Generally, we receive a huge number of responses in which Individuals always ask which would be the best to choose from a Dedicated IP or Shared one. And to answer these particular questions is not straight as you might think.
These things mainly depend on a variety of other factors. And this huge confusion among individuals is mainly due to the availability of multiple vague information present on the internet. We even found the majority of users who might not need to have a dedicated IP were hosted their website and paying expensive charges.
But before going to any conclusion, it would be better if you know what exactly Dedicated IP means, How it is different from shared IP, What are the advantages of dedicated IP over shared, and many more.
We will also try to clear Facts regarding its effect on Search Engine Optimizations, Security, and many more. So, bear with us and keep reading. But first, let us know what does an IP address means?
What is an IP address?
Before directly hopping on Dedicated IP, the first thing you need to know is about the IP address. The term IP in “IP address” stands for Internet Protocol and Protocol means “Set of rules”. which is exactly a digital address consisting of long strings of numbers and assigned to every domain that follows a set of rules or guidelines for connecting on the Internet.
The IP addresses help to differentiate locations of billions of digital devices that are connected to the internet from one another.
Let me better explain to you how it works? First of all, when you type any domain name on your web browser and hit enter, Your ISP will start a DNS query to request the nameservers associated with that domain. All these processes will do behind the server that lets you access the domain name.
At present there are mainly two types of IP addresses are used and they are IPv4 and IPv6.
- IPV4 : An IP address with 32 bit number ( e.g- 234.324.440.001)
- IPV6: A new IP address with 128 bit number (e.g- 4ggr:1924:5656:8:500:t4tt:tc54:99vt)
We won’t go much into deeper these two types of IP addresses, but one thing worth mentioning is that the internet has been so expanded, that it can even be running out of IP addresses.
This is the main reason, why IPv6 has been introduced in 1998 and can provide up to 340 trillion trillion trillion IP addresses. Which is a humongous number that can be able to meet the growing need for IP addresses for IoT devices in coming years.
Now moving forward to understand Dedicated IP addresses.
What is a Dedicated IP address?
From the name itself, it is clear that Dedicated IP addresses are those digital addresses that you have been assigned and have not been shared or used by any other domains. IT is a unique address on the web. You can easily get one from your WordPress Hosting service provider by paying a small amount.
It is quite different from Shared IP addresses where your domain is being mapped to an address that is shared by multiple other domains. This shared IP address is quite popular among beginners and even the majority of the WordPress hosting providers are offering it in their plans.
It is because dedicated IPs are quite expensive as compared to the shared IP addresses and many websites do not require a dedicated IP address at the very beginning, Once they get started getting good traffic, then it will be profitable to move to the dedicated one. However, we will get into more details in the coming sections.
All of our WordPress hosting plans here at WPOven with dedicated IP addresses. You can find your server address after creating a Server with WPOven, you can see all its details on the ‘Manage’ page under the ‘Server’ tab. The number in front of the Host IP string in the table is your IP address.
Pros and Cons of Dedicated IP address
Pros
- You will have full control over sending emails as an email marketer.
- Dedicated IPs have better reputations and let you get whitelisted to get through easily many specific filters.
- Your email marketing can only be affected by only the tactics you follow without any interference.
- If you are good at email marketing, it will help you to build a good reputation and increase your delivery rates.
Cons
- Not efficient for low volume traffic or email marketing
- With dedicated IP, all the success will be yours and you build a reputation for yourself only but if anything went wrong you can also become your worst enemy.
- You will require some time to build trust and reputation with ISPs for practicing email marketing. It all cannot be happen instantly.
- Dedicated IP is expensive as compared to shared IP.
To better understand how Dedicated IP can be a better or Worst option over other popular IP e.g shared IP, let us compare between Dedicated IP and Shared IP on various parameters.
Summary
There has been a lot of misconceptions and poor information about dedicated IPs has been circulating the internet for quite a long time. But after reading this post, I hope it will help you to build a strong and basic concept about dedicated IP and rule out all the vague information.
Let us summarize in brief:
- The network and website speed does have an advantage for using dedicated IPs however, it doesn’t mean that shared IPs slow the website.
- Shared Hosting and Shared ID are two different things, and you must not get confused between the two.
- There is no effect on website Security whether you use a dedicated IP or shared one. A new technology named SNI has been introduced and hosts now let you upload your own SSL certifiates.
- Dedicated IP has an advantage to send bulk emails and build your own reputation, But we highly do not recommend you to use dedicated IPs for email marketing rather use third party email marketing platforms.
- You do not need to worry about SEO unless you are using a Reputated Web hosting services.
- It is not possible to migrate your Dedicated IP between two web hosts but you can change your IP address and it will not affect your website in any case.
- The Price of Dedicated IPs will vary from one web host to another depending upon the plan, features, addons and for how long service you need.
If you like to add more points or we missed mentioning some more worthy points, please do let us know in the comment section below, we love to hear from you guys!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a dedicated IP?
It depends, on your requirement and usage, a dedicated IP is usually required to send emails in large volume such as transactional emails or email marketing. However, we do not recommend you to use dedicated IP for email marketing or sending emails in bulk, rather it is better to use a third-party email marketing platform.
What is the benefit of dedicated IP?
With Dedicated IP, you will be able to send emails in bulk, you will have full control over your website’s traffic and server, website Network and performance will be improved as compared to shared IP.
Does a VPN give you a static IP?
Usually, VPN or Virtual Private Network uses a dynamic IP address that changes each time when you log in and log out. But some VPN services provide a premium feature in which they offer static IP or dedicated IP addresses.