Which Budget VPS Providers Have Burned IPs? (And How to Check Before You Buy)

Q: Which budget VPS providers have burned IPs?

The most-cited is RackNerd, because it runs on ColoCrossing ranges that appear on UCEProtect Level 3 (an ASN-wide list). But Level 3 is largely ignored by Gmail and Outlook, so the practical harm is narrow. Most budget hosts have some IPs with history; the real question isn't 'which has burned IPs' but 'does it matter for my use case', and it almost only matters for running a mail server.

Q: How do I check if a VPS IP is blacklisted?

Use a multi-blacklist checker like MXToolbox blacklist check or mail-tester.com, enter the IP and it checks dozens of blocklists at once. Also check the IP's UCEProtect status and Spamhaus listing. Do this right after provisioning (most hosts let you swap a bad IP), and before you build anything email-dependent on it.

Q: Does a burned IP matter for web hosting?

Rarely. For a website, web app, or VPN, a UCEProtect Level 3 listing has little practical effect, Gmail/Outlook ignore it. It matters mainly if you run your own mail server (deliverability handicap) or your app makes outbound calls to services with strict IP-reputation checks. For everything else, send email through a relay and the IP reputation is irrelevant.

By Marcus Tran · Updated 2026 · tracking the low-end market since 2018

Affiliate disclosure: some links below are affiliate links. This guide is built from community reporting and how IP blocklists actually work; the practical advice stays in regardless.

"Burned IPs" is one of the most thrown-around warnings in budget hosting, and one of the most misapplied. People treat it as a pass/fail verdict on a provider, when the reality is that almost every budget host has some IPs with history, and whether it matters depends entirely on what you're doing. This guide does two things: gives you the honest provider-by-provider picture, and shows you how to check any IP yourself in two minutes, which is more useful than any static list, because IP reputation changes.

Short version: RackNerd (ColoCrossing ranges) gets the most "burned IP" mentions, but it's a UCEProtect Level 3 listing that Gmail and Outlook largely ignore, so it only really bites if you run a mail server. The fix for almost everyone: send email through a relay (not your VPS IP), and the issue disappears. Before building anything email-dependent, check the actual IP with MXToolbox, reputation changes, so verify, don't rely on reputation alone.

First: what "burned" actually means (the UCEProtect levels)

Most "burned IP" panic comes from not knowing that blocklists have severity levels. UCEProtect, the one most cited for budget hosts, has three:

Level 1, lists a single IP for its own abuse. This is the serious one; it means your address did something.
Level 2, lists a smaller allocation block. Moderate.
Level 3, lists an entire ASN (the whole network/ISP) when there's enough abuse anywhere on it. It deliberately sweeps up huge numbers of innocent IPs as pressure on the network operator.

This matters because the major mailbox providers, Gmail and Outlook, largely ignore Level 3. They know an ASN-wide listing says nothing about your specific server. So when someone says "host X is on UCEProtect," the first question is "which level?", and for budget hosts it's almost always L3, the least serious one.

Provider-by-provider IP reputation

Provider	IP reputation note	Mail-server use?
RackNerd	ColoCrossing ranges, UCEProtect L3 (ASN-wide); some routing/Anycast reports too	Avoid (handicapped)
Contabo	Large shared ranges, hit-or-miss; not specifically known for clean mail IPs	Risky; test first
BuyVM	Own ranges; generally cleaner than ColoCrossing-based budget hosts	Better; still verify
Netcup	Own European ranges; generally decent reputation	Workable; verify the IP
GreenCloud	Mixed by node/line; no blanket "burned" reputation	Verify per IP

The honest pattern: RackNerd is the one with the well-known L3 situation (because ColoCrossing is a big, abuse-heavy network), but even that is mostly a mail-server concern, not a web-hosting one. The others don't carry a blanket "burned" reputation, but "the provider is generally fine" is not the same as "your specific IP is clean", which is why the check below matters more than any table.

How to check any IP in 2 minutes (do this, don't trust reputation)

Static reputation lists go stale; an IP's actual status is what counts, and you can check it yourself right after provisioning, while you can still swap a bad one:

Run a multi-blacklist check. Paste the IP into MXToolbox blacklist check, it tests dozens of blocklists at once and tells you which (if any) list it. mail-tester.com is the other go-to, especially for testing actual mail deliverability with a score.
Check the UCEProtect level specifically. An L3-only listing is mostly noise; an L1 listing on your exact IP is a real problem worth swapping for.
Check Spamhaus (the listing Gmail/Outlook actually weight) separately, this is the one that affects deliverability.
If the IP is bad and you need it clean, ask for a different IP. Most hosts will swap one, though on ColoCrossing-based networks a new IP is still in the same L3 ASN, so for mail, change hosts, not just IPs.

Two minutes here saves you days of "why does my email go to spam" later.

The fix that makes the whole issue moot

For the overwhelming majority of use cases, the burned-IP question has a simple answer: don't send email from your VPS IP at all. Run outbound mail through a dedicated relay (a transactional email provider), and your VPS's IP reputation becomes irrelevant, the relay handles deliverability from its own clean, monitored IPs. This is best practice regardless of host, and it neutralizes the entire "burned IP" concern for any website or app. The only scenario where you need a clean VPS IP is running your own full mail server, and for that, you should be on a host with clean ranges (not a ColoCrossing-based budget box) from the start.

Bottom line: "burned IPs" is real but narrow. It's almost always a UCEProtect L3 (ASN-wide) listing that Gmail/Outlook ignore, and it only matters for self-hosted mail. RackNerd carries the best-known L3 situation; the others are case-by-case. Don't rely on reputation, check the actual IP with MXToolbox in two minutes, and for everything except a dedicated mail server, route email through a relay and stop worrying about it.

FAQ

Which budget VPS providers have burned IPs?

RackNerd is the most-cited (ColoCrossing ranges, UCEProtect L3), but L3 is largely ignored by Gmail/Outlook so the harm is narrow. Most budget hosts have some IPs with history; the real question is whether it matters for your use, and it mostly only does for mail servers.

How do I check if a VPS IP is blacklisted?

Use MXToolbox blacklist check or mail-tester.com, paste the IP, it checks dozens of blocklists at once. Also check UCEProtect level and Spamhaus. Do it right after provisioning, while you can still swap a bad IP.

Does a burned IP matter for web hosting?

Rarely, a UCEProtect L3 listing barely affects websites, web apps, or VPNs (Gmail/Outlook ignore it). It mainly matters for self-hosted mail. For everything else, send email via a relay and the IP reputation is irrelevant.