Scraping fails when the exit IP looks like a server the target already blocked. Pick the origin, the session model, and the country to match the site, then buy only after a small test.
Start with the target, not with a vendor. Open pages, public docs, and your own origin will accept datacenter proxies. Those IPs are fast and they keep crawl cost down. Protected retailers, search, and anything with a bot score will label the same ranges as hosting and cut them off.
Residential traffic pays off when the site already rejects datacenter ASNs and you still have a legitimate reason to collect the page. A household IP is slower and billed by volume, so it is the expensive lane. Use it for the URLs that need it. Keep datacenter IPs for the rest of the job. Read the residential vs datacenter notes if you are choosing origin first.
Match rotation to the shape of the request. Rotating IPs spread a large URL list across many addresses. Sticky IPs keep a cookie, a CSRF token, or a multi-step flow on one address for a few minutes. Mixing those modes without a plan is how sessions break. See sticky vs rotating proxies for the session mechanics.
Respect the rules that already apply to the crawl. Honor robots.txt when you have agreed to it. Cap concurrency so you do not knock over a small origin. Cache what you already fetched. A proxy does not make an abusive crawler acceptable. It only changes which IP the server logs.
What to check before you buy
Bright Data sells residential and mobile proxy access for scraping and research. It fits teams that need documented country targeting and a clear product split.
Oxylabs sells rotating residential proxies and dedicated datacenter IPv4. It fits scrapers that want both origins in one account.
Decodo, formerly Smartproxy, sells rotating residential proxies and datacenter IPv4. It fits teams that promote failing URLs from hosting IPs to household IPs.
SOAX sells rotating residential and mobile proxies from shared pools. It fits teams that need household and carrier exits in one vendor.
NetNut sells static residential proxies for sessions that must keep one household IP. It fits login flows and long sticky crawls.
IPRoyal sells rotating residential proxies and dedicated static ISP addresses. It fits teams that need both a pool and a sticky household IP.
Webshare sells static datacenter IPv4 and rotating residential proxies. It fits self-serve buyers who promote blocked URLs from hosting IPs to household IPs.
Rayobyte sells dedicated datacenter IPv4, dedicated ISP IPv4, and rotating residential proxies. It fits teams that want three origins in US, UK, German, and Canadian exits.