What Is Nebula Proxy? How It Works and Where It’s Used
WebsitesNebula Proxy is a web-based, open-sourced, and free service developed to maintain open internet access on restricted networks, like schools.


Milena Popova
Nebula Proxy is not your typical proxy service that offers millions of proxy servers worldwide to choose from. It is a website that utilizes proxy technology developed to bypass censorship and provide unrestricted internet access.
Its easy access and user-friendly design are popular among students seeking to bypass local network restrictions. In this article, we’ll demonstrate how to use it and discuss its best applications.
What Is Nebula Proxy?
Nebula Proxy is a free and open-source (FOSS) website that anyone can use.
According to their GitHub statement,
“Nebula Services is a group of software developers striving to create FOSS software aimed at defeating internet censorship; mainly in K-12 settings.”
K-12 refers to a group of schools that spans from Kindergarten through 12th grade, encompassing pupils of all ages. The website provides an easy-to-use search engine that bypasses network restrictions and unblocks restricted content. Here’s how it works.
How Nebula Proxy Works
Nebula Proxy website uses proxy servers to reroute user traffic through them, masking the original IP address and assigning a new one. However, it utilizes additional solutions to bypass network-level blocks efficiently rather than typical residential proxies .
It uses Ultraviolet technology (available in the ‘Settings’ tab), which assigns a so-called ‘service worker’ to intercept the client’s HTTP requests. Unlike standard proxies, Nebula Proxy Ultraviolet service workers run in the client’s browser to reforge these requests in a way that avoids network restrictions.
Nebula proxy is a forward-facing service, which means that it accepts clients’ online traffic and reroutes it to the target destination. This way, it adds an additional layer of online privacy. Here’s how to understand Nebula Proxy in simpler terms.
Suppose you have an extremely important document to deliver that no one can see. Carrying it in the open reveals that you have it and may expose its secrets.
Instead, you order a dedicated courier that ensures the document is hidden from spectators. Nobody knows you have it, and no one can see it, because the courier uses an opaque envelope.
In this case, Nebula Proxy is a courier and the service workers package your document in an opaque envelope, masking your content. Whenever you enter a website into the Nebula Proxy search bar, it obfuscates the content and delivers it to the target destination while safeguarding your online privacy.
Common Use Cases
Nebula proxy is maintained to circumvent network-level restrictions. It’s not a scraping tool that uses residential rotating proxies, but focuses on this single goal. Here’s what you can use the Nebula Proxy website for.
Bypass Censorship
Numerous governments worldwide, like Russia and China, impose strict online content blocks. For example, the Great Firewall of China restricts access to Wikipedia, which is an excellent source of educational material. Nebula Proxy helps unblock Wikipedia by routing user traffic through a proxy server where this website is available.
Private Browsing
Because Nebula Proxy acts as a web proxy (although different from datacenter proxies), it hides the original user IP address and issues a new one. It prevents IP tracking and adds a layer of online privacy, which is highly beneficial for stealth browsing.
Play Online Games
K-12 schools typically restrict access to online video game platforms, which can be somewhat distracting. Nebula Proxy effortlessly unblocks such websites, like Poki and Chess websites. What’s more, there’s a variety of minigames you can play on its website.
How to Use Nebula Proxy
Using Nebula Proxy is as easy as visiting its official website . Once there, simply enter the desired website into the ‘Search the web freely’ field as seen in the image below.
In this example, we are accessing Wikipedia . Notice that Nebula Proxy does not open a new tab or browser window. Instead, it displays the results within its website.
Accessing Wikipedia on restricted networks takes only a few clicks. This way, Nebula Proxy successfully provides beginner-friendly, unrestricted internet access and a layer of online privacy to all its users.
Nebula Proxy vs. IPRoyal
As you can see, Nebula Proxy is not a typical proxy service. Take a look at the Nebula Proxy vs. IPRoyal comparison table below that illustrates how it differs from commercial proxy service providers.
IPRoyal | Nebula Proxy | |
---|---|---|
Performance and speed | Fast connection speed for browsing, apps, P2P, and other types of traffc | Fast connection speed reserved solely for browsing |
Anonymity | Massive IP diversity, IP address rotation, SOCKS5 protocol support | IP address masking for private browsing, presumably no-logs service |
Use cases | Private browsing, web scraping, market research, account management, unrestricted internet access, and more | Private browsing, unrestricted internet access |
Server network size | Over 34 million servers | Undisclosed, presumably much smaller |
Geo-diversity | 195 countries | Undisclosed, presumably much smaller |
Price | Starts from $1.75/GB or $1.39/proxy | Free |
As you can see, these are significantly different services. Our use cases with Nebula Proxy overlap in terms of unrestricted internet access and private browsing. However, we offer a much wider range of services, including premium ISP, mobile, and datacenter proxies, whereas Nebula Proxy is a free service.
Conclusion
We recommend Nebula Proxy for bypassing local-network restrictions. However, if you’re a business user or demand more proxy server customization, then a commercial proxy service provider should be your priority choice. Otherwise, this service is an easy and efficient way to unblock content on restricted networks.