Buying IPv4 space has changed considerably since the registries ran dry. What was once a matter of finding anyone willing to sell is now a mature market with established brokers, formal registry programmes and real differences in how much of the work a provider will take off your hands.
Two names come up regularly for buyers comparing options: IPv4 Market Group and IPv4 Connect. Both are legitimate operators with inventory across the major registries. The differences sit in the service model rather than in whether they can complete a transaction.
This comparison works through the six areas that decide how a purchase actually goes, using what each company publishes about its own process.
IPv4 Market Group vs IPv4 Connect Marketplace
IPv4 Market Group operates as a traditional brokerage, matching buyers and sellers and supporting the transaction through to completion. IPv4 Connect, operated by Brander Group, runs a published marketplace where buyers browse listed blocks at fixed prices and the transfer is managed end to end.
That structural difference shapes most of what follows. A brokerage relationship starts with a conversation, while a marketplace starts with inventory you can see. Neither is inherently better, but they suit different procurement styles.
Fully Managed IPv4 Transfers
IPv4 Connect handles the transfer from agreement through to registry confirmation, coordinating between buyer, seller and the registry itself. Published timelines run two to three weeks, covering documentation, registry review and confirmation.
IPv4 Market Group supports transfers as part of its brokerage service, though the arrangement is closer to guided assistance than a fully managed handover. Buyers who want a single point of accountability for the registry ticket should ask directly how ownership of that process is assigned.
Detailed IPv4 Blacklist Reporting
Both companies screen and clean address space, which is worth stating plainly because the market often implies otherwise.
IPv4 Market Group has built its own scanning software and has published a figure of around 90 public blacklists checked when a seller lists through it, though that figure dates from an earlier version of its site.
IPv4 Connect screens against more than 100 global blacklists and supplies the resulting report free with every subnet, before purchase rather than after. It also removes BGP announcements, stale route objects and old DNS records ahead of the transfer, so the block arrives without inherited routing baggage.
The practical difference is timing and disclosure. Seeing the report before you commit changes the negotiation; receiving cleaning as a service after you have chosen a block does not.
Secure IPv4 Payments
This is the area where the two are most alike. Both support direct wire or ACH and both accept third-party escrow through Escrow.com.
The mechanism is the same in either case. Funds sit with the escrow agent while the transfer runs, and are released only once WHOIS shows the buyer as the registered holder.
Qualified Vendors and Inventory
IPv4 Connect maintains inventory across ARIN, RIPE and APNIC, though for most buyers region alone will rarely decide between the two.
Where IPv4 Connect goes further is in what happens before a block is listed. Sellers are taken through their registry to confirm they hold the space free and clear, ownership rights are verified, and the range is cleaned and stripped of routing records at that point rather than at the point of sale. Block sizes start at /24, with larger contiguous ranges available.
For buyers, the effect is that the listing you are looking at has already been through due diligence. That shortens the gap between choosing a block and starting a transfer, which matters when address space is one of several scalable infrastructure decisions being made under the same deadline.
Geolocation and Geofeeds Support
Geolocation is the step most often forgotten until something breaks. A newly acquired block frequently still resolves to its previous owner’s country, which affects content delivery, licensing and anything that routes by region.
IPv4 Market Group does not foreground geolocation support in the same way, so buyers should confirm whether it is included or handled independently.
IPv4 Pre-Approval Support
ARIN and APNIC both require buyers to demonstrate business justification before receiving address space. Getting that wrong is one of the more common reasons a transfer stalls.
IPv4 Connect provides pre-approval assistance for ARIN and APNIC buyers as part of the managed transfer. Buyers new to the process, or moving from carrier-assigned space to their own allocation, will find that guidance saves the most time.
IPv4 Market Group expects buyers to arrive with pre-approval in hand or to arrange it themselves. That is workable for organisations that have done it before and a hurdle for those that have not.
Feature Comparison
| Marketplace feature | IPv4 Connect | IPv4 Market Group |
|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | Yes | Yes |
| Large IPv4 inventory | Yes | Yes |
| Secure payment options | Yes | Yes |
| Buy now option | Yes | Limited |
| Blacklist screening | Yes, 100+ lists | Yes, figure not current |
| Free report before purchase | Yes | Not stated |
| Clean BGP and route objects | Yes | Not stated |
| Geolocation support | Yes | Not stated |
| Fully managed transfers | Yes | Partial |
| Pre-approval assistance | Yes | Not stated |
Entries marked “not stated” mean the company does not publish the details, not that the service is unavailable. Confirm directly before deciding.
Which One Fits Your Purchase
IPv4 Market Group suits buyers who already understand registry policy, have pre-approval sorted and want a broker to source and negotiate. Its blacklist cleaning capability is genuine and its regional coverage is broad.
IPv4 Connect suits buyers who want the process carried for them. Fixed published pricing removes the uncertainty of an auction, the blacklist report arrives before you commit rather than after, and pre-approval, routing cleanup and geolocation updates are all handled inside the same engagement. Brander Group operates the platform, with facilitator standing across ARIN, RIPE and APNIC.
The deciding question is how much of the work you want to own. If your team has run transfers before, either provider will get you there. If this is your first acquisition, or the block is going into production quickly, the managed route removes more failure points.
