What Is a Residential Proxy? A Plain-English Guide
Updated 2026-10-28
A residential proxy is a server that forwards your internet traffic through a real household's connection, so the websites you visit see an IP address from a home internet provider instead of your own. They're used to see sites as a local visitor would and to avoid being blocked as a server.
How it works
Your app connects to the proxy provider's gateway with a login. The gateway picks an IP from a pool of home connections, in the country, state, city or ISP you asked for, and your request leaves from there. The answer comes back the same way.
With a rotating setup each connection gets a new IP; with a sticky session you keep one IP for minutes or hours.
What people use them for
Seeing local search results and ads, checking prices and availability in other countries, managing several social or marketplace accounts each on its own IP, testing websites from many places, and collecting public web data without being blocked.
Use them within the law and each site's terms: ProxyFall's acceptable use policy rules out fraud, spam, attacks and similar abuse.
What they cost
Residential proxies are usually sold per GB of traffic. ProxyFall charges $0.99 to $0.86/GB, with city, state and ISP targeting included, and the GB you buy never expire. Many providers charge more for small plans or for city targeting; see the comparison of prices across providers.
See also: prices, providers compared and setup in your tools.