📡 Dedicated vs. Shared IP: Which One Should You Be Using?

Hey there,

Your IP address is the foundation of your email deliverability.

It’s the digital fingerprint your emails carry into every inbox—and whether that fingerprint looks clean or shady determines whether your message lands in the inbox, the spam folder, or not at all.

So here’s the question I get constantly:

“Should I be sending from a dedicated IP or a shared one?”

Let’s break it down.

But first, a quick message from Audience Bridge…

Smart Delivery

If you’re not hitting the inbox, you’re not even in the game. Smart Delivery fixes that.

Make Every Send Count

…now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

🏢 Shared IPs: The Apartment Complex

If you’re sending from a shared IP, you’re essentially living in an apartment building.

You’re sharing space (and reputation) with other tenants—some clean, some not so much.

Benefits of shared IPs:

No warm-up required (great for new senders)
Lower cost, easy setup
ESP manages reputation for you

Downsides:

You inherit your neighbors’ problems—if someone on your IP blasts spam, you feel it
Harder to pinpoint issues if inboxing tanks

When to use it:

You’re just getting started
You send low volume (under ~50k/day)
You don’t have the resources to warm and monitor your own IP

🛠️ Dedicated IPs: The Private House

With a dedicated IP, it’s all you. You own the reputation, for better or worse.

Benefits of dedicated IPs:

Full control over your sender reputation
Easier to troubleshoot inboxing issues
Ideal for consistent, high-volume senders

Downsides:

Requires a warm-up period
Mistakes hurt more (because you're fully responsible)
Can get costly or overkill for small lists

When to use it:

You send over 50k emails/day consistently
You have high engagement and clean list practices
You’re sending critical or brand-sensitive emails
Your ESP requires you to switch (Usually happens because your volume is to high of a percentage of the shared IP pools)

🔀 Can You Use Both? Yep. The Hybrid IP Model.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you have to choose—good news: you don’t.

Some of the best senders I work with use a hybrid approach, and it’s one of the smartest ways to scale safely.

How it works:

Split your sends by traffic type.

Dedicated IP: most engaged subscribers, daily newsletter, transactional emails
Shared IP: colder traffic, promotional sends, list onboarding, re-engagement

Why it works:

✅ Keeps your high-trust traffic insulated
✅ Lets you test campaigns without risking your core IP
✅ Segments performance by stream for easier monitoring

How to implement it:

Set up subdomains like news.yourbrand.com (dedicated) and promo.yourbrand.com (shared)
Route sends via ESP configuration
Authenticate each domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
Monitor them independently in Postmaster Tools or your ESP

Pro tip:

Never let low-engagement, co-reg, or acquired lists touch your dedicated IP.

One mistake can crater your deliverability overnight.

📊 How to Monitor Your IP Reputation

Whichever path you choose—shared, dedicated, or hybrid—you’ve gotta watch the dashboard.

Here’s what to monitor:

Google Postmaster Tools: domain & IP reputation, complaint rates, spam thresholds
ESP Dashboards: bounce rates, open/click rates, spam reports
Outlook SDNS: For IP reputation on Microsoft owned domains

If you see:

📉 Dips in open rate at Gmail → check IP reputation and complaints
🚫 Bounces at Yahoo → you may be throttled (TS04-style deferrals)
❌ High spam reports → tighten up your BSS, clean your list, or pause sending to cold segments

✅ Final Thought

Your IP is like your driver's license in the world of email.

A clean record gets you anywhere. A bad one gets you flagged.

Don’t assume your ESP has your back.

Understand your setup, monitor your metrics, and make sure you're sending the right content from the right lane.

Inbox placement is earned—not assumed.

Until next time,

Chris Miquel

PS: If you’re not sure whether your IP setup is helping or hurting your inboxing, hit reply. I’ll walk you through it or point you in the right direction.

BEFORE YOU GO

Better Inbox Placement Starts Here

If your emails aren’t landing in the inbox, they’re not doing their job. I’ve seen too many brands struggle with deliverability issues without knowing why.

The truth is, a few key optimizations can make all the difference in getting your emails seen, opened, and clicked.

Book a call to find out more