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Quick start

Choose the right proxy type

Datacenter, ISP, mobile and residential proxies compared by what the job needs.

This guide is part of the ProxyOnly quick-start series. It assumes nothing and takes a few minutes. Prices are live, and you can start with a balance of one US dollar in any of the 63 countries we stock.

Guide
Choose the right proxy type
Series
13 quick-start guides
Minimum balance
US$1

Start from the job

The right type depends on what the target site checks and what you are willing to pay. There is no best type in general, only a best type for a job. The table below summarises the differences, and the sections that follow explain how to choose.

  1. Datacenter proxies are the cheapest and fastest. They suit public pages, SEO and price checks on sites that do not care.
  2. ISP proxies are static addresses that are registered to an internet provider. They suit sites that distrust datacenter ranges but where you need a stable address.
  3. Mobile proxies use mobile network addresses. They suit tasks where the mobile network matters, and they are the most expensive per address.
  4. Residential proxies are sold by traffic in gigabytes, with many addresses. They suit large, broad collection where a pool matters more than one address.

Price and speed

Static proxies are priced per address and period, so a small project with a stable need costs little. Traffic-based residential access is priced by the gigabyte, so heavy pages cost more than light ones, and you should reduce what you download by skipping images and scripts you do not need.

Speed follows the same order: datacenter is usually quickest, and mobile and residential vary more because the connection belongs to a real network. Always test with your own target.

A practical way to decide

Try the cheapest type that could work for a day. If the success rate is good, stay. If you see blocks that slower requests do not fix, move up one step, for example from datacenter to ISP, and compare. Many teams use two types together, with datacenter for the bulk and a more expensive type for the pages that are strict.

Live prices for each type and country are on the pricing page and on every location page, so you can compare real numbers without an account.

Which proxy type fits any country

Pick the proxy type from the job rather than the price. Here is how the types we sell compare, so you can match one to your work in any country:

Datacenter IPv4. The default choice for most jobs. These are dedicated IPv4 addresses hosted in a datacenter, fast and inexpensive, and the best fit for high-volume reading of public pages, monitoring and automation. Some websites treat datacenter ranges more cautiously than consumer connections, so test your target before you commit to a long rental.

ISP proxies. Static addresses that are registered to an internet service provider rather than a hosting company. They keep the speed of datacenter hardware and look more like an ordinary home or office connection, which helps with destinations that are strict about hosting ranges.

Shared IPv4. A shared address is used by more than one customer and costs less. It suits light tasks, quick checks and testing where a clean, exclusive address is not essential.

IPv6. IPv6 addresses are very cheap and plentiful, and they work well with destinations that serve IPv6 traffic, such as many large search, video and social platforms. Many smaller sites are still IPv4 only, so check that your target supports IPv6 before you buy.

Mobile proxies. Addresses from mobile carrier networks. Many phones share the same carrier address, so websites tend to be tolerant of this traffic, which makes mobile proxies the right choice for testing mobile ads, apps and landing pages. They cost more than datacenter addresses.

Residential proxies. Addresses from home internet connections, billed by the amount of traffic you use and not by the IP. They suit light, bursty jobs on sites that block datacenter and ISP ranges. Heavy traffic gets expensive quickly, so estimate your monthly volume first.

If you are unsure, rent one address of the type you think you need, run your real task against it for a day, and look at the success rate. Because rental periods start at a few days, trying a type costs very little.

Using proxies responsibly in any country

A proxy is a networking tool and it is lawful in most places, but what you do with it still has to be lawful and fair. Follow the laws that apply to you and to the place you send traffic to, read the terms of the sites you visit, honour robots rules and rate limits, and never use an address to access accounts or data that are not yours. ProxyOnly cannot give legal advice, and our acceptable use policy applies to every order.

In practice that means reading public pages, checking your own sites and ads, and testing your own products. If a task would be unwelcome to the site owner when done by hand, it is unwelcome when done through a proxy too.

Frequently asked questions

Which proxy type is cheapest?

Datacenter proxies are the cheapest per address. See the pricing page for the live numbers.

What is an ISP proxy?

A static address that is registered to an internet provider, so that it looks like an ordinary customer connection.

When do I need mobile proxies?

When the task depends on a mobile network connection. They cost more, so use them only where they matter.

How is residential access priced?

By traffic, per gigabyte.

Ready to try it?

Create an account, add funds from US$1 and pick your country and proxy type.