By default, Amazon SES sends your mail from shared IP pools run by AWS. A dedicated IP replaces that with an address, or a small group of them, that only you use.
What changes
You gain control. Nobody else’s bad campaign can damage your address, and a good record builds a reputation that belongs to you. You can keep different mail streams on different addresses so a problem in one does not spill into the other.
You also gain responsibility. A new dedicated IP has no history, so mailbox providers treat it with caution until it earns trust. That means a warm-up before the address reaches full volume, and it means a single bad campaign is entirely your problem.
Who benefits
Dedicated IPs make sense when you:
- send a high, steady volume every day,
- want to separate transactional mail from marketing mail,
- need a stable address for allow-listing,
- have a track record of low bounces and complaints.
If your volume is low or spiky, you cannot keep the address warm. A shared pool, which is already warmed up and spreads the load, is the better fit.
Dedicated IPs on Amazon SES
SES offers two kinds:
- Standard dedicated IPs, which you set up and manage yourself. SES enables automatic warm-up for them by default, and you can warm them manually instead.
- Managed dedicated IP pools, which warm up automatically for each mailbox provider and scale with your sending volume.
You assign mail to a pool through a configuration set. Standard IPs carry a monthly fee for each address you lease. Managed pools carry one monthly fee however many addresses are needed, plus a per-message charge.
The decision
Start on shared IPs. Move to a dedicated pool when volume, control or separation justify the cost and the care. See IP reputation for how the two compare.
Common questions
Does a dedicated IP improve deliverability?
Not by itself. It gives you control over your own reputation, which helps if you send a lot and send well. If you send little or irregularly, a shared IP usually does better.
Is there a managed option on SES?
Yes. SES offers managed dedicated IP pools that warm up automatically and scale with your volume, as well as standard dedicated IPs that you set up and manage yourself.