Head to head · reviewed Sep 28, 2026
Residential vs datacenter: different units, different jobs
Residential is a bandwidth meter on a household-style exit. Datacenter is a leased address on a hosting network. If you put $4/GB next to $0.03/IP and declare a winner, you compared a litre to a parking space.
Residential$1.00/GB
Unitgb / ip
Datacenter$0.03/IP/mo
The resultSplit: match the target
The result
Split: match the target
Pick: it depends
Datacenter first when the site accepts a hosting ASN. Residential when it does not. Test one URL before you pick a religion.
In brief
What to know before you pick
- Residential entry in this sample runs from $1 to $8 per GB.
- Datacenter entry is about $0.03 per shared IP on Webshare’s 100-proxy plan.
- The units do not add. Write them in two columns.
Same fields
The comparison
Catalog facts first. The pick above is editorial. Confirm the live rate before you pay.
| Field | Residential | Datacenter |
|---|---|---|
| Meter | /GB | /IP/mo |
| Cheapest published cell | $1.00/GBTie | $0.03/IP/moTie |
| That cell is on | DataImpulse | Webshare |
| Priced providers in this sample | 6 | 1 |
Buy Residential if
The target blocks hosting networks, you need a country or city, and you can pay per GB for public pages you are allowed to fetch.
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.
Buy Datacenter if
The target does not care about ASN, you need volume, and a static list with a bandwidth cap is enough.
Skip it if The target already blocks datacenter ASNs, you need a household or carrier reputation, or you wanted a per-GB residential product and clicked the wrong menu.
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
Datacenter
- The cheapest published unit in the catalog, per IP per month
- Latency is typically lower than residential or mobile
- A static list is easy to put in a client and leave alone
Two columns or it is not a comparison
A residential invoice is gigabytes, VAT, expiry, and retries. A datacenter invoice is how many addresses, whether they are shared, and the transfer cap. A site that publishes one ‘from’ price across both is hiding the product.
Start on datacenter if you are allowed to and the pages come back. Move the failing URLs to residential. That hybrid is the adult version of this debate.
The trap
How this comparison usually goes wrong
Converting a datacenter IP into a fake cost-per-GB and calling it 100x cheaper, or buying residential before you have seen a block.
What I would do
The move
One request from each. Keep the cheaper type that returns the page. Do not scale the one that only wins on a homepage.
Published rates
Residential and Datacenter in this catalog
Entry rates. Quotes omitted from the price sort. Not a reservation.
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
ProvidersScopeBillingSessionRateOpen provider
OxylabsDatacenter is a separate product from the residential subscription. No entry cell copied into this row.Datacenter ASNQuoteStatic or rotatingQuote
Bright DataDatacenter inventory exists. The public residential page is not a datacenter rate. Confirm the SKU.Datacenter ASNQuoteStatic or rotatingQuote
WebshareShared datacenter: $2.99/mo for 100 proxies, about $0.03/IP. Free tier is 10 proxies and 1 GB, a different product. Dedicated lists cost more.Datacenter ASNMonthlyStatic list$0.03/IP/mo
Full page
The two pages
Specs, rates, who it is for.
Full 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 ResidentialFull page
Datacenter proxies
Datacenter proxies are addresses on hosting networks. You usually buy a list of IPs per month, not a gigabyte. They are fast and cheap. They are also the first thing a careful site blocks.
Read DatacenterFAQ
Residential vs Datacenter
Are residential proxies better than datacenter?+
They are harder for many sites to classify as hosting. They are not better at being cheap or fast. Better means the page came back.
Why is datacenter so much cheaper?+
Because you are renting an address on a server you share, not a gigabyte of household traffic. The discount disappears when the site blocks the ASN.
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