Let’s make it clear from the start! You will find IP lookup tools useful for a range of purposes, including geolocation tracking, network troubleshooting, and online marketing. In this article, we will cover the most useful tools available in the market that will help you in this respect and in terms of checking the quality parameters of your proxies.
We will show you the pros and cons of using each of the tools and describe the use cases for each of them. But, traditionally, we would like to cover the terminological basics in this area first.
What is an IP address?
Simply put, an IP address (or Internet Protocol address) is a number associated with any device (a computer, a smart fridge, or an iRobot) connected to the Internet. This number is required to ensure the communication between the devices. Now, what can you learn from the IP itself, and why can this information be useful?
Why do you need to track the IP addresses?
Identifying the IP address of a device requesting access can be useful from two major perspectives: from the business or marketing side and from a technical viewpoint.
IP tracking for business purposes. You can use an IP address scanner to identify the actual geographical location of the device behind it. And here you can use residential proxy servers to hide behind a certain geo IP and use it further for accessing websites that want to identify your location. This would be your best tool for avoiding bans on some online platforms.
And for website owners, an IP address lookup tool can be helpful in identifying the location of visitors. With this information, you can fine-tune the content for specific cohorts and even geographical regions.
IP tracking for technical and security purposes. You will hear the word ‘troubleshooting’ a lot related to IP address lookup. This can be extremely helpful when you experience any problem accessing a target website. With an IP address locator, you can learn for sure if the problem is on the side of your router or a firewall on the target’s side.
And from a security standpoint, with the help of an IP location finder, you can trace any fraudulent or malicious activities threatening your web resource. You can learn about any suspicious behavior or even prevent a hacker’s attack by identifying the devices behind the IPs accessing your site.
And now, we are happy to present to you our rundown of the top IP lookup services currently available to all Internet users. We have ranked these tools from the perspective of your priority as a proxy owner, with the most accurate and updated IP finders mentioned at the top of the list. It may be surprising to find some of the most popular tools at the bottom of the list; however, this could be a result of the inadequate quality of their respective IP databases and/or the flaws of their scoring systems. Now, meet our Top 10 IP lookup services on the Web!
1. db-ip.com
With db-ip.com, the process of IP lookup is automated from the very start. Like many similar services, the website shows you a brief report on the currently used IP address right from the get-go.
And yes, you can use this pretty accurate database for proxy IP lookups as well as for studying your website visitors (if you are an e-commerce owner). With this info, you can easily customize the offerings for your particular geo-specific cohort or implement geo-restrictions in order to avoid potential threats.
Db-ip is also used for studying traffic demographics. This makes it possible to track and even predict trends for certain areas of traffic. It can be especially useful for holiday seasons in some specific locations.
And, finally, you can proceed with risk analysis using this tool. It should help you build a robust network infrastructure to withstand cyberattacks and prevent excessive TOR usage on your site.
From our experience, the geolocation data in this database is one of the most accurate and up-to-date. They claim to have direct agreements with popular ISPs and machine learning practices that help them achieve that.
2. IPinfo.io
IPinfo.io is currently doing its best to become a leader in the area of IP lookup, not only from the perspective of the quality of its databases but also by offering a range of other accompanying tools that its users could potentially benefit from.
With its current products, you can easily find a service to locate your traffic origin, unmask the users of your site, target specific IP areas, or even automate abusive IP reporting. All of that comes to your fingertips via the well-documented APIs that this platform provides.
You can start with a free plan, and normally it will include 50,000 free IP lookups with the upgradable functionality of paid plans. All important and popular formats of data collection are supported here (including CSV, MMDB, and JSON). The paid subscription plans start at $99 (with 150k requests per month) and are expandable to include plans with priority support and enhanced functionality, costing over $500 per month.
Some of the most interesting features of this IP lookup tool include things such as IP Summarizer, where you can copy a whole list of IPs to get a map showing the sources of your traffic.
3. Maxmind
Maxmind is an extremely popular IP lookup tool and IP locator among the Internet community. Thousands of businesses, developers, and security professionals rely on it daily for sourcing accurate details on IPs that they use or encounter.
You can easily look up the IP you need via the service’s demo and request the database update if required. The service has been around for over 20 years and features integration capabilities through open-source APIs supporting various computer languages and other popular tools.
The main use case of the platform is determining the geographical location of an IP address, aiding in various applications such as targeted marketing, content localization, and fraud prevention.
The overall quality of the IP databases is rather high. The service claims to conduct regular updates of its IP info, so that end users can always receive up-to-date and precise information about the IP addresses they query.
The only major drawback is the limited amount of IP data available for free. A much more detailed and powerful tool is available in enterprise packages, which are too pricey for average users. However, even the free tier tends to give accurate geolocation data, and if that’s all you need to know, Maxmind would serve you well.
4. IPHub.info
IPHub.info may not be super popular among other IP checkers, but the quality of its databases is really remarkable.
You can easily use it for free for up to 1,000 queries a day, and if that is not enough for you, you can upgrade to a paid plan with 10,000 requests for around 20 euros a month. The overall database of IPhub encompasses over 300 million IPs, and the accuracy of this service is among the best in the industry.
The paid subscribers to this service can also benefit from the APIs that IPHub provides. It can be used for getting JSON responses with a simple code integration.
All the rest of the information and documentation is made available to you via the FAQ section and online feedback form.
5. IPhey.com
IPhey.com is a popular one-pager that tries its best to provide you with the maximum useful info in a structured way.
When you enter the site, you will automatically get your IP scanned and analyzed using the following parameters: browser, location, IP address, hardware, and software. You can click on any of these boxes to see an in-depth analysis of this particular parameter.
This IP lookup tool has a database of browser fingerprints, collected from regular online users, to check if your profile will be legitimate for working with online platforms. This results in a final verdict by the site: trustworthy or suspicious.
However, if you decide to use some anti-detect browsers, such as Orbita or GoLogin, you may end up with dubious reports on the same IP. This shows us that the tool is extra sensitive and is prone to deciding in favor of “suspicious” settings each time you do your IP checks from anti-detect browsers.
The conclusion is simple: consult your account manager if you feel that this tool does not provide you with accurate IP identification.
6. Whatismyipaddress.com
One of the primary goals of Whatismyipaddress.com is to provide you with an IP lookup right from the top of the website. And this is exactly the use case with this service: you punch in the IP and get the info you need, such as the type of IP (IPv4 or IPv6) and the usual info on the origin and the location of the IP provider.
The site also features a number of VPNs through its partnership program and a lot of VPN-related materials on how to choose the right VPN if you are looking for one.
This tool also features a whole list of various checkup sections with automated IP verification through databases of blacklisted IPs, public proxies, VPN leaks, and more.
On the downside, the service sometimes lacks accuracy in detecting the location of your IP. If that problem occurs with your proxies, consult with your account manager. It could be due to obsolete databases in the IP finder itself.
7. Whoer.net
If you ever look for a simple yet elegant IP checker site that will deliver the maximum info possible from the first digital glance at your IP, then Whoer.net is the place to go. Once you enter the service, it checks your current IP geolocation and runs a whole report on it. You will have the usual information on the ISP, country, city, current operating system, browser, proxy presence, and more. Your browser’s header will be conveniently displayed in a box below as well.
The service also positions itself as a risk-free VPN provider, so you will see paid VPN plans right on the home screen on the IP location finder. The fact that the database is not impartial but is associated with a VPN provider raises questions about the reliability of the data when it comes to the IPs of other proxy and VPN providers. We could not verify if the database is truly unbiased. For example, some users have experienced false-positives when identifying proxy ports. The service reported them open; however, in fact, they were closed and secure against any access from the outside.
8. Scamalytics
Scamalytics is an IP lookup service that is focused on fraud prevention above all. It can analyze the IPs you feed to it for all kinds of fraudulent and malicious activities to prevent you from using such addresses.
The database behind the service is one of the most robust in the industry. The service also features top-level assessment algorithms that can produce IP reviews with diligent warnings against all kinds of online fraud.
Owners of online platforms and e-commerce sites can find a great benefit in using Scamalytics thanks to the historical information on IPs that, at some point, had been used for spamming, scamming, etc. Knowing this can be of great assistance in tracking down such wrongful activities on your site.
The area where Scamalytics could improve is scoring on the individual IP or subnet level. Quite often, the score is attributed to the ISP as a whole, and all the IPs that belong to this network get the same score. For large residential networks that operate millions of IPs, such an approach can lead to too many false-positives. The scoring range for Scamalytics looks as follows: 0-20 – low risk IPs, 21-60 – medium risk, 61-90 – high risk, and 91-100 – very high risk. So, if your IPs score anywhere between 0 and 60, you will likely be on the safe side!
Overall, this IP service has proven its efficiency in a range of industries, including banking, classifieds, reviews, and dating. It is trusted by some big names in business and gets a lot of media attention from the tech press.
9. IPQualityScore
IPQualityScore is easily one of the most visited and demanded IP location lookup tools on the market. It has the IP detection interface that many proxy users go to in order to verify the quality of their IPs.
The platform features an easy-to-use single-box interface to get a quick look at the quality of the IP in question. You simply plug in the IP, and it returns an in-depth report with a highlighted overall IP score. The lower the score, the better the quality of your IP (proxy, for instance). “0” means zero-risk IP and “100” stands for high-risk address. So, for instance, a blacklisted VPN or public proxy used for spamming will show something like “89”. It’s almost impossible to get a 0 score and there is no need to strive for it. Our research shows that for the majority of purposes a low-risk score threshold would be less than 40, and fraud scores that should raise suspicions start at 75.
The service provides tools for TOR, VPN, and bot detection, among other popular tools. You have a whole subsection on phone validation and even SaaS solutions for it.
But as the platform relates to proxies, we have established that it may produce wrong or inconsistent verification results if you feed the IPs to it using the platform’s own API. So, if you check IPs directly via the IP entry box there may be some discrepancy in the score results.
Another area of improvement would be a better mechanism for improving the fraud score. Relying predominantly on historic data, IPQualityScore rarely gives a second chance to an IP once it is deemed bad. However, in the proxy industry, it’s quite common for an IP to be transferred from one network or ASN to another. As a result, the legacy IP attributes become irrelevant but still affect the fraud score.
You can get started with 5000 free lookups per month and then search to upgrade to a rather costly plan if you feel like the tool serves your needs.
10. Ip2location
With Ip2location, you can get information about the geolocation of any IP in a simple and non-intrusive way. It supports all types of IPs (IPv4 and IPv6) from one single database and has no extra charges for IP lookup.
However, due to the quality of the platform’s database, it can result in a lot of false-positives while assessing the quality of your proxy IPs. You can have a high level of risk of getting your residential IPs identified as DC proxies, for instance.
Like many other similar platforms, the SDK featured on this IP checker site allows integrations inside code written in JAVA, .NET, Ruby, Python, and more.
The major downside of the service is that its IP databases are not kept up-to-date on a regular basis, which may lead to some wrongful IP detections, including IP type, geo-location and network. Our random checks show that in many cases, the data shown on Ip2location is months, if not years, old, which defeats the purpose for those who require real-time IP data. Also, your free demo IP tracker will be able to identify only 50 IPs a day; everything else will require a paid plan.
If you only require a quick reference point for the tested IP and a small number of daily checks, Ip2location might still be a suitable option due to its popularity and high ranks on Google.
Conclusion
I hope right now you have a better understanding of what IP lookup services are capable of. You can certainly use them for your daily traffic-related missions as a website owner and for verifying the quality of your private proxies. Should you have any queries as to our recommendations on testing and using your proxies, please don’t hesitate to consult with our experienced account managers. They will be able to point you in the right direction and resolve all proxy-related concerns.
Please read our Documentation if you have questions that are not listed below.
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What is an IP lookup tool?
An IP lookup tool gives you details about the IP address of a website visitor or your own machine. By knowing the IP address, you can find out geo-details on the device using such an IP, like the ISP, city, state, or country of origin.
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How can an IP lookup tool help me in my business operations?
By learning more about the location of an IP, you can run ad verification campaigns in order to track the efficiency of your commercial efforts. Also, you can prevent fraudulent and malicious activities on your websites.
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How can I use IP lookup tools for testing my proxies?
You can find out the quality of your private proxies by running their IPs through an IP lookup tool. Should the lookup tool fail to identify your proxy as a legitimate IP or some other proxy product (for instance, a residential proxy can be identified as a datacenter IP), please consult with your proxy provider.
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How can you use IP address lookup tools for network troubleshooting?
If you are running a large farm of interconnected devices inside one network, you would greatly benefit from industrial lookup tools that will let you solve the IP conflicts inside such networks. This process is called network troubleshooting and requires some in-depth technical knowledge on the part of the person conducting it.
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