What are the minimum and maximum sending volumes for dedicated IPs?

Key findings

• Minimums vary: Recommendations for minimum monthly volume range widely, from 5,000 to 100,000 emails, with some sources suggesting up to 1 million for optimal flexibility.
• Maximums exist: Upper limits are often cited around 2 million emails per IP per day, though some senders manage higher volumes (3 to 8 million) with potential for delays.
• Throughput is key: High volumes can lead to throttling by ISPs, causing significant delays in email delivery, even if messages are not outright blocked.
• Reputation is volume-dependent: Too low volume on a dedicated IP can make it difficult to establish a consistent reputation, while inconsistent sending or spikes can harm it.

Key considerations

• List hygiene: Maintaining a clean list and low complaint rates are crucial for success at any volume, especially on dedicated IPs.
• Receiver throttling: Major ISPs (like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft) can throttle or block mail from IPs sending excessive volumes or showing poor engagement.
• Segmenting lists: For very large volumes, segmenting lists across multiple dedicated IPs can improve throughput and allow for better reputation management.
• Cost vs. benefit: For lower volumes, a shared IP might offer better deliverability and cost efficiency compared to a dedicated IP. This is often discussed in the context of shared versus dedicated IP strategies.

Key opinions

• Volume variability: Marketers observe that deliverability consistency on dedicated IPs tends to decrease as sending volume increases, heavily depending on individual best practices.
• Microsoft challenges: Lower volume dedicated IP senders frequently encounter inconsistencies and annoyances when delivering to Microsoft (Outlook, Hotmail) recipients.
• ISP throttling: High volume spikes, even for legitimate mail, can lead to throttling by ISPs like Yahoo, particularly if accompanied by increased complaint rates.
• Sales timing issues: Delays due to IP throttling can severely impact time-sensitive campaigns, turning a brief sale into a prolonged delivery nightmare.

Key considerations

• Campaign criticalness: Consider the impact of potential delays on your email campaigns. If speed is crucial, ensure your IP volume can handle it without throttling. This ties into understanding good email sending speeds.
• Complaint rate monitoring: Closely monitor complaint rates, as even small increases combined with volume spikes and dips can trigger deliverability issues, especially for smaller dedicated IPs.
• Strategic IP allocation: For very large or bursty campaigns, marketers often need to consider how many dedicated IPs are truly necessary to achieve desired delivery speeds.
• Sender behavior impact: The ultimate success of a dedicated IP often comes down to the sender's adherence to email best practices, regardless of the raw volume.

Key opinions

• Minimum for maintenance: Many experts recommend a minimum monthly volume of 100,000 emails to consistently maintain a dedicated IP's reputation.
• Exceptions for low volume: It is possible to operate a dedicated IP at volumes as low as 20,000 emails per month, but this often comes with increased friction, such as consistent annoyances from Microsoft.
• Daily caps: For upper volumes, experts suggest a general cap of no more than 2 million emails per IP per day to avoid significant delays and throttling, though higher volumes (3-8 million) are achievable with potential for prolonged delivery times.
• List composition matters: The makeup of your recipient list significantly influences maximum achievable volumes, as some receivers may throttle based on their capacity or specific policies.
• Filter segmentation: Email filters have evolved to use different reputation buckets for large and small senders, evaluating IPs based on their peer groups, which can benefit lower volume dedicated IPs.

Key considerations

• Impact of delays: Senders should prioritize timely delivery, as excessive volume on a single IP can lead to multi-hour or even multi-day delays, making real-time campaigns ineffective.
• Reputation risk: For very low volumes (e.g., 5,000 emails per month), a dedicated IP might struggle to build and maintain a robust reputation, making recovery from issues more challenging.
• Strategic IP addition: Consider acquiring more dedicated IPs if daily send volumes consistently exceed 1-2 million emails, especially if timely delivery is critical.
• Complaint sensitivity: Even a small number of complaints can disproportionately impact the reputation of a lower volume dedicated IP.
• Shared vs. dedicated: Sending multi-million volumes daily on a shared IP is often feasible without issues, challenging the automatic assumption that high volume requires dedicated IPs. This is a common topic on sites like SpamResource, which provides valuable insights into email deliverability.

Key findings

• Minimums from 50k: Some platforms recommend a minimum monthly volume of 50,000 emails for a dedicated IP to be effective and justify its use.
• 100k-250k optimal range: Many sources suggest an optimal monthly range of 100,000 to 250,000 emails for a single dedicated IP, stating that lower volumes hinder reputation building.
• Throttling limits: Specific maximum sending rates, such as 40 emails per second per dedicated IP, are imposed by some providers, beyond which throttling will occur.
• Impact of low volume: Sending less than 10,000 emails per month on a dedicated IP is cited as a volume that can struggle to maintain a good reputation and may be prone to issues with irregular sends.
• Scaling with multiple IPs: For very high volumes, such as 10 million emails per month, documentation indicates the need for multiple dedicated IPs to handle the load and maintain delivery speed.

Key considerations

• Platform-specific advice: Always consult the specific documentation of your Email Service Provider (ESP) or mail platform for their recommended minimum and maximum volumes, as these can vary.
• Machine learning: Volume requirements are often tied to how machine learning algorithms build IP reputation. Insufficient volume can prevent these systems from adequately assessing sender behavior.
• Service tier requirements: Access to dedicated IPs may be limited to certain service plans or tiers, reflecting the volume expectations associated with them, as seen in Scaleway documentation.
• Throttling vs. blocking: Understanding the difference between temporary throttling (delay) and outright blocking is crucial for managing high-volume campaigns effectively.
• Reputation maintenance: The purpose of minimum volume guidelines is to ensure enough consistent traffic for ISPs to establish and maintain a reliable reputation for the dedicated IP, which is a key factor in determining if a dedicated IP is truly needed.