> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.soax.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# FAQ
> Answers to the most common questions about SOAX. Find what you need here before reaching out to support.
## Getting started
### Do you offer a free trial?
There's no separate trial — when you sign up, your account starts on the **Sandbox plan** automatically. Sandbox gives you access to residential and mobile proxies right away, with no time limit.
To start making requests, add credits to your balance. The minimum top-up is **\$25**.
Sandbox has higher per-GB rates than paid plans and is limited to 1 package and 1 seat, but it's enough to test your integration before committing to a plan.
***
### How do credits work?
Credits are deducted based on the GB of traffic your proxy requests consume. The rate depends on your plan and which country tier the traffic routes through.
Unused credits roll over for 60 days (360 days on Enterprise). Credits that exceed the rollover window expire.
Credits cover proxy traffic only. They can't be used to pay for subscription renewal — your plan renews via your saved payment method.
***
### Which countries are in Tier 1, 2, and 3?
Tiers reflect the cost of sourcing IPs in each region. Tier 1 is the most expensive per GB; Tier 3 is the cheapest.
Check which tier your target countries fall into before building your targeting logic. Routing through Tier 1 instead of Tier 3 can cost up to 8× more per GB on the same plan.
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States.
Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UAE, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe.
Afghanistan, Aland Islands, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bonaire Sint Eustatius and Saba, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Congo The Democratic Republic of, Cook Islands, Cote D'ivoire, Cuba, Curacao, Djibouti, Dominica, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Iceland, Iraq, Isle of Man, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macao, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mayotte, Micronesia Federated States of, Monaco, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niger, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Palau, Palestine State of, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Rwanda, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin French Part, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and The Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sint Maarten Dutch Part, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tanzania United Republic of, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela Bolivarian Republic of, Virgin Islands British, Virgin Islands U.S., Yemen, Zambia.
***
### Does SOAX work with browser automation and anti-detect browsers?
Yes. SOAX uses standard proxy protocols (HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5), so it works with any tool that supports proxy connections.
***
## Payments and billing
### How do I update my billing address or company details?
Go to [**Settings → Subscription & billing**](https://platform.soax.com/settings/billing) → **Billing information**. You can update your company name, billing address, and VAT ID there.
***
## Targeting and sessions
### What's the difference between rotating and session-based connections?
Rotating (no `session` parameter) gives you a fresh IP on every request. Adding a session ID (`session-yourname`) keeps the same IP across requests. Ephemeral sessions expire after 60 seconds of inactivity. Session IDs are letters, digits, and underscores, up to 32 characters.
See [Residential proxies](/proxies/residential) and [Mobile proxies](/proxies/mobile) for the full reference, including rotation and error handling rules.
***
### How do I target a specific country, city, or ISP?
Add rules to your connection string separated by hyphens. Multi-word values use underscores:
```text theme={null}
country-us-city-new_york-isp-comcast:pk_abc123@proxy.soax.com:1337
```
Available ISP names are listed in your package settings in the dashboard.
See [Authentication](/getting-started/authentication) for the full connection string format and examples.
***
### Is ZIP-code targeting supported?
Yes, on **Scale and Enterprise plans** only. Lower plans support targeting down to country, region, city, and ISP.
***
## Troubleshooting
### My traffic was consumed faster than expected. Why?
Most likely causes: automatic retries consuming traffic on failed requests, large responses including images and scripts, high concurrency, or traffic routing through Tier 1 countries when Tier 3 would work. Check **Usage Breakdown** for a breakdown by package and time period.
***
### Are there any request rate limits?
Each package has two limits: a requests-per-second (RPS) limit and a concurrent connections limit. Both are enforced together. There's also a customer-level ceiling across all your packages, so creating more packages doesn't sidestep the limit.
If you hit either limit, you'll get a `429` error with [`X-SOAX-Error: RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED`](/troubleshooting/error-codes#rate_limit_exceeded).
If your use case needs more headroom, ask an organization Owner to raise the package limit. The plan-level ceiling across all packages is tied to your plan — an Owner can contact support to lift it.
***
## Account & compliance
### Can I change my email address?
Yes. Go to [**Settings → Account → Authentication**](https://platform.soax.com/settings/profile) and update your email. You'll get a confirmation code at the new address — the change takes effect once you confirm it.
If you've completed identity verification, you'll need to go through the verification process again after changing your email.
***
### When is identity verification required?
You only need to verify your identity if you want to pay with cryptocurrency or need access to restricted domains or ports.
Verification is handled by [Sumsub](https://sumsub.com/), a third-party KYC provider. The process takes around 5 minutes. SOAX doesn't have access to your documents — we only see the final verification status.
To start, go to [**Settings → Account → Verification**](https://platform.soax.com/settings/profile).
***
### What counts as acceptable use?
You may use SOAX only for lawful purposes and in accordance with our [Terms of Service](https://soax.com/legal/terms).
You may not use the Services to:
* Violate any applicable laws or regulations
* Infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others
* Transmit malicious code or interfere with the Services
* Collect personal data without proper authorization
* Engage in any activity that could damage SOAX's reputation or business
If you have questions about whether your use case is covered, email [legal@soax.com](mailto:legal@soax.com).
***
### How do I request access to a restricted domain or port?
Some domains (financial services, government, certain news sites) and ports (including SMTP 25, 465, 587) are restricted by default. To request access:
1. Complete identity verification — go to [**Settings → Account → Verification**](https://platform.soax.com/settings/profile).
2. Submit the request through your package's **Access** tab — open the package in [**Packages**](https://platform.soax.com/packages), then go to **Access** — with details of the domain or port you need access to.
Only organization **Owners** can request access to restricted domains or ports. If you're a Member, ask an Owner on your team. See [Team and permissions](/dashboard/account-billing#team-and-permissions).
***
### Does SOAX support UDP?
Yes. Residential and Mobile proxies support UDP.
UDP works over **SOCKS5** only. Make sure your tool or library supports SOCKS5 UDP — not all of them do.
***
## Still have questions?
* Live chat — available in the dashboard (bottom right corner)
* Email — [support@soax.com](mailto:support@soax.com)
* [Error codes](/troubleshooting/error-codes)
* [Connection debugging](/troubleshooting/connection-debugging)
## Next steps
Make your first proxy request in under 5 minutes.
Understand packages, sessions, rules, and bindings.
Full list of errors with causes and fixes.
Step-by-step checklist for connection issues.