Best Residential Proxies

Residential proxies use IPs from home and broadband networks. Compare offers by billing model, geo targeting, session options, and pool size.

Billing models:
By traffic — billed by GB used (most common).
By ports — billed by the number of proxy ports in the plan; each port can be a separate access point for its own session, tool, or worker.

Residential Proxies: By Traffic or By Ports?

Residential proxy services are usually sold in two main ways. The choice is not about private or shared access, but about how the service is billed and how you plan to use it.

Choose By Traffic when your usage is easier to think of in GB. This is now the more common direction in residential proxy pricing and the safer starting point when you want broad access to residential IPs without deciding in advance how many separate ports your setup will need.

Choose By Ports when your setup depends on a fixed number of separate access points. This model still exists, but it is becoming less common as more providers move toward traffic-based pricing.

In practice, By Traffic is now the more standard option for residential proxies, while By Ports makes more sense when the number of simultaneous access points matters just as much as the traffic itself.

Key Buying Factors for Residential Proxies

By Traffic

PAYG $ / GB

The price of 1 GB when you pay only for the traffic you actually use. This is useful when monthly usage is hard to predict or still being tested.

From $ / month

The entry price of the smallest monthly package.

GB included

The amount of traffic already included in that monthly package.

In-plan $ / GB

The effective cost of 1 GB inside the package. This is the number that shows whether the package is actually good value.

By Ports

Included ports

The number of ports that come with the plan. Each port is a separate entry point for its own session, tool, browser profile, or worker.

Shared columns

Locations

The countries available in the service. On residential plans, a long country list is useful, but it does not tell you how precise the geo choice is inside each country.

Targeting

The level of location control available for the exit IP. Country targeting is standard. State, city, and ASN targeting matter when broad geo is not enough.

Default rotation

How often the service changes the exit IP if you do not keep the same session manually. Shorter rotation means more frequent automatic IP changes.

Long sessions

Shows whether the service lets you hold the same residential IP for longer. This matters when a task breaks if the IP changes too quickly.

Pool size

The estimated number of residential IPs behind the service. Residential pools are often very large, so this number makes the most sense when you compare providers with similar targeting and session options.

Auth methods

The ways you can access the proxies, usually Username/Password or IP whitelist. With residential gateways, Username/Password is often the more practical option when access is spread across different tools or changing source IPs.

Protocols

The connection types the service supports, usually HTTP or SOCKS5. This is mostly a compatibility check with your software.

When Residential Proxies Make Sense

Residential proxies make sense when access matters more than raw speed or very large traffic volume. They are a strong choice when a target site reacts badly to datacenter or ISP IPs, when you need broader geo coverage, or when you need more precise location control than just country level.

They also make sense when your setup depends on real household and broadband IP space, long sessions, or a very large and varied IP pool. This is often the case when you want fewer repeated IPs, need city or ASN targeting, or want traffic that looks less tied to server infrastructure.

In short, residential proxies are usually the better choice when the main problem is getting in cleanly, staying flexible with geo, or keeping access stable on targets that do not respond well to server-based proxy ranges.

Alternatives to Residential Proxies

Residential proxies are often the fallback choice when other proxy types cannot get clean access. But they are not always the most practical choice. If the target does not need household IPs, another proxy type may give you a simpler setup, lower cost, or better speed.

• Datacenter proxies — When the site does not react badly to server IPs and you care more about speed and volume. See Best Datacenter Proxies.
• ISP proxies — Real provider networks without the full flexibility of residential pools. See Best ISP Proxies.
• Mobile proxies — When the target responds best to mobile carrier traffic. See Best Mobile Proxies.
• IPv6 proxies — More IPs at lower cost when IPv6 is fully usable end to end. See Best IPv6 Proxies.