IPv4 Prices in 2026: What It Costs to Buy, Lease or Sell a /24

In October 2026 one IPv4 address costs about $20 to $25 to buy and about $0.38 to $0.50 a month to lease, so a /24 block of 256 addresses sells for roughly $5,100 to $6,500 and leases for about $100 to $130 a month. Those are the latest broker figures. In the RIPE region (Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia) prices sit a little above the global average, and buying comes with two rules many first-time buyers miss: allocated space can only be transferred to a RIPE NCC member, and a block you receive cannot be sold again for 24 months. Below is what the numbers say, where they come from, and how buying, leasing and selling actually work.

Key facts, checked on 9 October 2026:

• The average IPv4 sale in August 2026 was $20.30 per address across all registries and $21.03 in the RIPE region, with /24 blocks at $25.38 per address (IPv4Center, 1 September 2026, a broker).
• Prices are well down from 2024, when all block sizes traded at about $33 per address (IPv4.Global on CircleID, 10 June 2026, a broker).
• 786 LIRs were waiting for a free /24 from the RIPE NCC, and the first in line had waited 476 days (RIPE NCC Member Update, 6 October 2026).
• The RIPE NCC recorded 1,253,632 IPv4 addresses transferred in August 2026 (same source).
• 77% of IPv4 address space in the RIPE region is covered by ROAs, the RPKI records that say which network may announce a block (same source).

IPv4 prices in 2026, figure by figure

There is no public stock exchange for IP addresses. Prices come from brokers and marketplaces that publish their own deal data, and every one of them earns money when you buy, sell or lease. Read the table with that in mind. We give each number with its source and date so you can check it yourself.

Per address, the smallest blocks cost the most. A /24 is the smallest block that other networks will route, so it is what most small buyers want, and that demand keeps its price per address about twice that of a /16.

Why broker prices disagree

Broker pages quote anything from $12 to $45 per address. Some show asking prices, others closed deals; some mix registries (ARIN space traded about $2 cheaper than RIPE space in August 2026); some are stale. IPv4Center's August report even gives $25.38 for a /24 in one table and "$35 to $45" in a price list on the same page. Ask any broker for the date and size of the deals behind a quote.

How the price got here: 2023 to 2026

IPv4.Global's long view, published in June 2026: in late 2023, /16 and larger blocks traded near $52 per address while /20 to /24 blocks sold around $36. By the second half of 2024 every size had converged at about $33. Then 2025 brought a slide: in May 2025 a /16 fell below $20 for the first time since 2019, and by the fourth quarter it was under $13. Small blocks fell less: IPv4.Global put /22 to /24 blocks just above $21 in April 2026, down from roughly $30 a year earlier.

Since spring 2026 prices have been flat to slightly firmer, but the two big data publishers disagree on August. IPv4.Global wrote on 14 September 2026 that average prices "continued to move higher", led by large blocks. IPv4Center's August average fell $1.60 from July, and it projects $19.26 per address by December. Our reading: the steep fall is over, and nobody knows the direction of the next 12 months.

What the RIPE NCC's own data shows

The RIPE NCC publishes every completed transfer as a JSON file. It has no prices, but it shows volume, and no broker controls it. We downloaded the list of allocated (PA) transfers on 9 October 2026 in our lab and counted the permanent transfers between holders, leaving out mergers and acquisitions:

Fewer deals, more addresses: 2026 has already moved more space than all of 2025 with about two thirds of the transfers. Large blocks are changing hands, which fits IPv4.Global's remark that big blocks lead the recovery. One deal in three is still a single /24.

For buyers: three ways to get IPv4 in the RIPE region

1. The RIPE NCC waiting list

The RIPE NCC ran out of free IPv4 in November 2019. Under RIPE-826, addresses that come back to it go to a first-come, first-served queue. Each LIR (local internet registry, meaning a RIPE NCC member account) can get exactly one /24 from it, and only if the RIPE NCC has not already allocated it 256 or more IPv4 addresses. In the September 2026 update the queue held 786 LIRs and the first one had waited 476 days, more than 15 months. On 29 September 2026 the Executive Board also stopped members from opening additional LIR accounts for now, partly so the community can discuss the waiting list. Treat the list as a bonus, not a plan.

2. Buy a block

Buying gives you the block for good: it is registered to your LIR in the RIPE Database. The catches are in RIPE-807, the transfer policy:

• Allocated (PA) space "may only be transferred to another RIPE NCC member". So you need your own membership, which costs EUR 1,000 to join and EUR 1,800 a year in 2026 (RIPE-848), rising to EUR 1,894 in 2027 (RIPE-867).
• Provider independent (PI) space can also go to a company that has a contract with a member.
• IPv4 "cannot be transferred for 24 months from the date the resource was received". You cannot buy in a dip and sell next year.

On top of the price, budget for the broker's fee. Some charge the seller only, some add a buyer premium, so ask for the total in writing.

3. Lease a block

Leasing means the holder keeps the block in its name and lets you announce it from your network for a monthly fee. It is how most small networks start. The paperwork is short:

• A Letter of Authorization (LOA) from the holder, naming the prefix, your ASN and the dates. Your upstream will ask for it.
• A route object in the RIPE Database with your ASN as the origin, so upstreams can build their filters.
• A ROA (route origin authorisation), the RPKI record that says which ASN may announce the prefix. Large transit networks drop RPKI-invalid routes, so a wrong ROA takes your block offline.

Marketplaces such as IPXO create the LOA, route object and ROA for you. With a smaller lessor, you check each one yourself. Our guide to getting your own ASN and IP addresses covers the BGP side.

Lease or buy? Our maths for one /24

At the RIPE average of $21.03, a /24 costs about $5,400 to buy. A lease at $0.38 to $0.50 per address costs $97 to $128 a month. If you are already a RIPE NCC member, buying pays back in roughly 42 to 56 months, so about four years, and you keep an asset you can sell after the 24-month lock, at whatever the market pays then. If you are not a member, the picture flips: the membership fee alone, EUR 1,800 a year, is more than a year of leasing a /24. For a company that needs one block and one ASN, getting the ASN through a sponsoring LIR and leasing the /24 is usually cheaper. Buying makes sense for hosting companies and ISPs that already run an LIR and plan to hold the space for years.

If you need only a handful of addresses for servers, neither option fits. A VPS comes with its own IPv4 address and IPv6, and our servers in Amsterdam and Dublin get a whole /48 of IPv6.

Check a block before you pay or sign

A dirty or hijacked block costs more than any discount. These checks use free public data. We ran each one on 9 October 2026 in a Debian 13 container on our Amsterdam lab server, against the RIPE NCC's own network 193.0.0.0/21, so you can run them as they are and then swap in the block you are offered.

# as root: install the tools once (Debian or Ubuntu)
apt update
apt install -y whois curl jq grepcidr

First, who holds the block and what type it is. The -L flag shows every less specific object above it:

# as a normal user
whois -h whois.ripe.net -r -L -T inetnum 193.0.0.0/21 | grep -E '^(inetnum|status|org):'

Our output ended with the line status: ALLOCATED PA for the range 193.0.0.0 to 193.0.23.255, held by ORG-RIEN1-RIPE. The status tells you what can be sold: ALLOCATED PA moves only to members, ASSIGNED PI follows the PI rules, and LEGACY space (handed out before the RIPE NCC existed) has its own transfer process. The org must match the company you are paying.

Next, the routing history. Many origin ASNs in a short time is the classic sign of a block that has been passed between spammers:

# as a normal user
curl -s "https://stat.ripe.net/data/routing-history/data.json?resource=193.0.0.0/21" \
  | jq -r '.data.by_origin[] | [.origin, ([.prefixes[].timelines[].starttime] | min), ([.prefixes[].timelines[].endtime] | max)] | @tsv'

RIPEstat printed three origins: AS3333 from 2000 until today, plus AS3352 for 12 days in August 2007 and AS15962 for 12 days in August 2020. Short blips like these are usually leaks and worth one question to the seller. A long list of unrelated ASNs over the last two years is a reason to walk away.

Then the RPKI status and the abuse contact:

# as a normal user
curl -s "https://stat.ripe.net/data/rpki-validation/data.json?resource=AS3333&prefix=193.0.0.0/21" | jq -r .data.status
curl -s "https://stat.ripe.net/data/abuse-contact-finder/data.json?resource=193.0.0.0/21" | jq -r '.data.abuse_contacts[]'

The first command printed valid. With AS64500 in place of AS3333 it printed invalid_asn, which is what you will see for a leased block until the holder issues a ROA for your ASN. The second printed abuse@ripe.net. For a lease, agree in writing who answers mail sent to that address.

Now the reputation check. Spamhaus DROP is a free "drop all traffic" list of ranges controlled by criminals, and many networks block it outright:

# as a normal user
curl -s -o drop_v4.json https://www.spamhaus.org/drop/drop_v4.json
jq -r 'select(.cidr) | .cidr' drop_v4.json > drop.txt
wc -l < drop.txt
echo 193.0.0.1 | grepcidr -f drop.txt; echo "exit code: $?"

The list had 1,682 ranges when we fetched it, 506 of them registered in the RIPE region. No output and exit code: 1 means the address is not on DROP; a listed address is printed back with exit code 0. Spamhaus asks that automated downloads of the list be at least an hour apart. DROP only covers the worst cases, so also look the whole block up at check.spamhaus.org, which includes the SBL and XBL lists.

Finally, how often the block changed hands. This searches the RIPE NCC's transfer list, a 9 MB file:

# as a normal user
curl -s -o transfers.json https://www-static.ripe.net/dynamic/table-of-transfers/ipv4/transfers-allocations.json
jq '.transfers | length' transfers.json
jq -r --arg b "193.0.0.0/21" '.transfers[] | select(.transferred_blocks | split(", ") | index($b)) | [.date, .transferType] | @tsv' transfers.json

The file held 43,640 transfers. For 193.0.0.0/21 the last command printed nothing, because the RIPE NCC has never sold its own block. For a traded block it prints one line per transfer, such as 09/10/2026 POLICY (dates are day/month/year). Several sales in a few years are worth a question.

For sellers: how selling IPv4 works

Can you sell?

Check three things before you call a broker. The block must be registered to you, as the whois check above shows. You must have held it for 24 months, unless it came through a merger. And everyone still using it needs new addresses first; renumbering often takes longer than the sale. Then stop announcing the block and remove your ROAs and route objects before the transfer date, so the buyer receives a block that nobody else announces.

Broker or marketplace?

A marketplace lists your block for vetted buyers. IPv4.Global, for example, offers fixed "Buy Now" prices or an auction with a minimum bid, holds the buyer's payment in escrow, and says sellers pay no upfront fees and that it is paid only after the transfer completes; it publishes no commission rate (ipv4.global, checked 9 October 2026). A broker finds a buyer privately, which suits large blocks and sellers who want discretion. Published rates vary: IPv4Center lists a 5% seller commission and no listing fees for RIPE blocks (ipv4center.com, checked 9 October 2026). Whichever you choose, insist on escrow that releases money only after the RIPE NCC confirms the transfer.

The RIPE transfer, step by step

1. You and the buyer agree on price and terms, and the buyer pays into escrow.
2. Both parties sign a Transfer Agreement, signed by people legally authorised for each company, and gather recent company registration papers (or ID for a person).
3. The offering LIR submits the request in the LIR Portal under Resources, Request Transfer. Only the seller's LIR, or the sponsoring LIR of a seller that is an End User, can submit it.
4. The RIPE NCC checks the documents against policy and the EU sanctions list. Transfers inside the region are free of charge (RIPE NCC).
5. Once the block shows under the buyer's LIR, escrow pays you. The transfer then appears in the public list we searched above.

The RIPE NCC publishes no processing time. Brokers advertise one to three weeks from signed deal to payment, which depends mostly on how quickly both sides send complete paperwork.

What buyers will check on your block

The same tests as above: blocklists, routing history, RPKI, abuse history, and whether the registered holder matches the seller. IPv4Center says it checks every block against more than 300 blocklists. A listed block sells for less or not at all, so request delisting before you put it on the market.

Risks worth a minute of thought

• Price risk cuts both ways. A /16 went from about $33 per address in late 2024 to under $13 by the end of 2025.
• A lessor can withdraw the ROA. Your routes then go invalid and vanish from most of the internet, so read the notice period in the contract.
• Reputation travels with the block. In an incident report, Spamhaus describes spammers sub-leasing address space on grey markets, so check again after handover.
• Fraud happens. Never pay a seller directly before the RIPE NCC confirms the transfer.
• Rules change. The LIR account restriction of 29 September 2026 shows the RIPE community still adjusts how scarce IPv4 is shared.

Where RS Computers fits in

We do not broker, sell or lease IPv4. We give your addresses a route to the internet. RS Computers sells IP transit from AS213900 in Amsterdam and Skopje, and we accept your own or leased space once its route objects and ROAs name your ASN. Equipment in Amsterdam connects by cross-connect (IP transit in Amsterdam); equipment elsewhere can run the BGP session over a tunnel. If a freshly leased block attracts attacks, remote DDoS protection over GRE announces it from a filtering network and hands you clean traffic. Our KVM VPS and VDS servers in Amsterdam, Dublin and Prishtina each come with their own IPv4 and IPv6 address for anyone who needs servers rather than a whole block.

Frequently asked questions

How much does one IPv4 address cost in 2026?

About $20 to $25 to buy and about $0.38 to $0.50 a month to lease. Brokers reported an average sale of $20.30 per address in August 2026, and $21.03 in the RIPE region. Small blocks such as a /24 cost more per address than large ones.

How much is a /24 IPv4 block worth?

A /24 holds 256 addresses and sold for about $25 per address in August 2026, so roughly $6,500, according to IPv4Center. At the RIPE regional average of $21 it is closer to $5,400. Broker fees come on top.

Is it cheaper to lease or buy IPv4?

For a company that is not a RIPE NCC member, leasing a /24 at $97 to $128 a month is cheaper, because membership alone costs EUR 1,800 a year in 2026. For an existing member, buying pays back in about four years compared with leasing, and the block can be sold later.

Can I sell IPv4 addresses I got from the RIPE NCC?

Yes, once you have held them for 24 months, as RIPE-807 requires. Allocated (PA) space can only go to another RIPE NCC member. The offering LIR submits the transfer in the LIR Portal with a signed Transfer Agreement, and the RIPE NCC charges no transfer fee.

How long is the RIPE IPv4 waiting list?

In the RIPE NCC's September 2026 update, 786 LIRs were in the queue and the first had waited 476 days. Each eligible LIR can receive one /24, and only if the RIPE NCC has not already allocated it 256 or more IPv4 addresses.

Will IPv4 prices go up?

Nobody knows. Prices fell sharply in 2025 and have been flat to slightly higher since spring 2026. IPv4.Global reported rising prices in August 2026, while IPv4Center's August average dipped and it forecasts about $19 per address by December 2026.

Got a block? Bring it online

Run the five checks above before money changes hands, get the LOA, route object and ROA in place, and then you need an upstream. When you are ready, message us on Telegram with your ASN and prefix, and we will check your objects before the session goes live. Read the IP transit page for locations and hand-off options, or pick a server on the plans page if a few addresses are all you need.

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