Dedicated IPs

Steel sessions give you a fresh cloud browser on demand. Dedicated IPs let those sessions look consistent where the network matters.

Without a dedicated IP, each session may come from a different network path. With a dedicated IP, a site can see requests from a familiar IP instead of a new location on every run. This is useful for login reliability, long-running automations, and workflows where repeated "new network" signals cause extra checks. This is often called the impossible traveler problem: auth and anti-bot systems see the same account appear from unrelated networks or locations too quickly, then invalidate the saved auth state or add extra verification.

Profiles take this further. A dedicated IP gives the session stable network identity, but it does not preserve the browser itself. Without a profile, each session still starts like a new browser: no cookies, local storage, IndexedDB, login state, permissions, or prior browser history.

With Steel Profiles, the browser identity persists too. You can sign in once, release the session, and later start another cloud browser with the same profile and the same saved browser state.

Together:

• Sessions give you scalable, on-demand cloud browsers.
• Dedicated IPs give those sessions stable network identity.
• Profiles give those sessions stable browser identity.
• Using both helps automations resume from a trusted, logged-in state instead of starting cold every time.

Lease Dedicated IPs

Dedicated IPs are leased from Settings > Network in the Steel dashboard. They are available on paid plans; Hobby workspaces need to upgrade before leasing dedicated IPs.

Each dedicated IP is billed as a monthly subscription at $5 per dedicated IP / month. You can lease up to 25 dedicated IPs self-serve from the Network page. If you need more, contact support.

1. 1Open Settings > Network.
2. 2Click Lease Dedicated IPs.
3. 3Choose a location and quantity.
4. 4Complete checkout.

After checkout completes, the Network page lists each leased dedicated IP. You will see the public IP address, such as 203.0.113.42, and a Steel dedicated IP identifier, such as fixed:8SdfYs77me.

Use the fixed:<id> identifier in API requests. Copy the Dedicated IP ID from the Network page when you want to pin a session or profile to a specific IP.

Use Any Dedicated IP

Pass useProxy: { type: "fixed" } when creating a session. Steel will randomly select one active dedicated IP from your workspace.

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const session = await client.sessions.create({
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  useProxy: { type: "fixed" },
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});

This default is useful when you want stable, dedicated egress without caring which dedicated IP is used for a specific run.

Pin A Specific Dedicated IP

If you want a specific IP, pass its fixed IP identifier with id.

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const session = await client.sessions.create({
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  useProxy: { type: "fixed", id: "fixed:aaaa" },
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});

Use this when a specific account, profile, customer, or workflow should always use the same network identity.

Persist A Dedicated IP With A Profile

When you create a persisted profile with an unspecified dedicated IP, Steel first selects one of your dedicated IPs, then stores that selected IP on the profile after the session starts successfully.

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const firstSession = await client.sessions.create({
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  persistProfile: true,
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  useProxy: { type: "fixed" },
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});
5

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const profileId = firstSession.profileId;
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const secondSession = await client.sessions.create({
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  profileId,
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});

The second session loads the saved profile, including the fixed IP selection. That means future sessions using the profile can keep both the same browser state and the same network identity.

You can also explicitly pin the IP at profile creation time:

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const session = await client.sessions.create({
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  persistProfile: true,
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  useProxy: { type: "fixed", id: "fixed:aaaa" },
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});

Why Lease Multiple IPs?

Multiple dedicated IPs give you more control over how work is distributed:

• Keep one stable IP per account, profile, customer, or workflow.
• Run parallel sessions without every workflow sharing the same IP.
• Reduce repeated traffic from one network identity.
• Keep a fallback IP available if a site challenges or blocks one IP.
• Let Steel randomly distribute sessions across your dedicated IPs when you do not pass an id.

For account-based automations, a common pattern is one profile plus one dedicated IP per account. The profile keeps browser state. The dedicated IP keeps network identity.

Billing And Metering

Dedicated IP traffic is metered as normal proxy bandwidth. It appears in the same proxy bandwidth usage model as your other Steel proxy traffic.

Browser session time is still metered separately as normal session usage.

FAQ