In the last couple of years, ISP proxies – also known as static residential proxies – skyrocketed
in popularity.
Today I’m gonna tell you why, how they’re different from other proxy types, and where
you can get the best ISP sneaker proxies and ISP proxies for other use cases.
But first, let's define what an ISP proxy even is.
It’s an intermediary IP address that's registered under an internet service provider (or an
ISP) but doesn't involve end-users.
In other words, it’s hosted on a server at a datacenter and not a phone or laptop
like regular residential proxies.
By hiding your IP address ISPs ensure that a bot or a scraper you’re using looks like
a legit human.
So the name makes sense, right?
Then why are ISP proxies also called static residential proxies?
Well, static residential proxies is the older name.
It was used by the few providers that sold them.
The name came from the fact that these proxies are hosted on servers and don’t need to
rotate like residential proxies.
They remain static.
But, when the sneakerhead community discovered this proxy type they changed the name to ISP
proxies.
Nowadays, ISP proxies is by far the more popular name.
No surprise there - static residential proxies is a bit of a mouthful.
Now let’s figure out why this proxy type is becoming more and more popular.
Well to start, ISP proxies are fast.
Unlike flaky consumer connections, data centers run on 1 Gbps or even faster lines.
This ensures a low response time that barely impacts your connection speed.
They also have high uptime.
How often does a commercial server go down?
Most ensure 99.9% uptime, so the answer is: barely ever.
With backconnect servers, ISP proxies can rotate just fine, so you have that option
at your hands as well.
And of course, one of the biggest pros of ISP proxies - high anonymity.
Hidden under consumer internet service providers, ISP proxies look like legitimate IP addresses.
This lets them avoid security mechanisms that rely on IP reputation.
At first sight, the benefits look pretty amazing – and for the most part, they are.
But some disadvantages make ISP proxies less of a perfect option.
The most obvious downside is how expensive these proxies are.
Largely because of their sourcing challenges.
Bought per IP address, they cost 2-3 times the price of private proxies.
Bought per traffic, a gigabyte costs several dollars more than a residential proxy network.
Also, ISP proxies usually cover a limited number of locations.
Just like datacenter proxies, residential static addresses are held in servers around
the world.
The costs and operational challenges make renting several servers pretty hard.
Another downside is that ISP proxies have fewer subnets.
Proxy providers rent static residential proxies from various ISPs.
They control IP addresses that fall into neat related ranges called subnets.
While static IPs can have a large variety of subnets, they'll never compare to peer-to-peer
residential proxies.
As you can see ISP proxies are very dynamic, but they do have their downsides.
Make sure to keep these pros and cons in mind when thinking about whether ISP proxies are
the right choice for you.
You might be interested to know if ISP proxies can be dedicated.
The answer is yes.
Just like private datacenter proxies, ISP proxies can be dedicated to certain tasks.
That’s because providers have full control over them, unlike peer-to-peer residential
IPs.
Getting dedicated ISP proxies will ensure a clean history with the websites you want
to use them on.
You might also have control over locations and response time.
These are especially important for use cases like sneaker copping, where you want to get
fast IPs from major consumer ISPs.
So considering all those features when does it make sense to use ISP proxies over DC or
residential IPs?
Let’s say you’re targeting a protected website that gives DC IPs a hard time.
For example Google, eBay, or a sneaker site.
And you need a consistent identity.
ISP proxies are static, meaning that you can keep the same IP address for as long as you
like.
And what if you want unlimited bandwidth?
Rotating residential proxies nearly always charge by traffic, which can be inefficient.
Here you have the option to pay per IP.
Pretty nice, right?
But would ISP proxies be a good option in your case?
Let’s see where they excel.
One use case that instantly comes to mind is managing multiple social media or e-commerce
accounts.
While these platforms often rely on browser fingerprinting, having a good IP reputation
helps to keep the accounts safe.
Static residential proxies work just as well for web scraping.
In this case, the main consideration is whether it makes financial sense to use them.
But the most popular use case today is sneaker copping.
Shoe retailers suffer from bots, so they’ve armed themselves with advanced protection
systems.
What’s more, ISPs have a fast connection speed and IP-based pricing.
Both of those features are great for copping sneakers.
But amongst the many providers, which ones offer the best sneaker proxies?
If you’d rather hear about the best providers for other use cases simply skip to that part
of the video using the timestamps below.
And as always you can find the full list of providers in the description down below.
Before we get into it I do have to note that testing sneaker proxies is a tough task.
This is because every drop is different and when things go bad it’s hard to say whether
the proxies or the bot messed up.
Also, shoe stores are two different beasts regularly and during a drop.
This is why this list of best ISP proxies is slightly less scientific than usual.
It includes specialized providers largely based on their reputation and sneakerhead
testimonials.
We spent several months monitoring success posts on Twitter. To make it fairer for the
smaller providers, we divided the mentions by the number of members in their Discord
groups.
Is this way of counting completely accurate?
God no, but frankly it’s the only way that works.
Now as you can see according to this metric my first recommendation is obviously ProxyDrop.
Even though this provider is still new its proxies are performing very well.
Definitely worth checking out.
Oculus Proxies is another great provider.
It’s popular and well known for its ISP proxies.
Oculus’ servers are located in New York, Virginia, and Chicago.
So you’ll have the most popular US places covered.
The third provider I recommend is Leaf Proxies.
In general, this is one of the most popular sneaker proxy providers with a good reputation
surrounding it.
The provider offers reasonably priced monthly and weekly ISP proxy plans.
And our final proxy recommendation for sneaker botters - Space Proxies.
This is a good choice if you’re looking for a wider range of locations since the provider
offers both US and EU ISP proxies.
Wanna know more about sneaker copping?
Then check out our sneaker playlist full of useful tips.
But what if you’re not interested in getting sneakers?
No problem.
Here’s a breakdown of the best ISP proxy providers for any other use case.
NetNut is one of the largest ISP proxy providers on the market.
It claims that its IPs have been used by real people, so they should be harder to block.
With NetNut you connect via a backconnect server, which can give you static IPs or quickly
rotate them.
The provider offers specialized pools for different use cases, so make sure to let it
know what you’re going to use the IPs for.
NetNut charges by traffic and has a wide range of plans starting from 1 GB.
While the service is okay for hustlers, it’s mostly aimed at enterprises and resellers.
Bright Data owns a smaller pool of static residential IPs.
But it’s still pretty large, covers more countries, and supports SOCKS5.
This provider is known for its strong infrastructure and advanced proxy management tools.
You can filter, rotate, and manage the IPs in several ways.
So, the service is technically demanding but can be very powerful in the right hands.
Bright Data charges by IPs and traffic or traffic only.
This means you can buy individual IPs or access to a pool of addresses.
There’s also an option to get private proxies, which only you control for specific domains.
The provider allows paying as you go, but you’ll probably be better (or at least cheaper)
off with a monthly plan.
Another provider worth checking out is Blazing SEO.
It's new to ISP proxies, so it still has a small pool and limited locations.
But that shouldn’t fool you: this datacenter proxy veteran knows what it’s doing.
The ISP proxies come from major consumer ISPs and are spread throughout multiple ASNs to
avoid carpet bans.
The format is an IP list, but Blazing SEO has a beta-stage tool for IP rotation.
You can choose between HTTP(S) and SOCKS protocols.
Blazing SEO’s static proxies are expensive, but you don’t have to buy much and they
come with unlimited bandwidth.
This makes the pricing very predictable.
And finally Oxylabs.
It’s best known as a residential proxy provider but it sells ISP proxies as well.
You can get thousands of ISP proxies in Western Europe and the US.
So, if the other options don’t make the cut, you can always try Oxylabs.
Especially if you have large needs.
To find out more about the mentioned providers take a look at our playlist full of proxy
provider reviews.
And that's ISP proxies explained.
Did you find this video useful?
Or maybe I forgot to cover something?
Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you in the next one!