How to Check Your Public IP Address (Complete Guide)

"What is my IP" is one of the most common networking questions. The fastest way is to open this site's home page: the top directly shows your current public exit IP, along with its location, ASN, ISP, IP type, and risk score. This is exactly the address external websites see.

But there are actually two kinds of "IP": your outward-facing public IP and the private IP on your local network. Below we cover how to check both, their differences, and common questions in one place.

What's the difference between a public and a private IP

A public IP is assigned by your ISP and is unique and routable across the entire internet, so others reach you through it; a private IP is valid only within your home or office LAN and cannot leave that network.

• Public IP: e.g. 203.0.113.5, unique across the internet; it is what websites see.
• Private IP: e.g. 192.168.1.10, 10.0.0.5, 172.16.x.x, which are private address ranges used only within a LAN.
• A home usually has just one public IP, while its internal devices each have a different private IP.

Method 1: Check your public IP with one click on the web (easiest)

Just visit this site's home page, or type ipyou.net into the address bar and press Enter. The IP address in the "Results" section at the top is your public exit IP, and you can also see its location, ISP, whether it's residential or datacenter, its risk score, and more, making it far more useful than tools that only show a string of numbers.

To look up a different IP, just visit ipyou.net/the-ip-you-want (for example, ipyou.net/8.8.8.8).

Method 2: Check your private IP (per platform)

Your private IP can't be found on the web; you need to check it locally on the device:

Windows

1. Press Win + R, type cmd, and press Enter to open the Command Prompt.
2. Type ipconfig and press Enter.
3. Find the "IPv4 Address" of your active adapter, e.g. 192.168.x.x, which is your private IP.

macOS

• System Settings -> Network -> select the active connection -> view the IP address; or run ifconfig in the Terminal.

Phone (iOS / Android)

• After connecting to Wi-Fi, open the details of the current network in your Wi-Fi settings to see the private IP assigned to it.

Router

• Log in to your router's admin panel (commonly 192.168.1.1 / 192.168.0.1) and check "Status / WAN" to see the public or upstream IP the router obtained.

Why multiple devices show the same public IP

Because every device at home gets online through the same router, which uses NAT (Network Address Translation) to "translate" everyone's private IP into one shared public exit IP. So checking the public IP on any device gives the same result, but their private IPs are all different.

Which IP do you see when using a proxy / VPN

With a proxy or VPN enabled, this site shows the proxy / VPN's exit IP instead of your real address, which is exactly their "IP-changing" purpose. But note:

• Your browser's WebRTC may bypass the proxy and expose your real public IP via STUN; use this site's WebRTC test on the home page to check for a leak.
• If this site shows a private address (like 100.64.x.x / 192.168.x.x), you may be behind CGNAT and have no dedicated public IP.

What else you can see after finding your IP

Once you have your public IP, this site also provides information useful for account management, cross-border work, and troubleshooting:

• IP type: residential / datacenter / mobile network, with a confidence level.
• Risk score / purity: the lower, the safer.
• Whether it hits the IP blocklist.
• Location, ASN, ISP, and registration info.