The belief that sending 70 million emails per month requires 70 dedicated IP addresses, based on a 1 million emails per IP per month rule, is largely a misconception within the email deliverability community. While this guideline might exist in some documentation, it typically doesn't reflect real-world sending capabilities for reputable senders.
Key findings
Volume per IP: Sending 70 million emails per month translates to approximately 2.3 million emails per day. This volume is generally achievable with a single dedicated IP address for a sender with good reputation.
Reputation is key: The primary factor determining how much mail can be sent from an IP is sender reputation. A strong reputation allows for significantly higher volumes per IP than a poor one.
Rule of thumb inaccuracy: The 1 million emails per dedicated IP per month guideline is often considered outdated or overly conservative by deliverability professionals. In practice, a single IP can often handle several million emails daily.
Consideration for multiple IPs: Multiple dedicated IPs are typically considered for very high daily volumes (tens of millions), or when segmenting different types of email traffic (e.g., transactional vs. marketing) to isolate reputation risks.
Key considerations
Warming up IPs: Regardless of volume, new dedicated IPs require a careful IP warming process to build a positive sender reputation with ISPs.
Traffic patterns: Consistent sending volume and engagement are more crucial for maintaining a good reputation than the absolute number of IPs.
Cost efficiency: Unnecessarily acquiring many dedicated IPs can be a significant and avoidable expense.
ISP limits: While some ISPs have daily limits per IP, these are often much higher than 1 million and are dynamically adjusted based on sender reputation and mailbox provider algorithms.
What email marketers say
Email marketers often discuss the practicalities of managing high email volumes with dedicated IPs. Many find that common rules of thumb regarding IP allocation are overly cautious and don't align with actual deliverability performance, especially for senders with a good sending history. The consensus points towards reputation and sending practices as far more critical than simply the number of IPs.
Key opinions
High volume on few IPs: Many marketers successfully send millions of emails per day, or tens of millions per month, using just one or two dedicated IPs.
Beware of conservative rules: The idea of needing 1 IP per 1 million emails per month is viewed with skepticism, often seen as an upsell tactic by some providers rather than a deliverability necessity.
Reputation is paramount: Good sender reputation, built on consistent, engaged sending and low complaint rates, allows for much higher throughput per IP.
Daily vs. monthly volume: It is more practical to think about daily sending limits per IP, which can be in the millions, rather than monthly totals.
Key considerations
IP warming is essential: Even with a good strategy, proper IP warming is critical for new dedicated IPs to establish trust with ISPs.
Monitoring deliverability: Regardless of IP count, continuous monitoring of deliverability metrics (like inbox placement and sender reputation) is vital to identify and address issues quickly.
Segmentation: For very diverse email streams (e.g., marketing, transactional, notifications), it can be beneficial to use multiple IPs to isolate reputation risks.
Cost versus benefit: Evaluate the additional cost of more IPs against the actual deliverability benefit. Often, improving content and list hygiene offers greater returns.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Geeks states that sending 70 million emails per month (roughly 2 million daily) is absolutely within the capabilities of a single dedicated IP address. There is no need for 70 IPs to handle this volume, as long as sender reputation is solid.
04 Mar 2025 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests that while one IP is sufficient for 70M/month, having two IPs might offer a bit more flexibility. However, the difference in deliverability or performance between one and two IPs for this volume would likely be negligible.
04 Mar 2025 - Email Geeks
What the experts say
Deliverability experts consistently emphasize that sender reputation, not merely the number of dedicated IPs, dictates high-volume email sending success. While dedicated IPs offer control, their effective utilization depends on meticulous list hygiene, content quality, and adherence to sending best practices. The capacity of a single well-managed IP vastly exceeds many common, conservative estimates.
Key opinions
Reputation over quantity: A stellar sender reputation enables a single dedicated IP to handle millions of emails per day, far surpassing the 1M/month guideline.
ISP trust: ISPs evaluate senders based on their sending behavior, complaint rates, and engagement. A positive sending history on one IP is more valuable than spreading volume across many IPs with inconsistent quality.
Misleading metrics: Fixed ratios like 1 million emails per IP per month often stem from generalized marketing advice rather than deliverability science or ISP capabilities.
Dynamic thresholds: Mailbox providers dynamically adjust acceptance thresholds. A good sender can push more volume. A bad sender will be throttled quickly, regardless of IP count.
Key considerations
List quality: Maintaining a clean, engaged email list is paramount. High bounce rates or spam complaints will harm your sender reputation, regardless of the number of IPs used.
Domain reputation: While IPs carry reputation, the underlying domain reputation is increasingly critical, especially with new DMARC requirements from Google and Yahoo.
Throttling and deferrals: ISPs will throttle or defer mail from IPs that exhibit suspicious behavior or high volumes without sufficient reputation. This is normal and doesn't always necessitate more IPs.
Feedback loops: Utilize ISP feedback loops (FBLs) to manage complaints effectively and remove disengaged users from your lists, which helps maintain a healthy reputation.
Expert view
Expert from Spamresource asserts that a well-maintained dedicated IP, especially one with a long history of sending solicited mail, can easily handle millions of emails per day. The capacity is less about a fixed number and more about the quality of the mail stream and the recipient engagement.
04 Mar 2025 - Spamresource
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that mailbox providers primarily trust sender reputation built over time. Adding many new IPs without a strong underlying domain reputation or proper warming protocols can actually hinder deliverability, as new IPs start with neutral or unknown trust.
04 Mar 2025 - Word to the Wise
What the documentation says
Official documentation from various email service providers (ESPs) and industry sources often provides guidelines on dedicated IP usage. While some sources might present conservative estimates or specific thresholds for eligibility, a deeper read often reveals that these are minimum recommendations, and actual sending capacity is heavily influenced by dynamic factors like sender reputation, engagement, and recipient feedback.
Key findings
Volume guidelines vary: Documentation from different providers presents varying volume thresholds for when a dedicated IP becomes appropriate, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of emails per month or day.
Minimum volume for dedicated IPs: Many providers specify a minimum consistent sending volume to justify the use of a dedicated IP, as it requires sufficient traffic to build and maintain its reputation.
Reputation building: Documentation consistently highlights the importance of IP warming and maintaining good sending practices to build and sustain a positive sender reputation on a dedicated IP.
Shared IP suitability: For lower or inconsistent volumes, shared IP pools are often recommended as they spread reputation risk across many senders and are managed by the provider.
Key considerations
Consistency is key: Documentation often stresses the need for consistent sending volume when using a dedicated IP, as sporadic sending can make it harder to maintain a stable reputation.
Deliverability best practices: Beyond volume, documentation from various providers emphasizes adhering to fundamental deliverability best practices, such as managing bounces and complaints, and segmenting audiences.
Provider-specific advice: Each email service provider may have its own specific recommendations or eligibility criteria for dedicated IPs, which should be reviewed based on your chosen platform.
Sender responsibility: With a dedicated IP, the sender assumes direct responsibility for their IP's reputation, requiring diligent monitoring and prompt issue resolution to avoid blocklisting or throttling.
Technical article
Documentation from UniOne states that to send approximately 10 million emails per month, which equates to around 333,000 messages per day, you would typically need four dedicated IPs. This calculation is based on an internal capacity estimate of 85,000 emails per IP per day, suggesting a specific, lower threshold for IP utilization.
22 Apr 2025 - UniOne
Technical article
Documentation from Mailgun, in an article about dedicated IP usage, provides a guideline stating that ratios vary widely by need and use case, but a general average is 1 dedicated IP per 1 million emails per month. This indicates a common, albeit debated, industry benchmark.