What Is My IP
Find your public IP address, location, ISP, and other network information instantly.
How to use What Is My IP
Open the What Is My IP Tool
Navigate to the What Is My IP page in your browser. The tool loads automatically and begins detecting your public IP address within 1-2 seconds. No installation, plugins, or software required.
View Your IP Information Instantly
Your public IP address appears prominently at the top of the page in large text. Below it, you'll see a detailed information panel displaying your location (city, state, country), ISP name, connection type, and timezone.
Copy or Share Your IP Address
Click the 'Copy' button next to your IP address to copy it to your clipboard. Alternatively, use your browser's share button to send your IP information via email, messaging apps, or social media.
Check Additional Network Details
Scroll down to view additional network information including your hostname, reverse DNS lookup, IPv6 address (if available), connection speed, and browser information. All data refreshes automatically if you change networks.
Related Tools
URL Encoder / Decoder
Encode and decode URLs and query strings. Escape special characters for safe URL usage.
Hash Generator
Generate MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512 hashes from text or files. Browser-based, private.
UUID Generator
Generate random UUIDs (v4) and NIL UUIDs. Generate up to 100 UUIDs at once.
What is my IP address? Find your public IP instantly
What is my IP address? Find your public IP instantly
Wondering what your IP address is? Use ToolHQ's What Is My IP tool to see your current public IP address instantly, along with your IP version (IPv4 or IPv6) and approximate location information.
ToolHQ's What Is My IP tool is a free browser-based tool that displays your public IP address the moment the page loads. No data is stored and no account is required.
Your IP address is how the internet identifies your network connection. It appears in server logs, email headers, network diagnostics, and security checks. This tool shows you the IP that the outside world sees when traffic leaves your network.
Key Takeaways
- Shows your current public IPv4 and/or IPv6 address instantly
- Displays approximate geographic location associated with your IP (city, country)
- Shows your ISP (Internet Service Provider) name
- No data is stored -- your IP is used only to display the result to you
- Free with no login and no usage limits
What is an IP address?
An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a numerical label assigned to every device connected to a network. It serves two functions: identifying the host or network interface, and providing the location of the host in the network.
According to the Wikipedia article on IP addresses, IP addresses come in two versions:
- IPv4: Written as four numbers separated by dots, like 203.0.113.45. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses, providing about 4.3 billion possible addresses. With the growth of internet-connected devices, IPv4 addresses have been largely exhausted globally.
- IPv6: Written as eight groups of four hexadecimal digits separated by colons, like 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334. IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses, providing approximately 3.4 x 10^38 addresses -- enough to assign an address to every grain of sand on Earth many times over.
The original IPv4 protocol is defined in RFC 791, published in September 1981 by DARPA. RFC 791 remains one of the foundational internet standards documents. IPv6 is defined in RFC 2460 (later superseded by RFC 8200).
Public IP vs. private IP
You have two types of IP addresses simultaneously, and it is important to know which one you're looking at.
Your public IP address is the address your Internet Service Provider (ISP) assigns to your connection. All traffic leaving your home or office network uses this address. Websites, servers, and online services see your public IP when you visit them. This is what ToolHQ's tool displays.
Your private IP address is the address your router assigns to your device within your home or office network. Typical private IP addresses look like 192.168.1.x or 10.0.0.x. Private addresses are not routable on the internet -- they exist only within your local network. Your computer, phone, TV, and smart speaker each have a different private IP on your home network, but they all share the same public IP when accessing the internet.
Mini-story: Fatou is a 34-year-old freelance web developer. A client reported that their company's IP address had been blocked from her development server. Fatou asked what their IP was, but the client said "I don't know." She told them to visit ToolHQ's What Is My IP tool. The client saw their public IP: 185.92.44.17. Fatou whitelisted that address on the server's firewall, and the client accessed the staging environment within two minutes.
Check your IP address at ToolHQ
Why your IP address matters
Your public IP address appears in many places and contexts across the internet.
Server logs: Every web server records the IP address of every visitor. When you visit a website, your IP appears in the access log. System administrators and security teams use these logs to identify traffic patterns, block abusive requests, and investigate incidents.
Email headers: Emails sent from most providers include your IP address in the message headers. Law enforcement and email security services use these headers to trace the origin of messages.
VPN and proxy usage: When you use a VPN or proxy, your traffic exits from the VPN server's IP address rather than your own. The What Is My IP tool is a quick way to verify that a VPN is actually changing your apparent IP -- if the tool shows the VPN server's location rather than yours, the VPN is working.
Geo-blocking: Streaming services, news sites, and other platforms restrict access based on IP address location. Your public IP's geographic association determines which content you can access.
Remote access whitelisting: Many corporate VPNs, remote desktop services, and server firewalls restrict access to specific IP addresses. Knowing your public IP lets you give the right address to an IT administrator for whitelisting.
Mini-story: Hiroshi, a 29-year-old IT support technician, was troubleshooting a connectivity issue for a remote employee named Chen. Chen could not connect to the company's SSH server. Hiroshi asked Chen to use ToolHQ's What Is My IP tool and report the result. Chen's IP was 101.36.82.194. Hiroshi checked the SSH server's allowed-hosts list and found it was restricted to the old IP range from Chen's previous ISP. Hiroshi added 101.36.82.194 to the allowed list, and Chen connected successfully two minutes later.
For more network diagnostic tools, check ToolHQ's DNS lookup tool or the IP geolocation lookup tool. Browse all network tools in the ToolHQ network category.
IPv4 vs IPv6: what the two formats mean
You will sometimes see two different IP addresses when checking your IP -- one that looks like 203.0.113.45 and one that looks like 2001:db8:85a3::8a2e:370:7334. These are the two versions of the Internet Protocol, and understanding the difference helps you know what you are looking at.
IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses. This format holds about 4.3 billion unique addresses (2 to the power of 32). When the internet was designed in the 1970s and early 1980s, 4.3 billion addresses seemed like more than enough. With the explosion of smartphones, tablets, smart home devices, and IoT equipment, that supply ran out. IANA (the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) exhausted its global IPv4 address pool in 2011.
IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses. Created to solve the exhaustion problem, IPv6 provides 2 to the power of 128 unique addresses -- approximately 340 undecillion (3.4 x 10^38). This is enough to assign a unique IP to every atom on Earth's surface many times over, and effectively eliminates the scarcity problem permanently.
Private IP ranges. Not all IP addresses are publicly routable. Certain IPv4 ranges are reserved for private network use, meaning they only exist within a home or office LAN and are invisible to the public internet:
- 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 (the most common home router range)
- 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 (common in enterprise networks)
- 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 (less common, used in some corporate and cloud environments)
If you check your network settings on your laptop and see an address starting with 192.168 or 10.x, that is your private IP -- the address your router assigned to your device within your home network. It is not the same as your public IP.
Why your IP may differ on cellular vs WiFi. When you are on WiFi, your traffic goes through your router and out through your ISP's connection. Your public IP is your home ISP's assigned address. When you switch to cellular (4G, 5G), your traffic goes through your mobile carrier's network, and your public IP is one assigned by the carrier. Mobile carriers often use carrier-grade NAT (CGNAT), where millions of subscribers share a small pool of public IP addresses. This is why IP geolocation for mobile connections is often less accurate than for fixed broadband: many users in different locations share the same public IP.
Frequently asked questions
Does ToolHQ store my IP address?
No. ToolHQ's What Is My IP tool displays your IP address to you and does not store, log, or share it. No account is required and no personal data is retained.
Why does my IP address show the wrong city or country?
IP geolocation is an estimate, not an exact location. Databases map IP address ranges to geographic areas, but the mapping can be imprecise -- especially for mobile networks, VPNs, and ISPs that route traffic across regions. The city shown may be the ISP's routing hub rather than your physical location.
Does my IP address change?
Most consumer ISPs assign dynamic IP addresses that can change when your router restarts or after a set period. Business connections often have static IP addresses that stay fixed. If your IP address changes frequently, note that any whitelisting you do may need updating.
Can someone find my home address from my IP?
Generally no. Your ISP knows which IP addresses are assigned to which subscribers, but that information is not publicly available. Law enforcement can subpoena this data from ISPs. Publicly, an IP address reveals only your ISP name and an approximate city -- not your street address.
What is the difference between IPv4 and IPv6?
IPv4 addresses are 32-bit numeric addresses (like 203.0.113.1). IPv6 addresses are 128-bit hexadecimal addresses (like 2001:db8::1). IPv6 was created to address IPv4's exhaustion of available addresses. Many networks now support both simultaneously (dual-stack). You may see either or both when checking your IP.
The short version
Your public IP address is how the internet identifies your network connection. ToolHQ's What Is My IP tool shows it to you instantly, along with your ISP and approximate location. No data is stored.
Useful for VPN verification, server whitelisting, network troubleshooting, and understanding what information your IP reveals to the sites you visit.
For DNS record lookups, use ToolHQ's DNS lookup tool. For IP location details, use the IP geolocation lookup. Browse all network tools at the ToolHQ network category.