What is my IP address?
Find your public IP address in one second. See the IPv4 or IPv6 address every website sees, looked up privately from your browser.
Your public IP address is shown above. It is the address the internet uses to send responses back to your connection, and it is the one every website, API and email server you contact can see. We look it up by asking a public IP endpoint from your browser, the same way any site would.
An IP address is like the return address on an envelope. Without it, servers would have nowhere to send the pages you request. Your home or phone gets its public IP from your internet provider, and everyone in your household or on your office network usually shares the same public IP.
You may have an IPv4 address (four numbers like 203.0.113.10) or a newer IPv6 address (a longer hexadecimal string). Both do the same job. Your private IP, the one your router assigns inside your own network, is different and is not visible to the wider internet.
What you should know
Why sites collect it
Every server needs your IP to reply at all, so it is unavoidable. Beyond that, sites use it to guess your rough location and language, enforce regional licensing, rate-limit abuse, block fraud, and log activity for security.
Privacy implications
Your IP reveals your internet provider and an approximate location, often to the city, and it is logged almost everywhere you go. It is not your name, and it can change, but combined with other data it helps build a profile. This is the main thing a VPN hides by substituting its own IP for yours.
How to change or hide it
To change or hide your public IP, use a VPN or the Tor network, which route your traffic through another server so sites see that server's IP instead of yours. Restarting your router may also get you a new IP from your provider if yours is dynamic.
Frequently asked questions
Is my IP address private information?
It is semi-public: every site you visit sees it, but it maps to your provider and rough area rather than your identity. Treat it as sensitive but not secret.
Why is my IP location slightly wrong?
IP geolocation is an estimate based on where your provider registers the address, so it can be off by a city or show your provider's hub rather than your exact spot.
How do I hide my IP address?
Use a reputable VPN or Tor. Both replace your visible IP with one from their network, so sites no longer see your real address.