Dedicated IP for Cold Email: When It Pays and How to Warm It
When a dedicated IP pays off for cold email, what it costs at each provider, and a four-week warmup schedule to get it to full volume safely.
A dedicated IP means every email from it carries your reputation and nobody else’s. That is an advantage when you send well and a liability when you do not. Here is when it pays, what it costs and how to warm one.
When a dedicated IP pays off
- You send a few hundred cold emails a day or more, consistently.
- You verify lists and keep bounces under 2%.
- You want placement you can diagnose: if it drops, the cause is in your own sending.
If your lists are rough or your volume is sporadic, a shared pool can be more forgiving. Our comparison of dedicated vs shared IPs covers that choice in depth.
What a dedicated IP costs
| Provider | Dedicated IP cost |
| InfraOptimal | Included, extra IPs $50 / mo |
| Infraforge | $99 per IP a month, plus slots |
| Mailpool | From $200 per server a month |
| Mailreef | $249 per server a month, plus $0.001 per email |
| Mailscale | On the Unlimited plan, from $1,000 a month |
Public pricing, checked September 2026.
How many mailboxes per IP
Enough to give the IP steady daily volume, not so many that one mailbox problem affects everything. Most teams run between 20 and 50 warmed mailboxes per IP and add an IP when they add a client or a new market.
A four-week warmup schedule
| Week | Cold emails per mailbox a day |
| 1 | 5 to 10, plus warmup |
| 2 | 10 to 15 |
| 3 | 15 to 25 |
| 4 | 25 to 30 |
Keep warmup running after week four. Send your best, most verified segments first, and hold rough lists until the IP has history.
What to monitor
- Blocklists. InfraOptimal checks every IP against the major lists daily.
- Reverse DNS. The IP should resolve to your sending domain.
- Bounce and complaint rates. Pause a mailbox that crosses 3% bounces.
- Placement tests. Seed tests show inbox against spam by provider.
Getting one without the add-on bill
On InfraOptimal, the dedicated IP comes with the mailboxes: $2.00 down to $1.00 per mailbox, 10 slot minimum, monthly billing with no lock-in. DNS, reverse DNS and warmup are set up for you.
FAQ
Do I need a dedicated IP for cold email?
Not always. It pays off when you send consistently and keep lists clean. When it is included in the mailbox price, as on InfraOptimal, it is the default choice.
How long does a dedicated IP take to warm up?
Plan on three to four weeks before full volume, and keep warmup running afterwards.
Can a dedicated IP hurt deliverability?
Only if you send poorly. There is no pool to average out bad lists, so verify first and ramp slowly.
One platform instead of a stack of tools
Campaigns, unlimited warmup, verified leads and a unified inbox, plus InfraOptimal mailboxes on a dedicated IP from $1.00. Everything you need to land in the inbox and book more meetings.
Put this into practice on your own IP
InfraOptimal is our sending platform for cold outreach: dedicated IPs, DNS written for you, warmup from day one. From $1.00 a mailbox, about a quarter of the Google and Microsoft price.
| 100 mailboxes a month | Cost |
| InfraOptimal, dedicated IP | $100 / mo |
| Google Workspace, shared IP | $400 / mo |
| Microsoft 365, shared IP | $400 / mo |
Dedicated IPs only · 10 mailbox minimum · SMTP and IMAP included