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Proxy Throughput Calculator

Turn user counts into forward-proxy request rate, throughput, upstream bandwidth saved by caching and concurrent connections.

About Proxy Throughput Calculator

Convert hourly request volume into a per-second average, apply a busy-hour peak factor, then multiply by object size for throughput. Concurrency comes from Little's law — requests per second multiplied by how long each one is held open — which is what actually determines file-descriptor and socket limits. Proxies are usually sized on bandwidth and then fall over on concurrent connections, because a slow upstream inflates response time and therefore concurrency without changing the request rate at all.

Formula

Proxy Throughput

peak rps = users × requests per hour ÷ 3600 × peak factor; concurrency = peak rps × average response time (Little's law).

peak factor
Busy-hour multiplier over the daily average
average response time
Seconds a request occupies a proxy connection slot

Worked example

With the default values below, Proxy Throughput Calculator returns Peak Request Rate of 1,944.4. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Active usersaccepts 1–5,000,000 users
8,000 users
Requests per user per houraccepts 1–100,000 req/h
350 req/h
Average object sizeaccepts 0.5–10,000 KB
45 KB
Peak-to-average factoraccepts 1–10 ×
2.5 ×
Cache hit ratioaccepts 0–100 %
28 %
Average response timeaccepts 0.005–30 seconds
0.25 seconds

Results

Peak Request Rate
1,944.4 req/s
Average Request Rate
777.8 req/s
Client-Side Throughput
716.8 Mbps
Upstream Throughput
516.1 Mbps
Bandwidth Saved by Cache
200.7 Mbps
Concurrent Connections
486

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Proxy Throughput
  3. 3Peak Request Rate= 1,944.4 req/s
  4. 4Average Request Rate= 777.8 req/s
  5. 5Client-Side Throughput= 716.8 Mbps
  6. 6Upstream Throughput= 516.1 Mbps
  7. 7Bandwidth Saved by Cache= 200.7 Mbps
  8. 8Concurrent Connections= 486

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 6 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 1 decimal place, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Proxy Throughput calculated?

peak rps = users × requests per hour ÷ 3600 × peak factor; concurrency = peak rps × average response time (Little's law). Convert hourly request volume into a per-second average, apply a busy-hour peak factor, then multiply by object size for throughput. Concurrency comes from Little's law — requests per second multiplied by how long each one is held open — which is what actually determines file-descriptor and socket limits.

Why does Proxy Throughput matter?

Proxies are usually sized on bandwidth and then fall over on concurrent connections, because a slow upstream inflates response time and therefore concurrency without changing the request rate at all.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 6 inputs: Active users, Requests per user per hour, Average object size, Peak-to-average factor, Cache hit ratio, Average response time. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.

Why is the cache hit ratio so low compared with the old days?

Almost all web content is now TLS-encrypted and personalised, and cache-control headers on dynamic responses forbid storage. Without full TLS interception a forward proxy can cache very little, so 20–35% byte hit ratio is realistic and the proxy's value is policy enforcement and inspection rather than bandwidth saving.

Related Calculators

Proxy Throughput Calculator – Calculate Peak Request Rate