Which Proxy Type Should You Buy? Decision Guide

Which proxy type should you buy? For most jobs the answer is Core Residential at $0.99/GB: it passes anti-bot checks that block datacenter IPs and costs less than every other residential tier. Step up to Premium, ISP or Mobile only when a specific target forces you to, and drop down to datacenter or IPv6 only when the target does not care. This guide compares all six BuyProxy proxy types side by side so you can match the type to the job instead of guessing.

The Six Proxy Types at a Glance

Every type is billed per GB, and each keeps its own balance. Here is the full catalog with live pricing as of this writing; the pricing page always shows the current rates.

Start With the Target, Not the Price List

The right proxy type depends on how hard the target site fights automation, so identify that first. A rough ladder works well:

1. The target does not block automation (public datasets, your own sites, APIs): datacenter IPv4 or IPv6 is enough and costs the least.
2. The target blocks datacenter ranges but otherwise tolerates traffic (most e-commerce, search, travel): Core Residential.
3. The target is strict and a failure is costly (ad verification, valuable accounts, aggressive bot protection): Premium Residential.
4. The target is a mobile-first platform or app: Mobile.
5. You need datacenter-like speed but datacenter IPs get flagged: ISP Rotating.

If you are not sure which rung your target sits on, run a short test on the cheapest type that could plausibly work and watch for 403s and CAPTCHAs. Our guide to proxy error codes explains how to read the failures.

Core Residential: The Default

Core Residential routes through real consumer connections, so sites that block hosting providers let it through. At $0.99/GB with rotating and sticky sessions and city-level targeting, it is the best starting point for general scraping, price checks and verification work. Our residential proxy explainer covers how this works under the hood, and the rotating proxies guide explains when to rotate versus stick.

Premium Residential: When a Block Is Expensive

Premium is the same kind of residential IP, drawn from a vetted subset with priority routing. It costs three times Core and is only worth it when a blocked request costs you more than the price difference: a lost account, missing data, a wasted retry cycle. The full Premium guide walks through that decision.

ISP Rotating: Speed Without the Datacenter Flag

ISP proxies borrow an ISP's registration while running on datacenter-grade infrastructure, which is why they are typically faster than home connections but harder to flag than plain datacenter IPs. At $1.49/GB they suit login-heavy workflows and speed-sensitive automation. See ISP rotating proxies explained for the trade-offs.

Mobile: Highest Trust, Highest Price

Mobile proxies use carrier networks, where many users share a handful of addresses, so sites are reluctant to block them. At $3.99/GB they are the priciest option, and they earn it on mobile-first platforms and app testing. For everything else, a cheaper type usually works just as well. Details in the mobile proxies guide.

Datacenter IPv4 and IPv6: Cheap and Fast, Easy to Detect

Datacenter IPs come from hosting providers, which anti-bot systems can identify at a glance. That makes them a poor fit for protected sites and a good fit for everything else. IPv4 is $0.99/GB, the same as Core Residential, so on BuyProxy there is no price reason to choose it for a target that detects datacenter ranges. IPv6 is $0.29/GB, the cheapest per-GB option, but many sites still do not accept IPv6 traffic at all. Read residential vs datacenter proxies and what is an IPv6 proxy before committing a large budget.

Compare Cost per Successful Result, Not Cost per GB

The cheapest rate is only cheaper if it works. A useful formula is the price per GB divided by your success rate. The numbers below are purely illustrative, to show how the math works, not measured results for any provider.

In this example, the cheapest type is the most expensive way to get data, and Premium only pays for itself if the failures it prevents cost more than the difference. Measure your own success rates with the script in our proxy testing guide, then do the same division with your real numbers.

How Balances and Plans Work Across Types

Balances are kept per product. A plan's monthly GB is credited to your Core Residential balance, and every other type has its own balance that you fund with a top-up. Top-ups of 100 GB or more add a 10% bonus. A common setup is a plan for routine Core Residential traffic plus small top-ups for the specialised types. For plan pricing and break-even math, see how much residential proxies cost per GB.

Once you have picked a type, decide how to pay for it: per-IP vs per-GB proxy pricing gives you a break-even formula for each one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the best proxy type for web scraping?
Core Residential for most targets, because it avoids the datacenter blocks that stop plain hosting IPs. Use datacenter IPv4 or IPv6 only for targets that do not block them, and Premium only for strict targets where failures are expensive.

Q: Is Premium Residential worth three times the price of Core?
Only when a blocked request costs you more than the price difference. For routine scraping against normal sites, Core Residential is usually the better value.

Q: Why is IPv6 so much cheaper than the other types?
IPv6 addresses are not scarce the way IPv4 addresses are, so providers can offer far more IPs per dollar. The trade-off is lower trust and the fact that not every target accepts IPv6 traffic.

Q: Can I use more than one proxy type on the same account?
Yes. Each type is a separate product with its own balance under the same account, so you can send routine traffic through Core Residential and reserve a more expensive type for the requests that need it.

Q: Which proxy type is fastest?
Datacenter and ISP proxies run on hosting-grade infrastructure and are typically faster than residential or mobile connections, which route through consumer networks. Speed varies by target and time of day, so benchmark your own workload before you decide.

Summary

Pick the proxy type by how strictly your target blocks automation: datacenter or IPv6 for open targets, Core Residential ($0.99/GB) as the default, ISP Rotating for speed with fewer flags, Premium for strict targets and Mobile for mobile-first platforms. Judge cost by price divided by success rate, and fund each type's balance separately.

Create an account and try Core Residential from $0.99/GB →