks (trying to guess passwords) or distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks (flooding a website with traffic to disrupt its function)
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Violations – for example, prevent users who violate the service's terms of use from accessing it further
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Geographic restrictions – To limit access to certain content based on the user's location
Excessive requests
A service may ban your IP address for sending too many requests in a short period (like rapidly refreshing a page) or using automated tools (bots) to access the site. This can overload the server and disrupt service for other users.
Malicious activities
If your device is infected with malware or a virus, it might send spam (for example, on a forum or in the comments section of a website) or engage in other malicious activities without your permission. This can lead to an IP ban on the affected services.
Suspicious or bot-like activity
Unusual activity like submitting unusual forms, sending excessive data, or exhibiting non-human-like patterns can trigger websites’ bot traffic detection mechanisms, which may result in an IP ban. This is one of the ways that web scraping in particular can trigger an IP ban.
Terms of service violations
Most websites (and other online services) have terms and conditions that detail what counts as acceptable use of the platform. If you engage in activities that are against a website’s terms and conditions (like spamming, hacking attempts, or using the site for illegal activities) the service may issue an IP ban to prevent further abuse.
Failed login attempts
Making multiple failed login attempts without a short time frame can trigger an IP ban. This is a security measure to protect legitimate users from brute-force attacks on their accounts. Brute-force attacks are a trial-and-error method that malicious actors use to gain access to an account by trying all possible combinations of usernames and passwords.
Geographical location
Some websites or applications restrict access to specific regions due to licensing agreements or legal reasons. One way that websites can enforce these geographical restrictions is by blocking IP addresses from restricted regions.
IP bans on shared IP addresses
If you share an IP address with other people – like in an office or home network, or if you use a shared proxy server or VPN service – you won’t be able to access any websites that have issued IP bans because of the behavior of other people on your network.
How does a website ban my IP?
A website or other online service can implement IP bans in a number of ways. The specific method they use can vary, depending on the web server software, the complexity of the website or service, and the specific needs of the administrators.
Methods for banning IP addresses include:
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Firewall configuration: Most web servers have firewalls that filter incoming traffic. Website administrators can add rules to the firewall to block specific IP addresses or ranges of IP addresses. (This is the most common method for implementing IP bans.)
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Web server configuration: Administrators can configure web servers like Apache or Nginx to deny access based on IP addresses. This is done by modifying configuration files like .htaccess (for Apache) or the server block configuration (for Nginx).
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Application-level blocking: Some websites or apps have features to track user behavior and automatically block any IP address that exhibits suspicious activity or violates the terms of service. This can be done using server-side scripting languages like PHP or Python.
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Third-party services: Some websites use third-party services that specialize in IP reputation management and blocking. These services maintain databases of IP addresses that are known to be malicious and provide tools for websites to automatically block them.
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Manual blocking: In some cases, administrators might manually block IP addresses if they notice suspicious activity or receive complaints about specific users.
Once the administrators have implemented an IP ban, any attempt to access the website or service from that address will result in an error message of a redirect to a different page.
How long does an IP ban last?
In some cases, IP bans can be temporary and automatically lifted after a certain period. However, repeated violations or serious offenses can lead to permanent bans. Generally, the more serious the violation, the longer the ban.
Temporary IP bans can last a few minutes to a few days, whereas permanent bans are indefinite (unless the website offers an appeal process). The length of the IP ban ultimately depends on the service’s terms.
How to avoid IP blocking
You can take some preventative measures to avoid triggering IP bans in the first place. To avoid triggering IP bans, adhere to usage guidelines like respecting the usage limits and terms of service set by the website or online service you're accessing.
Respect usage limits
Pay attention to how often you're making requests to a website or app, and how much data you’re downloading. Avoid sending too many requests too quickly, as this can trigger rate-limiting measures or even an IP ban. Excessive data usage can also raise red flags that might lead to an IP ban.
Follow terms of service
Familiarize yourself with the website’s terms of service, and avoid activities that are explicitly prohibited, such as spamming, hacking, or deploying bot traffic without permission. You can generally find a website’s terms of service in the footer of each page.
Protect your device and accounts
Maintain good hygiene on your devices by making use of antivirus and anti-malware software that can help to protect your device from infections that can be used to perform malicious activities without your knowledge. You should also use strong, unique passwords for all your online accounts to prevent unauthorized access and potential misuse.
How to bypass an IP ban
If your web scraping project has experienced interruptions because of an IP ban, there are tools you can use to quickly bypass these bans and prevent more blocks in the future.
Use a proxy server or VPN
VPNs and proxy servers mask your real IP address, making it harder for websites to track your activity and ban your IP. However, you should still use these tools responsibly by continuing to adhere to the website’s terms of service.
Rotate your IP addresses
If you are performing a task that requires you to make multiple requests to a website’s server, you can automatically rotate your IP addresses using a proxy service like SOAX. This prevents the website from banning any individual IP address, because it does not appear that all the requests are coming from the same location.
Use exclusive residential proxy server IPs
Using a pool of exclusive proxy servers makes it less likely that someone else using the same server as you may have already triggered a ban on that server’s IP address. Using a residential proxy makes your traffic appear as if it is coming from a real residential address, which makes it even less likely that a website will ban your IP.
At SOAX, we do not share our IPs with any other providers, and we continually monitor our network for misuse, making it unlikely that websites will issue bans to IP addresses in our pool.
Use a web scraping API
For maximum efficiency, consider using a web scraping API that automatically handles IP rotation, rate limiting, and other anti-ban measures for you. At SOAX, we have web scraping APIs for ecommerce websites, social media platforms, SERPs, and an AI Scraper that can scrape any domain.
User-agent spoofing
You can change the user-agent header in your requests to make it appear as if your requests are coming from different browsers or devices. Online resources are more likely to issue an IP ban if they think that requests are all coming from the same person.
Use SOAX to bypass IP bans
At SOAX, it’s our mission to help you overcome anything that prevents you from accessing the data you need to fuel your business. You can easily integrate our proxies into your existing workflows, and benefit from our extensive pool of residential and mobile proxies to mask your real IP address and avoid IP bans.
To go a step further, our web scraping APIs are easy to use and automatically handle IP rotation, rate limiting, and other anti-ban measures to make your web scraping projects as efficient as possible.
To test the SOAX data extraction platform for yourself, sign up for our three-day, 100 MB trial for just $1.99.
Frequently asked questions
What does an IP ban do?
An IP ban prevents you from accessing a specific online service (website, game, app, etc.) from a particular IP address.
When a service bans an IP, it means they've configured their network to reject any requests coming from that IP address. This is usually a temporary measure, but repeated offenses can lead to permanent bans.
How long can an IP ban last?
The duration of an IP ban varies depending on the website or service and the reason for the ban.
It can range from a few minutes to several days, weeks, or even permanently. Some platforms have automated systems that lift temporary bans after a set period, while others require you to contact support to appeal a ban.
How do I know if my IP is blocked?
There are several ways to determine if your IP address is blocked. If you encounter error messages like "Your IP has been banned," "Access Denied," or "403 Forbidden" when trying to access a website or online service, it's a strong indication of a block. Additionally, if friends or colleagues on different networks can access the site without issue, it's further evidence that your IP is the problem. You can also try switching to a different internet connection (like mobile data) or using a proxy server (like SOAX) to see if that resolves the issue.
