When you need to rebuild or scale up a server, your public-facing address doesn’t have to change. Floating IP lets you reattach a public IP address to any instance in seconds; your users never notice what changed behind the scenes.
When you create a virtual server, it gets an address inside the private network. To be reachable from the outside world it needs a public IP address. Floating IP ties this public address to your account rather than to the server itself.
The difference looks small at first glance but is decisive in operations. If the address were pinned to the server, it would change whenever you changed the server; you would have to update your DNS records and wait for them to propagate. With Floating IP the address is yours: you detach it from one server and attach it to another, and the switch completes in seconds.
This makes it especially valuable in high-availability scenarios. When your active server runs into trouble, you move the Floating IP to the standby server and keep the service running without interruption.
Take the IP address from one instance and attach it to another in seconds.
Since the address stays the same, your domain routing is unaffected and there is no propagation delay.
Prepare the new server and hand the traffic over when it is ready.
Keep an address on hand for a fast switch to a standby instance.
The address your customers or partners have allow-listed never changes.
Can also serve as the single entry point in front of a load balancer.
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Address type | Public IPv4 address |
| Assignment | To Compute instances and Load Balancers |
| Concurrent attachment | An address is attached to one resource at a time |
| Reassignment | Via the console or API, in seconds |
| Security | Port- and protocol-level access control with security groups |
| Metering | Per minute — per allocated address |
IPv6 support is being evaluated on the product roadmap.
For detailed technical specifications and release notes, see Documentation
Enter the number of addresses you need and see the total cost instantly.
Metering: Per minute — per allocated address, for as long as it is allocated
An address keeps being metered while it is reserved, even when it is not attached to an instance. Metering stops when you release addresses you no longer use.
Your resources are metered for as long as they are running — you never pay for time you don’t use. In the console you can define a monthly or period-specific budget and get alerts when your spending reaches the 50%, 80% and 100% thresholds. Turn on overrun forecasting to see in advance whether your current consumption rate will take you over budget by the end of the period.
Alerts arrive by e-mail; with webhook support they can also be sent to Slack, Microsoft Teams or your own application.
Budget alerts send notifications; they do not stop resources automatically. You decide which resource to scale down.
The full pricing modelIt is attached to only one resource at a time; to assign it to another instance, you first detach it from the current one.
Yes. Even when it is not attached to any instance, it is a reserved address, so it keeps being metered; you can see the amount in the calculator.
A released address returns to the pool and may be given to another user. If you need to keep the address, keep it allocated.
The current infrastructure is IPv4-focused; IPv6 support is being evaluated on the product roadmap.