If you are familiar with proxies and their types, you should have heard the terms static proxies and residential proxies. Despite both using residential IP addresses, they are not the same type of proxy. In this article, we explore why they are named as such, how they differ and their use cases. 

Why Use a Residential Proxy Server?

Before we break down what it means for a residential proxy to be static or rotating, let’s first address residential proxies and why customers opt for them. A residential proxy uses residential IP addresses, which belong to actual residential locations and are assigned by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Here are some advantages to sign these proxies:

1. High Trustworthiness. The major advantage of residential proxies over other types of proxies is the trustworthiness of their connections. Because the IP addresses originate from ISPs and residential areas, they seem more legitimate to websites, as they are associated with actual residential users. In other words, they are less detectable and consequently less susceptible to bans and restrictions.
2. Elite Anonymity. Because residential proxy connections are difficult to detect, their IP masking properties are top-notch.Websites see a connection originating from a residential proxy but don’t bother to doubt the user’s identity because they expect traffic from residential areas. The final effect is that the user’s actual IP stays hidden, and the user stays anonymous.
3. Improved security for online activities. In addition to masking IP addresses, proxies can double in some security roles. Depending on the type of residential proxy you purchase, you can enable some measure of content filtering to keep out malicious sites and content. You can also employ some level of encryption and protection against cyber threats.

What are Static Residential Proxies?

As the name implies, static residential proxies are static. During use, the IP address associated with a user’s traffic remains unchanged unless the user manually changes it. This type of residential proxy is useful for tasks where a user wants to stay hidden but also wants to use a single alternative online identity.

Benefits/Features

• High Trust and Reliability. Static residential proxies have the trustworthiness of residential proxies, as users of this proxy type also appear to be regular residents of the area they seem to connect from. The trustworthiness reduces the risk of detection, blacklisting, and blocking. 
• Consistency. A user’s IP address is consistently the same when using static residential proxies. Such a feature is important for tasks that require a single online identity, where shifting or changing IP addresses could trigger security mechanisms.

When to Use Static Residential Proxies

Static residential proxies possess the benefits of an average proxies but you need to understand their use cases to maximise these functions.

Ad Verification

Sound Ad verification requires time for the marketer in charge to check out the ads’ content, verify their placement, and collect data for further analysis of engagement. This requires session persistence in the proxy used. A static residential proxy will not change on you during a session, thus guaranteeing said persistence.

Market Research and Competitive Analysis

Businesses can monitor competitors’ websites anonymously, collect unbiased data from their sites, and scour social media to assess brand sentiments using static residential proxies. As much as residential proxies are anonymous, they also have performance issues because of the variable performance of ISPs in different locations. With static residential proxies, you can discover a high-performing IP address and use it for as long as you want without revealing your identity. 

Online Gaming

Swatting and doxxing are popular negatives in the online gaming and streaming industry nowadays. Static residential proxies protect against that by masking user IPs and hiding their identities behind fake IP addresses and location details. 

Comprehensive Testing and Development

The combined consistency and anonymity of static residential proxies make them ideal for long-term regional testing of apps, platforms, strategies, systems, etc. Developers can employ long-term comparison of strategies such as A/B testing, keeping variables like location, network performance, and others constant. 

Digital Marketing and Managing Social Media Accounts

Marketers and social media managers can also benefit from the consistency of static residential proxies. This is especially important on social media, where IP-based security mechanisms may be in place to prevent users from opening and using multiple accounts. A static residential proxy can help social media managers and marketers open and associate multiple accounts with different IP addresses for long-term management.  

What are Rotating Residential Proxies?

A rotating residential proxy uses IP addresses associated with residential areas but automatically changes them at intervals by predetermined criteria. An associated proxy pool facilitates this automatic change and confers unique advantages on user activity. 

Benefits/Features

• IP Rotation. IP rotation refers to the automatic changing of the user’s IP address during a browsing session. Users can configure this change to occur at certain intervals or after several requests have been sent to a website’s server.
• Enhanced Elite Anonymity. Residential proxies provide elite anonymity for their users, and rotating residential proxies improve the anonymity of a static residential proxy. With rotating residential proxies, a user’s online identity continues to change, making it harder to pin down the activities of the fake IP address.
• Reduced Risk of IP Blocks. Because IPs constantly change, the risk of websites banning IP addresses for too many requests is reduced. Furthermore, an IP ban cannot interfere with online activity, as a user can simply move on to the next random one in the pool. 
• Bypassing Rate Limits. Users can also evade rate limits imposed by websites, as the limit resets every time the IP address changes. This effectively renders the rate limits useless for users employing rotating residential proxies.
• Proxy Pools. When using a rotating residential proxy, a user can access a pool of IP addresses large enough to ensure effective, non-repetitive rotation for a long time. 

When to Use Rotating Residential Proxies

Large-Scale Web Scraping 

Rotating residential proxies are ideal for large web scraping operations because they have the elite anonymity to access websites without detection. They are also ideal for avoiding request-based issues that would occur when the scraping bot starts to operate. Websites react negatively to many requests originating from a single IP address, and rotating residential proxies automatically distribute those requests across multiple IP addresses. 

Online Gaming

Some online games benefit from static residential proxies. However,  the IP rotation of rotating residential proxies helps gamers stay ahead of doxxing and DDoS attacks that aim to disturb their excellence. 

Streaming

When streaming or downloading content from unsafe sources, rotating residential proxies can come in handy in addition to other security tools. The proxy prevents trackers from isolating your IP address for malicious purposes.

Ad Verification

When using rotating residential proxies for ad verification, all your web requests can be set to originate from a different IP address. This makes it difficult for the ad providers to isolate visitor activity, identify users, and cover their tracks.  

Comparison – Static vs Rotating Residential Proxies

IP Addresses

Both proxy types utilise residential proxies and provide high anonymity as a result. However, the IP addresses are fixed unless manually changed with static residential proxies. Meanwhile, IP addresses are dynamic and constantly changing automatically with rotating residential proxies. This significantly increases the anonymity of users utilising rotating residential proxies. 

Security

Due to the changing IP addresses of rotating residential proxies, they are more secure than static ones. However, this is not meant to say that static residential proxies are not secure. They are still more secure than many other proxy types because of their elite anonymity. This is especially true when they utilise protocols with inherent security features like HTTPS and SOCKS5. 

Performance

Static residential proxies win in this regard. Residential proxies already have performance issues due to variations in the performances of ISPs from location to location. However, the situation is exacerbated in rotating residential proxies, where changes in IP addresses are constant. Variations might be experienced within sessions compared to the relative consistency of a static residential proxy. 

Price

Static residential proxies are generally more affordable than rotating ones. However, the exact price and difference will vary from provider to provider. Also, while static proxies might be priced by the number of proxies purchased, rotating proxies may be priced according to bandwidth because they come in pools. 

Exclusivity

Static proxies offer more exclusivity than rotating proxies. Some static proxies may also be dedicated, thus raising their exclusivity to those of private proxies. Residential proxies, on the other hand, are shared proxies. Any user of residential proxies from the same provider can use any IP address within the proxy pool to which they are assigned. 

Block Risks

Static residential proxies are more susceptible to blocking by websites. However, they are still more anonymous than datacenter proxies. Rotating residential proxies, however, are arguably the proxy type with the most reduced block risk. They use highly anonymous, constantly changing IP addresses, making it difficult for websites to detect suspicious activity.  

Where to Buy Residential Proxy

There are many residential proxies providers on the market. However, none matches Proxy Cheap residential proxies for value. We offer best-in-class residential proxies at affordable rates and with pricing flexibility for prospective customers wanting more. The residential proxies we currently offer are:

• Proxy Cheap Static Residential Proxies
• Proxy Cheap Rotating Residential proxies

When using any of the above Proxy Cheap proxies, users can rest assured that they will enjoy:

• Responsive Customer Support. We offer experience-specific onboarding to help prospective buyers facilitate purchases and 24/7 support to help users get the best out of our proxies.
• Cost-Effective Proxy Solutions. Proxy Cheap offers quality IP addresses that are free from damaging histories, and constantly updated to ensure activity and expanding coverage. Best of all, though, is the affordability of these proxies and the possibility of bulk purchase deals to sweeten things for users. Put simply, with Proxy Cheap, you get market-leading proxies at a reasonable price for the present and long term.
• Broad Geographical Coverage. Proxy Cheap proxies provide access to 10M+ IP addresses in over 125 locations. We allow our customers to connect to websites and platforms from almost any country. 
• User-Friendly Interface. Our friendly interface lets users purchase, customise, and manage their proxies easily. This interface includes a proxy dashboard through which users can top up their accounts and view their purchased proxies, among other things.