Plain-language definitions of the technical terms used across this directory.
Carrier-Grade Network Address Translation: a technique mobile and some fixed ISPs use to share one public IP address among many subscribers. It is why mobile proxy IPs are shared and change often.
A proxy hosted in a commercial datacentre with an IP registered to a hosting company. Fast and inexpensive, but easily identified as non-residential by services that check IP ownership.
Proxy authentication that authorises your server's IP address instead of a username and password. Convenient for fixed infrastructure, but unusable from dynamic IPs.
Also called a static residential proxy: an IP registered to a consumer ISP but hosted on datacentre infrastructure. It combines a residential-looking IP with a stable, long-lived session, and is usually priced per IP.
A proxy whose exit IP belongs to a mobile carrier network (3G/4G/5G). Because carriers share IPs across many subscribers via CGNAT, mobile IPs change frequently. Typically the most expensive proxy type.
A proxy whose exit IP address is assigned by a consumer internet service provider to a household connection. Traffic routed through it appears to originate from an ordinary home connection. Residential IPs are usually rotating and are commonly priced per gigabyte.
A proxy configuration where the exit IP changes automatically — per request or on a timer — from a provider's pool. Used to distribute traffic across many IPs.
A managed web-data service that fetches pages for you — handling proxies, retries and rendering — and returns HTML or structured data, usually priced per request or per credit.
A general-purpose proxy protocol that relays arbitrary TCP (and often UDP) traffic without interpreting it. Unlike HTTP proxies, SOCKS5 is application-agnostic and supports authentication.
A rotating-proxy option that keeps the same exit IP for a defined period (for example 1–30 minutes), so multi-step workflows can complete on one IP before rotation.