Unlike SOCKS5, SOCKS4 only supports TCP traffic. It cannot handle UDP (used for many streaming and gaming applications) or IPv6. Expert Perspectives
Community consensus generally advises against using large, unverified free proxy lists for sensitive tasks. socks4 (13594).txt
SOCKS4 is an older protocol that does not support authentication . This means anyone with the IP and port can access the proxy. Because these proxies are often misconfigured servers or infected machines, using them can expose your traffic to logging or "man-in-the-middle" attacks by the proxy provider. Unlike SOCKS5, SOCKS4 only supports TCP traffic
“SOCKS4 has its limits... there's no login or user verification. That makes it less than ideal for situations where security matters.” Proxy-Cheap · 1 month ago Comparison Table SOCKS4 (Typical for this file) SOCKS5 (Recommended) None (Security risk) Supported (User/Pass) Traffic Support TCP, UDP, & IPv6 Speed Highly variable/Often slow Usually more stable Ideal For Basic web scraping Secure browsing & gaming SOCKS4 is an older protocol that does not
If you are using this for automation, it is highly recommended to use a to filter the active IPs from the 13,594 entries before deployment.