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In a September 2026 sample, 6 of 30 Tencent Cloud IP addresses and 1 of 30 Alibaba Cloud addresses appeared on at least one of eight checked DNS blocklists. That is a six-to-one ratio between the observed sample rates—not proof that any Tencent IP is six times as likely to be listed across either provider’s full address space.
What the September 2026 sample found
One IP’s report, dated October 2, 2026, says it sampled 30 IP addresses from each of 12 providers. For Tencent Cloud and Alibaba Cloud, the results were:
| Measure | Tencent Cloud | Alibaba Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| IPs appearing on at least one checked blocklist | 6 of 30 (20%) | 1 of 30 (about 3.3%) |
| IPs with no PTR reverse-DNS record | 29 of 30 | 30 of 30 |
| IPs with no RDAP registrant | 30 of 30 | 18 of 30 |
| IPs with an abuse-role contact in RDAP | 10 of 30 | 12 of 30 |
The blocklist figures are the basis for the headline’s “6x” comparison: 20% divided by about 3.3% is approximately six. The report describes a sample drawn from announced provider prefixes using a fixed seed; it is not a census of either provider’s IPs. See One IP / PureIP’s September 2026 VPS audit.
What “blacklisted” means here
In this audit, an IP counted as listed if it appeared on one or more of eight queried DNS-based blocklists: all.s5h.net, dnsbl-1.uceprotect.net, bl.spamcop.net, dnsbl.dronebl.org, dnsbl.spfbl.net, hostkarma.junkemailfilter.com, psbl.surriel.com, or bl.blocklist.de. This is a specific check against those lists at the time of the audit, not a universal blacklist status or definitive evidence of abuse.
#1 Best Overall
The DEV Community article reporting the comparison says all six listed Tencent addresses appeared on SPFBL, and each was in a separate /24 range. The article interprets that distribution as more consistent with individual addresses than a network-wide decision. That is an interpretation of the observed pattern, not proof of why the listings occurred. Across all 12 providers, the audit counted 47 listed addresses, 41 of them on SPFBL. The article’s account of the results gives these list-specific details.
Does the sample show that the providers have the same broken metadata?
No—not across every metadata field. PTR coverage was similarly poor in the two samples: nearly all sampled addresses at both providers lacked a reverse-DNS PTR record. RDAP results were not the same: every sampled Tencent IP lacked an RDAP registrant, compared with 18 of 30 Alibaba IPs, while abuse-role contacts appeared for 10 Tencent and 12 Alibaba addresses.
Rank #2
Missing PTR or RDAP information describes what the lookup returned; it does not establish that an IP was used maliciously or caused a blocklist entry. Metadata and blocklist status answer different questions. A PTR record maps an address to a reverse-DNS name, while RDAP can show registration details and role contacts. Neither substitutes for querying the blocklist relevant to your use.
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How far can you trust the six-to-one comparison?
It is accurate as arithmetic about the reported sample, but it is not a reliable provider-wide probability or an individual-IP forecast. With only 30 sampled addresses per provider, the observed counts may not represent the providers’ much larger address pools. The report does not provide confidence intervals or a significance test. It also notes that blocklists change over time, so a result can differ when checked later.
The audit’s pooled figures do not support attributing the result to nationality. The other ten providers had 40 listings among 300 sampled IPs (13.3%); Tencent and Alibaba together had 7 among 60 (11.7%). These are small samples from different providers, not a controlled comparison that explains why any address was listed.
How to check an IP before using it
If you are evaluating a VPS or preparing a mail deployment, the useful question is whether the specific address assigned to you appears on the lists that matter to your service. The DEV Community article puts it plainly: “The only query that answers the question is the blocklist query itself.”
- Get the exact IP. Check the address you will actually use, not a provider-wide reputation claim or an unrelated sample.
- Query the relevant DNS blocklists. Record which list reports a hit and when you checked it; a result is time-sensitive.
- Distinguish one hit from a pattern. Note whether the address is listed once or on multiple lists. A single automated-list hit is not equivalent to repeated listings across several lists.
- Check neighboring addresses if network context matters. A cluster across nearby addresses can be useful context, but it still does not establish the cause of a listing.
- Check PTR and RDAP separately. These fields help describe reverse-DNS and registration metadata; they do not prove blocklist status or explain a listing.
Sources and scope
The comparison comes from One IP / PureIP’s report, “Which VPS provider has clean IPs? 360 IPs tested across 12 providers,” dated October 2, 2026, and a DEV Community article by zihuama published October 7, 2026, originally published at PureIP. The report links a raw JSON dataset and sampler and describes them as public domain (CC BY 4.0). The figures here are attributed to those publications; they are not an independent reanalysis.
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