The words on a proxy pricing page
16 terms, each with the reason it changes what you pay. Misreading this vocabulary is how you buy the wrong plan, so every entry says what the word costs rather than only what it means.
Residential proxy
An IP address belonging to a real home internet connection, rented by the gigabyte. The hardest type to block and the most expensive.
ISP proxy
A hosted address registered to a consumer internet provider. Residential-looking identity at datacenter speed, and it stays yours.
Datacenter proxy
An address belonging to a server in a datacenter. Far cheaper than residential, and the first thing a careful site blocks.
Mobile proxy
An address on a phone carrier's network, shared by thousands of real subscribers. The hardest to block and the most expensive.
Proxy pool
The set of addresses a provider can route you through. The advertised size is a vendor claim nobody outside can verify.
Rotating proxy
A connection that hands you a different address on each request, or on a timer. The default for scraping at volume.
Sticky session
Holding the same proxy address for a set period so a login or checkout survives more than one request.
Backconnect
One gateway address that fans out to the whole pool behind it, so your code never handles an address list.
Concurrency limit
The cap on how many requests you can have in flight at once. Often the real constraint on a scraping job, not price.
Bandwidth overage
What a provider charges once you pass the gigabytes your plan includes. Often several times the headline rate.
Pay as you go
Buying bandwidth in top-ups instead of a monthly plan. Cheaper for bursty work, dearer per gigabyte.
Sub-user
A separate set of credentials under one account, so you can split traffic by project, client or machine.
ASN
The number identifying who owns a block of IP addresses. It is the first thing bot detection checks about you.
Geo-targeting
Choosing which country, city or carrier your requests appear to come from. Granularity varies enormously by provider.
KYC
The identity checks a provider runs before selling to you. Ranges from an email address to a company registration.
Success rate
The share of requests that get through. The number that decides everything, and the one no comparison table can give you.