The short answer
Buy dedicated Rayobyte datacenter IPs when one blocked IP costs you money or when the IP represents you (accounts, whitelists, checkouts). Buy semi-dedicated when you need many cheap fixed IPs for lenient targets and can live with a little reputation risk.
Side by side
| Dedicated (static datacenter) | Semi-dedicated | |
|---|---|---|
| Users per IP | Just you | Up to 3 |
| Typical price (US, small order) | Around $2.50 per IP (reviews) | $1.00 per IP |
| Volume price | 15% off at 100, 25% off at 1,000 | $0.85 at 100, $0.75 at 1,000 |
| Enterprise from | $0.85 per IP | $0.50 per IP |
| Countries | 29 | US, Canada and 9 others |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered, fair use | Unmetered, fair use |
| Prepay discounts | 5% to 15% | Check checkout |
| Reputation | Depends only on you | Shared with up to 2 others |
Prices are list prices at the time of writing. See Rayobyte pricing explained.
Why sharing matters
An IP's reputation is the sum of everything done from it. On a dedicated IP, that's only your traffic. On a semi-dedicated IP, two other customers contribute too. If one of them scrapes a site aggressively, the site may rate-limit or block that IP, and you'll feel it on that site even if your own behavior was perfect.
In practice, Rayobyte's three-user cap keeps this manageable, and most lenient sites don't keep long memories. But on sites that do, such as sneaker stores, ticketing platforms and social networks, sharing is a gamble.
Choose dedicated for
- Account management, so no one else's activity is linked to your accounts. Better still, consider static ISP proxies.
- Whitelisting, when a partner allows only specific IPs.
- Sneaker monitors and checkouts. See Rayobyte for sneaker bots.
- Long-running scrapers on one site, where the IP builds a history.
- Countries beyond the semi-dedicated list.
Residential tip: You can test most of this guide for free: Rayobyte offers a no-card trial on Premium Residential, rotating ISP and rotating datacenter proxies. Move to a paid plan once the pilot works. See our complete Rayobyte guide.
Choose semi-dedicated for
- SEO tools making light, spread-out requests. See Rayobyte for SEO rank tracking.
- Lenient public data and documentation sites.
- Large, cheap IP lists for spreading load.
- Testing and staging environments.
- Personal regional browsing.
A cost example
Suppose you need 300 US IPs for a rank tracker:
- Dedicated: around $2.50 x 300 x 0.85 (volume) = about $638 a month before prepay discounts.
- Semi-dedicated: $0.85 x 300 = $255 a month.
If the tracker works reliably on semi-dedicated, the saving is about $380 a month. Run a two-week trial on a small batch of each before deciding.
Mixing both
Many teams split their list: a small dedicated set for sensitive targets and a large semi-dedicated set for everything else. Because both products live in the same Rayobyte dashboard, routing by domain is straightforward. Our guide to proxy rotation strategies covers how to route traffic by target.
Proxy tip: For a second opinion on hard targets, run the same test through Geonode residential proxies, which support sticky sessions up to 24 hours and ASN targeting. We compare the two in Rayobyte vs Geonode.
How to decide in five minutes
- Does the IP represent an identity (an account, a whitelist entry, a checkout)? Choose dedicated.
- Would a block on this target cost real money? Choose dedicated.
- Is the target lenient and the volume high? Choose semi-dedicated.
- Not sure? Buy 5 of each and compare success rates for a week.
For a wider view of the catalog, see choosing the right Rayobyte product. For general background, read our guides to shared proxies and private proxies.
If you're still shortlisting, compare these options with the wider market in our best proxies guide, and use our cheap proxies guide to estimate a sensible budget.
Budget tip: For jobs where a fixed IP list is enough, Webshare is one of the cheapest options: shared datacenter proxies are sold by the IP, and static residential (ISP) proxies cost well under a dollar per IP per month at the time of writing. More in Webshare datacenter proxies.
Key takeaways
- Dedicated IPs are yours alone; semi-dedicated IPs are shared by up to three users.
- Semi-dedicated costs roughly 40% of dedicated for US IPs at list prices.
- Use dedicated for identities and high-stakes targets, semi-dedicated for lenient bulk work.
- Many teams mix both under one account.
FAQ
Is a semi-dedicated proxy the same as a shared proxy?
It's a shared proxy with a strict cap: no more than three users per IP. Many shared proxies have no stated cap.
Can I upgrade a semi-dedicated IP to dedicated?
You buy them as separate products. Order dedicated IPs alongside your semi-dedicated list and move sensitive targets over.
Which is faster?
Speeds are similar because both are datacenter IPs. Shared capacity can make semi-dedicated slightly less consistent under heavy load.
Editorial note: Proxy providers change their pools, features and prices often, so treat any figures here as typical ranges at the time of writing and confirm current terms with the provider before you buy.