Rotating vs. Static Residential Proxies: The Differences You Need to Know

Rotating vs. Static Residential Proxies: In the digital world, there’s always something new. Each day, we learn about new tools that can help us in various ways, from doing our jobs, learning, socializing, protecting ourselves, and so much more.

Even though proxies are relatively new, they’ve quickly found many users, including individuals and organizations. Most people have heard about proxy servers, but not many understand them because there are so many varieties.

Today we’ll focus on residential proxies and give you more information about this type. We will also compare the differences between rotating and static residential proxies.

What are rotating residential proxies?

Residential proxies are servers that exclusively route traffic through a specific residential IP address. In other words, the IP address used is real and exists in the physical world. The IP address is officially registered with some internet service provider.

The “rotating” component means that these proxies rotate your IP address for each request. You will be given a new residential IP whenever you visit a different site. In most cases, proxy providers have a pool of hundred other residential proxies that rotate.

That gives these proxies an additional layer of protection and anonymity. Websites can’t detect residential proxies alone, not to mention that rotating them makes detection even more difficult.

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What are static residential proxies?

Static residential proxies are the same as their rotating counterparts but don’t change their IPs. In other words, when you connect to the internet using this kind of proxy, you will always have a single IP address that doesn’t change.

These proxies are far simpler but still reliable and difficult to detect. However, when you make a lot of requests in a short time, your IP address will be noticeable and potentially blocked by services or websites.

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How do they work?

As mentioned earlier, users of residential proxies get IP addresses from internet service providers. Proxy providers acquire these proxies in multiple ways. First, there are many P2P marketplaces where people monetize IP addresses.

In other words, they buy these IPs or rent them to give them to their users. On the other hand, residential proxy providers also rent unused bandwidth from other providers. It is an excellent option if you’re looking for a residential proxy that offers all the benefits but has data center speed.

All of this enables security and anonymity for different kinds of tasks. The main difference between rotating and static residential proxies is that the static option uses only a single IP, while the rotating one can switch between multiple IP addresses. 

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Main use cases

These proxies are both suitable for different uses. Here are some of their main use cases.

Rotating proxies:

• Testing servers: Rotating proxies make server testing easier. They let you imitate traffic spikes and access patterns on different sites to see how different systems react (anti-bot, anti-spam, etc.);
• Competitive and market research: Competitive research is a normal business practice, and these proxies let you do this while using different parameters on key products or services;
• Scraping travel sites: Rotating proxies is the number one choice for scraping travel websites to find the best possible offers and deals;
• SEO monitoring: Companies use the proxies to learn their SERP standings in different locations and help improve their future SEO strategies;
• Price scraping: Accessing many IPs makes it easier to scrape prices from different websites without getting noticed.

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Static proxies:

• Shopping online: Static IPs let users be seen as legit customers and get all the benefits of repeatedly buying at the same store while making your shopping experience safe. Rotating IPs might make you look suspicious and even get your account banned;
• Marketing research: Using a single geo-specific IP makes it easy to test your marketing efforts and conduct intelligence sessions to get reliable results. Rotating IPs leads to misinterpreted information as they change in every session;
• Social media: If you want to manage social media safely without flagging your account, use a single IP.

Rotating proxies pros & cons

Here are some of the main pros and cons of rotating residential proxies.

Pros

• Complete anonymity;
• Difficult to block;
• It can bypass different anti-scraping mechanisms;
• Multiple IPs available;
• Great for scraping applications.

Cons

• More expensive;
• Can’t be used for single-account applications.

Static proxies pros & cons

Here’s what you can expect from static proxies.

Pros

• Cost-effective;
• Easy to use;
• Very reliable;
• Great speed;
• Difficult to block;
• Anonymity.

Cons

• Can be blocked and recognized;
• Getting flagged means finding another proxy.

FAQ

Conclusion

We hope this article has helped you understand what residential proxies are all about and the differences between their static and rotating versions. Take the time to consider which option is better for you and find a reliable provider before committing to it. Good luck!