Head to head · reviewed Sep 28, 2026
Mobile vs residential: a carrier exit is not a better house
Residential exits on networks sold as household ISPs. Mobile exits on carrier networks. Both burn gigabytes. Mobile is the specialist meter. It is not the premium version of the same proxy.
Mobile$2.00/GB
Unitgb / gb
Residential$1.00/GB
The resultDefault: residential
The result
Default: residential
Pick: Residential
Residential unless your own test failed and the failure was the carrier check. DataImpulse’s vendor rates are $2/GB mobile and $1/GB residential. Other mobile rows here are Quote.
In brief
What to know before you pick
- Do not reuse a residential sticker as a mobile price.
- Carrier NAT means the exit is already shared.
- Sticky mobile is still not an ISP lease.
Same fields
The comparison
Catalog facts first. The pick above is editorial. Confirm the live rate before you pay.
| Field | Mobile | Residential |
|---|---|---|
| Meter | /GBTie | /GBTie |
| Cheapest published cell | $2.00/GB | $1.00/GBWins this row |
| That cell is on | DataImpulse | DataImpulse |
| Priced providers in this sample | 1 | 6 |
Buy Mobile if
A target treats carrier traffic differently and residential already failed on your URLs.
Skip it if Residential or ISP already works. You wanted a stable desktop login. You are looking for account farming or app abuse. Not this site.
Buy Residential if
You need household-style exits, country or city, and a published per-GB market with more than one priced vendor.
Skip it if The target is open and a datacenter IP already works. You need one stable login for weeks (look at ISP). The job is account farming, credential abuse, or a paywall bypass. We do not help with those.
Mobile
- Carrier reputation is a real category, distinct from residential and datacenter
- Some budgets publish a per-GB rate you can read before a sales call
- Useful as a second pool, not as the first invoice
Residential
- The meter the search market actually prices: dollars per GB
- Country and often city or ASN targeting on the major self-serve plans
- You can start on a few gigabytes instead of a rack of IPs
Name the failure first
If you cannot point at the response that rejected the residential exit, you do not have a mobile requirement. You have a brochure. The legitimate job is still public data you are allowed to collect, not account abuse.
The trap
How this comparison usually goes wrong
Starting on mobile because a list said it was ‘most undetectable’, then paying carrier rates for a country-level job.
What I would do
The move
Price a small residential test. Add mobile only for the URLs that asked for a carrier. Cap the gigabytes.
Published rates
Mobile and Residential in this catalog
Entry rates. Quotes omitted from the price sort. Not a reservation.
ProvidersScopeBillingSessionRateOpen provider
OxylabsMobile proxies are sold. The $6/GB residential rung is not a mobile price.CarrierQuoteRotating or stickyQuote
Bright DataMobile is a separate product and usually KYC. Do not copy the residential list rate across.Carrier, ASNQuoteRotating or stickyQuote
SOAXMobile is a separate pool from residential. The $5 sandbox figure is residential, not mobile.Carrier, countryQuoteRotating or stickyQuote
DataImpulseVendor rate: mobile at $2/GB. Same caveat as their residential meter. Confirm the live top-up before you treat $2 as a contract.CarrierPay as you goRotating$2.00/GB
ProvidersScopeBillingSessionRateOpen provider
DecodoPay as you go $4/GB plus VAT. Entry subscription is $3.75/GB at 3 GB ($11.25/mo). Volume floor on the same page goes to $2/GB.Country, city, ASNPay as you goRotating or sticky$4.00/GB
OxylabsSmallest public rung cited at $30/mo for 5 GB ($6/GB). No pay-as-you-go rate on that grid. 1 TB floor cited at $2.50/GB.Country, city, ASNMonthlyRotating or sticky$6.00/GB
Bright DataList pay-as-you-go is $8/GB. A 50% coupon often displays $4/GB. KYC before residential. Do not file the coupon as the list price.Country, city, ASN, ZIPPay as you goRotating or sticky$8.00/GB
IPRoyal1 GB pack at $7.35/GB. Traffic does not expire. The 10 GB pack is lower, about $5.51/GB. Bulk floors are marketing until you see the invoice.Country, cityPay as you goRotating or sticky$7.35/GB
SOAXSandbox pay-as-you-go $5/GB plus VAT. Monthly plans start with a larger commit. Enterprise floors are not the entry rate.Country, city, ASNPay as you goRotating or sticky$5.00/GB
DataImpulseVendor rate: $1/GB plus VAT, traffic does not expire. A $50 minimum top-up applies after the intro block. This is the vendor’s number, not a lab result.CountryPay as you goRotating or sticky$1.00/GB
Full page
The two pages
Specs, rates, who it is for.
Full page
Mobile proxies
Mobile proxies exit on carrier networks, the 4G and 5G addresses behind CGNAT. You pay per GB, usually more than residential. The reputation is a phone network, not a house and not a server. That is the entire product.
Read MobileFull page
Residential proxies
Residential proxies exit on IPs the vendor says were assigned to households. You pay for bandwidth. The homepage number is usually a volume floor. The number that matters first is the smallest pack you can buy, and whether those gigabytes expire.
Read ResidentialFAQ
Mobile vs Residential
Are mobile proxies worth it?+
Only after residential fails on the carrier check. Otherwise you are paying extra per GB for a network you did not need.
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