Dedicated IP
A dedicated IP is a sending address used by one sender and nobody else. Its reputation is entirely yours: nothing another sender does can damage it, and nothing they do can help it either. It suits high and steady volume. Below a few thousand messages a day it usually hurts, because there is not enough traffic for receiving servers to form an opinion.
At a glance
- Category
- Infrastructure
- Reputation
- Yours alone, for better and for worse
- Needs
- High and steady volume, and a warm-up period
- Suits
- Senders whose volume is predictable week to week
- Hurts
- Low or spiky volume, where no reputation accrues
How it works
Mail leaves over a network address, and receiving servers keep a view of how the mail from each address behaves. On a dedicated address every data point is yours: your bounce rate, your complaint rate, your volume pattern. Because nothing else is mixed in, a new address starts with no reputation at all, which is why it has to be warmed — volume raised gradually over days or weeks so that receiving servers can build a picture before the full load arrives.
Why it matters
Isolation is the point, and isolation cuts both ways. A large sender with a clean list gets a reputation that reflects their own discipline rather than the average of everyone sharing a pool. A small or irregular sender gets the opposite: too little traffic for anyone to judge, so each burst looks like a stranger arriving. The threshold is not a number anybody publishes, but the working rule is that a dedicated address needs enough steady volume for receivers to see a pattern.
Example
A company sending four hundred thousand receipts a month moves to a dedicated address. The warm-up sends a small share of its traffic on the first day and increases it daily, with the rest still going out over the shared pool. Bounces and complaints are watched at each step, and the ramp pauses if either rises. Three weeks later all of the traffic is on the new address, and its reputation now reflects only that company's own list.
Common mistakes
- 01Moving to a dedicated address to fix a deliverability problem that is really a list-quality problem, which simply isolates the problem.
- 02Sending nothing for a fortnight and then a large campaign, so the address looks unfamiliar every time it is used.
- 03Skipping the warm-up because the list is clean, which is how a first campaign gets deferred or filtered by default.
In Rasket
A dedicated IP is an add-on for high-volume senders on the larger plans, and we warm it up and watch it for you. Pricing
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
How much volume justifies a dedicated IP?
Enough that receiving servers see traffic from the address most days rather than occasionally. Teams usually find it worthwhile in the tens of thousands of messages a week, and harmful well below that.
Can I use more than one dedicated address?
Yes, and separating marketing from transactional mail across addresses is a common reason to. Each one needs its own volume to stay warm, so splitting too early gives you two cold addresses instead of one warm one.
Does a dedicated IP guarantee the inbox?
No. It isolates your reputation; it does not create a good one. What lands your mail is authentication, consent and a list that does not bounce or complain.
Last updated 16 September 2026.
Start sending this morning
Verify a domain and send your first email in minutes.