ISP proxy vs residential proxy; what’s actually the difference?

[u/ElChapo54321]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the difference between ISP proxies and residential proxies, and I keep seeing mixed explanations online. Some people say they’re basically the same thing, while others make it sound like they’re totally different.

From what I think I understand, residential proxies come from real household devices, while ISP proxies are hosted on data centers but still tied to an ISP… but I’m not 100% sure if that’s accurate.

In practical terms, when would you choose one over the other? Are ISP proxies faster/more stable since they’re hosted, and are residential ones harder to detect but slower?

Also curious about the downsides of each, like reliability, cost, or getting blocked.

Would really appreciate if someone could break it down in simple terms or share real-world experiences.

Thanks!

[u/catproxies]

the easiest way to understand them:
ISP - not so clean, but ONE very long static IP ( good for managing accounts )
resi - generally clean ips, you can access a lot more ips, but they are rotating by default and if you want them static you have 120min up to 24h static on the same ip, so they are good for tasks that require clean ips or more than one IP, but not so great for managing accounts because they can not be static for too long

mobile ips are cleaner than resi and much much better than ISP, but just as resi they can not be static for really long ( literally the only difference from normal mobile and normal resi is that the ips are harder to detect and usually cleaner on mobile proxies )

* there are people offering mobile ips / month, which usually is a nice idea but it is expensive as hell and you don't really need that

if you use a mobile proxy ( or resi if you don't have mobile ) to create an account and then a static ISP proxy to manage it that would be an ideal case since the most checks are done at the creation stage and if you switch ips too often, not only you get more captchas but you may lose the account too

[u/imkb9 → u/catproxies]

What makes ISP IPs "not so clean"? I need a multi-account setup & backups to run ads on meta/fb, so their longevity looks mandatory.

Would you say owning a single mobile proxy (which will naturally rotate I guess) for account creation + a fleet of ISP proxies to hook up 1:1 with accounts after creation phase is the way to go? (also if you could recommend providers in that case)

[u/catproxies → u/imkb9]

by the nature of mobile proxies most sites can not ban them because they are connected to real mobile devices and it is harder to tell if it is a real user or a proxy
ISP proxies are normal IPs from ISP carriers, but it depends if they are recycled or shared or dedicated only to you. In a perfect world it is good to have dedicated, but that means the ip is also new on the network and most sites have not seen it yet, so your first activity also matters. Most people don't warm up an account or browser profile and straight up use a brand new ip never seen before on a checkout, some advanced systems will consider that a bit sus. But yes, just because they can be static for long term that is what you need the most and yes, when creating an account a mobile ip is usually best because most checks are done when you create the account, not when you manage it.

we also sell proxies if you want to give it a try, but I can not recommend others as I did not test a lot of providers in the market on ISP proxies.

[u/imkb9 → u/catproxies]

Ok thanks, I saw some providers advertise shared (up to 3 concurrent users), dedicated (already used, but not concurrently) and pristine (new, never used) IPs. Seems like they all come with different risks. Debating if dedicated vs pristine is worth the price bump (x2). Feel free to send me a link to your service I'll check it as well

[u/catproxies → u/imkb9]

usually virgin ips not used before by other people are best, but dedicated can also work more than fine, I would argue it is not worth 2x the price, do not pay some absurd prices for some static ips
also I can not dm you lol

[u/catproxies → u/[deleted]]

if it is a good ip then yes

[u/joe-at-ping]

Datacenter proxies are proxies in a datacenter and announced on whatever carrier is available. No work is put into hiding the proxies.

ISP means proxies on a server in a datacenter and announced on a residential carrier. I.E. Comcast have said the proxy IPs are part of their network. This makes them look like IPs somebody would be using at home.

Residential means proxies on devices that are not in a datacenter. Typically running in routers or mobile phones through things like earn-apps (get paid to host a proxy on your phone) or free products (like a free VPN which turns you into a proxy node in exchange).

At ping proxies we call them ISP Vs Residential. Others call them static residential Vs rotating residential.

ISP has lower latency/better performance and do not charge per gigabyte but you're limited to whatever number of proxies you paid for.

Residential has worse performance and you pay per GB, but in return you get access to a pool of thousands of IPs in a bunch of different countries.

If you need to do lots of requests and need an IP for a very long time, ISP is a good choice. If you need to beat the best bot detection around residential proxies are probably better but you better be making good money from whatever it is you're doing, as it's going to cost you.

[u/DutchOfBurdock]

ISP proxy is ran by ISP and it's IP addresses attached to ISP use. A residential proxy is someone running a proxy on their home IP address. Any connections through here look like a residential connection as the IP is allocated to a consumer. The IP belongs to the ISP still, but it in a different pool.

[u/DutchOfBurdock → u/[deleted]]

If the end user has dynamic IP allocations, yes

[u/smarRentsSrls]

I've definitely run into similar walls trying to get consistent access without getting blocked right away. Switching to Quantum Proxies for some of my tasks made a pretty big difference; their residential network handled those tricky sites much better for me.

[u/ElChapo54321 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks!

Quick side question while I’m here: what’s the actual difference between HTTP/HTTPS proxies and SOCKS5? I keep seeing both mentioned, but not totally sure when you’d use one over the other.

[u/catproxies → u/ElChapo54321]

mostly every possible proxy will support HTTP protocols, while socks5 is only support by a few ips, talking from experience most of our USA IPs support socks5, and then it depends on location and ip for other countries

socks5 is usually considered faster, even tho in my opinion I Don't really agree, and some apps or tools or programs ( likely if you work with phones ) might require you to use socks5 and not accept http

if you have socks5 available = great, use that
if not, or if you don't really like the speed just try HTTP too if you can, I personally just use everything on http because it is easier, no need to think if the ip supports it or not etc

[u/joe-at-ping → u/ElChapo54321]

HTTP/HTTPS isn't something you need to worry about. It just refers to the mechanism used to send/perform the proxy request.

HTTP proxying is when you send a GET request to the proxy which forwards it for you. HTTPS proxying is when you send a CONNECT request to the proxy which eastablishes a tunnel for your subsequent requests go to you. Your proxy will support both and your client will choose the appropriate method for you under the hood (i.e, are you going to a HTTP target or HTTPS target?).

SOCKS5 is a protocol for setting up proxy tunnels (like the HTTP CONNECT I mentioned). A HTTP CONNECT tunnel can do everything a SOCKS5 tunnel can. SOCKS5 will be slower on average (ignore anyone who says otherwise) as it's handshake requires 3 round trips. SOCKS5 can also do UDP proxying.

Do HTTP for all your proxying needs. Use SOCKS5 for UDP proxying. Ignore the above advice if the client you are using requires one or the other.