What is the difference between residential proxies and datacenter proxies

In the digital age, data privacy has become increasingly important to the public, and this privacy does not only refer to offline privacy, but also online privacy. Proxy servers are one of the common tools for enterprises to protect privacy. They are like network filters and can represent network request transactions. The network being accessed can only determine the IP address of the proxy, while the real IP address will be hidden.

Due to different classification methods, the resulting proxy types are also different. Among them, data center proxies and residential proxies are common proxy servers. So, what are they and what are the differences?

What is a residential proxy?

In recent years, residential proxy IPs have become increasingly popular, and can be seen everywhere, both in daily life and in the workplace. A residential proxy is a real IP address provided to a homeowner by an ISP (Internet Service Provider). These proxies can mimic natural user behavior and are mostly used for data capture. Residential proxies also allow users to select a specific location (country, city, or mobile operator) and then browse the web as a real user in that area.

Therefore, using a residential proxy can reduce the probability of being blocked by the target website, and hiding the real IP address has higher security.

What is a Datacenter Proxy?

A datacenter proxy is a proxy that uses IPs owned and managed by a datacenter. It differs in that it is not affiliated with an ISP but comes from a secondary company such as a datacenter. Unlike other types such as residential proxies, datacenter proxies utilize their own IP addresses.

However, datacenter proxies are often developed by cloud server providers and used by many people at the same time. Since these IPs are not listed as ISPs, some websites or services can already flag or block these IPs.

What is the difference between residential proxies and datacenter proxies?

In terms of price and speed, data center proxies are cheaper and faster than residential proxies.

However, in terms of security, residential proxies are safer than data center proxies. Residential proxies are more trusted by web servers and are less likely to be noticed and blocked.

So, how to choose between datacenter proxies and residential proxies?

The most important thing when choosing is whether you need high security and legality, or you need a faster proxy that helps mask your IP. Speed, security, and legality are the main differences between data center and residential proxies. In most cases, it is better to use a residential proxy because it will not leave a footprint and will not trigger any security alarms. This is especially important if you are looking to crawl a large amount of data.

Furthermore, if you use a web proxy on a daily basis, data center proxies are more affordable than residential proxies. In addition, they are faster and provide a high level of anonymity.

There are many proxy providers on the market. For example, Kookeey, based in Lithuania, has been recognized by more than 500 businesses. It provides both residential and data center proxies. In addition to proxies, web crawlers are also provided. As for data center proxies, Kookeey's data center proxies can provide unparalleled speed to meet any business needs. Kookeey has a professional dedicated proxy IP pool (more than 2 million) from many countries and regions. Its dedicated proxies provide fast response times because each data center proxy is assigned to only one user at a time.