--- title: "Residential vs Datacenter Proxies: Which to Use and When — SerpProxies" description: "Residential proxies look like real home users; datacenter proxies are faster and cheaper but easier to detect." url: "https://serpproxies.com/guides/residential-vs-datacenter-proxies" --- Guide # Residential vs Datacenter Proxies Residential proxies look like real home users; datacenter proxies are faster and cheaper but easier to detect. How they differ in trust, speed, price and billing, and which to use for which job. [Claim the free trial](https://app.serpproxies.com/sign-up?product=residential) The short answer Residential proxies route traffic through IP addresses that internet providers assign to homes, so websites see an ordinary visitor. Datacenter proxies use addresses owned by hosting companies: they are faster and much cheaper, but sites that check where an IP comes from can tell. Use datacenter proxies wherever a site allows them, and residential where it doesn't. ## The difference is who owns the IP address Every IP address is registered to an organisation, grouped into an autonomous system (ASN). A residential IP belongs to a consumer internet provider — Comcast, Deutsche Telekom, Jio — and is assigned to a household connection. A datacenter IP belongs to a hosting company or cloud provider and sits on a server in a rack. Websites can look up that ownership instantly. Many anti-bot systems treat traffic from hosting ASNs with suspicion, because real shoppers, readers and searchers rarely browse from a server. Traffic from a consumer ISP looks like the audience the site was built for. ## Side by side Residential and datacenter proxies compared Residential Datacenter Where the IP comes from ResidentialA consumer ISP, assigned to a home DatacenterA hosting or cloud provider How sites see it ResidentialAn ordinary visitor DatacenterA server — easy to identify Block rate on protected sites ResidentialLow DatacenterHigh Speed and latency ResidentialVaries with the home connection DatacenterFast and consistent Usual billing ResidentialPer GB of traffic DatacenterPer IP, per day or per GB Cost per GB ResidentialHigher DatacenterMuch lower Geo-targeting ResidentialDown to city or ISP DatacenterUsually country or region Best for ResidentialProtected sites, local results, accounts DatacenterOpen sites, APIs, high-volume crawling ## When datacenter proxies are the right choice If a target doesn't block hosting ranges, datacenter proxies are simply better value: higher throughput, lower latency and a price that doesn't grow with every gigabyte. Typical fits are public APIs, documentation and news sites, your own sites, and large crawls of targets with little bot protection. SerpProxies' datacenter IPs come from subnets we own and route ourselves, with DNS cached at the edge, billed per day by line speed with unmetered bandwidth — so cost is predictable however much a crawler downloads. ## When you need residential proxies Move to residential once a target starts challenging or blocking your requests, or when the answer depends on where the visitor is. Search results, retail prices and ad delivery all change by location, and a residential IP in the right city sees what a local user sees. - Sites behind serious bot protection: large retailers, ticketing, social platforms, search engines. - Local data: rankings, prices or ads in a specific city. - Accounts and sessions that must look like one real person over time. Residential proxies are billed per gigabyte because each byte travels over someone's home connection. SerpProxies' residential pool is 50M+ consented, opt-in IPs across 195+ countries, with country, state, city and ASN targeting included on every plan. ## A practical routing rule Most teams don't choose one type for everything. Send each target through the cheapest proxy that works on it: start on datacenter, measure the block rate, and promote only the targets that fail to residential — and to premium residential or mobile if those fail too. Static ISP proxies sit in between: residential-registered addresses hosted in datacenters, for jobs that need a fixed identity at datacenter speed. Products in this guide - [UDP Residential Proxies Real residential IPs with full UDP support — gaming, VoIP and streaming included.](https://serpproxies.com/products/residential) - [Datacenter Proxies Fast, high-uptime IPs with DNS caching — dependable proxies for scraping at volume.](https://serpproxies.com/products/datacenter) - [Static ISP Proxies Virgin, never-rotating dedicated proxies — datacenter speed with a real-user reputation.](https://serpproxies.com/products/static-isp) - [Premium Residential Proxies Our cleanest pool with state and city geo proxies for the hardest targets.](https://serpproxies.com/products/premium-residential) Put it into practice ## Try it on a real target, free Up to 2 GB of residential traffic, no card. HTTP(S) and SOCKS5, rotating or sticky, country to city targeting — all on one gateway. [Claim the free trial](https://app.serpproxies.com/sign-up?product=residential) [See pricing](https://serpproxies.com/pricing) FAQ ## Residential vs Datacenter Proxies: questions Can't find the answer? A real person is on chat around the clock, or find us here: [![](https://serpproxies.com/_next/image?url=%2Fsite%2Fcta-footer%2Ficon-discord.svg&w=48&q=75&dpl=dpl_4e38rytQGsn2doPaBHjww2F8r4Hi)](https://discord.gg/serpproxies)[![](https://serpproxies.com/_next/image?url=%2Fsite%2Fcta-footer%2Ficon-x.svg&w=48&q=75&dpl=dpl_4e38rytQGsn2doPaBHjww2F8r4Hi)](https://x.com/SerpProxies)[![](https://serpproxies.com/_next/image?url=%2Fsite%2Fcta-footer%2Ficon-telegram.svg&w=48&q=75&dpl=dpl_4e38rytQGsn2doPaBHjww2F8r4Hi)](https://t.me/serpproxies) Not in general — they are better at looking like a real user. Datacenter proxies are faster and far cheaper. Use residential when a site blocks datacenter ranges or when you need city-level location; otherwise datacenter is the better buy. Every byte travels over a real household connection that has to be sourced, consented and maintained, so residential proxies are usually billed per gigabyte. Datacenter capacity is cheap and plentiful, so it is sold per IP or per day. Usually, yes. IP ownership is public: a site can see whether an address belongs to a hosting company or a consumer internet provider and treat it accordingly. ISP (static residential) proxies are addresses registered to consumer ISPs but hosted on datacenter servers. They combine a residential-looking address with datacenter speed, and they don't rotate — useful for long sessions and accounts. Start with datacenter for targets that allow it and switch target by target to residential when you see blocks. That keeps cost down while keeping success rates up. Keep reading ## Related guides - [What Is a Residential Proxy? A residential proxy routes your requests through a real home internet connection, so websites see an ordinary visitor. How it works, where the IPs come from, why consent matters and what it's used for.](https://serpproxies.com/guides/what-is-a-residential-proxy) - [ISP Proxies vs Residential Proxies ISP proxies are residential-registered IPs hosted in datacenters: fixed, fast and billed per IP. Residential proxies rotate through real homes and bill per GB. How they compare and which to use.](https://serpproxies.com/guides/isp-vs-residential-proxies) - [Rotating vs Static Proxies Rotating proxies change IP on every request or after a set time; static proxies keep one IP for days or months. How each works, sticky sessions in between, and which fits scraping, accounts and checkouts.](https://serpproxies.com/guides/rotating-vs-static-proxies) - [Residential proxy prices compared Every provider we track, priced at the same volumes.](https://serpproxies.com/compare) - Free trial Test it on your own targets — up to 2 GB free. [Claim the free trial](https://app.serpproxies.com/sign-up?product=residential) Ready to start? ## SerpProxies is for teams that move. Make your move. Credentials the moment you sign up, a free trial on residential, and billing by what you use. No contracts. [Get Started](https://app.serpproxies.com/sign-up) [Claim Free Trial](https://app.serpproxies.com/sign-up)