What are the advantages of a dedicated IP?

Any other person using the same shared IP who is spamming or phishing or anything suspect can get the IP blocked by websites or otherwise blacklisted.

With a dedicated IP you are the only person who uses this IP so as long as you don't do anything naughty with it you should be free from this concern.

There are many advantages really.

Plus you would be better getting 2 dedicated IP's if you can afford it.

If you are sharing an IP address with someone and they are doing anything to get that IP banned or null routed it will affect your site as well. For $1 it's worth it to get on your own IP address.

The advantages of a dedicated IP address depend on the implementation and services (web vs. email) that you are using.

Email and IP Reputation
With shared hosting, you can have a dedicated IP for your web site but email sent by you or your site using that service, may not use your dedicated IP. Instead, the system will use the default IP for the server.

The concern here is that a spammer on that shared server could damage the reputation of the IP address. Companies use IP reputation to filter out spam.

So if you buy a dedicated IP address AND use that service to send emails, I would inquire if they also use your dedicated IP to send your email.

HTTPS: SSL Certificates
As mentioned, you typically require a dedicated IP address if you wish to use an HTTPS link with a SSL certificate. If you have feedback/contact forms, best practices recommend you use a HTTPS link and a SSL certificate. This increases trust.


Malware and IP Reputation
Some malware prevention systems may flag an IP as dangerous and prevent a browser from visiting the site. If you share an IP address with other sites, another site could trigger this warning.

This happens very infrequently and should not be a major concern unless you have had your sites blocked by security programs before.