Ethically sourced residential proxies: where the addresses come from, and how to check a provider’s claim

A residential proxy sends your traffic out through someone’s home or phone connection, so every residential network depends on software running on other people’s devices. Some of those people chose to share their connection and are paid for it; others never knew, because the proxy code was hidden in an app or pre-installed on a cheap device. Many providers now say their addresses are “ethically sourced”, and Google’s threat researchers found such claims “often incorrect or overstated”. Ask how the provider recruits devices and whether the owners agreed, and treat a price far below the market as a warning.

Answer · The live comparison uses prices checked up to Oct 24, 2026; every figure in the text keeps the date it was checked. Decodo shows its prices + VAT, so every Decodo figure on this page is before VAT.

Where residential addresses come from

A residential address belongs to a home internet provider or a mobile carrier. A proxy company cannot buy those addresses; it needs a device on that connection to carry its customers’ traffic. Google’s Threat Intelligence Group, which disrupted one of the largest such networks in January 2026, describes the ways devices are joined (Google):

• An app the owner installed to earn from it. “Some users may knowingly install this software on their devices, lured by the promise of ‘monetizing’ their spare bandwidth.”
• Code inside another app. Proxy companies offer software kits to app makers, who “are then paid by IPIDEA usually on a per-download basis”; once a kit is in an app, “it will turn the device it is running on into an exit node for the proxy network in addition to providing whatever the primary functionality of the application was.” Google found that “many of the malicious applications we analyzed in our investigation did not disclose that they enrolled devices into the IPIDEA proxy network.”
• A device sold with it. The FBI warned in June 2025 of TV streaming boxes, projectors and picture frames that criminals configure “with malicious software prior to the users purchase”, which then join “residential proxy services known to be used for malicious activity” (FBI).

Only the first is a person who knows their connection is being sold.

What providers say

Many providers print a sourcing statement on their residential page. Four of them:

• Oxylabs: its pool “consists only of consenting, informed users who are fairly compensated for the traffic they share” (Oxylabs).
• Decodo: “All residential IPs are ethically-sourced through transparent opt-in programs” (Decodo).
• DataImpulse: “All proxies were sourced directly and legally from people with full user consent” (DataImpulse).
• Massive: “Every IP comes from someone using an app they love, who opted in to share a slice of bandwidth and earns for it” (Massive).

These are the providers’ own words, not something we can test. Google’s researchers wrote: “While many residential proxy providers state that they source their IP addresses ethically, our analysis shows these claims are often incorrect or overstated.” Proxyway, a proxy review site, put it more briefly in its 2026 market research: “simply claiming that something is the case doesn’t make it real.”

The network Google disrupted

Google named thirteen proxy and VPN brands it says are controlled by the actors behind the IPIDEA network, among them 922 Proxy and Luna Proxy, and said its action reduced “the available pool of devices for the proxy operators by millions.” Because “proxy operators share pools of devices using reseller agreements”, it expected “downstream impact across affiliated entities” (Google). A brand you buy from may be selling another company’s pool.

What it means for you as a buyer

• Your traffic leaves from a stranger’s home. If that person never agreed, you are using their connection without consent, and Google notes that owners can end up “flagged as suspicious or blocked by providers” for traffic that was not theirs.
• The price tells you something. Proxyway found botnet-sourced storefronts where “a gigabyte often runs under $0.50, reaching $0.15 at its lowest.” The box at the top of this page shows what residential and mobile traffic costs today across the providers we track; a price far below that range deserves a question.
• Some providers check you, too. A provider that asks who you are before selling residential access is limiting who uses those homes’ connections. Proxyway reports that after the botnet cases “some vendors have started requiring a KYC procedure to access ASN targeting”. Proxies you can buy without an ID check lists the other side.

Three questions to ask before you buy

1. What app or program puts devices in your network, and can I see it?
2. Do device owners agree to share their connection, and are they paid?
3. Do you resell another company’s pool?

A provider that answers all three in writing has told you more than one with a badge on its page.

To send them as one message to the provider’s sales or support team, copy this:

Before we buy residential traffic, could you tell us in writing:

1. Which app or program puts devices in your network, and where can we see it?
2. Do device owners agree to share their connection, and are they paid for it?
3. Is any of your pool resold from another company’s network?