Selecting the right residential proxy pricing model is just as important as choosing the right proxy type. While residential IPv4 proxies are widely used for their high trust and realism, the way they are priced—Unmetered vs GB-Based—can significantly impact cost efficiency, scalability, and operational simplicity.

In this guide, we break down both models, explain when each makes sense, and help you decide which option best aligns with your workload and long-term goals.

Understanding Residential IPv4 Proxy Pricing Models

Residential IPv4 proxies are typically offered under two pricing structures:

1. Unmetered residential proxies

2. GB-based (usage-based) residential proxies

Each model is designed for different usage patterns. Understanding how your applications consume data—both in volume and frequency—is key to making the right choice.

When Should You Choose GB-Based Residential Proxies?

GB-based residential proxies charge based on the amount of data transferred. This model works best when bandwidth usage is limited, predictable, and easy to control.

GB-based proxies are well suited for:

• Occasional account logins

• Ad or content verification across regions

• Small-scale data collection

• Short surveys or polls

• Testing environments and proof-of-concept projects

Because you only pay for the bandwidth you consume, GB-based pricing helps keep costs efficient for short-term or low-traffic workflows.

Key advantage: Cost efficiency when usage is light or intermittent.

How Unmetered Residential Proxies Support Long-Term Scaling

Unmetered residential proxies operate under a fixed pricing structure, removing bandwidth consumption from the equation. This makes them ideal for continuous, data-heavy, or unpredictable workloads.

Unmetered proxies are commonly used for:

• Always-on automation

• Large-scale scraping

• SEO monitoring and SERP tracking

• Market intelligence and price monitoring

• Long-running workflows with fluctuating traffic

With unmetered proxies, teams don’t need to constantly monitor bandwidth usage or optimize every request to conserve data. This operational simplicity becomes increasingly valuable as projects scale.

Key advantage: Predictable costs and friction-free scalability.

While unmetered residential proxies remove bandwidth caps, responsible providers still apply reasonable operational safeguards to protect network stability. These may include concurrency limits, session handling rules, or acceptable use policies designed to prevent abuse—not to restrict legitimate workloads.

Transparency around these parameters is essential when evaluating providers, especially for long-running or high-concurrency operations.

Bandwidth Consumption vs Request Volume: What Actually Matters

Not all proxy usage behaves the same way:

• Some tasks generate many lightweight requests

• Others involve fewer requests with heavy responses

High request volume doesn’t always translate to high bandwidth usage—and vice versa. Understanding how your application interacts with target websites helps determine whether GB-based or unmetered pricing is more efficient.

Choosing the wrong model can lead to unnecessary monitoring, unexpected costs, or performance bottlenecks.

Cost Isn’t Just Bandwidth—It’s Completion Time

The real cost of proxy infrastructure isn’t just bandwidth—it’s how long jobs take to complete and how often they fail.

Throttling, retries, or mid-task interruptions can increase operational overhead far more than raw data usage. For teams running frequent or time-sensitive workloads, unmetered models often deliver better overall Return on Investment (ROI) by reducing friction, retries, and execution delays.

Common Mistakes When Selecting Residential Proxy Plans

One of the most common mistakes is choosing a proxy plan based on price alone.

Examples include:

• Using unmetered proxies for very light, occasional tasks

• Using GB-based proxies for continuous automation

Both scenarios can lead to inefficiencies. The right approach is to match the pricing model to the workload—not the other way around.

When Does Unmetered Become More Cost-Effective?

A practical way to evaluate proxy pricing models is to calculate a rough break-even point.

Divide the flat monthly cost of an unmetered plan by the effective per-GB rate of a usage-based plan to estimate when unmetered pricing becomes more economical.

As bandwidth usage grows—especially beyond hundreds of gigabytes per month—GB-based plans often become harder to predict, while unmetered pricing provides greater stability and cost certainty. This is particularly relevant for workflows involving retries, dynamic content, or full-page rendering, where bandwidth consumption can fluctuate significantly.

Example: Estimating the Break-Even Point

Using ColdProxy’s actual pricing as an illustration:

• GB-based residential IPv4 plan: $1.27 per GB

• Unmetered residential IPv4 plan (100 Mbps): $1,317.49 per month

Break-even calculation:

$1,317.49 ÷ $1.27 ≈ 1,037 GB

If monthly bandwidth usage exceeds approximately 1 TB, the unmetered plan may offer better cost efficiency. Below this threshold, GB-based pricing can provide tighter cost control. Above it, unmetered pricing reduces monitoring overhead and minimizes the risk of unexpected cost spikes.

Note: This example is illustrative. Actual break-even points depend on the selected plan tier, workload behavior, and GB bundle pricing.

Operational Simplicity: Which Model Is Easier to Manage?

From an operational perspective, unmetered proxies are generally easier to manage:

• No need to track bandwidth usage

• Fewer internal controls required

• Teams can focus on workflows instead of consumption metrics

GB-based models, by contrast, require closer attention to usage patterns to avoid unnecessary bandwidth burn. For teams prioritizing simplicity and uninterrupted execution, unmetered proxies often provide a smoother experience.

Is GB-Based Ever the Smarter Choice?

Yes—GB-based pricing makes sense when:

• Usage is light or short-term

• Projects are experimental or temporary

• Data consumption is clearly defined

For pilot projects, testing phases, or limited campaigns, GB-based residential proxies offer flexibility without long-term commitment.

Note: Many teams adopt a hybrid approach—running production workloads on unmetered proxies while reserving GB-based plans for testing, staging, or short-term tasks. This balances cost control with operational flexibility and allows infrastructure to scale without disruption.

ColdProxy Residential IPv4 Proxy Plans at a Glance

ColdProxy offers multiple residential IPv4 proxy solutions designed to match different workload intensities, pricing preferences, and scalability requirements. Whether your priority is predictable costs or flexible, usage-based control, all residential IPv4 plans are built on the same high-performance, fully in-house infrastructure.

Both Premium Residential Geo-Targeted IPv4 plans — Unmetered and GB-Based — deliver millions of real, unshared, and dedicated residential IPv4 addresses, ensuring high trust, stability, and consistent performance across all supported use cases.

Premium Residential Geo-Targeted IPv4 (Unmetered)

This plan is designed for long-running, always-on operations that require unlimited data transfer and precise location targeting.

Key characteristics:

• Unlimited bandwidth — no usage caps

• Adjustable speeds to match your workflow

• Full geo-targeting by country, city, ZIP code, or ASN

• Static or rotating IPs (your choice)

• Secure authentication (IP whitelist or username/password)

• Ultra-low latency (average below 0.6s)

• 99.9% success rate across use cases

• Powered by QUIC protocol

• Built on 100% in-house infrastructure

• Backed by 24/7 expert technical support

Best suited for:

Large-scale scraping, continuous automation, SEO monitoring, market intelligence, and other data-intensive workloads where cost predictability and performance consistency are critical.

Available on flexible terms: hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly, with custom plans for large-scale deployments.

Premium Residential Geo-Targeted IPv4 (GB-Based)

This usage-based option provides access to the same residential IPv4 network, while allowing teams to pay only for the data they consume.

Key characteristics:

• Pay only for what you use

• Full geo-targeting by country, city, ZIP code, or ASN

• Static or rotating IPs (your choice)

• Secure authentication (IP whitelist or username/password)

• Ultra-low latency (average below 0.6s)

• 99.9% success rate across use cases

• Powered by QUIC protocol

• Built on 100% in-house infrastructure

• Backed by 24/7 expert technical support

Best suited for:

Testing environments, proof-of-concept projects, ad or content verification, and workflows where data usage is limited, predictable, or intermittent.

This plan is offered on a monthly basis, with custom configurations available for specialized needs.

Final Note

Regardless of the pricing model or IP type you choose, all ColdProxy plans share the same foundation:

performance-focused design, transparent infrastructure, and operational control.

The right plan is not about “more” or “cheaper”—it’s about choosing the proxy architecture that aligns with how your workload behaves today and how it will scale tomorrow.