Proxy types explained for beginners

A lot of people getting into scraping, bots or multi-accounting ask the same thing:
Which proxies should I actually use?

Quick answer: depends on what you're doing.
Wrong type = bans, flags, wasted time. Here's a simple breakdown.

Datacenter proxies

• Fine for basic scraping on public pages
• Not great for anything with logins or sessions
• Cheap, but most sites flag them fast

Residential proxies

• Better for social platforms and marketplaces
• IPs come from real ISPs so they look more legit
• Some providers fake it by tunneling mobile or DC through resi pools, so test before scaling

Mobile proxies (4G/5G)

• High trust by default
• Good for TikTok, IG, FB etc
• Expensive and slower, but great for fragile accounts

ISP proxies

• Real IP ranges hosted on datacenter infra
• Low latency and stable
• Some providers resell sketchy stuff as "ISP", so check TTL and ASN

Quick tips

• Sticky IPs for sessions, rotate only when safe
• Don’t rotate mid-action
• Always test IPs before using them on real accounts
• TTL 128, consistent ASN, no wild latency spikes = good sign

If anyone’s got tweaks or better setups, feel free to share.

Really solid breakdown, especially for anyone just getting into proxies. When I first started, all the types sounded the same—knowing when to use datacenter vs residential or mobile makes a huge difference depending on the task

That just about covers it. Would be easier to direct other peeps here when needed rather then explaining further if there's something they don't get.