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Bespoke Services

Dedicated IPs

Available to customers sending 300k messages a month or more.

Email machine illustration

Do you need a dedicated IP?

While most email service providers would like you to think a dedicated IP means “better delivery”, we think it’s an excuse for an upsell and a means of handing off responsibility to customers.

At Postmark, it’s our job to ensure the best deliverability no matter what, and for most people, a pristine shared IP pool will have the best results.

However, there are still some cases when a dedicated IP is useful based on volume and compliance needs. We’ll provide dedicated IPs to customers when it makes sense, but we'll retain the responsibility of monitoring and optimizing their performance.


Eligibility

To qualify for a dedicated IP, you must send at least 300,000 messages a month. This kind of volume is the best to establish an IP’s reputation, so that each receiver (Gmail, Outlook, AOL/Yahoo, etc.) actually knows and remembers who you are.

You’ll qualify for an additional dedicated IP if sending 100,000 or more messages a day. Each receiver has thresholds on the amount of messages and connections they'll accept at once from a single IP, so another IP may be needed to maintain adequate sending speed.


Pricing

$50/IP/month

Request a Dedicated IP

No initial charges or setup fees!

Unlike other providers, we’re not charging simply for using the IP. Instead this monthly charge is an investment into the IP’s daily monitoring and management.

You're not on your own when it comes to deliverability, the Postmark team will alert and advise you about any current or potential issues.

Billing for a dedicated IP appears on the first monthly plan invoice after it’s assigned to your account.


Setup

Postmark only provides new, clean dedicated IPs. The IP has not been used by any other Postmark customer and is therefore unknown by receivers. We can assign IPs to an entire account or to individual servers, so you can control which traffic goes over which IPs.

You will only need to setup a custom Return-Path for SPF, bounce processing and a custom DKIM domain. All feedback loop registrations and reverse DNS lookups are handled through Postmark, not your domain.

Once applied to your account, the warmup process should begin immediately. A proper IP warmup relies on consistent and dependable sending practices. If volume over the dedicated IP is reduced to less than 20,000 messages a week for 4 weeks, we will require the IP goes through a selected warmup process again.


Warming up dedicated IPs

There are two options for warming up a Postmark dedicated IP, Postmark-managed (recommended) and do-it-yourself.

Many brands prefer the managed option because it means they’re able to switch all sending to Postmark immediately. You’ll also have the benefit of the Postmark team directly monitoring performance and all receiver responses to help ensure the warmup process runs smoothly and efficiently.

Recommended

Postmark-managed warmup

For this option, we’ll internally set a firm daily limit on the volume the dedicated IP is allowed to send, automatically adjusting this limit for you as reputation is established. Any overflow in messages that exceeds the daily limit will be automatically sent over our high quality shared IP pool.

Keep in mind that every receiver (Google, Yahoo/AOL, Microsoft, etc.) has a different threshold for how much mail they’ll accept at once from a new sender, and that threshold is dependent on a lot of complex variables. No single warmup schedule works for everyone, but via this managed process most can expect their IP to have an established reputation and dependable full-volume deliverability in 3-6 weeks.

For Email Pros Only

DIY Warmup

If you’d like to warmup the IP yourself, you’ll need to manually limit the amount of messages sent through Postmark, routing overflow to another service if necessary. This option is useful if you’re sending high volume to your own domains or have an in-house deliverability expert.

We do not provide warmup schedules, since experience tells us there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Instead you’ll be responsible for monitoring the performance of the dedicated IP and adjusting warmup volume accordingly

Dedicated IP FAQs

Can’t find the answer to your question? Contact us

Request a Dedicated IP

Can I whitelabel messages without a dedicated IP?

At Postmark, using your own domain for Return-Path and DKIM is not only free but encouraged! This ensures all sender data shown in your recipients’ inboxes uses your brand.

There are, however, some required message headers that all Postmark mail must include. While this data will not be visible to your recipients in their inbox, receiving ISPs use these to identify and contact the Postmark team for security and anti-abuse purposes.

What happens if my IP gets blacklisted?

The Postmark team is constantly monitoring every IPs’ performance, which includes alerts on common blacklists. Whenever possible we’ll attempt to resolve a problem immediately without your involvement.

However, consistent blacklistings and major blocks are not normal. They tell a story that the sender themselves is not following best practices. We’re able to offer advice in such cases, but resolving this kind of issue requires you immediately remedy any poor list management and/or sending practices yourself.

If problems persist or adequate changes are not made, we’ll consider revoking your dedicated IP access or suspension of the account.

Can I setup reverse DNS?

We do not have a process in place to customize IP hostnames. Instead our policy is for this to be handled through Postmark domains, which streamlines setup and monitoring.

I don’t meet the volume requirements, but can I have a dedicated IP for deliverability to a specific receiver?

We believe a high-quality, high-reputation IP pool provides better and more reliable deliverability. However, we will consider a dedicated IP as part of a solution for more complex deliverability scenarios.

Why can’t I have a pre-warmed dedicated IP?

We have a commitment to all of our customers that their good sending practices will be used to enhance their own deliverability -- not to build up the reputation of someone else. It’s not a respectable practice to use other customers to warmup an IP.

Even while pre-warmed IPs offer a quick start to higher volume sending, receivers quickly catch on that the IP has changed hands and adjust the reputation accordingly. Despite what another provider may say, pre-warmed IPs are nothing but a temporary solution.

If you’d like to send higher volume from the start, we recommend using our managed warmup process or even just testing all your messages in our shared IP pool. Many senders find that Postmark’s high-quality shared traffic actually improves their deliverability, rather than isolating themselves on a dedicated IP.