What is my IP address?
3.12.150.250
Country
United States (US)
Timezone
America/New_York
Internet Provider
Amazon Inc
ASN
AS16509
Browser
Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
What is an IP address?
An IP address is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. These devices can range from personal computers and smartphones to servers and IoT (Internet of Things) devices. The primary function of an IP address is twofold: identifying the host or network interface and providing the location of the host in the network, thus enabling the routing of data.
Here’s how an IP address directs data to its destination. When you type a website name (like example.com) into your browser, your computer first needs to find the numerical IP address associated with that website (for example, example.com = 203.0.113.1). Once it has the IP address, your computer can locate the website on the Internet and load it onto your screen.
How to find my IP address
To find your public IP address, simply scroll to the top of this page. There, you'll see your IP address, the location you're connecting from, your service provider, IP reputation, and threat profile.
Understanding IPv4 vs IPv6 Addresses
IPv4 and IPv6 are the two main IP addressing protocols used today. IPv4 is the older standard, developed in the 1980s. It uses 32-bit addresses, allowing for about 4.3 billion unique IP addresses. IPv6 is the newest standard, developed in the 1990s. It uses 128-bit addresses, allowing for 340 undecillion unique IP addresses. That’s a huge increase!
IPv4
IPv4 addresses are those familiar numbers like 192.168.1.1 that are assigned to every device on the internet. An IPv4 address consists of four numbers between 0 to 255 separated by periods. Each number represents an 8-bit binary address, giving IPv4 a 32-bit address space.
However, IPv4 has a limited 32-bit address space of about 4.3 billion addresses. With the rapid growth of the internet and proliferation of devices, IPv4 addresses have nearly run out.
IPv6
IPv6 addresses are the next generation of IP addresses used to identify devices on the internet. IPv6 addresses are 128 bits long, allowing for over 340 undecillion unique addresses! An IPv6 address might look something like this: 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334. I know, it looks pretty crazy compared to IPv4 addresses. The good news is, IPv6 addresses are broken down into eight groups of four hexadecimal digits for easier readability.
IPv6 also includes additional security features like IPSec support and options for authentication and encryption. This allows for more secure communication and the prevention of various network attacks that are common with IPv4. IPv6 is also designed to simplify network configuration and management.
Do I need to switch to IPv6?
Most home users don’t need to switch to IPv6 right away. However, as more internet-enabled devices come online and IPv4 addresses become scarcer, IPv6 adoption will increase. Major tech companies like Google, Facebook and Cloudflare already support IPv6. If you run a business, IPv6 provides advantages for managing large networks and the huge number of new IP addresses may be essential for your company in the coming years.
Public vs. private IP addresses
A public IP, also known as an external IP, is the address provided by your internet service provider. All devices on the same network share this IP address when accessing the internet. For specific details, such as location, you can perform an IP lookup. In contrast, private or local IPs are assigned to each device on your network by your router. Refer to the table below to better understand the differences between public and private IP addresses: