What is a dedicated ip?
A dedicated IP is a sending address used by one sender only, as opposed to a shared IP pool where reputation is inherited from everyone else on it. It gives you full control of your own reputation — and full exposure to it, with no other senders' good behaviour to hide behind.
Shared IPs are the right default at low volume. Reputation is built from aggregate behaviour, and a sender doing a few thousand messages a month generates too little signal to establish one alone. The trade is that a bad neighbour can hurt you.
A dedicated IP becomes worthwhile at consistent volume — commonly cited as upwards of 50,000 messages a month, though consistency matters more than the absolute number. An IP that sends in sporadic bursts never accumulates a stable reputation and can perform worse than a shared pool.
A dedicated IP needs warming, and it needs reverse DNS that matches the HELO name it announces. Mismatched identity on a dedicated IP is a strong negative signal precisely because you control all of it.
Last reviewed 2026-09-11