Can someone explain the key differences between forward proxy vs reverse proxy? or Forward proxy vs r

Honestly, the forward proxy vs reverse proxy debate depends entirely on your use case.

Forward proxy = client-side anonymity (great for scraping or bypassing geo-blocks).
Reverse proxy = server-side management (load balancing, SSL termination, etc.).

If you're just starting, maybe play with both? Cloudflare has a free reverse proxy-ish setup, and Bright Data offers forward proxies for scraping.