Do You Need a Dedicated IP If You Already Use a VPN?

Dedicated IPs are here, everyone.

Not all that many virtual private network (VPN) services offer it yet, but more are beginning to fold it into their products as an optional add-on. The dedicated IP sounds swanky, and it does eliminate some of the headaches that come from using a traditional VPN. But it’s not a golden bullet for your woes.

VPN Secured. Now What? The Dedicated IP Question.

VPN servers’ IP addresses are shared among users. Websites pick up on the inconsistencies and anomalies caused by lots and lots of people using the same IP addresses, which can lead to VPN users receiving constant, annoying two-factor authentication requests, such as CAPTCHA, or websites that outright won’t work when connected to via a VPN server.

A dedicated IP prevents this detection because you’re the only one allowed to use it. Websites won’t notice any funny business, such as large numbers of people from the same IP accessing the site simultaneously or in different languages. It’ll just look like a normal person accessing the websites from a normal IP address.

The downside to using a dedicated IP is that you lose some of the protection that comes from sharing an IP address with many other users on your VPN service’s shared VPN servers. It’s still better than not using a VPN at all. You’re just trading away some anonymity for the grace of not running into the annoying VPN blocks on websites that you’ll see periodically without a dedicated IP.

Not all of the best VPN services out there offer a dedicated IP. NordVPN, my best overall VPN candidate, offers one. So does Surfshark. But Mullvad VPN and Proton VPN, two of my other favorite VPNs, don’t offer it to private users. Proton only offers a dedicated IP to business users, and Mullvad doesn’t offer one at all.

If you decide you could use a dedicated IP, know that you’ll have to pay extra for it on top of your normal VPN subscription. It’s not much. For Surfshark, it costs an extra $3.75 per month. It varies a little for NordVPN, but it’s about the same.