If you have ever looked at your computer’s network settings and then at the top of our home page, you may have noticed two completely different IP addresses. Neither is wrong. Every device on a typical home or office network has a private IP address that works inside the network, and shares a single public IP address that the rest of the internet sees. This guide explains the difference and shows you exactly where to find each one.
The short version
| Private IP | Public IP | |
|---|---|---|
| Example | 192.168.1.23 | 203.0.113.42 |
| Assigned by | Your router (DHCP) | Your internet provider |
| Visible to | Devices on your network | Every website and service you use |
| Unique? | Only within your network | Unique on the whole internet (at a given moment) |
| Where to find it | Device network settings | Our home page |
How the two addresses work together
When IPv4 was designed, nobody expected billions of phones, laptops, TVs and smart plugs. There are only about 4.3 billion IPv4 addresses, which is not enough for every device on Earth. The solution is Network Address Translation (NAT).
Your router receives one public address from your provider. It then hands out private addresses to each device inside your home from a reserved range. When your laptop at 192.168.1.23 opens a website, the router rewrites the outgoing packet so it appears to come from the public address, and remembers which device asked. When the reply comes back, the router uses that memory to deliver it to the laptop. Websites only ever see the public address.
Three blocks of addresses are reserved for private use by the standard RFC 1918, and they are never routed on the public internet:
10.0.0.0–10.255.255.255(10.0.0.0/8) – common in offices and some routers172.16.0.0–172.31.255.255(172.16.0.0/12) – often used by Docker and corporate networks192.168.0.0–192.168.255.255(192.168.0.0/16) – used by most home routers
There is also 100.64.0.0/10, reserved for providers that use carrier-grade NAT. If your router’s internet (WAN) address is in that range, read our guide What is CGNAT?
How to find your public IP address
The easiest way is to open CheckMyIP.tools on the device – your public IP is shown at the top, along with your provider and approximate location. Because all devices on the same network share the public address, your phone on home Wi-Fi will show the same IP as your laptop. Switch the phone to mobile data and it will show a different one.
From a terminal or script, run:
curl https://checkmyip.tools/ipYou can also log into your router: its status page shows the “WAN IP” or “Internet IP”. If that differs from what our site shows, there is another layer of NAT between you and the internet.
How to find your private IP address
Windows 10 and 11
- Open Settings › Network & internet.
- Click Wi-Fi or Ethernet, then the network you are connected to (or “Hardware properties”).
- Look for IPv4 address.
Faster: press Win + R, type cmd, press Enter and run ipconfig. The “IPv4 Address” under your active adapter is your private IP, and “Default Gateway” is your router.
macOS
- Open System Settings › Network.
- Select Wi-Fi or Ethernet and click Details….
- Open the TCP/IP tab to see the IP address and router.
In Terminal, ipconfig getifaddr en0 prints the Wi-Fi address on most Macs.
iPhone and iPad
Go to Settings › Wi-Fi and tap the ⓘ next to your network. The IP address and router are listed under IPv4 address. Note that iOS uses a “private Wi-Fi address” – a random MAC address per network – which is different from the IP address.
Android
Menus vary by manufacturer, but usually: Settings › Network & internet › Internet (or Wi-Fi), tap the gear icon next to your network, and look under Advanced or Network details for the IP address.
Linux
Run ip -4 addr or hostname -I in a terminal.
Finding your router’s IP address
Your router’s private address is the default gateway shown in the steps above – most commonly 192.168.1.1, 192.168.0.1 or 10.0.0.1. Type it into your browser to open the router’s admin page, where you can set up port forwarding or DHCP reservations.
Which one should I give out?
- A friend joining your game server from outside needs your public IP (and a forwarded port).
- Another device on your Wi-Fi – a printer, a phone casting to a TV, a NAS – uses your private IP.
- An IT department allow-listing your home office needs your public IP. If it changes often, see static vs dynamic IP addresses.
Sharing a private IP is harmless – millions of homes use the same 192.168.1.x addresses. Sharing your public IP is also generally safe, because every website already sees it, but it does reveal your approximate city and your provider.
What about IPv6?
With IPv6 there are so many addresses that NAT is usually unnecessary: each device gets its own globally unique public address, and your router’s firewall – not address translation – blocks unwanted incoming connections. Devices also keep a link-local address starting with fe80:: that only works on the local network. Learn more in IPv6 explained.
Summary
Your private IP identifies a device inside your network and is assigned by your router. Your public IP identifies your whole network on the internet and is assigned by your provider. NAT on your router connects the two. To see your public address, simply visit our home page; to see your private one, check your device’s network settings or run ipconfig.