ISP Proxies vs Residential Proxies: The Difference

ISP proxies and residential proxies both look like real home connections to the websites you visit, but they work differently under the hood. Here's what sets them apart.

What is a residential proxy?

A residential proxy routes through a real consumer device on a home internet connection. IPs come from a large pool and typically rotate, giving you enormous variety and very high trust — but speed depends on the host device.

What is an ISP proxy?

An ISP proxy (also called static residential) uses an IP registered to an internet service provider, but it's hosted on datacenter hardware. You get a dedicated, unchanging IP with residential trust and datacenter speed plus unlimited bandwidth.

Key differences

Factor	Residential	ISP (static)
Hosting	Real home devices	Datacenter
Speed	Good	Excellent
IP stability	Rotating	Static, dedicated
Bandwidth	Per GB	Unlimited

When to use each

Choose residential when you need many rotating IPs for scraping and geo-coverage. Choose ISP when you need speed and a stable identity — streaming, long sessions, or isolating multiple accounts. If raw speed on unprotected targets is all you need, plain datacenter proxies are cheaper still.