Types of proxies explained

There are far more "types" of proxy than most buyers realise, and the labels overlap in confusing ways. This guide untangles them into three simple groups: the source of the IP (residential, datacenter, ISP, mobile), the protocol it speaks (HTTP/HTTPS or SOCKS5), and how it's allocated (shared vs dedicated, rotating vs static). Get those three right and you've chosen the perfect proxy.

Residential proxies

Residential proxies use IP addresses that internet service providers assign to genuine households. Because the traffic looks exactly like an ordinary person browsing from home, they're the hardest type to detect and the best all-round choice for accessing well-protected websites. They're typically billed per gigabyte and rotate through a huge pool of IPs spread across countless cities and ISPs.

Choose residential when: you're scraping major sites, verifying ads abroad, monitoring prices, or doing anything where looking like a real local user is essential. Read our deep dive: Residential Proxies Explained.

Datacenter proxies

Datacenter proxies are hosted on commercial server infrastructure. They're the fastest and cheapest type by a wide margin, often sold per IP rather than per GB. The trade-off is detectability: because many addresses share recognisable subnets, sophisticated sites can identify and block them. For high-speed work against tolerant targets, nothing beats their value.

Choose datacenter when: you need speed and low cost against sites that don't aggressively block — bulk requests, internal testing, SEO tools, and as your default first attempt. Compare them head-to-head in Datacenter vs Residential.

ISP (static residential) proxies

ISP proxies are a hybrid: residential IP addresses hosted on data-center hardware. You get the legitimacy of a residential address combined with the speed and stability of a fixed, long-lived IP. Because the IP doesn't change, they're perfect when you need continuity — staying logged into an account, or running uninterrupted monitoring for hours or days.

Choose ISP when: you need a trusted IP that stays the same — account management, e-commerce operations, and continuous sessions where rotating IPs would look suspicious.

Mobile proxies

Mobile proxies route through real 4G and 5G cellular networks. Because carriers share a small pool of mobile IPs among thousands of subscribers, blocking one risks blocking many real customers — giving mobile proxies the highest trust of any type. They're also the most expensive, so they're best reserved for tasks that truly need them.

Choose mobile when: you're managing social accounts, testing mobile apps, verifying mobile ads, or facing the most aggressive anti-bot systems. Full guide: Mobile Proxies: 4G & 5G IPs.

By protocol: HTTP/HTTPS vs SOCKS5

Independent of source, proxies speak one of two main protocols:

• HTTP/HTTPS proxies are built for web traffic. They understand HTTP, can interpret and cache web requests, and are the default for browsing and scraping. HTTPS proxies add encryption for secure connections.
• SOCKS5 proxies operate at a lower level and forward any kind of traffic — web, email, peer-to-peer, gaming — without interpreting it. They're more flexible and often faster for non-web protocols, but don't offer web-specific features like caching.

For most data and browsing tasks, HTTP/HTTPS is what you want. Choose SOCKS5 when you need to proxy non-web traffic or want maximum protocol flexibility.

Shared, dedicated, rotating & static

Finally, proxies differ in how they're allocated to you:

• Shared proxies are used by multiple customers at once. They're cheaper but you share the IP's reputation and bandwidth with others.
• Dedicated (private) proxies are yours alone, giving you full control of the IP's reputation and performance — at a higher price.
• Rotating proxies assign a new IP per request or interval, ideal for large-scale scraping.
• Static (sticky) proxies keep the same IP for a session, ideal for logins and multi-step flows.

Which type should you choose?

Work backwards from your task:

• Scraping a tough site? Rotating residential (HTTP).
• Bulk, speed-critical, soft target? Datacenter (HTTP).
• Managing accounts? Static ISP, sticky session.
• Social media or app testing? Mobile, sticky session.
• Non-web traffic? SOCKS5.

Still weighing it up? Our complete buying guide turns this into a simple five-step decision, and our 2026 provider ranking shows which networks do each type best.