Residential proxies are IP addresses assigned to real residential devices—like home computers and phones—by internet service providers. When you use one, websites see requests coming from an actual home address instead of a data center.
They're harder for sites to detect and block compared to regular proxies because the IPs look like normal users browsing from home. This makes them useful for tasks like web scraping, checking ads in different locations, or managing multiple accounts without getting flagged.
The main trade-off: they're typically slower and cost more than data center proxies, but they blend in better.