How to set up a proxy in the Opera browser

To use a proxy in Opera, turn Opera's VPN off, add Quantum Proxies Manager, our free extension, from the Chrome Web Store with Add to Opera, and sign in with your QuanticData API key. Pick the plan, the country and a sticky session, then turn it on. Opera alone leaves from the proxy, with no sign-in prompt.

Opera has no proxy field of its own. Its only proxy entry, under Settings, Advanced, Browser, System, is Open your computer's proxy settings, which changes the network settings of every app on the computer. Opera's built-in VPN is not a way in either: it sends the browser through Opera's own servers, not through your plan. An extension is the way to give Opera its own proxy. Opera is based on Chromium and runs the extensions of the Chrome Web Store, as Opera Help explains, and an extension can set Opera's proxy through the browser's own proxy API and answer the proxy's username and password. Quantum Proxies Manager is the extension we publish for this under our QuantumProxies.io brand; it signs in with the same API key as your QuanticData account. Labels below are the ones in Opera and in the extension, version 1.2.0.

Does Opera have proxy settings?

No setting in Opera lets you type a proxy address and a password. What Opera has, and how each one relates to a proxy of your plan:

In Opera	What it does	With your proxy
Settings, Advanced, Browser, System: Open your computer's proxy settings	Opens the operating system's network settings	Changes every app on the computer: not used here
Free VPN (the VPN badge left of the address bar)	Sends Opera's traffic through Opera's servers in the U.S., the Netherlands or Singapore	The exit is Opera's, not your plan's: keep it off
Extensions from the Chrome Web Store	Run in Opera, with Add to Opera	Quantum Proxies Manager sets the proxy for Opera only

What you need

• Opera on a computer (Windows, macOS or Linux), updated to the current version.
• A QuanticData proxy plan: Residential Premium, ISP or Mobile. The table further down says which job each one fits.
• Your API key: in the QuanticData dashboard, API Keys, Copy key. It starts with qd_live_ and has 64 characters after that.
• The extension: Quantum Proxies Manager on the Chrome Web Store. It is free; the traffic comes from your plan.

Step by step: set up a proxy in Opera

1. Turn Opera's VPN off. If the VPN badge left of the address bar is filled, click it and click the power button. An outlined badge means the VPN is off.
2. Open the store page in Opera and click Add to Opera.
3. Follow the prompts. Confirm the install when Opera asks; if Opera takes you to its Extensions page, click Install there. The extension asks to read and change data on all websites, to show notifications and to change privacy-related settings: it needs them to set the proxy, answer its sign-in and keep WebRTC from showing your own IP. Older versions of Opera first asked for Opera's own Install Chrome Extensions add-on; current versions add Chrome Web Store extensions directly.
4. Check the card. Open the Extensions page (Ctrl+Shift+E, on a Mac Cmd+Shift+E): Quantum Proxies Manager shows with its switch on.
5. Pin it. Click the cube icon at the right of the address bar and pin Quantum Proxies Manager, so its icon stays in the toolbar.
6. Sign in. Click the icon, paste the API key and click Connect.
7. Choose the plan and the country. Proxy plan lists the active plans on your account. For most browsing pick Residential Premium, then the Country under Geo-Targeting. State / Region and City can stay on All.
8. Choose a sticky session. Under Session set Mode to Sticky and Hold for up to 60 min, so a login keeps one IP.
9. Turn it on and run Leaks. The toggle at the top switches the proxy on; the card shows the exit IP, the city and the network. Leaks checks the exit IP, whether WebRTC shows another address, and whether the computer's time zone matches the exit.

The extension connects over HTTP and answers the proxy's sign-in itself, which is why Opera never shows a username and password box. The full mechanism, the same in Opera as in Chrome, is in our Chrome guide.

Opera's VPN and your proxy

Opera's Free VPN connects the browser to websites through a VPN server, and, in Opera's words, your apparent location changes to the location of the server. Its locations are Opera's: Optimal location, America, Asia and Europe, served from the U.S., the Netherlands and Singapore. That is a different exit from the one you choose in the extension, so turn the VPN off and let the extension alone decide where Opera's traffic leaves from.

1. Look at the VPN badge left of the address bar. Filled means the VPN is on; outlined means it is off.
2. Click the badge and the power button to turn the VPN off.
3. To remove the badge, find VPN in Settings and turn off Enable VPN.
4. Run Leaks again. The exit should now be the city and network of your plan's country.

Private windows in Opera

This is where Opera users get stuck. An extension's proxy reaches a private window only when the extension is allowed to run there, and Opera leaves that off for every extension until you tick it. Until then, a private window leaves from your own connection while the regular windows use the proxy.

1. Open the Extensions page (Ctrl+Shift+E, on a Mac Cmd+Shift+E) and find the Quantum Proxies Manager card.
2. Tick Allow in Incognito. Leave Allow access to search page results as it is: the proxy does not need it.
3. Open a private window: on Windows and Linux Menu, New private window; on a Mac File, New Private Window.
4. Leave Free VPN off. Every private window's start page offers a Free VPN switch; keep it off, so the extension sets the exit.
5. Check the exit in that window with Leaks, or load ipinfo.io/json: the city should be in your plan's country.

Everything else follows the toggle: every tab and window of the Opera profile goes through the plan, except localhost, 127.0.0.1 and names without a dot, which always go direct. Other apps on the computer are not touched. While connected, the extension also sets Opera's WebRTC policy to Disable non-proxied UDP, so calls and video chats cannot show your own IP, and gives the setting back when you turn the proxy off.

Residential Premium in Opera

Residential Premium gives home IPs in the country you choose, with State / Region and City when a site needs them. Sticky keeps one IP for the Hold for time: 1, 5, 10, 30 or 60 min. Rotate gets a new IP on the same settings whenever you want one, and Rotating mode changes it on every connection, which suits checking many pages rather than logging in. See QuanticData residential proxies for the plans.

ISP proxies in Opera

An ISP plan is a set of fixed IPs. The dashboard lists them on the plan's page under Assigned IPs, one line per IP as IP:Port:Username:Password, port 50100 for HTTP, for tools that take a pasted line.

In Opera there is nothing to paste: the extension reads the plan's IPs, port and credentials from your account. Choose the ISP plan under Proxy plan and turn the toggle on; there is no country to pick, because the addresses are fixed, and the extension connects to the plan's first IP. On a plan with more than one IP, the IP Rotation card can cycle through them with Auto-rotate my dedicated IPs. Keep it off when an account should always see the same address, which is the reason to choose ISP proxies.

Mobile proxies in Opera

A mobile plan adds a Carrier / ISP field under the country, so the exit can be a given mobile network. Choose Sticky for anything with a login. Many phones share each mobile IP, which is why sites that are strict with other IP types tend to accept them; more on mobile proxies.

Plan	In the extension	Good for
Residential Premium	Country, State / Region, City; Sticky up to 60 min or Rotating	Browsing and logins from a chosen country
ISP	Fixed IPs, no targeting; optional auto-rotate	Accounts that keep one address for months
Mobile	Country and Carrier / ISP; Sticky or Rotating	Phone-first platforms and strict sites
Datacenter	Location of the gateway	Speed where the IP type does not matter

Check that Opera uses the proxy

• The status card shows the exit IP, the country, the city and the network once connected.
• Leaks gives three rows: the exit IP through the proxy, WebRTC, and the time zone compared with the computer's.
• A tab on ipinfo.io/json answers through the proxy; run it in a private window too after Allow in Incognito.

Our check for this guide, a Residential Premium sticky session with Country set to Finland on 24 October 2026:

Field	Result
City	Turku
Region	Southwest Finland
Country	FI
Time zone	Europe/Helsinki
Network	AS1759 Telia Finland Oyj

Errors and fixes

What you see	Cause	Fix
The exit is in America, Asia or Europe, not the country you picked	Opera's VPN is on	Click the VPN badge and turn it off with the power button
Regular windows use the proxy, private windows show your own IP	Allow in Incognito is not ticked	Extensions page, Quantum Proxies Manager card, tick Allow in Incognito, then open a new private window
Opera asks for the proxy's username and password	The proxy was set somewhere other than the extension, such as the computer's network settings, which cannot answer the sign-in	Remove it there and turn on Quantum Proxies Manager: it answers the sign-in itself
Add to Opera is missing or does nothing	An old version of Opera	Update Opera, then reload the store page
Invalid API key format	Part of the key, or a space, was pasted	Copy key again in API Keys: qd_live_ and 64 characters
Invalid API key, or API key is disabled	The key was rotated, deleted or switched off	Copy the current key from API Keys, or enable it there
No active proxies, or You are out of bandwidth	No active plan, or its traffic is used up	Check the plan's status and traffic under My proxies
Connected, but the IP does not change	Another proxy or VPN extension, or a policy on a managed computer, sets Opera's proxy	Turn off the other proxy and VPN extensions on the Extensions page; on a work computer, ask the administrator
Leaks: Real IP exposed	WebRTC Leak Protection was turned off	Extension Options, Settings, Privacy, WebRTC Leak Protection on
Leaks warns about the time zone	The computer's time zone differs from the exit's	Pick a country in your time zone, or set the computer to the exit's

To tell a plan problem from an Opera problem, test the plan outside the browser. Generate a sticky line in the dashboard and run it with curl: an address in the right country means the plan works and the cause is in Opera. More on using a proxy with curl.

curl -x http://residentialpremium.quantumproxies.io:8080 \
  -U "USER-country-fi-sid-test-ttl-10m:PASS" https://ipinfo.io/json

The generator keeps a session for up to 1440 minutes for tools other than the extension. If curl fails too, go through the proxy not working checklist.

SOCKS5 in Opera

Opera is based on Chromium, and Chromium's documentation says no authentication methods are supported for SOCKSv5. A SOCKS5 proxy with a username and password therefore does not work in Opera, whatever the setting; that is why the extension connects over HTTP. Our plans keep SOCKS5 on port 1080 for tools that can sign in to it; see SOCKS5 proxies.

Opera GX

Opera GX, Opera's browser for gamers, also adds extensions from the Chrome Web Store, and the steps are the same: turn its VPN off, click Add to Opera on the store page, sign in to the extension and allow it in private windows on the Extensions page. A prompt asking for the proxy's username and password in Opera GX has the same cause and the same fix as in the table above.

On a phone

Quantum Proxies Manager is an extension for Opera on a computer. On a phone, set the proxy in an app that handles the username and password for every app on the device: see our guides for Android and for iPhone with Shadowrocket.

Before you run accounts

A proxy changes where Opera's traffic comes from, not what a site allows. Follow each platform's terms and the law where you work, and give each account its own Opera profile and its own sticky session.