What's the difference between proxy vs reverse proxy? Which one should I use? Alternatively, if you prefer a

Great breakdown! One thing I'd add is that reverse proxies are clutch for caching static content. Like, if your site serves a ton of images, a reverse proxy (like NGINX or Cloudflare) can cache 'em and reduce server load.

For proxies, I use Squid when I need to monitor employee traffic or enforce policies. But yeah, proxy vs reverse proxy comes down to who you're hiding—clients or servers.

Tools to check out:
- NGINX (reverse proxy)
- Squid (forward proxy)
- HAProxy (both, kinda)