What is the minimum send volume needed for a dedicated IP address?
Summary
What email marketers say8Marketer opinions
Email marketer from SMTP2GO explains that a dedicated IP is best when sending high volumes, around 50,000 emails per month, or if you need greater control of your sending reputation.
Email marketer from Email Geeks uses the rule of thumb of around 100k emails/week to maintain a dedicated IP because it's hard for a sender to maintain a good reputation with mailbox providers with lower volume. They recommend staying on a shared IP until the volume increases unless there are very bad impacts. Also they suggest asking to be moved to a different shared pool if there are blocklists. They state that Sender Score can provide directional guidance, but is not actually used by any provider to filter mail.
Email marketer from Reddit says that for a dedicated IP at least 50k emails monthly are needed. This allows you to build a good reputation.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that they have used dedicated IPs for send volumes of a few thousand a day.
Email marketer from EasySendy says that you need to send at least 50,000 emails per week, that's about 200,000 emails per month, to justify having a dedicated IP.
Email marketer from Email Geeks says that negative metrics often don’t scale down fully with overall volume, referring to it as the 'economy of scale' of email metrics.
Email marketer from MailerLite says that if you send high volumes of email, it may be worth paying for a dedicated IP address. Otherwise a shared IP is a great way to save costs and still land your messages in subscribers' inboxes.
Email marketer from EmailOctopus shares that a dedicated IP is usually only worth the extra cost and effort if you’re sending a large volume of email (usually 50,000+ emails per send).
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks shares their experience of using a dedicated IP with a send volume of barely 20k a day.
Expert from SpamResource explains that a dedicated IP is usually appropriate for senders who are sending at least 50,000 or more messages per month. If you send less, a shared IP may be more appropriate.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that if emails are going to spam with Gmail, then it's not the IP address. They state that you're going to have to warm up an IP and slow your sending way down in order to get into the inbox and generally recommend dedicated IPs for >1M / day.
Expert from Word to the Wise answers that you're probably going to need 100k a week to send on a dedicated IP, but notes that volume isn't the only factor. You also need to have a good reputation.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from Mailjet explains that a dedicated IP address is recommended for senders who send a large volume of emails on a regular basis. Mailjet usually recommends it for senders who send over 100,000 emails per month.
Documentation from SparkPost explains that a dedicated IP address requires a consistent sending volume. They recommend warming up the IP address slowly and maintaining consistent volume, with specific recommendations depending on the number of emails being sent per day (e.g., 50,000+ emails per day is ideal).
Documentation from SendGrid recommends that you send at least 50,000 emails per day for several weeks before requesting a dedicated IP address. This will help you establish a good reputation with ISPs and avoid deliverability issues.