Residential vs Datacenter Proxies: Which to Choose

Residential and datacenter proxies do the same job: they replace your address with a different one. The difference is where that address comes from and how websites treat it. This decides whether your request goes through on the first try and how much you pay for each gigabyte.

Below: how the two types differ, how websites recognize them and how to choose for a specific task without spending more than you need.

Where the addresses come from

A residential address is issued by a home internet provider, the same one you use to watch shows and check your email. Behind such an address is a real device: the computer or phone of a person who agreed to share their connection through a partner app. More in the glossary: residential proxy.

A datacenter address belongs to a datacenter or a hosting company. These addresses are issued to servers, not people: there are many of them, they sit next to each other in the same subnets, and the network owner is listed in public registries. More: datacenter proxy.

How a website tells one type from the other

Every block of addresses on the internet is assigned to an owner, an autonomous system with an ASN number. This number shows who issued the address: a home provider, a mobile carrier or a datacenter. Databases with this information are available to everyone, and the check takes a fraction of a second.

After that, each website decides for itself. An online store may happily serve pages to any address. A social network may show a captcha or ask you to verify your login if it sees a datacenter. A search engine may slow down its responses if too many requests come from one subnet.

Besides the network owner, websites look at an address's neighbors. Datacenter addresses come in blocks within one subnet, and if many similar requests come from these blocks, a website may restrict the whole subnet at once. Home addresses are scattered across different providers and areas, so this kind of mass blocking barely affects them.

So the question is not which type is "better", but whether a specific website checks the address type and how strictly.

Comparison by the main parameters

When datacenter proxies are enough

Datacenter addresses pay off where the website is not picky about where a request comes from and the volume is large. Typical cases:

• collecting public data from websites without strict protection: catalogs, classifieds boards, directories;
• checking the availability and speed of your own websites from different countries;
• downloading large volumes, where every gigabyte shows up in the budget;
• testing and debugging scripts before running them on expensive traffic;
• working with APIs that limit the number of requests from one address but do not check the address type.

Datacenter proxies are usually more stable: nobody turns a server off for the night or carries it out of coverage. If the task is long and the website does not care who visits it, that is a plus. More about this type on the datacenter proxies page.

When you need residential proxies

Residential addresses are needed where a website expects a real person and checks for it:

• logging into social network, marketplace and ad accounts;
• websites with bot protection that give datacenters a captcha or an error;
• checking ads and search results the way an ordinary user in the right city sees them;
• monitoring prices on websites that show bots different prices or empty pages;
• tasks that need a precise location: region, city or provider.

The residential pool has the widest geography, and in advanced mode you can choose not only the country but also the region, city or provider. More on the residential proxies page.

The cost of a mistake either way

Choosing residential where datacenter would have been enough means overpaying for every gigabyte. For large-scale data collection, the difference in budget can be several times.

Choosing datacenter where the website filters it costs more than it seems. Traffic is spent on captchas and errors, the script makes repeat requests, and part of the data is never collected. A cheap gigabyte spent on errors ends up costing more.

Three misconceptions about proxy types

"Datacenter proxies are bad proxies." No, they are proxies for different tasks. For websites without strict checks, they work just like residential ones, only cheaper and with a steadier connection. Only the wrong task makes them bad.

"Residential proxies get through everywhere." A home address answers one question: where the request came from. But a website also looks at the browser, cookies, request frequency and behavior. If a script opens a hundred pages per second, it will be stopped on a residential address too.

"The more expensive the address, the faster it is." If anything, the opposite. A server in a datacenter is connected to backbone channels, while a home device is on an ordinary provider plan. People choose residential not for speed but for website trust.

How to test your choice in an hour

1. Start with datacenter: buy a small volume and run the task on 100-200 pages.
2. Look at the responses. Normal pages mean datacenter proxies are enough. Captchas, 403 errors and empty responses mean the website filters datacenters.
3. Repeat the same run through residential proxies and compare the share of successful responses.
4. Calculate the cost of one successful response, not one gigabyte. The traffic calculator will help you estimate the volume.

If you have several tasks, answer three questions in the proxy finder: it will suggest a type for each one.

Rotation and a fixed address work with both types

The address type and how often it changes are separate settings. Both residential and datacenter proxies in Prokso work in two modes: a new address for every request or one address for a set time. For this there are ports from 10000 to 20000: each one holds a single address for 1 to 120 minutes. More in the glossary: rotating proxy and sticky session.

For data collection, people usually choose rotation: each request goes out from a new address, and the load is spread across the pool. For accounts, a fixed address for the length of the session, so the platform does not see the user moving around every second.

How it works in Prokso

Both types are paid per gigabyte, with no subscription, and purchased traffic does not expire. Each type is a separate plan with its own login, password and balance, so it is easy to keep them side by side for different tasks. Prices per gigabyte for each type are on the pricing page.

If datacenter addresses get through but the website still sometimes asks for verification, check whether your browser's time zone and language match the address's country. You can check how a website sees you on the my IP page.