Definition
What is a residential proxy?
Short answerA residential proxy is a server that forwards your requests through the home internet connection of a real household, so websites see an IP address that an internet service provider such as NTT, Jio or Viettel assigned to a home. Because the address looks like an ordinary visitor's, residential proxies are blocked far less often than datacenter IPs.
How does a residential proxy work?
A residential proxy works in three hops: your software connects to the provider's gateway, the gateway picks a home device in the country you asked for, and that device sends your request to the website. The website answers the home device, and the answer travels back the same way.
With Jade Proxies, the gateway takes a username that carries your settings, for example country-jp for Japan or city-osaka for Osaka. You never connect to the home device yourself; you only change the parameters.
| Hop | Who | What the website sees |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your script or browser → gateway | Nothing |
| 2 | Gateway → home device in Japan | Nothing |
| 3 | Home device → website | A Japanese home IP from an ISP such as NTT or KDDI |
Where do residential IPs come from?
Residential IPs come from consumer devices whose owners agreed to share part of their bandwidth, usually in exchange for an app feature or a payment. Jade Proxies buys this capacity from established upstream partner networks, and the upstream provider confirms that device owners opt in and can opt out.
The IP belongs to the ISP that serves the household. In Japan that means providers such as NTT FLET'S Hikari, SoftBank Hikari and au Hikari; in India, JioFiber and Airtel Xstream; in Indonesia, IndiHome and Biznet. Sites that check the ASN of a visitor see a consumer network, not a hosting company.
Why do websites block datacenter IPs but not residential ones?
Websites block datacenter IPs because the ranges of AWS, Google Cloud or OVH are public and almost no real shopper browses from them. A residential IP sits in the same range as thousands of real customers, so blocking it means blocking paying visitors.
That is why residential proxies are the default for:
- Price monitoring on marketplaces such as Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia, Rakuten and Coupang.
- Search result checks on Google Japan, Naver or Google India, where results depend on the visitor's country and city.
- Ad verification, to see which ads a viewer in Bangkok or Manila is shown.
- Geo-testing of websites and checkout flows from a local address.
What is the difference between rotating and sticky residential proxies?
A rotating residential proxy gives a new IP for each new connection; a sticky one keeps the same IP for a session. With Jade Proxies, each new connection gets an IP from the pool, usually a different one; to get a new IP on every request, send one request per connection (turn off keep-alive). Sticky sessions last up to 30 minutes (the IP can change earlier).
Use rotation for large crawls where each request stands alone. Use sticky sessions when a site expects the same visitor across several pages, such as a basket or a logged-in dashboard. The rotating vs sticky guide explains how to choose the session length.
How much does a residential proxy cost in Asia?
Residential proxies are billed per GB of traffic. At Jade Proxies the price depends only on volume: $1.50 for 1 GB, $0.66/GB at 10 GB, $0.52/GB at 50 GB and $0.50/GB from 100 GB. Japan, Korea and Singapore cost the same per GB as Vietnam or Pakistan.
usage counts all data sent and received through the proxy (upload and download, headers included); 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes; connection attempts that fail before reaching the target are not counted. Traffic never expires, so a 50 GB plan bought for a test campaign stays usable months later.
What are the limits of residential proxies?
Residential proxies have three practical limits, and each has a known workaround:
- Speed varies. The last hop is a home connection, so latency is higher than a datacenter's. Run requests in parallel instead of in sequence.
- An IP can disappear. The device can go offline at any moment, which ends a sticky session early. Build retries into your code.
- Apps trust mobile IPs more. Social and mobile-first platforms rate carrier IPs higher than home broadband. For those, a mobile proxy is the better tool.
Is a residential proxy the same as a VPN?
No. A VPN encrypts all the traffic of a device and sends it through one server, usually in a datacenter. A residential proxy handles the requests of one application, exits through a home IP, and lets you change country or IP per request. The proxy vs VPN comparison covers when each one fits.
Frequently asked questions
Are residential proxies legal?
Yes. Buying and using a residential proxy is legal in the countries Jade Proxies sells, as long as the IPs are sourced with the owners' consent and you use them for lawful work. Fraud, spam and unauthorised access are forbidden by our acceptable use policy.
How many GB do I need for a test?
1 GB is enough to test a target site from several Asian countries. At $1.50 for 1 GB, you can check whether the site accepts the IPs before buying volume. The unused traffic stays on your account.
Can I choose the city?
Yes. Jade Proxies offers country and city targeting on every plan; ASN targeting at no extra cost; city availability varies. Add the city to the username, for example city-mumbai or city-bangkok.
Which protocols do residential proxies support?
Jade Proxies residential proxies support HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5. Python, Node.js, Puppeteer, Playwright, Scrapy and every major anti-detect browser accept these protocols.
Do I need to give my identity to buy residential proxies?
Not at Jade Proxies: no ID, no selfie, no documents to sign up, top up or buy. You pay in crypto from a balance with a $25 minimum top-up.
Test 1 GB of Asian residential IPs for $1.50
Top up from $25 in BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC, SOL, LTC. No ID, no selfie. Unused balance never expires.