The short version: start with the cheapest type that isn't getting blocked, and only move up when block rates force you to.
## Datacenter proxies
IPs from hosting and cloud providers.
- Pros: fastest, cheapest (often priced per IP, sometimes per GB), very stable.
- Cons: IP-intelligence databases label them as hosting, so sites with serious anti-bot protection block them quickly.
- Good for: lenient targets, APIs, bulk scraping where a few blocks are fine, speed-sensitive work.
## Residential proxies
IPs that consumer ISPs assign to home connections, usually reached through peer networks (apps and SDKs where device owners opt in).
- Pros: look like ordinary home users; broad country/city targeting; huge rotating pools.
- Cons: priced per GB, so heavy pages get expensive; speed and uptime vary by peer; a peer can drop mid-session.
- Good for: geo-restricted content, e-commerce and search scraping, ad verification, anything that blocks datacenter IPs.
- Worth asking: how the provider sources its IPs and whether device owners gave consent.
## ISP proxies (static residential)
IPs registered to consumer ISPs but hosted on servers in data centres.
- Pros: residential-looking reputation with datacenter speed and stability; the same IP for as long as you rent it.
- Cons: fewer locations than rotating residential; usually priced per IP per month.
- Good for: managing accounts, long sessions, checkout flows — anything that needs one stable identity.
## Mobile proxies
IPs from mobile carriers (4G/5G).
- Pros: carriers put many real users behind the same IP (carrier-grade NAT), so sites are reluctant to block them — the highest trust of the four.
- Cons: the most expensive, and often slower.
- Good for: social media, app testing, targets that block everything else.
## Rule of thumb
1. Try datacenter. Block rate under ~5%? Done.
2. Blocked? Move to residential or ISP (ISP if you need the same IP for a long time).
3. Still blocked on residential? Try mobile — and check your headers, TLS fingerprint and request rate first, because proxies can't fix a bot-shaped client.
What are you using, and for which targets? Post below.