# Residential proxies: why they are hard to catch and what to do about them

An ordinary proxy runs in a data center, and its address is easy to recognise. A residential proxy sends traffic through someone else's home connection, so to your server it looks like a player sitting at home.

Updated: 2026-10-27

## In short

- A residential proxy uses an address from a home or mobile provider instead of a hosting company.
- These addresses are sold in bulk and change on every connection, so IP bans do not help.
- A real player may be using the same address, so blocking them always carries a risk.
- Kordon treats residential proxies as a separate address type. "Strict" protection closes them on the Premium plan and higher.
- During a bot attack they are refused on every protection level.

## What they are

Residential proxy services sell access to the home addresses of ordinary people. A customer's traffic goes through a router, a computer or a phone in someone's home. Sometimes the owner of the device agreed to share their connection for money. Sometimes they do not even know there is a proxy on it, because it came bundled with a free app.

Payment is usually per gigabyte. A Minecraft login needs very little traffic, so thousands of connections from different home addresses are cheap.

## Why they are hard to tell apart

The address belongs to an ordinary home or mobile provider. Nothing about it says proxy: the network is the same one your players use, and the country is plausible. A minute later the proxy hands out a different address, and this one goes back to its real owner, who may well play Minecraft too.

## Who uses them

Mostly bot attacks: once data center proxies are closed, attackers switch to residential ones. Rule breakers dodging a ban use them as well, and so do players who create batches of alts for rewards.

## How Kordon handles them

In Kordon residential proxies have their own address type, separate from VPNs and regular proxies.

- "Soft" and "Balanced" protection let them in, so that players on the same addresses are not hit.
- "Strict" protection refuses them. The "Custom" level has a separate switch for them. Blocking residential proxies is available from the Premium plan.
- During a bot attack residential proxies are refused on every protection level, even if your plan does not include blocking them.

## Should you block them all the time

If your server is rarely attacked and rule breakers mostly come back through ordinary VPNs, "Balanced" protection is enough: during an attack residential proxies get closed anyway.

If bots and rule breakers arrive from home addresses every day, turn on "Strict" protection. Before you do, check the login log (from the Basic plan) and make sure your regular players will not fall under the block. Add anyone who still gets hit to the whitelist.

## Try it on your server

Start in observe mode: Kordon shows who it would keep out, and you turn protection on when you are ready. [Create an account](https://panel.kordonlabs.com/register)

## More guides

- [How to protect a Minecraft server from bot attacks](https://kordonlabs.com/guides/minecraft-bot-attack-protection): What a bot attack on a Minecraft server looks like, why it comes through proxies, and how Kordon's attack mode closes the networks bots come from while real players keep joining.
- [How to block VPNs and proxies on a Minecraft server](https://kordonlabs.com/guides/block-vpn-minecraft-server): Why players join through VPNs and proxies, which ways to block them exist, and how to set up the Kordon AntiVPN plugin on BungeeCord or Velocity step by step.
- [Why IP bans do not work and what to use instead](https://kordonlabs.com/guides/why-ip-bans-fail-minecraft): Why a Minecraft IP ban often misses the rule breaker or hits innocent players: dynamic IPs, CGNAT, mobile data, IPv6 and VPNs. And what to do instead.