There are two types of VPN, or Virtual Private Network, and the differences between them are myriad. On the one hand, you might decide to choose a VPN that offers you a dedicated IP address: one IP address from one server that you connect to every time you log on to your service. On the other hand, you could choose a shared IP VPN, which connects you to a different IP address every time you connect to the internet. These two options each come with their own benefits and drawbacks and, if you are new to VPNs and in the process of deciding which you need, you might be wondering how to make a decision on this particular factor. So to help you choose, we’ve asked our experts to explain why and when you might want to choose a shared IP VPN over one that offers you a static IP address:
1. A Shared IP VPN has a Lower Cost
Because you’re sharing your IP address with every other client of your VPN provider, you’re also sharing the cost of setting it up. This usually means that there will be no set up fee when you sign up for a shared IP VPN account. If you decide that you need a dedicated or static IP address, on the other hand, you are essentially asking the provider to create a VPN all of your very own. Most will charge you a fee to set this up, and this can be anything from $500 upwards, sometimes topping $1000. In addition, you may be charged a monthly fee to maintain that address, and this can be over $200. If you really need a dedicated IP address, it’s probably worth the cost, but if your concerns are simply to stay anonymous and secure as you browse the internet, a shared IP VPN is the better way to go.
2. A Shared IP VPN Helps You Send Company Emails
If you are working from a business that sends out regular bulk emails, you may already have encountered a common problem. Spammers do the same thing, but their emails are obviously a lot more unwelcome. Sadly, it’s difficult for an internet service provider to tell the difference between your business newsletter and a spammer’s inappropriate missives. It can only do so by counting the number of emails that are sent from an IP address and ensuring that they are both consistent and sent to similar addresses every time. If they see spurts of activity to random addresses, they will block the IP address and your emails will never reach their destination. So if you want to send out bulk emails to your clients and customers, you may be better off with a shared IP VPN
3. A Shared IP VPN Gives You Wider Access to Website Content
Many people invest in a VPN because they want to be able to access website content from abroad. This usually occurs because you are leaving your home country for a period of time and have realized that region restrictions will prevent you from accessing your usual selection of content. You won’t be able to watch streaming television from your usual channels, bank using your online banking or shop on your favourite marketplaces. Alternatively, you might have good reason to want to access content from other countries while you are at home, for research perhaps. If you invest in a dedicated IP VPN, you will obviously only ever have one IP address from one place. With a shared IP VPN, you have the luxury of choice and can connect to whichever server best suits your current needs.
4. A Shared IP VPN Increases Your Anonymity
A dedicated IP VPN is a choice that tends to be made by businesses and corporate centers who want to be able to protect their data first and foremost. As an individual user, it is more likely that you are using your VPN to protect your identity. You might be subject to censorship from your company, school or country or you might simply be wishing to hide your identity from the multitude of criminals who lurk on the internet. With a shared IP VPN, you appear to be a different user, in a different place, every time you log on to the internet. It becomes impossible for prying eyes to discern any patterns in your activity or catch you multiple times and begin to work out who you are. You could be any of the thousands of users who are sharing the service at the exact same time.
5. A Shared IP VPN Avoids Downtime
Most VPN providers these days offer a great deal of reliability, promising that their servers will be available at almost all times. But no service can ever be perfect – something as unexpected as a weather event or power outage might affect their servers at any time, and this can neither be avoided nor prevented. Therefore, with a static IP account, there will inevitably be some times when you cannot connect to your VPN server because it is down. This will never occur with a shared IP VPN, on the other hand, because if one server goes down and you find yourself disconnected, you can simply log on to another server in a different place and continue your activity unimpeded. This makes a shared IP VPN a great choice if you don’t want to suddenly be stuck without your VPN at the worst possible time.
So Which Shared IP VPN Should I Choose?
There are literally hundreds of shared IP VPN providers out there and it can be difficult to tell which ones are the best, especially when you are new to the idea of VPNs. We understand that time is precious and you may not want to spend yours trawling through information in the hope you can make sense of the jargon. And so we set our experts on the task of doing this for you and asked them to select their top choices of shared IP VPN, based on factors including cost, reliability and security. You can find their choices in the comparison table below:
| Rank | Provider | Starting Price | Money Back |
Visit Provider |
| 1 | ExpressVPN | $6.67 /Month | 30 Days |  |
| 2 | Hidemyass | $6.55/ Month | 30 Days | |
| 3 | iPVanish | $10.00/Month | 7 Days | |
| 4 | StrongVPN | $21/ 3 Months | 7 Days | |
| 5 | VyprVPN | $14.95/Month | 7 Days | |
