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 shared with 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 average you out.
Shared IPs are the right default at low volume. A sender doing a few thousand messages a month produces too little signal to build an IP reputation alone, and a well-run pool carries them. The trade is that a bad neighbour can hurt you.
A dedicated IP makes sense at steady, sizeable volume. Consistency matters more than any absolute number: an IP that sends in sporadic bursts never builds a stable reputation and can do worse than a shared pool.
A dedicated IP needs warming, and it needs a PTR record that matches the HELO name it announces. A mismatched identity on a dedicated IP is a strong negative signal because there is nobody else to blame.
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By SimpleVerifier Team · Last reviewed 2026-10-13 · All 50 glossary terms