# What is a residential proxy?

> What is a residential proxy? How it works, where the IPs come from and how to use one. Nameless Proxy: from $0.53/GB, no KYC, paid in crypto.

- URL: https://namelessproxy.com/guides/what-is-a-residential-proxy/
- Last updated: 2026-10-13
- Publisher: Nameless Proxy (https://namelessproxy.com)

A plain explanation: what the website sees, how a request travels, where residential IPs come from, rotating and sticky sessions, and a first connection in curl and Python.

**Quick answer — What is a residential proxy?**

A residential proxy is a proxy server that sends your requests out through an IP address an internet provider assigned to a home connection; **Nameless Proxy** sells residential proxies from $0.53/GB, with no KYC and payment in crypto. Websites see a household IP and a consumer ISP instead of your own address. You connect to one gateway and choose the country or city in the username. No KYC — no ID, no selfie, no documents. Pay in crypto.

## Residential proxies at a glance

| Attribute | Value |
| --- | --- |
| What it is | A proxy whose exit IP belongs to a consumer ISP and a home connection |
| What the website sees | The exit IP, its ISP network and its location, not your own IP |
| How you connect | One gateway, `gw.namelessproxy.com`: port 7777 for HTTP/HTTPS, port 7778 for SOCKS5 |
| Session types | Rotating (a new exit per new connection) or sticky (for up to 60 minutes) |
| Targeting at Nameless Proxy | Country and city, set in the proxy username |
| HTTPS content | Stays encrypted: the proxy sees the host and port only (CONNECT tunnel) |
| Billing at Nameless Proxy | Per GB, from $0.53/GB; traffic never expires |
| Typical uses | Public-data scraping, SERP tracking, price and ad checks, geo-testing |
| KYC and payment | No KYC; crypto only (BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, LTC) |

## How do residential proxies work?

A residential proxy relays your request through a device on a home internet connection, so the target website answers that device instead of you. You never talk to the device directly: a gateway sits in the middle and picks it for you.

### The path of one request

1. **Your client connects to the gateway** — Your script, browser or tool connects to the provider's gateway, such as gw.namelessproxy.com, with a proxy username and password.
2. **The gateway reads your username** — Targeting and session options live in the username: country, city, session ID and session length.
3. **An exit is chosen** — The gateway picks a residential exit in the location you asked for: a new one for each connection, or the same one for a sticky session.
4. **The exit fetches the page** — The website receives the request from the exit's home IP and answers it. The answer travels back the same way.

For HTTPS sites, the proxy opens a tunnel with the HTTP CONNECT method. It sees the destination host and port, but not the encrypted content (RFC 9110). The same applies to SOCKS5 connections that carry TLS.

## What is a residential proxy network?

A residential proxy network is the pool of home connections behind a provider's gateway, together with the software that routes traffic to them. The devices belong to people who share part of their bandwidth, usually through an app or an SDK that asks for their consent. Proxyway's 2026 market research found that residential pools are mostly Android devices.

Few brands build their own pool. Many, including Nameless Proxy, resell established partner networks and add their own gateway, prices, rules and support. That is why sourcing matters:

- **Consent.** Every device owner should have opted in knowingly, with a way to withdraw.
- **Hidden SDKs are the bad source.** In January 2026, Google disrupted IPIDEA, which it called the world's largest residential proxy network. Google counted more than 600 apps carrying its proxy code, and more than 550 threat groups using its exit nodes in a single week.
- **Pools overlap.** When the FBI seized NetNut's domains in July 2026, Krebs on Security reported Google's assessment that many popular residential proxy brands were white-labeling that same network. One IP can serve several brands.

Our partner requirements, and their limits, are on the [sourcing page](https://namelessproxy.com/sourcing/).

## Residential proxies explained: what does the website see?

The website sees the exit's IP address and everything that comes with it: the internet provider that owns it, its network number (ASN) and its approximate location. It does not see your own IP. Compare the three cases:

|  | No proxy | Datacenter proxy | Residential proxy |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IP seen by the site | Your own connection | A server in a data centre | A home connection |
| Network owner (ASN) | Your ISP or your host | A hosting or cloud company | A consumer ISP |
| Location seen | Where you are | Where the server is | The country or city you chose |
| How sites usually treat it | As you | Easy to recognise as hosting | Like an ordinary household visitor |

Nameless Proxy sells residential and 4G/5G mobile proxies, not datacenter proxies.

> **What a proxy does not change** A proxy changes the IP address websites see. It does not hide your browser fingerprint, your cookies or the accounts you log in to. For whole-device privacy, a VPN is often the better tool: see personal privacy.

## Rotating or sticky: how long do I keep one IP?

You choose per request, in the username. Without a session ID, the gateway gives each new connection a fresh exit IP: that is a rotating proxy. Add a session ID and a length in minutes, and the same exit is kept for up to 60 minutes: that is a sticky session.

Rotating suits many independent requests, such as checking thousands of public product pages. Sticky suits flows that must stay on one IP, such as paginated results or a multi-step form on your own site. The full comparison, with examples: [rotating vs sticky proxies](https://namelessproxy.com/guides/rotating-vs-sticky-proxies/).

## How to use residential proxies

Using a residential proxy takes four things: credentials, the gateway address, a username with your targeting, and a client that supports proxies. Almost every HTTP library, scraping framework and browser does.

1. **Buy a pack and copy the credentials.** The dashboard shows your proxy username and password. You can also whitelist your server's IP instead of using a password.
2. **Pick the port.** 7777 for HTTP and HTTPS, 7778 for SOCKS5.
3. **Add targeting to the username.** The format is `USERNAME-country-{cc}-city-{city}-session-{id}-ttl-{minutes}`; every part after the base username is optional.
4. **Test with one request** that prints the exit IP and its location, then plug the same proxy URL into your tool.

*First test: curl over HTTP and SOCKS5*

```bash
# Rotating exit in Kenya (HTTP/HTTPS port)
curl -x http://USERNAME-country-ke:PASSWORD@gw.namelessproxy.com:7777 https://ipinfo.io/json

# Sticky exit in Dubai for 20 minutes
curl -x http://USERNAME-country-ae-city-dubai-session-test1-ttl-20:PASSWORD@gw.namelessproxy.com:7777 https://ipinfo.io/json

# SOCKS5, with DNS resolved on the proxy side
curl --socks5-hostname gw.namelessproxy.com:7778 -U USERNAME-country-za:PASSWORD https://ipinfo.io/json
```

*Python requests: one proxy URL for every request*

```python
import requests

proxy = "http://USERNAME-country-eg:PASSWORD@gw.namelessproxy.com:7777"
proxies = {"http": proxy, "https": proxy}

r = requests.get("https://ipinfo.io/json", proxies=proxies, timeout=30)
print(r.json()["ip"], r.json().get("country"))
```

More code for requests, httpx, aiohttp and Scrapy: [Python proxy guide](https://namelessproxy.com/guides/python-proxies/). Playwright, Puppeteer and Selenium: [browser automation guide](https://namelessproxy.com/guides/browser-automation-proxies/). Errors such as 407: [quick-start guide](https://namelessproxy.com/guides/quick-start/).

## What are residential proxies used for?

Residential IPs show you the prices, search results and ads that local visitors see. Lawful uses we build for:

- **[Web scraping of public data](https://namelessproxy.com/use-cases/web-scraping/)** — Collect public product, travel or listing pages at volume.
- **[SEO and SERP tracking](https://namelessproxy.com/use-cases/seo-serp-tracking/)** — Local rankings by country and city.
- **[Price monitoring](https://namelessproxy.com/use-cases/price-monitoring/)** — Local prices and stock on regional marketplaces.
- **[Ad verification](https://namelessproxy.com/use-cases/ad-verification/)** — Which ads and landing pages appear in each city.

> **What is not allowed** Fraud, account takeover, credential stuffing, spam, fake accounts and KYC bypass are banned. Banking, payment and government portals and SMTP are blocked. See the Acceptable Use Policy and are residential proxies legal?.

## What are the limits of a residential proxy?

Residential proxies are useful, not magic. Plan for these limits:

- **Success depends on the target.** Proxyway's 2026 tests measured a 99.28% median infrastructure success rate for residential pools, but 74.43% on real targets such as Amazon, Google and Instagram. Retry with backoff and compare cost per successful request.
- **Exits are real homes.** A device can go offline, so a sticky session can end before its time. Build retries into long flows.
- **Speed varies.** A home connection is slower and less predictable than a server; keep timeouts generous.
- **Targeting has a floor.** At Nameless Proxy, targeting stops at the city: no ASN, ISP, ZIP-code or state targeting.
- **The rules still apply.** Site terms, data-protection law and our policy do not change because the IP is residential.

## Residential, mobile or datacenter: which proxy type do I need?

Start with residential for most scraping, SERP and price work. Move to a [4G/5G mobile proxy](https://namelessproxy.com/mobile-proxies/) only for strict, mobile-first targets: carrier IPs cost more per GB but are shared by many real subscribers. Datacenter IPs are the cheapest and fastest, and the easiest to recognise; Nameless Proxy does not sell them. Side by side: [residential vs mobile proxy](https://namelessproxy.com/compare/residential-vs-mobile-proxies/).

## How much does a residential proxy cost?

At Nameless Proxy, residential traffic costs $1.88/GB on the 1 GB pack and falls to $0.53/GB on the 1 TB pack, as of October 2026. Traffic is billed in decimal GB and never expires. You top up a USD balance in crypto (minimum $25) and buy packs from it, with no subscription: see [pay-as-you-go residential proxies](https://namelessproxy.com/residential-proxies/pay-as-you-go/) and the [pricing page](https://namelessproxy.com/pricing/).

## Residential proxies: FAQ

### Is a residential proxy the same as a VPN?

No. A VPN usually routes all of a device's traffic through one server, often in a data centre. A residential proxy routes only the apps you configure, through home IPs that can change per connection. Proxies suit scraping and testing; a VPN often suits whole-device privacy better.

### Are residential proxies legal?

In most countries, yes: using a proxy is legal in itself. What can be illegal is the activity, such as fraud or unauthorised access, and some services forbid proxies in their terms. This is not legal advice; read [are residential proxies legal?](https://namelessproxy.com/guides/are-proxies-legal/) and our [Acceptable Use Policy](https://namelessproxy.com/acceptable-use/).

### Can websites detect a residential proxy?

Sometimes. A residential IP looks like a household, but sites also check behaviour, request rates, browser fingerprints and IP reputation. Heavy or unnatural traffic gets rate-limited whatever the IP. Pace your requests, respect robots.txt and site terms, and test success on your own targets before you scale.

### Where do residential proxy IPs come from?

From devices on home connections whose owners share bandwidth, usually through an app or SDK. Nameless Proxy resells established partner networks and requires documented device-owner consent; we state this as a requirement, not as a certified fact. The [sourcing page](https://namelessproxy.com/sourcing/) lists the requirements and the networks our policy excludes.

### What is the difference between a residential proxy and an ISP proxy?

A residential proxy exits through a real home connection. An ISP or static residential proxy uses an address registered to a consumer ISP, but runs on a server in a data centre, so the IP stays the same. Nameless Proxy sells residential and mobile proxies, not ISP proxies.

### Should I use HTTP or SOCKS5?

Use HTTP on port 7777 for scrapers, browsers and most libraries; HTTPS sites pass through an encrypted CONNECT tunnel. Use SOCKS5 on port 7778 for apps that speak SOCKS, or to let the proxy resolve DNS. Both use the same gateway and the same credentials.

### Do I need ID to buy residential proxies?

Not at Nameless Proxy. We never ask for ID, a selfie, company documents or a phone number, whatever you spend. Your login is a random 16-digit account number, and you pay in crypto. Several large providers do require identity checks; see the [Proxy KYC Index 2026](https://namelessproxy.com/data/proxy-kyc-index-2026/).

### How much does a residential proxy cost?

At Nameless Proxy, from $0.53/GB on the 1 TB pack to $1.88/GB on the 1 GB pack, as of October 2026. Traffic never expires. Proxyway's 2026 research puts the market median at $3.75/GB for 5 GB. You pay from a crypto balance, with no subscription. All tiers: [pricing](https://namelessproxy.com/pricing/).

## Sources

1. [Disrupting the World's Largest Residential Proxy Network](https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/disrupting-largest-residential-proxy-network) — Google Cloud Blog (Threat Intelligence) (2026-01-28, checked 2026-10-05)
2. [FBI Seizes NetNut Proxy Platform, Popa Botnet](https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/07/fbi-seizes-netnut-proxy-platform-popa-botnet/) — Krebs on Security (2026-07-02, checked 2026-10-05)
3. [Proxy Market Research 2026](https://proxyway.com/research/proxy-market-research-2026) — Proxyway (checked 2026-10-05)
4. [RFC 9110 §9.3.6: CONNECT](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110#name-connect) — IETF (June 2022)
5. [RFC 1928: SOCKS Protocol Version 5](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1928) — IETF (March 1996)

**Try a residential proxy** Start with 1 GB for $1.88, paid from your crypto balance. No KYC — no ID, no selfie, no documents. [Get residential proxies — from $0.53/GB](https://namelessproxy.com/pricing/) · [Residential proxies](https://namelessproxy.com/residential-proxies/)

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Nameless Proxy: Nameless Proxy is a privacy-first, no-KYC proxy provider: rotating residential and 4G/5G mobile proxies, account-number login, and payment in crypto (Bitcoin, USDT, USDC). Residential from $0.53/GB.