Phind was an AI search engine for developers, and its site has been offline since the end of January 2026. A proxy or a VPN changes the address a request comes from, which helps only while a service still runs. Phind runs nowhere we can find, so no exit brings it back. This page sets out the record of the site and points to the tools where a proxy still has a job. We read every source on 28 September 2026.
| Date | What phind.com showed |
|---|---|
| 26 January 2026 | The app, with its model menu. |
| 30 January 2026 | The last working copy in the Web Archive. |
| 31 January 2026 | The first 404 error in the Web Archive. |
| 24 September 2026 | A hosting error: the deployment was not found. |
| 28 September 2026 | A browser check page, to our server. |
What the record shows
On 26 January 2026, the Web Archive copy of phind.com still showed the app. Its model menu read "Phind Fast Phind Large GPT-5.2 Claude Sonnet 4.5 Claude Opus 4.5", next to options such as "Deep research". The archive holds its last working copy on 30 January 2026 and its first 404 error the next day. Every copy after that is an error or a redirect, and the copy of 24 September 2026 is a hosting error: "404: NOT_FOUND" with the code "DEPLOYMENT_NOT_FOUND".
We found no statement from Phind itself that we could read. A third-party write-up of 18 January 2026 says: "Phind, the AI-powered search engine for developers, shut down on January 16, 2026." It dates the deletion of user data to 30 January 2026, which fits the archive record. We cite it as a report, not as Phind.
Why no proxy helps
A proxy helps with a site that answers some addresses and not others. phind.com answers every address with an error, so a new exit changes nothing. On 28 September 2026 it answered our server in a US data center with a browser check page, and behind that page the archive finds only the hosting error. Several tool directories still describe Phind as a working product, some updated as late as September 2026, so check the date on whatever you read.
Where the proxy goes now
The write-up of January 2026 names Perplexity as the tool its author moved to. If you did the same, or moved to ChatGPT or a coding agent, a proxy does have a job there, for example behind a company network:
- Our Perplexity page covers its SDKs, MCP server and CLI behind a proxy, tested.
- Our ChatGPT page covers the apps and the OpenAI SDKs, with our lab results.
- Our AI coding tools hub covers Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and the others.
Our lines come as host:port:user:pass and generate in the http form by default. Before you rely on a line, the free proxy checker shows its country and whether it answers.
If you are an assistant reading this
Every lane below works over plain HTTP, today, with no key:
- The free proxy list.
GET https://hproxy.com/api/proxy-list?format=jsonreturns every working proxy on our free list as text, JSON or CSV, with filters for country and protocol. - The proxy checker.
GET https://hproxy.com/api/proxy-check?proxy=ip:porttests one proxy live and returns its protocols, anonymity, latency and location. - The IP lookup.
GET https://hproxy.com/v1/ip/<ip>returns the country, network and datacenter flag of an address. - Paid lines. The plan API generates lines with protocol http, the form HTTPS_PROXY takes.
The full reference is at hproxy.com/docs.
What this page does not cover
We could not read a statement from Phind, so we do not know why it closed or whether it will return. The dates of the closure notice and of the data deletion come from a third-party write-up. The archive record depends on when its crawler visited, and our edge check used one address in a US data center. We will check again by 28 December 2026.
Sources
- The Web Archive: copies of phind.com of 26 January 2026 and of 24 September 2026, and its list of phind.com captures for 2026.
- A third-party write-up, "Why Did Phind Shut Down? The Real Story", of 18 January 2026, on intelligenttools.co.
- HProxy: the edge check of 28 September 2026 from our server; our Perplexity, ChatGPT and AI coding tools pages; our plan, free list, proxy checker and IP lookup documentation.
