How Much Is Dedicated IP? – A Complete Guide

Dedicated IP addresses and blocks of IP addresses are valuable commodities in today’s always-on world, and it’s something that entrepreneurs and savvy business owners are realizing.

On one hand, you have your traditional dedicated server, which offers you a block of IP addresses that you own and can lease out to other individuals or companies that need network capacity. On the other hand, you have your cloud server, which provides you with a floating IP address that can be shifted around at will, allowing you to easily scale up or down as needed.

In this article, we’ll examine the ins and outs of dedicated IP ownership and usage, including how much it costs and what to consider when buying or leasing your own block of IP addresses.

What Is Dedicated IP?

Put yourself in the shoes of a business owner for a minute. You’ve got a great product that thousands of people are willing to pay for, but you need a way to reach them. After all, everyone and their grandmother has a smartphone these days, so you figure you’ll be able to capture their attention with an ad on Messenger or Instagram.

You’ve got the product, the people, and the money. Now all you need is the actual delivery mechanism. You could set up a simple website and start charging people, but then you’ll need to figure out a way to get the word out there to potential customers that are outside of your network; or you could pay a few dollars to have an email delivered to their inboxes. The latter option might be a bit much for some, but for the sake of this example, let’s say that it’s the best way to go.

Having a fixed IP address is akin to having your own storefront on the World Wide Web. You could have a static website with a few thousand unique visitors a month, but that’s not very much when you think about it. Sure, it might be enough to support a small business, but a single engineer probably won’t need that much space. A dedicated server with a couple of IP addresses to play with is a great choice for that purpose.

Why Should You Lease Your Own IP?

The reasons for leasing your own IP are many and varied, but here are just a few:

• Increase your odds of success. If you own your own IP, you have the ability to experiment with SEO and digital marketing techniques without the fear of being sidelined by technical glitches or worse.
• Cut your costs. Since you own the IP, you have the freedom to experiment with pricing, and if you determine that your product is more valuable to people than what you’re currently paying for server space, you might just turn a profit.
• Access to a larger audience. The moment you lease a dedicated IP, you have the ability to scale your audience with virtually no limits or restrictions. You won’t have to worry about your data being horded or about your site getting shut down due to excessive traffic.
• Flexibility. With a dedicated IP, you have the ability to switch up your server without having to worry about paying for another year on a traditional shared server. The network administrators at your hosting provider can help you set up a new server with pre-installed applications such as WordPress or Drupal, or they can help you configure your current server to work with those applications. This level of flexibility is invaluable when you’re in need of a temporary boost to get your business or app off the ground.
• Take advantage of market trends. The moment you lease a dedicated IP, you can experiment with the most popular web frameworks and content management systems, which will allow you to make the most of the latest trends without needing to worry about upgrades or maintaining a traditional hosting plan. If you determine that PHP is nearing its end of life, you can easily switch to Python or Ruby on Rails, for instance, and reap their rich rewards.

How Much Does It Cost To Lease Your Own IP?

The cost of leasing a dedicated IP varies dramatically, from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars a month. The main determinant of the cost is the time of day that you’ll need the IP address. You’ll either need it during the day to handle peak loads or at night to handle lower loads, so expect costs to vary based on your business’ needs.

Dedicated IPs are a great choice for tech-savvy business owners, especially since they provide such valuable flexibility in terms of experimenting with different marketing and SEO techniques and ensuring that your product is always available when you need it. Whether you’re just getting started or you’re already a well-established business, renting a block of IP addresses can ensure that your product will always be reachable whenever someone needs it.