Mobile vs residential proxies: when mobile is worth it
Both priced today, checked up to Oct 24, 2026:
- 10 GB of mobile traffic: a median $6.90 per GB across 17 providers; the cheapest checkout is $28.50 at ProxyScrape.
- 10 GB of residential traffic: a median $5.00 per GB across 26 providers; the cheapest checkout is $7.92 at Geonode.
Every billing type competes; free plans are left out. The amounts are the kind a first purchase is made in; change them on each comparison.
A mobile proxy sends your requests out through a phone or modem on a mobile network, so the site sees a carrier address that many real phone users share at the same time. A residential proxy uses home broadband addresses. Mobile traffic usually costs more per GB than residential, and it is slower and less predictable; it is worth paying for when the site you work with treats phone traffic differently from home traffic.
Answer · The live comparison uses prices checked up to Oct 24, 2026; every figure in the text keeps the date it was checked.
On this page
Why mobile addresses are different
Mobile carriers have far more phones than public IPv4 addresses, so they put many subscribers behind one public address with carrier-grade NAT (Wikipedia: carrier-grade NAT). At any moment one carrier address can stand for a large number of people. By the address alone, a site cannot tell one phone behind it from another, and refusing it could turn away real customers. Sites may therefore be slower to block a carrier address than a server address, but each site decides for itself, so test on the sites you need.
Home broadband works the other way round: one address usually belongs to one household. That is what makes residential addresses look ordinary, and also what makes a single one easier to tell apart.
How the two are sold
| Mobile | Residential | |
|---|---|---|
| Rotating traffic | Per GB, usually dearer | Per GB |
| A connection of your own | A dedicated device or port by the day, week or month, often with unlimited traffic | Rarely sold; static residential (ISP) IPs fill that role |
| Locations | Fewer countries, often chosen by carrier | Most countries, often down to the city |
| Speed | A mobile network’s: variable | A home connection’s: usually steadier |
Mobile proxies come two ways. Rotating mobile traffic is bought like residential traffic, by the GB, and the price per GB is the comparison that matters: the box above prices 10 GB of each. A dedicated mobile device is rented for a period with unlimited traffic, so it competes on the price per day or month instead; the mobile comparison lists both.
When mobile is worth the extra
Pay for mobile when the target is built for phones and treats them differently: an app’s own servers, a mobile-only site, or a service where your results from a home address and from a phone do not match. Mobile is also the way to see what a particular carrier’s customers see, for example to check mobile ads or app store listings in a given country.
Stay with residential when the target is an ordinary website, when you need many cities, or when you will move a lot of data. At the same amount, residential traffic usually costs less per GB. The proxy price index gives the median price per GB of each type at 10, 100 and 1,000 GB.
Check these before you buy mobile
- Billing unit. A per-GB plan and a per-device plan cannot be compared on the sticker; convert both to your month’s traffic.
- Expiry. Mobile traffic may lapse at the end of each month, after 60 or 90 days, or never; check which before you buy a large package (bandwidth expiry).
- Rotation control. Dedicated devices usually let you change the address on demand or on a timer; check how often, and whether it costs extra.
- Carrier and country. If a particular carrier matters, make sure the plan names it.
Price it for your amount
Today's checkout totals, every billing type competing. Change the amount to recalculate.
ProxyRack
$50Mobile monthly · Monthly
Checked Oct 24, 2026 · $1 per GB used
Buy at ProxyRack →GB and IP packages use separate amounts and billing units.