In plain English: datacenter and residential proxies both swap your IP address for a different one. What sets them apart is where that other address comes from. A datacenter address belongs to a server in a data centre. A residential address belongs to someone's home internet connection. Websites can tell the two apart, and some care far more than others. So the useful question isn't "which is better?" but "which one does my site need?"
The short answer
- Start with datacenter if the site you're using is simple and doesn't push back on automated visits. It's the quicker of the two and costs less.
- Move to residential if the site blocks you, throws a CAPTCHA (one of those "prove you're human" puzzles) at you on every page, or you need to see it exactly as a local home visitor would.
- Test with a small order before you buy more of either. A short test on your own site tells you more than any comparison table can.
Where the addresses come from
Every IP address on the internet is registered to a network, and every network has an ID called an ASN (autonomous system number). Anyone can look up who owns an ASN, and that includes the websites you visit.
- Datacenter addresses are registered to hosting and cloud companies. A website checking the owner sees "server company", not "household".
- Residential addresses are registered to home internet providers, the companies that bring broadband into houses and flats. A website checking these sees an everyday home connection. Ours come from people who chose to share their connection and agreed to it first.
That single lookup explains most of the difference in how sites treat the two.
Side by side
| Datacenter | Residential | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the address comes from | Servers in data centres | Home broadband connections |
| Speed | Quick and steady (up to 1 Gbps) | Slower, and it varies with each home line |
| Price per GB | Lower | Higher |
| How strict sites react | Often with suspicion | Usually as they would to a normal visitor |
| Choosing a location | By country | By country, and by city in major markets |
| A good first job | Simple public sites, testing your own site | Local prices and search results, stricter sites |
Current prices for both sit on our pricing page. Both are billed per GB (gigabyte, a measure of data), so what you actually spend depends on how much data your project moves, not on how many addresses you use.
When datacenter is the better buy
Datacenter proxies make sense when:
- the site is small or simple and doesn't run heavy bot protection, which covers lots of small shops, blogs, news sites and open-data pages;
- you're testing your own website or app from another country;
- you're still learning, and you'd like your first mistakes to cost as little as possible;
- speed matters more than looking like a household, for example when you're fetching lots of public pages for a personal project.
The trade-off is trust. Sites that sit behind bot-checking services such as Cloudflare may give datacenter visitors extra checks, or turn them away altogether.
When residential is worth paying more for
Residential proxies earn their higher price when:
- you want to see what local shoppers see: prices, stock and offers in another country;
- you're checking search results the way somebody in another city would get them;
- a site keeps blocking or challenging datacenter addresses even when you go slowly;
- you're making sure your own adverts show up properly in another market.
For anything you log in to, such as an account you look after, pick a sticky session so the address stays put while you're signed in.
A thrifty way to use both
You don't have to choose one for good. Plenty of people use datacenter as their everyday default and send only the awkward sites through residential. Most of their data then goes at the lower rate, and the sites that need a home address still get one. Our proxy calculator helps you estimate how much data each part of the job will use.
Common mistakes
- Buying residential "just in case". If a simple site works fine on datacenter, you're paying extra for trust you don't need.
- Hammering a site that has already said no. If a site plainly refuses server addresses, retrying again and again won't change its mind. Slow down, or switch type.
- Forgetting that pages have weight. Images, videos and scripts all use data. On a per-GB plan, a scraper that loads full pages costs far more than one that fetches only the text it needs.
- Logging in on rotating residential. The address changes mid-visit and the site signs you out. Use sticky for anything with an account.
Is this allowed?
Both types are ordinary, legitimate tools, and neither one changes the rules. Each website has its own terms of use, and the law where you live applies to whatever you do through a proxy. If a site's terms say no automated access, moving to residential doesn't make it acceptable; it only makes your traffic look different. Stick to public information, keep a polite pace, and read the terms when you're unsure.
Beginner questions
Is residential always the safer choice?
No. It looks more like a normal visitor, but that doesn't make a task allowed, private or risk-free. It's simply a different kind of address.
Can I use datacenter proxies for social media accounts?
You can, but many social platforms are wary of server addresses on logged-in accounts. Residential with a sticky session, or mobile, is the usual choice there, always within each platform's rules.
Where can I read more?
Our full datacenter vs residential guide goes further into how the two compare, and our three-way comparison brings mobile proxies into the picture.
