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# Difference between virtual, floating, and reserved IP addresses

Gcore Cloud provides several IP address types in addition to the public IP automatically assigned to a Virtual Machine (VM). Each type serves a different purpose depending on networking and availability requirements.

## Comparison

The three IP types differ in how they're allocated, which resources they can attach to, and how billing works when unassigned.

|                          | Floating IP                                                                                                                                                                                                                             | Reserved IP                                                                      | Virtual IP                               |
| ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| What it is               | Public IP mapped to a private IP using network address translation (DNAT)                                                                                                                                                               | Pre-allocated IP reserved in a regional pool, not assigned to a compute instance | A Reserved IP shared across multiple VMs |
| Assigned to              | VMs, Bare Metal, Load Balancers (private interfaces)                                                                                                                                                                                    | VMs, Bare Metal, Load Balancers                                                  | Multiple VMs                             |
| Subnet                   | Public (via DNAT)                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Public or private                                                                | Public or private                        |
| Failover                 | No, but can be reassigned via [API](/api-reference/cloud/floating-ips/update-floating-ip) or [Gcore Customer Portal](/cloud/networking/ip-address/create-and-configure-a-floating-ip-address#assign-a-floating-ip-to-a-virtual-machine) | No (manual reassignment)                                                         | Yes (shared ownership enables failover)  |
| Requires private network | Yes                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     | No                                                                               | No                                       |
| Billed when unassigned   | No, it exists only when assigned                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Yes                                                                              | Yes                                      |
| Bare Metal support       | Yes                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     | Yes                                                                              | No                                       |

## Use cases

If a VM has a public interface and requires external access, no additional configuration is needed. Gcore Cloud assigns one public IP per VM.

If a VM runs in a private subnet and requires external access, a [floating IP](/cloud/networking/ip-address/create-and-configure-a-floating-ip-address) adds external connectivity — it maps a public IP to the private IP without modifying the VM configuration.

A [Reserved IP](/cloud/networking/ip-address/create-and-configure-a-reserved-ip-address) persists in the regional pool until explicitly released, so the address stays available across resource changes and reassignments.

Multiple VMs share a single [Virtual IP](/cloud/networking/ip-address/create-and-configure-a-virtual-ip-vip-address) for high availability. A failover daemon — Keepalived is a common choice — controls which node holds the address.

If additional public IPs are required on a VM, attach floating IPs. For Bare Metal servers, contact [support](https://support.gcore.com/).

## Public IP assignment

All Gcore Cloud IP addresses are native and correspond to the physical location of the deployed resource. This minimizes latency and optimizes routing.

Public IPs are allocated from a shared regional pool and remain assigned for the lifetime of the network interface. If the interface is deleted, the IP is released and a new one is assigned. To retain an IP address, convert it to a Reserved IP before deleting the interface.