What is the minimum recommended email volume for a dedicated IP?

Most email service providers recommend a minimum monthly sending volume of 100,000 to 250,000 emails to maintain a good reputation and keep your dedicated IP warm. Sending below this can make it difficult to establish a consistent positive sending history.

What is the maximum daily email volume for a single dedicated IP?

While hardware can handle much more, from a deliverability standpoint, a single dedicated IP typically performs optimally up to 1-2 million emails per day. Exceeding this often warrants additional IPs to avoid throttling and reputation issues.

When should I consider adding more dedicated IP addresses?

You should consider adding another dedicated IP when you consistently reach the higher end of the recommended daily sending volume (e.g., nearing 1-2 million emails per day) and observe signs of deliverability issues, such as increased deferrals, higher bounce rates, or more emails landing in spam folders.

Is a dedicated IP suitable for low volume email senders?

No, a dedicated IP is generally not recommended for low-volume senders. Without sufficient volume, it's challenging to build and maintain a strong reputation, and your emails might perform better on a shared IP with pre-established reputation.

How can I improve deliverability on my dedicated IP?

To improve deliverability on a dedicated IP, focus on sending consistent volumes, maintaining high engagement rates, cleaning your email lists regularly, and closely monitoring your sender reputation through postmaster tools and deliverability reports.

Knowledge base

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Email deliverability

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Sender reputation

How many emails can I send per dedicated IP address before needing another one?

Michael Ko

Co-founder & CEO, Suped

Published 28 May 2025

Updated 16 Aug 2025

6 min read

Determining the precise number of emails you can send from a single dedicated IP address before needing another one is not an exact science. Many factors influence this, ranging from your sending patterns and list quality to the specific recipient mailbox providers (MBPs) you are targeting.

The goal is always to maintain a strong sender reputation, which directly impacts your inbox placement rates. Exceeding an optimal volume for your specific setup can lead to deliverability challenges, including increased bounces, deferred messages, and even blacklisting (or blocklisting) of your IP.

Understanding dedicated IP capacity

While there isn't a universal hard limit, industry recommendations often suggest a minimum volume to effectively warm up and maintain a dedicated IP's reputation. For instance, some providers recommend sending at least 3,000 emails daily to justify a dedicated IP. Other guidelines point to a monthly volume of 100,000 emails per month to keep it warm.

For higher volumes, some sources suggest that a single dedicated IP can comfortably handle up to 1 million emails per day, or even 2 million emails per day without issues, depending on the recipient domains and send quality. However, exceeding 2 million in daily volume for a single IP is generally pushing the limits for optimal deliverability.

Physical hardware can often process far more emails, but the real bottleneck is how mailbox providers perceive your sending reputation. If you send too much too quickly, or your engagement metrics drop, it can negatively impact how your emails are received, regardless of your server's capacity. More on this topic can be found in our guide to minimum and maximum sending volumes for dedicated IPs.

Typical volume recommendations per IP

Provider/Source	Recommended Monthly Volume (emails)	Recommended Daily Volume (emails)
Salesforce	100,000+	3,300+
SendGrid	250,000+	8,300+
Zoho Campaigns	100,000+	3,300+
ActiveCampaign	100,000+	3,300+

Key factors influencing volume

The actual maximum volume for a dedicated IP varies significantly based on several factors. The composition of your recipient list plays a huge role. Sending 2 million messages to a single domain might trigger different responses than distributing 500,000 messages across four different domains, even if the total volume remains the same.

High engagement rates, such as opens and clicks, signal to MBPs that your emails are valued, allowing for higher sending volumes. Conversely, low engagement, high bounce rates, or an increase in spam complaints can quickly damage your IP reputation, forcing you to reduce volume or risk being added to a blacklist (or blocklist).

Consistency in your sending volume and frequency is also critical. Irregular or sudden spikes in volume can negatively impact your reputation, even if your overall daily volume is within acceptable limits. This is why IP warming is a crucial process, especially when starting with a new dedicated IP or significantly increasing your email sends.

Understanding your sending patterns

Consistent sending

Steady volume: Sending emails at a regular pace helps MBPs like Google and Microsoft build a consistent reputation for your IP.
Predictability: Predictable sending allows for better reputation management over time.

Inconsistent sending

Spiky volume: Sending large volumes after periods of inactivity can appear suspicious and lead to throttling or blocklisting.
Poor reputation: Inconsistent sending makes it harder to build a stable and positive sender reputation.

When to consider additional IPs

You should consider adding another dedicated IP address when you consistently approach the higher end of the recommended daily or monthly volume for your current IP without compromising your email deliverability. Signs that you might need to scale include: prolonged delays in delivery, an increase in bounce rates, a rise in spam complaints, or a noticeable drop in your inbox placement across major MBPs.

For example, if you consistently send 1 million emails per day from a single IP and start seeing performance degradation, it's a strong indicator. Adding more IPs provides redundancy and allows you to segment your sending, for instance, by dedicating one IP for transactional emails and another for marketing campaigns. This segmentation helps isolate potential reputation issues.

It's also essential to consider the types of emails you are sending. Transactional emails, which often have higher engagement and lower complaint rates, can typically handle greater volumes than bulk marketing emails on the same IP. We have a detailed article on when email senders need more dedicated IPs.

Warning signs your IP is overloaded

Increased deferrals: Mailbox providers temporarily rejecting your emails due to high volume or low trust.
Higher complaint rates: Recipients marking your emails as spam more frequently.
Blocklist appearances: Your IP appearing on public or private blacklists (blocklists).
Inbox placement decline: A significant portion of your emails landing in spam folders or not reaching the inbox at all.

Optimizing your sending strategy

Regardless of your sending volume, consistent monitoring of your email deliverability metrics is paramount. This includes tracking bounce rates, complaint rates, engagement (opens and clicks, while acknowledging the limitations of open rates due to

Apple Mail Privacy Protection), and any ISP-specific errors.

Utilize postmaster tools offered by major MBPs, such as Google Postmaster Tools, to gain insights into your sending reputation and performance. These tools provide valuable data that can help you proactively adjust your sending strategy and determine if additional IPs are needed.

Regularly clean your email lists to remove inactive or invalid addresses, which reduces bounce rates and prevents hitting spam traps. A clean list is fundamental to maintaining a positive sending reputation and optimizing the performance of your dedicated IPs. You can find more strategies in our guide to boosting email deliverability rates.

Views from the trenches

Best practices

Maintain consistent sending patterns to build a reliable reputation with mailbox providers.

Segment email streams, like transactional and marketing, to manage reputation separately.

Regularly monitor deliverability metrics including bounce and complaint rates.

Common pitfalls

Sending inconsistent volumes with large, sudden spikes can trigger spam filters.

Overloading a single IP, leading to throttles or blocklistings.

Neglecting to monitor crucial deliverability metrics like ISP acceptance rates.

Expert tips

For most senders, a threshold of around 1 million emails per day per IP is a good point to consider additional IPs.

While hardware can handle more, deliverability to specific ISPs may slow down beyond 2 million emails per day per IP.

Sending 2 million emails to a single domain may be less effective than distributing 500k to four different domains.

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says they use a rough rule of thumb of 75,000 emails per hour, although significantly higher volumes are possible.

October 20, 2022 - Email Geeks

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says they typically start considering adding a new IP when reaching around 1 million emails per day per IP, but the actual threshold for needing one is closer to 2 million.

October 20, 2022 - Email Geeks

Maximizing your dedicated IP efficiency

Ultimately, the answer to how many emails you can send per dedicated IP is dynamic and dependent on a multitude of variables. There is no single magic number, but rather a flexible range based on your unique sending profile. The key is to be proactive in managing your sender reputation and closely monitor your deliverability metrics.

By understanding the nuanced interplay of volume, recipient engagement, and ISP thresholds, you can make informed decisions about when to scale your IP infrastructure. This strategic approach ensures your emails consistently reach the inbox, maintaining effective communication with your audience.