IP address or a shared IP address for WordPress hosting can be controversial. However, it’s a topic that often comes up here at Kinsta.

It is partly due to the amount of outdated misinformation out there about dedicated IPs and how they work. We have found that a dedicated IP is not needed in 99% of the scenarios. Although this may conflict with what you have read, please bear with us.

What is an IP Address?

First of all, it is crucial to understand what an IP address is. IP stands for Internet Protocol and is an address assign to each web domain (216.58.217.206).

They are map to domain names by what is call DNS.

You can think of DNS as a phone book for the worldwide web. For example, when you type Google .com in the address bar, your Internet service provider performs a DNS query for the nameservers associated with that domain.

Currently, two types of IP addresses are use on the network and even locally by ISPs and devices like your home router. They are IPv4 and IPv6 :

  • IPv4 address example: 216.58.217.206
  • IPv6 address example: 0:0:0:0:0:0:ffff:d83a:d9ce

We won’t detail this, but you need to know that the Internet has grown so fast that it requires a larger address space. So basically, we ran out of IP!

What is a Dedicated IP Address?

A dedicated IP address is just what it sounds like: it means that your domain is assign an IP address that is not share or use by any other profession. It is the home of your domain on the web.

You can think of this as a dedicated phone line. A dedicated IP remains usually assign to your domain by your WordPress hosting provider or is an add-on that can be purchase for a small fee.

What is a Shared IP Address?

A shared IP address, as opposed to a dedicated one, means that your domain maps to an address shared between multiple domains. A shared IP is quite common today with most WordPress hosting providers.

That’s because, for many configurations, a dedicated it is not need. However, we’ll go into more detail on the reasoning behind that in a moment.

Our WordPress hosting plans here at Kinsta come with a shared IP address. The IPv4 address of your WordPress site can be found in your MyKinsta dashboard. It is located in the information tab of your site:

It is important to note that just because your site uses a shared  it does not mean that it is using shared hosting.

What is an External IP/Proxy Address?

Another type of it that may be seen on certain hosting providers or proxy servers (such as Cloudflare or Sucuri ) is an external IP address.

If you’re a Kinsta customer, the external IP address of your WordPress site can be found in your MyKinsta dashboard under the Site Information tab :

Hosts typically use It as the address other servers see when your site connects to another server.

Dedicated IP vs. shared: Network and site speed

At this point, you may be curious as to whether you should use a dedicated it for your WordPress sites.

If you search the net, you will probably see some of the following reasons. Used to argue the case for dedicated IPs:

  • Using a dedicated IP for networking allows you to visit your website through its IP address (as it is the only domain assigned to that IP). So, for example, if you typed “64.233.187.99,” you would go directly to Google because that is their dedicated IP address.
  • It also provides another easy way to access your server via FTP , if for some reason your DNS was still propagating or had recently changed.

In our opinion, none of the beyond reasons are real advantages. First, when was the last time you visit a website using its IP address? Probably never. For the second reason, many users just edit their host files. It is a much more reliable approach.

Dedicated IP Vs. Shared Email

Email is an area where we sometimes recommend getting a dedicated IP. But there is a nuance. It is typically only beneficial for high-volume senders (we’re talking 100,000+ emails per year).

We do not recommend getting a dedicated IP through your hosting provider. However, if you go with a dedicated IP and only send a low email volume, it could hurt you.

You’d want a dedicated IP for sending emails from your WordPress site or transactional emails (such as eCommerce sales emails) because IPs have a reputation.

Conclusion

An Internet Protocol address is a numerical label such as 192.0.2.1 connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An address serves two principal functions: network interface identification and location addressing.

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