What are residential proxies and how do they work?
A residential proxy sends your requests through an IP address that an internet provider assigned to a home connection. With a UK access list, your requests leave from residential IPs in the United Kingdom, so sites answer as they would for a local visitor.
You do not manage a list of IPs yourself. Every package gets one gateway host and port, the same for every country. The package's main login exits from any country. For the United Kingdom, you create an access list in your dashboard and choose United Kingdom as its country.
Each access list has its own login and 1 to 1,000 ports, and a package can hold up to 20 lists. Your tool connects to the gateway with the list's login, and the gateway picks a residential IP that matches the list. You never add anything to the username: the location and rotation are saved with the list.
Target the United Kingdom by nation, city or ISP
Country level gives you the widest choice of UK IPs. When a job needs a narrower view, pick a nation and a city, and optionally an ISP. In the United Kingdom you can pick one of the four nations (England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland), then one of 1,300+ cities, including Manchester, Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Leeds and Bristol. You can also narrow a city to one internet provider (ISP).
The names come from our targeting list, which is updated regularly, so the exact choice can change. Targeting stops at city and ISP level.
- Buy a GB package. Pick a package size and pay from your wallet. There is no country to choose at checkout: the same package works in every country.
- Create an access list. In your dashboard, open the package, add an access list and choose United Kingdom. If you need to, narrow it to a nation, then a city, then an ISP.
- Choose rotation and ports. Set the rotation and the number of ports (1 to 1,000). The list gets its own login, and you can export it as a .txt file.
- Connect. Point your tool at the gateway host and port with the list's login and password, over HTTP(S) or SOCKS5.
Rotating vs sticky UK IPs
| Rotation | What happens | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Every request | Each request can leave from a different UK IP | Price and stock monitoring across many pages, public data collection |
| Every 1, 5 or 10 minutes | The IP stays the same for a few minutes, then changes | SERP rank tracking: search, then open the results |
| Every 15, 30 or 60 minutes | The IP stays the same for up to an hour | Longer QA and localisation checks, ad verification runs |
| Sticky | The IP stays the same while it stays online, with no fixed maximum | Checkout tests and managing your own brand or store accounts |
Rotation decides how long you keep one IP. Each access list has its own setting, and you can change it later. The location of a list is fixed once it is created, so make a new list for a new place.
How much do UK residential proxies cost?
You pay for traffic, not for a country. UK traffic costs the same per GB as traffic anywhere else, and one package can cover the United Kingdom and other countries at once, with a separate access list for each.
Prices start at $1.58 per GB on the largest package. The smallest package is 1 GB, so you can test first. Bigger packages cost up to 55% less per GB.
Each package is valid for 30 days. Unused GB expires with the package and does not roll over, and there is no subscription. You can add GB to a live package while it has more than a day left, and usage in your dashboard updates every 10 minutes.
Compare residential and per-IP prices →
What UK residential proxies are used for
UK sites show prices in pounds sterling with VAT included, and delivery, returns and promotions are often set for UK addresses only. Retailers and marketplaces such as Amazon.co.uk, Argos, Tesco and eBay.co.uk tune their pages for UK visitors, and google.co.uk ranks local results differently from google.com. A UK IP lets you check those pages, ads and search results as people in the UK see them. Cookie banners on UK sites follow UK GDPR and the PECR rules, so QA teams often test the consent flow from a UK address before a launch. If personal data is involved, UK GDPR applies; most proxy work in the UK is collecting public prices, stock levels and search results. Keep request rates reasonable and follow each site's terms.
- Price and stock monitoring: see prices in pounds sterling and the stock and delivery options shown to visitors in the United Kingdom
- SEO and SERP rank tracking on google.co.uk, down to nation or city level
- Ad verification: confirm that campaigns aimed at the United Kingdom show the right ads and landing pages
- QA and localisation testing of pages in English, with local currencies and consent banners
- Public data for research and AI, market research and brand protection
- Managing your own brand or store accounts from a sticky UK IP
Set up UK residential proxies in curl or Python
Copy the gateway host and port from your dashboard, then the login and password of your UK access list. Use them in place of HOST, PORT, LOGIN and PASSWORD below. HTTP(S) and SOCKS5 work on the same port with the same login.
curl -x http://LOGIN:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT https://t7proxy.com/ip
curl -x socks5h://LOGIN:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT https://t7proxy.com/ip
import requests
# The login and password of your UK access list
proxy = "http://LOGIN:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT"
r = requests.get("https://t7proxy.com/ip", proxies={"http": proxy, "https": proxy})
print(r.text) Check your UK IP
Send a request to https://t7proxy.com/ip through the proxy: it prints the IP a site sees. To see the country, city and ISP of that IP, open What is my IP through the proxy, or test the gateway and login with the proxy checker.
