The question of whether a dedicated IP address is required for your website and why, if you can just use a shared one, is always very contentious when it comes to hosting a website on a shared server. There are several significant benefits to using a dedicated IP address, but let’s define it first.
IP, which stands for Internet Protocol, is a special address given to each computer linked to a specific network. The Internet Protocol address serves as a distinctive identifier that is used to accurately pinpoint the location of a machine or website within a particular network. Dedicated hosting differs from dedicated IP addresses. Without a dedicated server, you can still receive a dedicated IP. However, you’ll instantly receive a dedicated IP address when you sign up for a dedicated hosting package.
When you choose a dedicated IP service, the vendor will give you a static IP address that is private to you. Naturally, this IP will be different from your actual local IP, keeping you safe online. Your privacy will be intact even if all of your data traffic will be routed through that IP. You are the only person who can use your dedicated IP, too.
This is just one particular advantage of using a Dedicated IP server. But there are more. So, if you want to know what are the other advantages of using a dedicated IP server, please keep reading.
Why is it advantageous to have a dedicated IP address?
There are numerous reasons to utilize a dedicated IP address for a website hosted on a shared server, but here we will go over the principal ones:
1. It gives you access to your website whenever you need it
Before linking the domain name to the server and launching your website on the internet, it might be quite helpful to preview how the website will appear. With the help of a dedicated IP address, it will be possible to connect directly to the server without having to alter the domain name’s DNS settings.
PLEASE NOTE: A website can be accessed using a dedicated IP address. However, due to server settings, the IP address allocated to a cPanel account frequently does not resolve the desired website.
2. The email sender’s reputation benefits massively
As was already noted above, having a single IP address for your website can result in unforeseen problems. Email service may also be impacted. There are times when a user who shares your IP address gets blocked or blacklisted for spamming, which could have an impact on your email account as well. By using a dedicated IP address for email, you can protect your service from abuse’s negative effects when someone else is at fault.
3. Faster emails
Another benefit of a dedicated IP address is that mail services like Gmail trust emails coming from these IP addresses more than emails coming from shared IP addresses. Priority is given to email traffic coming from dedicated IP addresses over shared IP address traffic. This is true because the service needs to double-check emails received using shared IP addresses. Even the recipient’s spam folder can receive these emails. You can use a dedicated IP address to ensure that your emails will get at their destination more quickly and won’t land up in the spam folder. You’ll be able to communicate considerably more quickly, which may be really important in some situations, such at work.
4. It helps a company’s image
If you plan to host your own online store or other e-commerce related website and do not intend to use additional third-party services for payment processing, you must obtain a dedicated IP address and an SSL certificate for the website in order to protect your clients’ data.
5. Certain third-party programs and scripts demand it
Sometimes, a certain program or script that you want to run on your server needs its own IP address. We advise using the SNI option, which enables SSL installation on shared hosting/VPS and Dedicated servers with cPanel, if you are thinking about obtaining an IP address for SSL installation.
Conclusion
Compared to shared IP, dedicated IP has several advantages and disadvantages. In general, a dedicated IP address increases your visibility to websites and other parties. This can be useful if you don’t want to constantly verify your identity, or if you don’t want the IP address you’re using to be blocked by websites and services like Netflix. However, you lose some of the anonymity offered by a VPN.
