What Is IP Quality Score
The IP Quality Score (IPQS) is a kind of “digital reputation” of your IP address. It shows how reliable and “clean” your connection looks from the point of view of security systems. The higher the indicator, the higher the risk that the IP is associated with spam, bots, fraudulent activity, VPN or anonymous proxies.
Imagine that IPQS is a credit score for your connection: banks check your credit history, and websites get an IP Quality Score. Online stores, payment gateways, and advertising networks use it to distinguish an ordinary user from a potential attacker.
This indicator has become a key tool for anti-fraud systems, cybersecurity, and advertising platforms that filter millions of requests every day. The “cleaner” your IP is, the less likely you are to see a captcha, a temporary lock, or a “Suspicious activity detected” error.
How IP Quality Score Works
The IPQS system analyzes millions of digital signals to calculate how “naturally” an IP behaves. It takes data from various sources — DNS records, proxy networks, spam databases, and behavioral logs – and builds a statistical profile of the address.
Dozens of parameters are calculated:
- frequency and query anomalies;
- connection type (mobile, data center, TOR, VPN);
- speed and route of packages;
- history of activity (spam, DDoS, suspicious traffic).
As a result, each IP is assigned a score from 0 to 100.
- 0-25 is a secure, reliable address;
- 26-50 — moderately suspicious (for example, a public VPN);
- 51-100 — high risk: possible bot, spammer or fraudster.
Thus, IPQS doesn’t just look at where the request came from — it analyzes the context, behavior, and environment of the address.
What Factors Influence the Score
The IP Quality Score is influenced by dozens of factors, and often not obvious ones. For example, if you often use free VPNs or public Wi-Fi hotspots, your IP may fall into the “gray zone”.
Key triggers:
- Using a VPN, proxy, or TOR. Even if the goal is privacy, the system may interpret this as an attempt to hide. Among free VPN services there are good options, so feel free to check our top 10 best free VPN services.
- Recurring requests. If one IP address repeatedly accesses one site in a short time, it looks suspicious.
- Geographical jumps. Today it’s Moscow, tomorrow it’s Canada. Such movements are typical for bots and farming.
- Blacklists. If the IP has already been detected in spam or phishing, it receives a high default risk.
In addition, IPQS even takes into account the time of activity and the type of device. For example, “overnight” logins from unusual regions or massive requests through data center servers raise the risk.
The True Role of Quality Score
The IP Quality Score today has become what the “user reputation” used to be on the Internet. This is a metric that affects everything from website access to the ability to pay for a purchase online.
- For business, it is a shield against fraudsters. Companies use IPQS to filter fake registrations, block suspicious payments, and prevent click fraud in ads. One look at the IP rating and the system understands whether it is a real client or a bot.
- For users, this is a way to understand why a captcha, temporary ban, or “unusual activity detected” message suddenly appeared. Low IPQS does not always mean the user’s fault — it is often the result of poor Wi-Fi, shared VPN, or an infected device.
- For developers and analysts, IPQS provides the foundation for building anti—fraud models. You can dynamically adjust access, require additional verification, or increase the level of protection if the risk is high.
The IP Quality Score has become the “invisible filter” that decides on a daily basis which requests are safe and which are not.
How to Check and Improve Your IP Quality Score
Checking your IPQS is easier than it seems. Just go to ipqualityscore.com and enter your IP address into the form. You will receive a score from 0 to 100, as well as a description of the factors influencing the risk. For businesses, there is an API that allows you to automatically evaluate customers in real time.
How to Improve your IP Quality Score:
- Avoid suspicious VPNs and public proxies. They often share one IP address between hundreds of users, which causes the rating to drop.
- Keep the network clean. Do not run autoscripts or spam forms — this instantly reduces your reputation.
- Check your IP address on blacklist services such as whoerip. If the IP got there, you can clear it by requesting deletion or changing the address through the provider.
- Restart the router. Sometimes it is enough to update the IP to reset the negative history.
A clean IP is like a business card: The more careful you are online, the less likely you are to fall under the filter.
Why IP Reputation Is the New Trust Metric
Today, IP reputation is a new level of digital trust. Your IP address has become the same reliability marker as an offline passport.
A good IP Quality Score increases the chance that the site will let you through without a captcha, the payment will go through without additional verification, and the advertisement will not be perceived as a click bot.It is a protection tool for companies, an indicator of network health for users, and a source of risk data for analysts.
And as digital threats grow, IPQS is becoming a key element of online security. The IP Quality Score is not just a number, but a reflection of your “behavior” on the Internet. The more transparent and careful you are, the higher the trust. In the era of automatic filters, trust is the new currency, and IPQS is its meter.