Dedicated IPs carry a charge, and the reason is supply.
THE SITUATION
IPv4 allows roughly 4.3 billion addresses. The regional registries that allocate them exhausted their free pools years ago. New addresses are obtained largely through transfer markets, at real cost.
Hosting providers therefore treat IPv4 addresses as a scarce resource with a price, rather than something handed out freely.
WHAT THIS MEANS IN PRACTICE
Dedicated IPs are a paid add-on everywhere, not only here. Providers ask what you need one for, because allocating an address that solves nothing wastes a scarce resource. Unused dedicated IPs are reclaimed when a service is cancelled.
IPV6
IPv6 has no scarcity problem, which is why it exists. Adoption continues gradually. Where IPv6 is available it can address some needs without consuming an IPv4 address.
THE PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCE
If a dedicated IP would genuinely solve a problem for you, the cost is modest and worth paying. If it would not, the cost is entirely wasted, which is why we ask what you are trying to achieve.
