The three proxy types differ in where the exit address sits, and sites react to that. The cheapest type that succeeds on your target is the right one, which you only learn by testing it on that target.
Datacenter: speed and cost, easy to recognise
Addresses are registered to hosting companies. They are fast and inexpensive, and a target that classifies visitors by network type will see them as non-residential. Start here for targets that publish permissive access and for APIs you are allowed to call.
Residential: looks like a household, billed by traffic
Addresses come from household connections. Targets that treat datacenter ranges differently tend to treat these as ordinary visitors. They are billed per GB, so page weight sets your cost, and rotation means a session can change address.
ISP: a stable address with a provider-registered network
A static address held for a term. It suits logged-in sessions that should not change address, and enterprise workloads that need one stable identity, at a per-IP price instead of a per-GB price.
A way to decide
- Try datacenter on a sample of the target first, and record success per target.
- If it fails on network type, try residential for independent pages, or ISP where the flow needs one address.
- If every proxy type fails, the cause is probably fingerprint or behaviour, and a browser or an unblocking API is the proportionate answer.
- Compare on cost per success, not unit price. The cost tool turns each into one number.