Both mobile and residential proxies route through real consumer connections, so both look like genuine people. The difference is the type of connection behind the IP — and that affects trust, cost, and speed.
Residential proxies
Residential proxies use IPs that ISPs assign to home broadband connections.
- Trust: High. They look like ordinary household users.
- Coverage: Enormous pools across 195+ countries with city-level targeting.
- Cost: Moderate per GB.
- Speed: Good, limited by home internet latency.
Residential is the default choice for web scraping, price intelligence, SEO and SERP tracking, ad verification, and most data collection.
Mobile proxies
Mobile proxies use IPs from cellular carriers (4G/5G).
- Trust: Very high. Carriers share each mobile IP among many real users behind carrier-grade NAT, so platforms are reluctant to ban them.
- Coverage: Smaller pools, tied to carrier presence.
- Cost: Highest of the three major proxy types.
- Speed: Variable, depends on cellular conditions.
Mobile shines for mobile-first platforms and sensitive account work where the extra trust prevents bans. That is a property of carrier CGNAT, not a product Aethyn sells.
How they compare
| Factor | Residential | Mobile (4G/5G) |
|---|---|---|
| IP source | Home broadband ISPs | Cellular carriers |
| Trust level | High | Very high |
| Pool size | Very large | Smaller |
| Cost | $$ | $$$ |
| Best targets | General web, e-commerce, search | Social, mobile apps, hard targets |
When the premium is worth it
[!IMPORTANT] Pay for trust only when you need it. Carrier IPs cost more for a reason — they belong only on the hardest mobile-first targets. For everything else, residential delivers the better cost-to-result ratio.
A practical pattern: run residential for bulk collection, and only pay carrier prices for the handful of mobile-first targets that genuinely require it.
Where Aethyn fits
Aethyn sells residential only — there is no mobile SKU. Premium is country targeting and volume. Elite adds city and ISP targeting when anti-bot is hard. For most teams, Elite residential closes a lot of the trust gap that people pay carrier prices for.
Common questions about this article
What is the difference between mobile and residential proxies?
Are mobile proxies harder to block than residential?
Are mobile proxies worth the higher cost?
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