About IP Addresses
Your IP address (short for Internet Protocol address) is the unique number your internet connection uses to identify itself online. It is how websites, servers, email providers and every other machine on the internet knows where to send data back to you. Without an IP address, the internet could not route packets between your device and the services you use.
There are two versions in active use today. IPv4 is the classic four-number format like 203.0.113.42 — about 4.3 billion possible addresses, which were exhausted in 2011. IPv6 is the newer format with 128-bit hexadecimal addresses like 2001:db8::8a2e:370:7334, providing effectively unlimited addresses. Most modern connections use both in parallel.
Public vs private IP addresses
You actually have two IP addresses, and they do very different things:
| Type | Assigned by | Visible to | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public IP | Your ISP | The whole internet | 203.0.113.42 |
| Private IP | Your router | Only your local network | 192.168.1.5 |
Websites see your public IP — the one this tool shows. Your private IP is used internally by your router to route traffic between your laptop, phone, TV and other devices on the same network. Private IPs are never visible to the internet.
What your IP reveals
An IP address is a lot less anonymous than people often think, but also less revealing than they fear:
- Approximate location — usually city-level, sometimes neighbourhood-level. Mobile networks and VPNs are far less precise.
- Your ISP — the company that owns the IP range and routes your traffic.
- Organisation — for corporate, school or government networks, the organisation name is public.
- Rough connection type — residential, mobile, hosting or VPN, inferred from the ISP.
What an IP does not reveal: your name, address, phone number or any other personal identifier. Only your ISP can connect an IP to a specific customer, and they only release that to law enforcement or with a court order.
IPv4 vs IPv6
| Feature | IPv4 | IPv6 |
|---|---|---|
| Format | 192.168.1.1 | 2001:db8::1 |
| Size | 32-bit | 128-bit |
| Total addresses | ~4.3 billion | ~340 undecillion |
| Introduced | 1981 | 1998 |
| Status | Exhausted, still in use | Rolled out, growing |
Most ISPs now run dual-stack networks — your connection has both an IPv4 and an IPv6 address, and the browser picks the best one per destination. Which one you see on this page depends on what the lookup service detects first.
Common use cases
Confirm VPN is working
Check that your IP changed after connecting to a VPN.
Server setup
Whitelist your IP on a firewall or admin panel.
Debugging
Confirm which network your device is actually using.
Privacy check
See what any website can learn about you by default.
ISP lookup
Identify which provider is routing your traffic.
Geo verification
Check how your IP appears to geo-restricted services.
Privacy
This IP lookup tool does not log, store or share the IP addresses that query it. The lookup is performed by calling a public IP geolocation API with your request — no additional information is collected, and no cookies are set beyond what is required for the page to function.