Same script, same site, three IP types — three very different outcomes. Here's what actually drives the success-rate gap in 2026, and how to pick.
On defended sites, real mobile proxies win, residential is second, and datacenter trails badly — driven entirely by IP reputation: ASN type and CGNAT collateral cost. On undefended targets the gap disappears and datacenter wins on speed and price. Pick by how hard the target fights bots, not by habit. The widely-quoted "90% vs 30%" numbers are directional vendor estimates — test on your own targets.
| Datacenter | Residential | Mobile (4G/5G) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASN reputation | Low (hosting) | Medium-high (ISP) | Highest (carrier) |
| Defended-site success | Lowest | High | Highest |
| Speed | Fastest | Variable | Carrier-dependent |
| Cost | Cheapest | Mid | Premium |
| Best for | Open data, APIs | General defended scraping | Hardest targets, accounts |
Success ratings are relative and target-dependent — not a fixed percentage. The ordering, however, is consistent across vendor reports and practitioner accounts in 2026.
The performance difference isn't about bandwidth or some secret "mobile sauce" — it's the reputation each type starts with. Datacenter IPs announce from hosting ASNs a detector can block with zero collateral damage. Mobile IPs announce from carrier ASNs where CGNAT packs hundreds of real subscribers behind each address, so blocking is expensive. Residential sits between the two.
That's also why a mobile IP alone isn't a guarantee: pair it with a mismatched fingerprint and you still fail. The IP type sets the ceiling; the rest of your stack decides whether you reach it.
Real 4G/5G mobile proxies generally have the highest success rate on heavily defended targets (social platforms, sneaker/retail, major search), because their carrier ASN and CGNAT sharing make them expensive to block. Residential is next. Datacenter proxies have the lowest success on these sites because their ASN is flagged on sight — though they are fine for undefended targets and remain the cheapest and fastest.
Those figures are vendor and community estimates, not a single audited benchmark — exact rates depend heavily on the target site, tooling, and how the proxy is used. Treat them as directional: the consistent finding across sources is a large gap favoring mobile and residential on defended sites, with datacenter trailing badly. Always test on your specific targets.
When the target has weak or no anti-bot defenses and you need maximum speed at minimum cost — bulk scraping of open data, internal tools, APIs that do not fingerprint. Datacenter is the wrong tool only when IP reputation is the gate; for everything else its speed and price win.
Real 4G/5G mobile + residential IPs across 17+ countries — $4/GB, free endpoints, free rotation. Try them on a hard target.