IP Lookup
Location, network and reverse DNS for any address. Private ranges are explained without an outside lookup.
How accurate is any of this
Worth knowing before you rely on it, because geolocation is presented with far more confidence than it deserves.
| Field | How reliable |
|---|---|
| Country | Right almost always. Address blocks are allocated to regional registries, so this is close to a matter of record. |
| Region | Usually right, though a large provider routing through one hub can place a whole area elsewhere. |
| City | Right perhaps three quarters of the time. Mobile networks are much worse. |
| Coordinates | The centre of a city or a region, never a street. Treat them as a marker, not a position. |
| ISP and ASN | Reliable. This is registry data rather than inference. |
The reason is simple: an IP address is allocated to a network, not to a place. Where that network chooses to route its traffic determines what any database can infer, and providers regularly route a whole region through one exchange. If your own address shows the wrong city, that is almost certainly why, and there is nothing to fix.
What an IP address cannot tell you
It cannot identify a person. A home connection is usually shared by everyone in the building and reassigned periodically, and only the provider can link an address to a subscriber, which in most countries needs a legal request. Anything claiming to name an individual from an address is guessing.
It also cannot see through a VPN, a proxy or a corporate network. What you get in those cases is the exit point, which is the honest answer to the question the internet can actually answer: where did this connection appear to come from.
Private and reserved addresses
Some addresses have no public location at all, and this tool says so directly rather than passing them to a geolocation service that would return nothing useful. No external request is made for them.
| Range | What it is |
|---|---|
10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16 | Private networks. Millions of routers use 192.168.1.1 at once. |
127.0.0.0/8 | Loopback, meaning the machine itself. |
169.254.0.0/16 | Link-local, assigned when no DHCP server answered. Usually a sign something is wrong. |
224.0.0.0/4 | Multicast, addressing a group rather than one host. |
ASN, ISP and reverse DNS
The ASN identifies the network that announces the address block to the rest of the internet, and it is the most reliable way to say who actually operates an address. The ISP name is often a reseller or a brand sitting on top of that network, which is why the two sometimes disagree.
Reverse DNS is the name the address owner has published for it. It frequently reveals more than the geolocation does: a hostname containing ec2, googleusercontent or a city code tells you what kind of machine you are looking at. It is set by whoever controls the address, so it is a claim rather than a fact, and the Reverse IP Lookup tool checks whether it holds up.
How to use it
Type an address and press Look up, or press My IP to see the address this connection is coming from. Both IPv4 and IPv6 work. To check many at once, use the Bulk IP Lookup.
Questions
How accurate is IP geolocation?
Country is right almost always. City is right perhaps three quarters of the time, and the coordinates are the centre of a city or a region rather than a street. An IP address is allocated to a network, not to a place, so anything more precise than a city is guesswork.
Why does my IP show the wrong city?
Usually because your provider routes traffic through an exchange in a larger city, so the address genuinely belongs there. Mobile networks are the worst for this and can place you hundreds of miles away. A VPN or a corporate network shows its exit point rather than you.
Can an IP address identify a person?
No. It identifies a connection to a network at a moment in time, and home addresses are usually shared and reassigned. Only the provider can link one to a subscriber, and in most countries that requires a legal request.
What is an ASN?
An autonomous system number identifies the network that announces a block of addresses to the rest of the internet. It is a more reliable way to say who operates an address than the ISP name, which is often a reseller or a brand.
Why does 192.168.1.1 have no location?
Because it is a private address, reserved for use inside local networks. Millions of routers use it at once and it is not reachable from the internet, so it has no public location. This tool recognises those ranges and says so without making any external request.
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