How to use flexible IP addresses with Public Gateways

Reviewed on June 20, 2025

This page shows you how to use flexible IP addresses with your Public Gateways.

Flexible IP addresses are public IPs that you can hold independently of any Public Gateway, and attach and detach to/from any of your Public Gateways as you wish. You can keep a number of flexible IP addresses in your account at any given time.

Important

This how-to concerns the creation of Public Gateway flexible IPs. For the creation of Instance flexible IPs or Elastic Metal flexible IPs, refer to the relevant documentation. Note that each set of flexible IPs is independent, and can only be used with that product. Instance flexible IPs cannot be attached to Public Gateways and vice versa. Public Gateway flexible IPs are scoped to a single Availability Zone.

Note

Flexible IPs are associated with a particular product and cannot be moved to a different product category. For example, a flexible IP for Instances can be moved to another Instance, but it cannot be transferred to other service types like Load Balancers or Elastic Metal servers.

Before you start

To complete the actions presented below, you must have:

A Scaleway account logged into the console
Owner status or IAM permissions allowing you to perform actions in the intended Organization

How to create a new flexible IP address

Click Public Gateways in the Network section of the side menu.
Navigate to the Flexible IPs tab.
Click Create flexible IP. The flexible IP creation wizard displays.
Complete the following information in the wizard:
- Choose an Availability Zone, which is the geographical location where your flexible IP will be created.
- Check the Estimated cost for the flexible IP.
Click Create flexible IP to finish.

The updated list of your flexible IPs displays with the new flexible IP address you have just created.

How to attach an existing flexible IP address to a Public Gateway

Click Public Gateways in the Network section of the side menu.
Navigate to the Flexible IPs tab.
Click more icon next to the flexible IP that you want to attach to a Public Gateway. In the drop-down menu which opens, click Attach. Alternatively, click Attach to Public Gateway next to the flexible IP.
Select the Public Gateway that you want to attach to this flexible IP in the pop-up window, and click Attach flexible IP.

Note

Only Public Gateways that are in the same Availability Zone as your flexible IP will be selectable.

How to detach an existing flexible IP address from a Public Gateway

Click Public Gateways in the Network section of the side menu.
Navigate to the Flexible IPs tab.
Click more icon next to the flexible IP that you want to detach from a Public Gateway. In the drop-down menu which opens, click Detach.
Confirm the action by clicking Detach flexible IP in the pop-up window.

How to delete a flexible IP address

When you no longer want one of your existing flexible IP addresses, you can delete it from your account, which releases it to be used by other users.

Important

The flexible IP must be detached from any Public Gateways in order to be deleted.

Click Public Gateways in the Network section of the side menu.
Navigate to the Flexible IPs tab.
Click more icon next to the flexible IP that you want to detach from a Public Gateway. In the drop-down menu which opens, click Delete.
Confirm that you want to delete the flexible IP in the pop-up window which opens, by clicking Delete flexible IP.

The flexible IP is deleted.