An IP address dedicated to my VPN: what is it for?

It is a little too often neglected option, which can however largely simplify your life when you use your VPN … provided you pay a few additional euros. The dedicated IP is indeed offered by the best VPN suppliers (NordVPN, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, etc.) against a supplement to be paid in addition to your package. And it is a small budget: you will have to pay between 3 and 8 euros additional per month, according to suppliers, who however compete in promotions to try to make you crack.

To fully understand the interest of such an option, it is first necessary to recall briefly how a VPN works. When you connect through a virtual private network without dedicated IP, your real IP address, the one assigned to you by your access provider, is replaced by another, that of the VPN server to which you are connected. Problem: you share it with all other users of the same VPN server, which can sometimes be problematic.

Indeed, many websites can consider large traffic from these shared IPs as a suspect. When you surf with a VPN, it is not uncommon to have to complete boring capthas, in order to prove that you are very human. Google, in particular, calls on this protective technology as soon as it notes abnormally high traffic from the same IP.

Another concern linked to shared IPs: in order to fight against the bypass of the geoblocting, the streaming services quickly spot the many Internet users who connect with the same address. They then “blacklist” the VPN server, preventing the clever little ones who try to access the content of another country to achieve it.

The limits of the dedicated IP

Going to a dedicated IP allows you to solve a good part of these problems. The address that the VPN service then provides you is no longer shared with other Internet users: you take advantage of it alone. This avoids the capthas, and any blockages of sites. It is also much more practical if you practice online games: you will thus avoid a possible ban on the behavior of other players.

Be careful, however at the limits of these services. The first is obvious. Using a dedicated IP, you lose flexibility. Your VPN supplier will ask you to select an exit country during the subscription, and this choice is generally final. Only a few suppliers, such as NordVPN, offer you to use several output points with a fixed IP. Nothing prevents you, however, from switching to shared IP servers when you need it.

The dedicated IP can also pose confidentiality problems. During the subscription, the VPN supplier will generally associate this unique address with your e-mail, which can allow you to track you more easily, even if your real IP address is always hidden. Some services, however, offer mechanisms to improve your anonymity, but this requires a more complex configuration.