How to Lease IPv4 Addresses in 2023

IPv4 addresses are a limited resource that may run out sooner than you think! Leasing IPv4 addresses can ensure your business has the IP space it needs when leasing IPv4 addresses in 2023. If you wait until the last minute, your business could be left behind, so start planning now! This guide will help you understand what IPv4 addresses are and how they work and how to lease them.

Why should you lease IPv4?

You may want to lease your IPv4 addresses if you don’t need all of them at once or ever. For example, leasing makes sense if you’re running a small business and don’t have many employees but need more than one public IP address. An Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) address is a numerical label assigned to each device that connects to a computer network that uses IP. The numbering system uses four numbers separated by periods (also called an IP address) and is expressed in dotted-decimal notation, such as 192.168.2.1.

Some numbers are reserved for a particular use, so they can’t be used leased or purchased from a service provider. Typically these are low-numbered addresses with special meanings, including 0 and 255, although it varies depending on country regulations.

How much will leasing cost?

This year, even that pool has been drained with only millions of addresses available for allocation. RIRs will hand out the remaining IP addresses in chunks of 256. By 2023 we’ll have run out, and there won’t be any more freely available addresses unless some alternative protocol or system is adopted or created, for example, IPv6.

The problem is that not everyone wants to use IPv4 addresses and is searching for an alternative. There are some intriguing ideas for alternative protocols (see Web 3.0). Still, it will be years before any of those can come into play, so getting your hands on an IP address from a network provider will be necessary. The good news is that you can acquire these well ahead of time. The bad news is there’s no guarantee that you’ll ever actually need them. It all depends on how fast other alternatives come into play and how many devices you own.

There are a few ways to lease an IP address from a network provider. For example, Google offers IP addresses that are leased as cloud services. Google Cloud Interconnect provides customers with public IP addresses on three continents and options for private interconnects between data centers that ensure performance and security. That is just one of many alternatives to acquiring your blocks of IP addresses when they become available through providers like T-Mobile and Interlir.

Why would anyone lease unused IP addresses?

It depends on how much space you need.

The Internet Protocol is one of many protocols (series of rules) that govern the communication between a computer and a network. The Internet Protocol defines an IP address as a unique string of numbers that can be used to identify any device on an IP network. For example, your computer has an individual IP address that allows it to connect with web services you’ve requested or video chat with friends. But it turns out we are running out of those addresses, and soon there won’t be enough for everyone’s devices. So, here’s how you lease IPv4 addresses ahead of time, so they’ll be ready when you need them.

If you’re not using your IP addresses, why not lease them out to businesses that need additional addresses? In addition to increasing your profits on unused assets, leases generate recurring income every month. You can buy and lease your unused IP addresses from anywhere in the world: Germany, USA, Africa. To do this, you need to create a sub-allocation pool of one or more contiguous /8s (256 to 65,536 individual /24 blocks). The person leasing an address from you will pay for a single allocation from that pool, which is how they receive their desired number of IP addresses. When leases expire after five years (or earlier if either party decides), you’ll be able to use those blocks again for your purposes. This way, everyone wins! You can lease unneeded IP addresses and create a stream of recurring revenue; potential lessees get access to address space without waiting for a future round of IPv4 allocations; Internet users have uninterrupted access when transitioning from one leased block to another.

Some might worry that allowing organizations to lease unused addresses will take away Internet users’ IP address space. Still, leases typically last five years, after which organizations will receive a single allocation from your pool and have their leased blocks returned to you. So there’s no long-term impact on future IP allocations. If anything, leases are an incentive for ISPs and businesses with large stockpiles of unused addresses to release them back into circulation rather than hoard them. This additional availability of IPv4 addressing space should keep IP address assignment needs—and costs—from escalating for many years. In other words, getting creative about allocating or renting out your IP addresses can generate extra revenue without affecting Internet users’ ability to get online.

So why would anyone lease unused IP addresses? In many cases, there’s no downside. You don’t lose control of your unneeded IP addresses since you’ll receive back all of them plus a single allocation from your pool after five years (or sooner if either party decides). Plus, you can generate recurring revenue every month without selling or transferring your existing address space. It’s a win-win for everyone involved! If you’d like more information about leasing IPv4 addresses and setting up an allocation from one or more contiguous /16s—or if you need assistance setting-up a sub-allocation pool in RIPE DB—don’t hesitate to get in touch with Interlir. We’re here to help!

Contact us if you’re interested in leasing your unused IP addresses and don’t know where to start. We can provide more information about how sub-allocation pools work, answer any questions you may have, and give you assistance getting started. And remember: You don’t need to use RIPE DB for a sub-allocation pool; if you prefer using legacy RIPE tools instead, we can set that up for you. Suppose you’re new to leasing IP addresses or entering into such agreements. In that case, we also offer a training session that covers all aspects of managing leasing space and what happens when leases expire.

Who are some of the organizations leasing IP address space?

Germany, China, and India have all been leasing (renting) IP address space to ISPs since 2010. An emerging industry of providers rents small or large blocks of IP addresses every month. This short-term rental option lets you cover your immediate needs without a long-term commitment—ideal for organizations that might not need more than 1-2 blocks of space in any given year. Rental prices vary depending on the provider and the time/size of the block required.

IPv4 Provider is a company that leases out IP addresses. They have become more popular as organizations realize they can cover their short-term needs without a long-term commitment. In addition, you can rent/buy an ipv4 block cheaper; some providers offer discounts for renting multiple blocks of IP addresses. For example, if you lease two blocks of 1024 IP addresses each, you might get a 3% discount on your total price. This can make leasing an attractive option for smaller organizations with more immediate needs but who don’t want to commit to a long-term contract or pay higher prices for permanent IP address space. The provider typically handles all maintenance and technical support related to your leased IP address space, so there’s no need for you to set up or maintain your equipment.

What advantages does leasing provide?

If you’ve found a block of IP addresses, you’d like to rent or lease, it’s time to start inquiring about pricing and rates. The prices can change often based on availability and location but increased 100% since 2021 to 50$ per IP. These services offer savings, but they’ll also allow you to save space by bundling multiple IP address ranges into one lease. For example, if your company is looking for a /16 (that’s 65,536 unique IP addresses), you could quickly be paying millions USD when purchasing that many IPs outright—and then still have a lot of unused IP space.

Renting IP addresses isn’t just beneficial for businesses and government entities who need space but don’t want to commit to long-term leases. Even homeowners are turning to IP address leasing and rental services as Internet connections become increasingly vital—and often nearly necessary—too many facets of life today. A typical home may require a static public IP address for its primary connection and more ephemeral (often dynamic) IP addresses for wireless routers and home networks. No matter your needs, you can lease an IP address with any provider from all over Europe and other regions worldwide.

Is there an alternative solution?

Many ISPs, organizations, and other entities that currently get IP addresses from organizations like ARIN or RIPE will be interested in leasing IPv4 addresses when they become available for lease. New networks are also likely to emerge internationally—primarily in Germany, which has already begun preparing a leasing market; time will tell whether both organizations and individuals embrace it outside of Germany. If you’re planning on launching a new network and want to quickly gain access to a large block of IP addresses (for instance, if you’re a data center company), then your best bet is probably going to be renting them on an international level.

From a cost perspective, leasing IP addresses is often cheaper than buying a large block of static IP addresses. Organizations that rely on public Internet backbones for their business operations may also gain access to new address blocks through service providers and regional network operators. Most importantly, moving away from static leases towards dynamic pooling may also help ensure that we don’t run out of IPv4 addresses in five years! When you lease an address, it becomes part of a pool that your ISP or provider can assign to different devices at different times, preventing anyone particular device from consuming too many individual IP addresses. ISPs could even use lease pools for everyday Internet users – if you rent a static IP address today, you probably have hundreds of unused addresses.

Your best option for accessing a large pool of IP addresses for both new and established networks will be renting addresses from an existing network operator. As mentioned above, Germany has already built up a significant market for leasing IPv4 addresses; operators are now using some unused address blocks to lease out to other organizations. It’s likely that Germany, and potentially other countries, will create more leasing markets as more and more IP addresses become available. But whether or not your country makes an IPv4 address-leasing market, you’ll have no trouble accessing them internationally – many ISPs already offer leased address blocks. In contrast, major national providers like Comcast, Deutsche Telekom, NTT Communications, and Singtel have all said they will rent out different IP addresses.

Rent IPv4 with Interlir Marketplace

To lease an IPv4 address, you have two options: You can sign a contract with Interlir or use our marketplace platform. Leasing an IP address through Interlir gives you more flexibility, but it also requires that you sign a contract, in which lease time will be indicated. If you choose to rent an address from our marketplace, Interlir handles all of your payments and any disputes that may arise during your lease period (see below for details). Tell us how many addresses you need, and we’ll take care of everything else! Our leasing system is secure and reliable—and it makes leasing IPv4 as easy as possible. No matter which option you choose, leasing an IPv4 address from Interlir allows you to do what’s most important: focus on running your business instead of worrying about whether there will be enough available in 2023. Cost to buy ipv4 addresses is fair. Our support includes documents verification, data updates, consulting, the RIPE database updates, interaction with the RIPE NCC.

IPv4 rental with Interlir is fast and easy; tell us how many IP addresses you need, and we’ll take care of everything else! In addition, you can use the Interlir platform to rent only those addresses you need. This is particularly useful if you want more IP addresses but not enough for a full /16 or /20 allocation.

With our platform, you don’t have to worry about wasting any IP addresses by paying for an entire block that won’t meet your needs in 2023.