IPv4 pricing has become an important infrastructure consideration for cloud providers, hosting companies, ISPs, data centers, and enterprises. With freely available IPv4 resources largely exhausted, organisations often obtain additional addresses through the secondary transfer or leasing market.
One of the biggest factors affecting cost is prefix size. A /24, /23, and /22 contain very different numbers of addresses and may have different per-IP economics, availability, and deployment advantages.
Understanding these differences helps businesses compare IPv4 blocks based on total cost and operational value rather than simply looking for the lowest advertised price.
How Many Addresses Are in /24, /23, and /22 Blocks?
Before comparing prices, it is important to understand what each prefix provides.
PrefixTotal IPv4 AddressesNumber of /24s/242561/235122/221,0244
A /23 provides twice the address capacity of a /24, while a /22 provides four times the capacity.
That does not necessarily mean a /22 will cost exactly four times as much as a /24. Market pricing depends on several additional factors, and the price per address can vary between prefix sizes.
What Determines IPv4 Block Pricing?
IPv4 does not have one universal market price. Individual blocks can be valued differently according to supply, demand, size, quality, and transaction structure.
Important pricing factors include:
- Prefix size
- Current market demand
- RIR region
- Address reputation
- Blacklist history
- Routing history
- Transfer eligibility
- Leasing or purchase terms
- Availability of comparable inventory
This is why organisations should compare current inventory rather than relying on an old industry-wide price-per-IP estimate.
/24 IPv4 Pricing
A /24 contains 256 IPv4 addresses and is one of the most practical prefix sizes for many organisations.
Businesses may choose a /24 when launching a new service, adding hosting capacity, expanding into a region, or establishing an additional network without committing to a much larger address block.
A /24 can also offer greater budgeting flexibility because the total transaction value is lower than for a /23 or /22.
However, smaller blocks do not always provide the lowest per-address cost. Strong demand for conveniently sized prefixes can influence their pricing.
For organisations that expect to need significantly more than 256 addresses, repeatedly acquiring separate /24s may eventually become less efficient than securing a larger contiguous block.
/23 IPv4 Pricing
A /23 contains 512 addresses, equivalent to two contiguous /24 networks.
This size can provide a useful middle ground for organisations that have outgrown a /24 but do not yet require the capacity of a /22.
A hosting provider, for example, may prefer a /23 when onboarding additional customers while keeping infrastructure within a manageable allocation. Enterprises can similarly use the additional capacity to support expansion without purchasing considerably more IPv4 space than they expect to use.
When comparing /23 pricing, buyers and tenants should consider both the total cost and the effective cost per IP. A larger block may sometimes provide better economics, but that advantage disappears if much of the capacity remains unused.
/22 IPv4 Pricing
A /22 contains 1,024 IPv4 addresses, equivalent to four contiguous /24s.
It is better suited to organisations with larger or more predictable requirements, including established hosting platforms, cloud infrastructure operators, ISPs, and enterprises running substantial internet-facing environments.
The total cost will naturally be higher than a /24 or /23 because considerably more addresses are involved.
However, acquiring or leasing a single /22 may simplify capacity planning compared with repeatedly adding smaller blocks. Contiguous address space can also make routing, allocation management, customer assignment, and infrastructure planning easier.
The key question is whether the organisation can productively use the additional capacity.
Does a Larger Block Mean a Lower Price Per IP?
Not automatically.
Larger IPv4 blocks can sometimes have different per-address economics because buyers are committing to more resources in one transaction. However, market conditions, inventory quality, RIR region, and buyer demand can change that relationship.
For example, a clean /24 with desirable characteristics may command strong demand, while a larger block with reputation concerns may be less attractive despite containing more addresses.
The most useful comparison therefore considers total price, price per IP, address quality, and expected utilisation together.
Reputation Can Change the Real Cost
Two IPv4 blocks of the same size are not necessarily equal.
A range with historical associations with spam, malware, phishing, or other abuse can create problems for email delivery, hosting platforms, customer services, and security systems.
Businesses should investigate blacklist status, historical reputation, registry records, and routing history before focusing on price.
A discounted block that requires significant remediation can ultimately be more expensive than cleaner inventory purchased or leased at a higher initial rate.
RIR Region and Availability Matter
IPv4 resources are registered through Regional Internet Registries such as ARIN, RIPE NCC, APNIC, LACNIC, and AFRINIC.
Market availability can differ across these regions, and transfer requirements may affect how a block can be acquired.
Businesses should consider where resources are registered, whether an intra-RIR or inter-RIR transfer is required, and whether the block fits their operational requirements.
For leasing, the ownership may remain unchanged, but registry information and routing arrangements still need to be understood.
Review RIR-specific IPv4 availability before making a purchase decision.
Buying vs. Leasing /24, /23, and /22 Blocks
Prefix size is only one part of the financial decision. Organisations must also decide whether to purchase or lease the resources.
Buying requires greater upfront capital but provides long-term control after the applicable transfer is completed.
Leasing converts much of that commitment into an ongoing operating expense and can provide greater flexibility when requirements are temporary or evolving.
A company might lease a /24 while testing a service, expand to a /23 as demand increases, and later move toward a /22 when utilisation becomes predictable.
This scalability can prevent businesses from committing capital to addresses long before they are needed.
Choosing the Right IPv4 Block Size
The cheapest block is not necessarily the best option, and neither is the largest block a company can afford.
A /24 is well suited to smaller deployments and incremental growth. A /23 provides additional capacity without jumping directly to more than a thousand addresses. A /22 can make sense when demand is substantial and predictable.
Before deciding, organisations should compare current utilisation, projected growth, total cost, effective per-IP pricing, reputation, routing requirements, and whether leasing or purchasing better matches their financial strategy.
Choosing based on usable capacity rather than headline price can reduce wasted expenditure while leaving enough room for network expansion.
About IPv4Hub
IPv4Hub is a trusted marketplace where organisations can lease, buy, and sell IPv4 address resources through a secure and transparent platform. Businesses benefit from verified IPv4 inventory, structured onboarding, transparent pricing, secure transaction workflows, and professional guidance throughout every stage of the acquisition process. With IP intelligence, blacklist screening, registry-aware procedures, and reliable customer support, IPv4Hub helps organisations confidently source high-quality IPv4 resources for secure, scalable, and long-term network growth.
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