How to Check If Your Router's IP Is Public or Private

Your router actually has two different IP addresses at once, and mixing them up is the most common reason people get confused when troubleshooting a connection, setting up port forwarding, or trying to figure out why a remote access tool won't connect.

Your router has two IPs, not one

• LAN IP, the address your router uses on your home network, almost always a private address like 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. This is what your devices connect to when you log into the router's admin page, and it never changes based on your internet connection.
• WAN IP, the address your router uses to talk to your ISP and the wider internet. This is the one that's actually public (or CGNAT-assigned), and it's the one people usually mean when asking if their router's IP is public or private.

How to check if your TP-Link router's WAN IP is public or private

This is the specific question a lot of people search for, so here's the direct path for TP-Link routers, though the same general steps apply to most other brands with slightly different menu names:

• Log into your router's admin panel (usually 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 in a browser, printed on a sticker on the router itself if you're not sure)
• Go to the Status or Network page, the exact label varies by firmware version and router model
• Look for a field labeled WAN IP Address or Internet IP Address, sometimes listed under a "WAN" or "Internet" tab specifically

That number is the one to check, not the LAN IP shown elsewhere on the same page. It's an easy mix-up since both are visible on the same status screen, often just a few lines apart.

How to tell what type it is

Once you have the WAN IP, run the checker on your router's IP to get an instant answer. Manually, here's what each result means:

• 10.x, 172.16-31.x, or 192.168.x means something's misconfigured, or more likely, you're behind a second router or a modem operating in router mode rather than bridge mode, sometimes called double NAT
• 100.64.0.0 to 100.127.255.255 means CGNAT, meaning your ISP is sharing a public IP across multiple customers, covered in more detail in our CGNAT guide
• Anything else is a standard public IP, assigned directly to your connection with no sharing or double-NAT involved

Why this matters for port forwarding and hosting

If you're trying to set up port forwarding, host a game server, or access a security camera remotely, a private or CGNAT WAN IP explains why it isn't working the way guides online say it should. Those setups generally assume a standard public WAN IP with nothing sitting between your router and the internet. Confirm your WAN IP type here before spending time debugging port forwarding settings that were never going to work with that kind of address, since no amount of router configuration fixes a CGNAT or double-NAT situation from your end alone.

Checking my IP address on the private network from any device

If you can't get into the router admin page, for whatever reason, a shared network, forgotten login credentials, or a locked-down office router, you can still check my ip address private network setup by looking up the connection's IP from any device on that network. This shows the same WAN IP the router is using, since all devices on the network share it when reaching the internet. Check my IP address private network with this tool for a quick result without hunting through router menus or needing admin access at all.

What if the WAN IP keeps changing?

That's normal for most home connections and is called a dynamic IP, your ISP reassigns it periodically rather than giving you the same address permanently. It's separate from the public-vs-private question covered here, but if you're troubleshooting something that depends on a stable address, it's worth checking whether your connection is static or dynamic as a next step.

Quick summary