What happens to my dedicated IP if I cancel an account

Two very different outcomes, so it is worth being certain which one you are choosing.

Pausing an account

The site stops answering visitors. Underneath, everything survives untouched: files, databases, mailboxes, settings, and the address it was allocated. Reversing it is one action and the site returns as it was.

Reach for this whenever you are not certain. It is immediate, it undoes cleanly, and the only cost is the site being unavailable meanwhile.

Removing an account

The account and all its contents are erased. The address goes back into your pool, so while you continue paying for it, it remains available for you to allocate elsewhere. Its connection to the removed account is gone.

Nothing reverses this. Your only route back is an archive you made beforehand and stored somewhere other than the account you have just erased.

Giving up the address itself

Addresses bill separately from hosting. Releasing one returns it to general circulation, and you should not count on being able to claim that exact address again later. If a particular address matters, hold onto it rather than releasing and re-ordering.

Sensible order of events

1. Archive the account and pull the archive off the server.
2. Settle where the domain will point afterwards.
3. Record which address was in use.
4. Pause it, leave it a week, and only then remove it.

That fourth step is a cost-free rehearsal and hardly anybody takes it.

Afterwards

An address you are still paying for, allocated to nothing because its account was erased and the list was never updated, is a quiet recurring cost. Review your allocations from time to time so those do not pile up.

Also note that invoices and services are tracked separately, so settling a bill does not by itself resurrect something already removed. Unsure what state something is in? Check with us first.

How long do you keep a paused account?

A paused account is not deleted by us on a timer, but do not treat pausing as archiving. If a site matters, take your own copy and store it somewhere else, because that is the only version entirely under your control.

Can I pause just one site?

Pausing works at account level, so if several sites share an account they pause together. That is one more argument for giving anything you might want to stop independently an account of its own.

What if I removed something by mistake?

Tell us straight away rather than continuing to work on the account. The sooner we hear, the more options tend to exist.

More in WHM and Accounts.