Proximo Is Down: Migrate to a Static IP Proxy That Has Support

If Proximo is down and taking your Heroku app with it, here's the short version: swap PROXIMO_URL for QUOTAGUARDSTATIC_URL in your Heroku config, update one line in your app code, and you're back online. The full migration takes under 30 minutes. Start a free trial here.

If you want to understand why this keeps happening and what you should expect from an infrastructure service that's actually maintained, keep reading.

What Happened with Proximo

Proximo is a static IP proxy add-on for Heroku. It does the same job QuotaGuard does: give your Heroku dynos a fixed outbound IP so you can connect to firewalled databases and APIs.

The problem is what happens when it breaks.

I had a customer email us during a Proximo outage. They'd been using Proximo for six years. One morning it crashed hard and started refusing all traffic. It stayed down for over a day despite status updates claiming service was restored. When they went to get help, there was no support line to call. No engineer to reach. Just status page updates that didn't match reality.

They switched to QuotaGuard because we have a website and a support desk. That's a low bar. It shouldn't be a differentiator. But here we are.

When your static IP proxy goes down, it doesn't just slow things down. Every outbound request your app makes to a firewalled database or allowlisted API fails immediately. That means production is down. And if the proxy has no support channel, you're sitting there refreshing a status page waiting for someone, somewhere, to fix it.

What's Different About QuotaGuard

QuotaGuard has been running on Heroku since 2013. Twelve years. We've had the same engineers running the same infrastructure that entire time, because QuotaGuard and Gigalixir share an engineering team. When something breaks, real engineers who built the system fix it. Not a contractor. Not a first-line support queue. The people who know the code.

We also run load-balanced pairs of static IPs, not single points of failure. Every QuotaGuard account gets two static IPs. If one proxy node has a problem, traffic fails over to the other automatically. Your app stays up. You add both IPs to your allowlists up front so either one works.

Proximo gives you one IP. One point of failure. When it goes down, everything goes down with it.

Beyond that:

• Support from engineers, not a ticket queue. When you contact us, you hear back from someone who can actually fix the problem. We don't outsource support.
• Available on AWS Marketplace. If your company has committed AWS spend, QuotaGuard purchases apply toward it. Proximo has no AWS Marketplace presence.
• Shield for inbound static IPs. If you need a fixed IP for inbound traffic, not just outbound, QuotaGuard Shield handles that. Proximo is outbound only.
• US and EU regions. Pick the region closest to your Heroku dynos and the services you're connecting to. Proximo has limited regional options.

How to Migrate from Proximo in 30 Minutes

Proximo and QuotaGuard use the same proxy model. The migration is straightforward.

Step 1: Sign up for QuotaGuard.

Either add the Heroku add-on directly:

heroku addons:create quotaguardstatic:starter --app your-app-name

# Or the Spike plan ($5/month) if you need more than 250 requests
heroku addons:create quotaguardstatic:spike --app your-app-name

Or sign up directly on quotaguard.com and add your credentials manually. Direct signup costs less because you skip the Heroku marketplace fee.

Step 2: Get your proxy URL and static IPs.

If you added the Heroku add-on, your proxy URL is already set as a config var:

heroku config:get QUOTAGUARDSTATIC_URL --app your-app-name

Your two static IPs are in the QuotaGuard dashboard. Copy both. You'll need them for your allowlists.

Step 3: Update your code.

Proximo uses PROXIMO_URL. QuotaGuard uses QUOTAGUARDSTATIC_URL. Find every place in your code that reads the Proximo environment variable and update it.

Node.js example:

// Before
const proxyUrl = process.env.PROXIMO_URL;

// After
const proxyUrl = process.env.QUOTAGUARDSTATIC_URL;

Python example:

# Before
proxy_url = os.environ['PROXIMO_URL']

# After
proxy_url = os.environ['QUOTAGUARDSTATIC_URL']

The proxy URL format is identical. Your existing proxy configuration code doesn't change. Just the environment variable name.

Step 4: Update your allowlists.

Add your two new QuotaGuard static IPs to every firewall allowlist, database security group, or API registration that currently has your Proximo IP. Both IPs need to be added since traffic can come from either.

Once traffic is confirmed flowing through QuotaGuard, remove your Proximo IP from those allowlists and cancel the add-on.

Step 5: Verify.

heroku run "curl https://ip.quotaguard.com" --app your-app-name

The response should return one of your two QuotaGuard static IPs. If it does, you're done.

For Database Connections: QGTunnel

If you're using Proximo for direct TCP connections to PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MongoDB (not just HTTP requests), you'll need QGTunnel for the same functionality on QuotaGuard.

Proximo handles TCP tunneling through its own mechanism. QGTunnel is QuotaGuard's equivalent. Download it, configure a tunnel for your database host in the QuotaGuard dashboard, and wrap your Heroku process in your Procfile:

# Procfile
web: bin/qgtunnel node server.js

See the Heroku and AWS RDS setup guide for the full database connection walkthrough.

Pricing Comparison

On Heroku, QuotaGuard starts with a free Starter plan and a Spike plan at $5/month. Same entry price as Proximo. The difference is what you get for that price: two load-balanced IPs instead of one, automatic failover, actual engineer support, and 12 years of evidence that we don't go dark without warning. The Micro plan at $19/month adds higher request limits for production workloads.

If you're running production traffic through a static IP proxy and you've experienced an unplanned outage with no support line, you already know what the cheap option actually costs.

Get Back Online

Start a free trial, get your proxy URL, and update one environment variable. If you're in the middle of an outage right now, that's the fastest path back to production.

Start a free trial and migrate now.

If your setup involves database tunneling, HIPAA-regulated data, or anything non-standard, reach out directly and an engineer will respond. Not a ticket. An engineer.