What is a residential proxy?
A residential proxy forwards your requests through an IP address that an internet service provider assigned to a home connection, so websites see a residential address in the country you choose. This guide explains how one routes a request, how it differs from datacenter, ISP and mobile IPs, and what to ask a provider about where its IPs come from.
- Category
- Fundamentals
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- 7 min
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What is a residential proxy? It's an intermediary that sends your HTTP requests on to websites through an IP address that an internet service provider has assigned to a home connection. The website sees that residential address, in the country you picked, instead of the address of your server or laptop. Developers use residential proxies to see public pages the way people on home connections in another country see them: localized prices, search results, ads, language versions and consent banners.
How a residential proxy works
Your client, whether that's a script, a browser or an AI agent, doesn't connect to the website directly. It connects to the provider's gateway and authenticates, and the gateway forwards the request through an exit IP on a residential connection:
- Your client opens a connection to the gateway, for example
scale-us.netdash.io:2000on netdash, and sends your username and password. - For an
http://URL, the client usually sends the whole request to the proxy, which forwards it. For anhttps://URL, the client sends aCONNECTrequest that names only the host and port, and the proxy opens a tunnel. - The request leaves through the exit IP. That's the address the website sees and logs.
- The response comes back the same way.
Your client
USERNAME:PASSWORD
netdash gateway
-us or -eu
Exit IP
-cc-{CC}
Website
HTTPS via CONNECT
With HTTPS, your client negotiates TLS with the website inside the tunnel, so the content of the request and the response stays encrypted end to end. The proxy sees the hostname and port you connect to, when you connect and how much data passes, but not the pages themselves. That's also why the proxy URL starts with http:// even for HTTPS websites: the connection to the proxy is plain HTTP, and the website's TLS runs inside it.
Residential, datacenter, ISP and mobile IPs
Proxy providers sell four broad kinds of exit IPs. The labels describe where the address comes from, and that drives how each is usually sold:
| IP type | Where the address comes from | Usually billed | How long you keep an IP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential | An internet service provider's address for a home connection | Per GB of traffic | Rotating, or held for a sticky session while the exit IP stays available |
| Datacenter | A hosting or cloud provider's network | Per IP, per billing period | Static for as long as you rent it |
| ISP (static residential) | Providers usually describe these as server-hosted addresses associated with an internet service provider rather than a cloud host | Per IP, per billing period | Static for as long as you rent it |
| Mobile | A mobile network's address ranges | Per GB of traffic | Rotating, or held for a sticky session |
These are general patterns, and providers differ. To see how netdash's four networks compare on billing, sessions and locations, compare proxy types. For two-way comparisons, read residential vs datacenter proxies and ISP vs residential proxies.
Rotating and sticky residential sessions
Residential proxies usually work through a gateway rather than a list of fixed addresses, and you decide per task whether the exit IP may change:
- Rotating: you leave out any session parameters and the gateway assigns exit IPs for you. Use it when each request stands on its own.
- Sticky: you pass a session ID, and reusing it keeps the same exit IP for a lifetime you set, while that IP stays available. Use it when several requests must come from one client, such as a multi-step flow.
On netdash, both are set in the username:
USERNAME-cc-US rotating, exit in the United States
USERNAME-cc-US-session-a1b2c3d4-ttl-30 sticky for 30 minutes-cc- sets the exit country with a two-letter ISO code (use GB for the United Kingdom). -session- with an ID of letters and digits, plus -ttl- with a lifetime in minutes, makes the session sticky; the dashboard offers presets from 15 minutes up to 7 days. The sticky and rotating sessions page has the details, and static vs rotating proxies covers which to use for which workload.
What people use residential IPs for
Residential exit IPs return the content that visitors on home connections in a country see. Typical uses:
- Checking localized pages: language, currency, consent banners and geo-redirects as visitors in each country see them.
- Verifying your own ads: where they appear and which landing page they lead to, by country.
- Monitoring search results by country, for rank checks you can repeat.
- Testing your own site or app from the markets you serve.
- Letting an AI agent browse permitted sites from a chosen country, with one sticky session per task.
- Collecting public prices and listings, within each site's terms and at a rate the site can handle.
Each of these has a workflow page with configuration and code under use cases.
Where residential IPs come from, and what to ask a provider
A residential proxy network needs access to connections that internet service providers assign to homes. Providers obtain that access in different ways, and the details matter: the people whose connections carry your traffic should know about it and have agreed to it. Before you buy, ask the provider:
- How do devices or connections join the network?
- Do the owners give informed consent, and are they compensated?
- How can an owner leave the network, and how quickly does that take effect?
- How are abuse reports about traffic from the provider's exit IPs handled?
- Which uses does the provider allow, and how does it enforce its rules?
- Are the answers written down somewhere you can reference later?
Keep the answers with your vendor records. They matter for your own compliance reviews as much as for the provider's reputation.
Limits worth knowing
- Exit IPs come and go. A home connection can go offline. A sticky session keeps its exit IP only while that IP stays available, so long jobs should be able to start a new session.
- Targeting has a granularity. Check what a provider documents. On netdash, targeting is country-level only, with no city, region, ZIP code, ASN or carrier selection.
- A proxy only forwards traffic. Whatever the website sends back, including a challenge page, reaches your client unchanged.
- The website's terms still apply. A different IP address doesn't change what you're allowed to do on a site.
netdash forwards your traffic unchanged. It doesn't solve CAPTCHAs, render JavaScript or retry requests. Targeting is country-level.
Responsible use
Use residential IPs responsibly
Respect robots.txt and each site's terms, keep request rates reasonable and back off when a site slows you down, don't collect personal data without a lawful basis, and don't access content behind logins or paywalls without authorization. netdash doesn't solve CAPTCHAs or other challenges, and your code shouldn't try to get past them: if a site rate-limits or challenges your requests, slow down, check its terms, or use its official API. Read how we expect netdash to be used.
Try one request
With a netdash account, this sends one request through the Scale plan's Americas gateway with an exit in the United States, and prints the exit IP the website saw:
curl --max-time 30 -x "http://USERNAME-cc-US:PASSWORD@scale-us.netdash.io:2000" \
"https://api.ipify.org?format=json"Example output
Quickstart{"ip":"203.0.113.10"}Your output shows a different address in the country you chose.
Replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with the credentials from your dashboard. The quickstart walks through the first request, and the proxy format reference lists every host, port and username option. For plans and pricing, see residential proxies.
FAQ
No. A VPN usually routes all traffic from your device or network through an encrypted tunnel to the VPN provider's servers. A residential proxy is configured per client: your script, browser or tool sends its HTTP requests through the proxy, and other traffic on the machine is unaffected. The website sees the proxy's exit IP, which belongs to a residential connection.
Not the content. For HTTPS websites your client opens a CONNECT tunnel through the proxy and negotiates TLS directly with the website, so requests and responses stay encrypted end to end. The proxy sees the hostname and port, the timing and the amount of data. Keep certificate verification turned on in your client.
Not on netdash: targeting is country-level, set with -cc- and a two-letter ISO code. If your work needs finer targeting, check what a provider documents in writing before you buy.
Related
- Residential vs datacenter proxies
IP origin, billing model and consistency compared, with a decision table.
- Free vs paid proxies
What an unknown proxy operator can see, and what to check before paying.
- Choosing a rotating proxy provider
A checklist for pricing, sessions, targeting, documentation and terms.
Sources
Third-party behaviour described on this page was checked against these documents.
- 01RFC 9110 HTTP Semantics, section 9.3.6: CONNECTAccessed 2026-10-09
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