While there is a huge market of proxy IP networks available for various business purposes, it can be challenging to understand which proxy server is the best solution for your use case. To choose the best proxy solution for your company, you must first understand the various types of proxy servers and their main functions.
We’ve looked at the key differences between the two most common proxy server solutions—datacenter proxies and residential proxies—to help you choose the right proxy solution for your business needs.
What is a Datacenter Proxy?
A Datacenter Proxy (DC Proxy) is an intermediary between clients (requesters) and web servers (targets). A Datacenter Proxy assigns clients IP addresses that belong to a pool of Datacenter Proxy and third-party cloud service providers. Datacenter Proxy is divided into two groups, depending on the number of clients sharing an IP address.
1. Shared Data Center Proxy
A shared proxy is an IP address that is used by multiple users simultaneously. Shared proxies are more cost-effective than dedicated datacenter proxies because they assign the same IP address to multiple users.
For example, when a client makes a connection request to a web server in another country, the shared datacenter proxy assigns the client a random IP address from a shared proxy pool belonging to the target country.
When using a shared datacenter proxy, users share the same bandwidth to exchange data between devices. Shared bandwidth slows down data transfer and browsing speeds. As the number of clients sharing the same IP address with you increases, the IP address will become overwhelmed by the number of requests.
Learn more about how shared proxies work and their use cases.
2. Dedicated Data Center Proxy
Dedicated datacenter proxies are not shared or used with other clients. Dedicated (or private) datacenter proxies assign specific IP addresses to clients from the target dedicated datacenter proxy location and are used only by a single user. It provides complete control over all IP address activities. Unlike shared datacenter proxies, dedicated datacenter proxies provide stable speed and performance.
Learn more about private proxies, how they work, and when and why you should use them.
What is a residential proxy?
Residential proxies use IP addresses provided by ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and assign real IP addresses to clients. Since the source of the IP address is related to the ISP, it is difficult to distinguish it from ordinary users and it is also difficult for websites to detect it as a proxy user.
We compared the top 10 residential proxy service providers of 2023 based on performance, pricing, and features to help you make an informed decision.
We’ve compared the best foreign residential proxy service providers based on performance, pricing, and features to help you make an informed decision.
Kookeey's residential proxy provides users with an IP address provided by their ISP (Internet Service Provider), allowing them to access geo-restricted content, circumvent anti-scraping technologies, and successfully perform web scraping without revealing their real identity.
Data Center vs Residential Proxies: What Are the Main Differences?
1. IP source
The source of the IP address is the main difference between residential proxies and datacenter proxies. Residential proxy IPs are assigned by the ISP and belong to real people (e.g. someone's phone or computer), while datacenter proxies use IP pools from cloud servers and datacenters.
2. Proxy Anonymity Level
Unlike residential proxies, data center IPs are not associated with an Internet Service Provider. This makes it easier for websites to identify proxy users and block them from accessing website content.
In contrast, residential proxies use real user IP addresses; residential proxies are more difficult for websites to block.
Proxy servers are divided into two types based on their IP source rotation: static proxy and dynamic proxy. Static proxy solutions include data center and ISP proxies. For example, when a client requests a web server to access content, a static proxy server assigns a fixed IP address to the client from a data center pool for each connection request.
However, if you plan to collect a lot of data, you must constantly rotate your IP address to avoid revealing your actual IP address. Otherwise, the website you are trying to scrape will get suspicious of your activity and block your IP address to prevent data scraping. In contrast to datacenter proxies, residential proxies rotate the client's IP address every time you connect to a website.
3. Speed
Datacenter proxies are faster than residential proxies because their IP addresses come from remote cloud servers. Dedicated datacenter proxies are a good choice if you need to complete a task quickly. Since shared datacenter proxies are overused, they perform slower than dedicated proxies.
4. Cost
Residential proxies offer a high degree of anonymity and a wide range of geo-targeting options. As a result, the cost of residential proxies is usually higher than that of data center proxies.
5. Use Case Evaluation
Both data center and residential proxies can be used for the following use cases. However, to get the most out of a proxy solution, you should understand the key differences between the two and choose the proxy solution that best suits your use case.
Data Center vs. Residential Proxies: Which Should You Choose?
| Data Center IP Proxy | Residential IP Proxy | |
| IP address source | Cloud Servers and Data Centers | Real devices (e.g., home computers, cell phones) |
| Anonymity | medium | high |
| Detection | Easier to detect and block | Harder to detect and block |
| speed | Faster | Slower than data center proxy |
| cost | Cheaper | More expensive |
| Use Cases | Web crawlers, advertising verification, SEO monitoring, market research | Large-scale crawling, high anonymity, social media management, ad verification, SEO monitoring |
Web scraping tools that integrate with proxies help businesses increase the success rate of their web scraping projects. Both data center and residential proxies hide the client’s real IP address while browsing online. However, there are some significant differences between them that you should be aware of when choosing a proxy server for your use case.
For example, if you plan to scrape a lot of web data from well-protected websites, you should use a residential proxy to avoid revealing your real identity. Residential proxies allow for smooth web scraping while ensuring your anonymity.
However, if you are looking for an affordable solution to mask your IP address and security is not your main concern, then datacenter proxies will be the best choice for your data collection tasks.
This article comes from online submissions and does not represent the analysis of kookeey. If you have any questions, please contact us
