When choosing between proxies for SEO and VPNs, selection should depend on your needs and preferences. First, it's important to know the difference between these two solutions: a proxy is a middleman between you and the internet. A proxy network hides users' IP addresses and performs the internet's request transactions on their behalf, whereas a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is an intermediary that encrypts and transmits data when users connect to the internet.
Typically, an SEO proxy is preferred over a VPN for SEO monitoring, as it's suitable for automated tasks such as rank tracking, data scraping from multiple geo locations, etc. However, if your priority is simply secure and anonymous internet browsing, you may go for a VPN.