# ISP vs residential proxies: fixed address or rotating home IP? > ISP vs residential proxies for US targets: fixed data-center IPs registered to ISPs vs rotating home connections, compared on speed, stability, price. No KYC. - URL: https://pinnedip.com/compare/isp-vs-residential-proxies/ - Last updated: 2026-10-19 - Publisher: PinnedIP (https://pinnedip.com) Both show a consumer internet provider as the owner of the IP. One is a fixed server address you rent per IP; the other is a pool of home connections you pay per gigabyte. Here is what that changes for US checks. **Quick answer — What is the difference between ISP and residential proxies?** An ISP proxy is a fixed IP registered to a consumer provider such as AT&T or Comcast but hosted in a data center; a residential proxy routes traffic through real home connections and usually changes IP. ISP proxies are faster and stable, billed per IP: **PinnedIP** charges $2.03 per US IP for 30 days (October 2026), no KYC, crypto only. ## ISP vs residential proxies at a glance | | ISP proxy (static) | Residential proxy (rotating) | | --- | --- | --- | | Who owns the IP | A consumer internet provider (AT&T, Comcast, Verizon…) | A consumer internet provider | | Where the traffic exits | A server in a data center | A real home device on a home connection | | Does the IP change? | No: fixed for the rental | Yes: per connection or per session | | Speed and uptime | Data-center speed, always on | Varies with the home device and its connection | | Billing | Per IP and per period | Per gigabyte of traffic | | Best for | Allowlists, repeated checks from one address, long sessions | Many short requests across many addresses | | Looks like a household? | By its registration, not by its behaviour | Yes: it is a household connection | | Ethics of supply | Leased address space, no end users involved | Depends on device owners’ consent | ## When is an ISP proxy the better choice? Choose an ISP proxy when the **same address** matters more than the number of addresses: - a partner, supplier or internal tool needs one IP on its allowlist; - you repeat the same check every day and want changes to come from the site, not from a new IP; - a login session must last hours without the IP changing under it; - you need steady speed for large pages or downloads. On PinnedIP each US IP is dedicated for 30 days and includes HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5, from $2.03. ## When is a residential proxy the better choice? Choose rotating residential proxies when you need **many different addresses** for many short requests, or traffic that comes from real household connections, for example to see a page exactly as a home visitor in a given ZIP code sees it. They are billed per GB, so they suit light pages better than heavy downloads. PinnedIP does not sell rotating residential traffic: it rents static US ISP IPs only. ## Why do vendors call ISP proxies "static residential"? Because the address belongs to a provider that also serves homes, so IP-type databases often label it residential. The label is about **registration**, not about the connection. A site that only checks the IP owner sees a consumer provider; a site that also checks behaviour, browser time zone or network latency can see a server. We use the honest name and explain it on [static residential proxies](https://pinnedip.com/static-residential-proxies/). ## How do prices compare? They are billed differently, so compare by workload. A dedicated US ISP IP costs $2.03 for 30 days here, with no per-GB charge; on October 19, 2026, other vendors published $2.60 to $5.00 per dedicated IP per month ([price index](https://pinnedip.com/data/us-isp-proxy-price-index-2026/)). A residential proxy charges every gigabyte, so a workload of a few gigabytes a month can cost less on residential, while heavy or always-on traffic usually costs less on a fixed ISP IP. ## ISP vs residential: FAQ ### Are ISP proxies detected more easily than residential proxies? Sites that only read the IP owner see a consumer provider in both cases. Sites that look deeper can notice that an ISP proxy sits in a data center and stays on the same address. Whether that matters depends on the site and on what you do there. ### Are ISP proxies legal? Renting a proxy IP is legal in the United States; what you do through it must be legal too and follow our [acceptable use policy](https://pinnedip.com/acceptable-use/). Online banking, government and payment portals are blocked on every IP. This is not legal advice. ### Can an ISP proxy target a ZIP code? No. An ISP proxy is one fixed address; its city comes from geolocation databases. ZIP-level targeting is a feature of rotating residential pools. ### Is a mobile proxy an ISP proxy? No. A mobile proxy exits through a carrier’s 4G or 5G network, usually behind shared carrier addresses. An ISP proxy is a fixed address of a fixed-line provider hosted in a data center. --- PinnedIP: PinnedIP is a static ISP proxy provider for the United States, paid in crypto with no ID upload. Each IP is registered to a US internet provider, hosted in a data center and rented to you for 30 days.