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What is a residential proxy?

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Short answer

A residential proxy routes your requests through an IP address that an internet service provider assigned to a home connection, so websites see a regular household visitor. Residential proxies usually rotate through a large pool of such IPs and can target countries or cities. They suit large-scale public data collection and location-specific checks.

How does a residential proxy work?

  1. Your application sends its request to the provider's gateway instead of directly to the website.
  2. The gateway picks a household IP from its pool, in the country or city you asked for.
  3. The request reaches the website from that IP, so the site sees a home connection in that location.
  4. The response travels back through the gateway to you.

With HTTPS, the proxy only tunnels the encrypted connection. It can see which site you visit, but not the pages or data.

Where do residential IPs come from?

Residential IPs belong to real devices on home internet connections. Reputable providers source them from device owners who have agreed to share their connection, usually in exchange for a reward in an app or service, and who can stop sharing at any time.

That consent is what separates a legitimate residential network from a botnet. When you compare providers, ask how they obtain and record consent from the people behind their IPs.

Residential vs other proxy types

TypeIP comes fromIP changesBest for
ResidentialHome internet connectionsPer request, or sticky for a whileScale, many locations, sites that check IP reputation
ISPResidential ISP ranges, hosted on serversNever during the termLong sessions and heavy traffic through a few IPs
DatacenterHosting and cloud providersPer request, or sticky up to 30 minutesSpeed and low cost on lenient sites
Mobile4G and 5G carriersPer request, or stickyMobile apps and carrier-specific content

ISP vs residential proxies compares the two most similar types in detail.

Rotating or sticky?

Residential proxies can give you a new IP on every request, or keep one IP for a while, which is called a sticky session. Use rotation for independent requests, such as checking many product pages. Use a sticky session when a website expects the same visitor across several steps, such as moving through search result pages. See Rotation and sticky sessions for how to switch.

When should you use a residential proxy?

  • Collecting public data at scale, such as prices, search results or listings, where many requests from one IP would be refused.
  • Seeing content by location, such as local prices, search results and ads in another country or city.
  • Testing your own site and ads from real consumer networks in your target markets.

When is another type better?

  • One stable identity for days or weeks: use ISP proxies.
  • Heavy traffic on sites without bot protection: datacenter proxies cost less per GB moved.
  • Speed-critical jobs: residential connections vary with each household's line, so static proxies are more consistent.

Pros and cons

ProsCons
IPs that websites treat as regular visitorsBilled per GB, so heavy traffic gets expensive
A large pool across many countries and citiesSpeed varies with each home connection
Rotation without managing IP listsA sticky IP can go offline when its device disconnects

How much do residential proxies cost?

FuseProxy residential proxies start at $2.42 per GB. City, state, ZIP and ASN targeting on per-GB pools uses traffic at 2x the standard rate.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Are residential proxies legal?
Using residential proxies is legal in most countries when the IPs come from device owners who agreed to share their connection. What you do through the proxy must still be lawful and respect the terms of the sites you visit. Fraud, unauthorised access and spam are illegal with or without a proxy.
What is the difference between rotating and static residential proxies?
A rotating residential proxy gives you a different household IP on each request or after a set time, drawn from a large pool. A static residential proxy, usually called an ISP proxy, keeps the same IP for weeks and runs on server hardware.
Why are residential proxies more expensive than datacenter proxies?
Each residential IP belongs to a real household connection, which is limited and has to be sourced with the owner's consent. Datacenter IPs are produced in bulk by hosting providers. So even though both are billed per GB at FuseProxy, a GB of datacenter traffic costs a fraction of a GB of residential traffic.
How are residential proxies billed?
Usually per GB of traffic that passes through the proxy, whatever the number of IPs you use. Location filters finer than country, such as city or ZIP code, often cost more per GB.

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