# Dedicated vs Shared Sending IP: Which to Pick > AcelleMail sends through whatever sending server you connect, so the dedicated-vs-shared IP choice is really a choice about your sending provider. Here's how to decide, and where it lives in AcelleMail. - Canonical URL: https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/dedicated-vs-shared-ip-address - Author: Lena Hart, Email Deliverability Editor - Category: Email Infrastructure — Mail servers, MTA configuration, relay setup, IP management, monitoring - Content type: guide · Difficulty: intermediate - Tags: Acellemail - Published: 2026-01-16 · Last updated: 2026-08-15 - Reading time: 3 min - Publisher: AcelleMail Knowledge Base, https://acellesend.com/kb --- ## What this is for A common question when setting up AcelleMail: should I send from a **dedicated** IP (one that's only mine) or a **shared** IP (a pool used by many senders)? The honest answer is that AcelleMail itself doesn't own the IP — it sends through whatever **sending server** you connect (your own SMTP, Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, and so on). So the dedicated-vs-shared choice is really a choice about your *sending provider*, and you act on it where you configure that provider. This article helps you make the call and shows where it lives in the app. ## The short version - **Shared IP** — your mail goes out over a pool of IPs the provider also uses for other senders. The pool already has an established reputation, so a low-volume or inconsistent sender often *benefits* from it. You don't warm it up, you don't babysit it. The downside: another sender's bad behaviour can affect the pool, and you have less individual control. - **Dedicated IP** — an IP that's only yours. Its reputation reflects only your sending, which is exactly what you want once you send enough to *maintain* a reputation. The catch: a brand-new dedicated IP has *no* reputation and must be warmed up gradually, and if you send too little or too sporadically, mailbox providers never build enough signal to trust it. ## How to decide Use volume and consistency, not a magic number: - **Send a lot, regularly?** A dedicated IP gives you control and isolates your reputation from other senders. Worth it. - **Send modestly, or in irregular bursts?** A shared pool's established reputation usually serves you better than a cold dedicated IP you can't keep warm. - **Just starting out?** Begin on shared. Move to dedicated once your volume is steady enough to justify warming and maintaining it. These are rules of thumb — your provider's own guidance on minimum volume for a dedicated IP is the figure to follow, since it's their pool and their thresholds. ## Where this lives in AcelleMail You don't toggle "dedicated vs shared" inside AcelleMail — you choose it at the provider and then connect that provider as a **sending server**: 1. Decide at your provider (e.g. lease a dedicated IP in your Amazon SES / SendGrid account, or stay on their shared pool). 2. In AcelleMail, go to **Sending → Sending servers** and add/configure that provider (see [Configuring Amazon SES with AcelleMail](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/configuring-amazon-ses-with-acellemail)). 3. If it's a **new dedicated IP**, warm it up before full volume — AcelleMail's warmup strategy ramps your daily volume gradually. See [Domain & IP Warmup](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/domain-warmup). 4. Keep sending consistent and watch your reputation — see [Sender Reputation Monitoring](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/sender-reputation-monitoring). ## Common questions **Can I run dedicated for marketing and shared for transactional?** Yes — connect two sending servers in AcelleMail (one provider/IP per server) and route campaigns to the one you want. See [Configuring Multiple Sending Servers](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/configuring-multiple-sending-servers). **Does a dedicated IP guarantee the inbox?** No. IP reputation is one signal; authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), list quality, and engagement matter just as much. A dedicated IP only *isolates* your reputation — you still have to earn it. ## Related articles - [Configuring Amazon SES with AcelleMail](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/configuring-amazon-ses-with-acellemail) — connect the provider that owns the IP - [Configuring Multiple Sending Servers](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/configuring-multiple-sending-servers) — mix providers/IPs per campaign - [Domain & IP Warmup](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/domain-warmup) — ramp a new dedicated IP safely - [Sender Reputation Monitoring](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/sender-reputation-monitoring) — keep an eye on the IP you chose --- ## Related articles - [How Email Delivery Actually Works (What Happens After You Click Send)](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/how-email-delivery-actually-works): When you press Send Campaign in AcelleMail, your message travels through five stages before it lands in someone's inbox. Knowing each stage tells you exactly where to look when a campaign goes sideways — and why some recipients see the email and others don't. - [Choosing the Queue Driver: Database vs Redis vs SQS for AcelleMail](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/choosing-the-queue-driver-database-vs-redis-vs-sqs-for-acellemail): AcelleMail ships with `QUEUE_CONNECTION=database` as the default — and that's the right choice for installations up to ~500k emails per day. Past that threshold, database-queue contention starts to dominate worker time, and switching to Redis or SQS produces a step-change in throughput. This guide walks the trade-offs, the threshold where each driver wins, the migration steps, the AUTOMATION_QUEUE_CONNECTION separation pattern, and the operational gotchas you only learn after the first 3am queue incident. - [Email Queue Architecture in AcelleMail (Why Sends Are Steady, Not Sudden)](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/email-queue-architecture-in-acellemail): AcelleMail uses a job queue to pace out large sends — instead of trying to push 50,000 emails at once, workers pick recipients off a queue one at a time. This explainer covers why that matters for deliverability and how to read the campaign status flow. - [BIMI with VMC — Cost, Process, and Whether It's Worth It](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/bimi-with-vmc-cost-walkthrough): VMC (Verified Mark Certificate) costs $1,500/yr per domain and takes 4-8 weeks to obtain. This guide walks the cost math, the trademark requirements, the alternative paths, and a decision framework for whether VMC is right for your sending program. - [Building Your Email Marketing SaaS](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/building-your-email-marketing-saas): The technology side of an AcelleMail SaaS is solved. The hard part is the business: who you sell to, how you price, how you reach them, and how you keep them. This guide is the GTM + pricing playbook — opinionated, market-tested patterns for launching an email-marketing SaaS on the AcelleMail stack.