Dedicated vs. shared IP: which to choose

Is the IP reputation yours or your neighbour's? Pros and cons for different volumes.

Shared IP

You share the IP with other senders (typical of ESPs). Reputation is collective: you start "warm", but others' behaviour can affect you. Ideal for low or irregular volume.

Dedicated IP

The reputation is entirely yours. Great for high, steady volume, but it needs warm-up and enough volume to keep a stable reputation.

How to choose

• Under ~50k emails/month: shared is usually better.
• High, regular volume: dedicated, with warm-up.
• Split streams (transactional vs marketing) across different IPs/subdomains.