Flexible Multi-Accounting with Proxies in Ghost Browser

In April of 2017, we released an industry-first feature called Ghost Proxy Control (GPC) that allows you to set a different proxy for each tab in your browser.

In addition, you now have some sleek ways to manage how proxies are assigned to your tabs by using our Workspaces and Identities feature, so you can run groups of tabs through the same proxy making multi-accounting as simple as using Chrome.

With GPC, you can be logged into one website with multiple accounts so you can browse the web as if from different places. Of course, this is all from one browser window.

GPC is an extension that only works in Ghost Browser. (Click here to learn more about the Chromium-based Ghost Browser).

This video should serve as a tl;dr and will give you a quick overview of what exactly this can do. For more details scroll down.

What’s it Do?

The main function of this extension is to let you assign a different proxy for each tab in your browser. To do this, you simply:

1. Import your proxies, port, username and password through our csv import tool.
2. Set your “Auto Assign” behavior to tell Ghost Browser how your want your proxies to be assigned when opening new tabs, Identities or Workspaces.
3. Freely change the proxy address for any Workspace, Identity or tab to override the defaults whenever you want.
4. Whenever you revisit a Workspace, Ghost Browser will load each tab through the proxy you set it to use!

Yes, it’s that awesome!

This can be used to keep online profiles truly separate. SEOs and agencies that do social media management for clients have needed to do this forever. And now it’s easier than ever. It’s also great if you need to test international web sites manage multiple Facebook accounts, log into multiple Twitter accounts or Instagram accounts for clients that live in other countries. No more annoying authentication issues!

Web developers and QA testers will love this too. If you work on an international site and are tired of solutions that will only change your IP address for the entire browser, then you’ll need this. And you’ll probably wonder how you ever lived without it. We’ll be using the Social Media Manager example below, but web devs and QA specialists will quickly understand the benefits, we’re sure.

How do I get it?

Download Ghost Browser for free and activate your free trial to try Ghost Browser and the Ghost Proxy Control extension for free, no credit card required!

How to Set Up a Different Proxy for Each Tab

Here’s a closer look at how to use multiple proxies at the same time in different tabs with Ghost Browser.

First, you add your proxies. Note: we don’t have a Ghost Proxies product or anything like that. 🙂 You bring the proxies, we bring the magic. You can import proxies one at a time or bulk import multiple proxies from a spreadsheet. The import itself takes about a second, even with a couple hundred proxies.

First, let’s explore what’s available in the GPC extension. To access the settings click the icon in the Ghost Browser extensions tray.

As you can see here, there are two different ways to use the GPC extension. You can use it like an IP changer and automate the way proxies are assigned, or you can override your connection settings at the tab, Identity or Workspace level for granular control of your session-based tabs.

You can also set a keyboard shortcut to refresh a tab with a new proxy to speed up your QA process.

Finally, there’s an option to add a URL you’d like to use for testing all of your proxies to make sure they’re all working. Any bad proxies will be listed and you can choose to disable them from there.

Use it Like an IP Changer

If you want to use GPC like an IP changer instead of assigning specific proxies, check the box to “Auto-Assign Proxies”.

When you open a new tab or Identity in Ghost Browser you can set GPC to

1. Assign a random proxy to that tab/Identity.
2. Assign a random proxy to that tab/Identity but assure no proxy is used more than once.
3. Assign the next proxy in your list.

Let’s look at option 3 first. ‘Next proxy in list’ is essentially an IP Changer, similar to many extensions that already exist to use multiple proxies in Chrome or Firefox. However, there is one important difference. You can select the ‘Next proxy in list’ option to tell Ghost to do this at the tab or Identity level.

If you are new to Ghost, I’ll explain briefly that an Identity is a set of isolated, color-coded tabs that share a cookie jar. That cookie jar is separate from other cookie jars in the same browser window. (In other words, you can log into one Facebook account in gray tabs, another account in Purple tabs, etc., etc.).

Further you can have persistent Identities that keep the same cookie jar forever. It is recommended that you use these to set up client accounts or testing profiles. You can also use Temporary Identities to quickly pull up a fresh cookie jar. (This cookie jar only lasts as long as you have tabs open in it). Temporary Identities are best for quickly spot checking ads or viewing un-personalized Google search results.

So, in addition to setting a different proxy for each tab, you can also have separate accounts open on the same web site in one browser window.

This means you can use one set of purple tabs for one client’s social media accounts – all running off one IP address. Then you can have another set of tabs, say green, representing a different client’s social media, Google and other accounts. You don’t even have to set this for every Identity.

Just open the Identity and it will use the next IP address in your list. Don’t worry, you’ll still be using multiple proxies instead of having all of your tabs switched to the same proxy.

However, we recommend you assign a proxy to each Identity so you will have a consistent IP that you have hand selected every time you use it.

If you prefer to separate your clients by Workspace, which is our recommended approach for most agencies, you can set a Workspace to use a specific IP address. If you are a Premium user, you can even use Profiles or Identities to really go nuts with this extension.

Overriding Your Connection Settings

As you can see, there is also an override setting for each tab, Identity and Workspace. This is where you are able to set the browser to use a different proxy for each tab. In fact for each tab, Identity or Workspace, you can set it to use a direct connection, your system proxy or any of your custom Ghost Browser proxies.

So, the auto-assign feature makes it very easy for your proxy settings to work automagically. And the override capabilities give this extension the fine-grained control that so many technology professionals have been craving for so long.

You can set the override behavior to:

1. Use a direct connection (no proxy)
2. Use your system proxy (whatever you set in your OS as the default)
3. Use a specific proxy from your list

We hope you love it! The extension is available now and we’re always accepting feedback. We are waiting to hear from you about any added controls or interface changes you think of! The idea is to make it a super efficient way for you to manage multiple proxies in Ghost Browser. If you have suggestions let us know in the comments!