Residential, ISP or datacenter: which one do I need?
Updated 2 min read
Short version: need lots of different home IPs? Residential, which is coming soon. Need one address that looks like a home connection and stays put? ISP. Need speed on a site that doesn't care where you come from? Datacenter, and it's usually the cheapest.
Go residential if
Residential is coming soon and can't be ordered yet. It's the right pick when:
- the site blocks datacenter ranges;
- you want your requests spread over lots of addresses;
- each request stands on its own, with no login or checkout that has to stay on one IP.
Not for jobs that must come from one named country: residential can't be pinned to one. More: Residential proxies: what you get.
Go ISP if
- you keep logged-in sessions or accounts and need the same IP every time;
- a multi-step flow breaks when the IP changes halfway;
- the site blocks hosting ranges but punishes rotation.
Not for jobs that need thousands of different addresses. One static IP gets rate-limited eventually. More: ISP proxies: what you get.
Go datacenter if
- the site doesn't care where you come from: most APIs, content sites and price feeds;
- you crawl a lot, since a dedicated datacenter IP has no traffic meter;
- you're learning to scrape and want to spend as little as possible.
Not for sites that hard-block hosting ranges. You'll get 403s there, so go ISP, or residential once it's on sale. More: Datacenter proxies: what you get.
The three lines side by side
| Residential (coming soon) | ISP | Datacenter | |
|---|---|---|---|
What you get |
A rotating pool of real home IPs |
One static IP registered to a consumer ISP |
One static IP registered to a hosting company |
IP changes |
Usually on every new connection |
Never during the term |
Never during the term |
Pick a country |
No: one pool, no country setting |
Yes, at checkout |
Yes, at checkout |
You pay for |
Traffic, per GB |
Each IP, for a term |
Each IP, for a term |
Still not sure?
- Answer a few questions in the proxy chooser.
- Estimate your traffic first with the bandwidth calculator.
- Ask us at support@proxymonkey.io whether a line works on your site.
- Test cheap: one ISP or datacenter IP on the shortest term, before you buy more.
Prices for each line are on our pricing page.