Shared vs private vs dedicated proxies differ in one thing: how many other customers can use the same IP while you do. Shared proxies are used by several customers at once and cost the least. Dedicated proxies are rented to a single customer for the period you pay for. "Private" has no fixed meaning, since some providers use it for dedicated IPs and others for a small shared group, so ask the provider directly. On BuyProxy, the per-GB pools such as rotating residential proxies are shared, and the rentals are rented to one customer at a time.
Shared, Private and Dedicated at a Glance
Price follows exclusivity. The fewer people on an IP, the more each person pays for it.
| Shared | Private | Dedicated | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who else uses the IP | Other customers, at the same time | Depends on the provider | Nobody else during your rental |
| Typical billing | Per GB from a pool, or a cheap per-IP price | Per IP | Per IP per period |
| Cost | Lowest | Varies | Highest per IP |
| IP history risk | Other users' behavior can get an IP flagged | Depends on how many share it | Only your own use affects it during the rental |
| Best for | Rotating scraping and monitoring | Check the terms first | Logins, IP allowlists, account work |
Why "Private Proxy" Means Different Things
No standard defines a private proxy, so the word alone does not tell you who else is on the IP. Some providers use it for an IP only you can use. Others use it for an IP shared by a handful of customers, which is also sold as semi-dedicated. Before you buy, ask two questions:
- How many other customers can use this IP during my rental?
- Can the provider reassign it to someone else before my period ends?
If the answers are "none" and "no", the proxy is dedicated whatever the product page calls it. It also helps to run a rented address through our IP blacklist checker, because a dedicated IP can still carry history from before your rental.
Shared Proxies: Cheapest, With Neighbors
A shared proxy is the right choice when you rotate through many IPs and no single address matters. Many customers' traffic passes through the same pool over time, which keeps the price low. The downside is that another user's behavior can get an IP flagged, although with rotation your next request simply leaves from a different address.
Every per-GB product on BuyProxy is a shared pool: Core Residential at $0.99/GB, Premium Residential at $2.99/GB, ISP Rotating at $1.49/GB, Mobile at $3.99/GB, Datacenter IPv4 at $0.99/GB and IPv6 at $0.29/GB. You pay for traffic, credits never expire, and you can reach the whole pool through one backconnect gateway.
Dedicated Proxies: One IP, One Customer
A dedicated proxy is the right choice when a site ties your session or your allowlist to one address. Nobody else uses the IP during the rental, so its reputation depends on you. On BuyProxy you pay once for the period, from one week to twelve months, with no auto-renewal. US prices for a month:
| Rental | US price for a month | Who uses the IP |
|---|---|---|
| Static ISP | $4.30 per IP | One customer at a time |
| Dedicated IPv4 | From $1.58 per IP | Only you |
| Dedicated IPv6 | $1.99 per 10 IPs | Only you |
| Mobile rental | From $72 per IP | Your choice of dedicated or shared |
Static ISP IPs come from internet providers, so they pass checks that block datacenter ranges. Dedicated IPv4 and IPv6 are datacenter addresses, the cheapest per IP, and they suit targets that accept hosting IPs. Our comparison of dedicated IPv4 and IPv6 proxies covers which sites support IPv6, and the static ISP proxy guide covers how many to buy.
Mobile Proxies Can Be Shared or Dedicated
Mobile rentals are the one product where BuyProxy sells both options for the same kind of IP. A shared mobile IP is used by several customers and starts at $72 a month for the US. A dedicated one is yours alone and costs more, with the price set by carrier and rotation mode. Our guide to dedicated vs shared mobile proxies lists the price for each carrier.
Carrier addresses are shared by design. Carriers use carrier-grade NAT to put many subscribers behind one public IPv4 address, which the IETF's RFC 6888 describes as sharing the same address among several subscribers. On a mobile proxy, "dedicated" means no other proxy customer gets the IP during your rental, and it says nothing about the phones on that network.
When a Dedicated IP Costs Less Than a Shared Pool
Compare the monthly price of one IP with the traffic the same money buys from a pool. One static ISP IP at $4.30 costs about as much as 4.3 GB of Core Residential at $0.99/GB. If one fixed address would carry more than that each month, and the job needs a fixed address, the rental is the better buy.
The comparison only makes sense when one address is what the job needs. For scraping across thousands of pages, a single rented IP would get blocked long before it paid off, so the shared pool wins even at higher volumes. Our per-IP vs per-GB pricing guide works out the break-even for every BuyProxy product.
Which One to Buy
Choose by whether the job needs one address or many:
- Scraping, price monitoring and ad checks across many pages: a shared rotating pool.
- Logging in to the same account every day: a dedicated static ISP IP.
- An API or dashboard that only accepts allowlisted IPs: a dedicated IP, static ISP or datacenter depending on whether the target blocks hosting ranges.
- Mobile app testing on one carrier: a mobile rental, shared if the budget is tight and dedicated if the IP's history matters.
- Bulk traffic to open targets: dedicated IPv4 or IPv6 if you need fixed addresses, or the per-GB datacenter pool if you do not.
Free proxy lists are shared with everyone and run by unknown operators, so they are the wrong pick for any of these jobs. Our review of whether free proxies are safe explains why.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the difference between a private and a dedicated proxy?
Often nothing, because many providers use the two words for the same product. Some, though, call semi-dedicated IPs shared by a few customers "private". Ask how many other customers can use the IP during your rental, and treat the answer as the real definition.
Q: Are shared proxies safe to use?
Shared proxies from a paid provider are safe for rotating work such as scraping and monitoring. Their weak point is reputation, since another customer can get an IP flagged, which matters little when each request leaves from a different address. Avoid them for logins tied to one IP.
Q: Are residential proxies shared or dedicated?
Per-GB residential proxies come from a shared pool, and that is how most providers sell them, BuyProxy included. When you need one residential-grade address to yourself, rent a static ISP proxy, which is registered to an internet provider and rented to one customer at a time.
Q: How much does a dedicated proxy cost?
On BuyProxy, a dedicated US datacenter IPv4 address starts at $1.58 a month, ten dedicated IPv6 addresses cost $1.99 a month, and a static ISP IP costs $4.30 a month. Mobile rentals start at $72 a month for a shared IP and cost more as dedicated IPs.
Q: Can I switch from shared to dedicated later?
Yes. Per-GB balances and rentals live on the same account, so you can keep scraping on a shared pool and rent dedicated IPs only for the jobs that need a fixed address.
Summary
Shared proxies put several customers on the same IPs and cost the least, which suits rotating work. Dedicated proxies give one customer an IP for the rental, which suits logins and allowlists. "Private" can mean either, so ask how many people share the IP before you pay. On BuyProxy, per-GB pools are shared and rentals such as static ISP and dedicated IPv4 are rented to one customer at a time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the difference between a private and a dedicated proxy?+
Often nothing, because many providers use the two words for the same product. Some, though, call semi-dedicated IPs shared by a few customers "private". Ask how many other customers can use the IP during your rental, and treat the answer as the real definition.
Q: Are shared proxies safe to use?+
Shared proxies from a paid provider are safe for rotating work such as scraping and monitoring. Their weak point is reputation, since another customer can get an IP flagged, which matters little when each request leaves from a different address. Avoid them for logins tied to one IP.
Q: Are residential proxies shared or dedicated?+
Per-GB residential proxies come from a shared pool, and that is how most providers sell them, BuyProxy included. When you need one residential-grade address to yourself, rent a static ISP proxy, which is registered to an internet provider and rented to one customer at a time.
Q: How much does a dedicated proxy cost?+
On BuyProxy, a dedicated US datacenter IPv4 address starts at $1.58 a month, ten dedicated IPv6 addresses cost $1.99 a month, and a static ISP IP costs $4.30 a month. Mobile rentals start at $72 a month for a shared IP and cost more as dedicated IPs.
Q: Can I switch from shared to dedicated later?+
Yes. Per-GB balances and rentals live on the same account, so you can keep scraping on a shared pool and rent dedicated IPs only for the jobs that need a fixed address.
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The BuyProxy Team
The BuyProxy team writes about residential proxy infrastructure, geo-targeting, session management, and best practices for scraping and data collection at scale.
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