A few weeks ago, we published a new tool, the IP Address Lookup, which allows to get a bunch of different information about an IP address, including its reverse DNS hostname, geolocation, whois data (network range, network name, organization, and its address and contact details), ASN details, and more.
Upon testing, we've found it to be a very versatile tool as it provides more all-in-one information about an IP address than any other tool available. In fact, it is one of the best free IP lookup tools out there.
Here are seven reasons why our IP Address Lookup is better than others:
IP Geolocation From Several Sources
IP address geolocation is not a very accurate thing. There are several companies on the market that maintain IP address geolocation databases, and you still can't be sure their data is 100% correct. That is why we use and show results from several different geolocation providers.
Assuming that there is no 100% accurate IP-to-geolocation service, we query each IP address against three different geolocation databases (IP2Location LITE, MaxMind GeoLite2, DB-IP Lite), analyze the results, and choose the most common one to show on the map.
For example, if two of three geolocation providers report that some IP resides in the United States, and one reports that it is from Greece, we'll show you the US location on the map.
Why can it be useful? At first, it could give better accuracy. Also, having several results, you have the opportunity to decide on your own how to interpret them.
Here are several examples:
Example 1. Colombia or Switzerland?
Let's look at the geolocation results for the IP address 45.178.7.246:
We have two detections of Colombia and one of Switzerland. We can also see the organization name "SWISS GLOBAL SERVICES S.A.S" in the "IP data" section. Doing a simple Google search we can find the company website and read:
Our offer:
Private data center in Switzerland, which provides more than 94,000 square feet of placement space with access to major local and global markets.
So, theoretically, this IP address can belong to a Colombian hosting company that provides network facilities from Switzerland.
Let's do another check. Go down the page, to the "Useful resources" section, and click the "Visual traceroute" link.
Now we clearly see that traffic goes from Europe to Colombia via North America, which means that IP2Location was wrong in this case:
Example 2. United Kingdom or Cyprus?
Let's check another IP address that has different geolocation results:
MaxMind locates it in Cyprus, IP2Location and DB-IP both think it's in the UK.
Let's scroll down and use another external tool: "Ping + MTR from multiple locations". After some time, looking at the MTR results, we can confirm that this IP is located in the United Kingdom and MaxMind is wrong:
Wouldn't one Full geolocation database be better than three Lite ones?
You may say: "You get wrong results because you are using Lite database versions, they are inaccurate." Yes, they are less accurate. But, once again, there is no 100%-accurate GeoIP service. We've checked the above IPs with fully functional database versions and got the same results!
The full database IP2Location DB24 still detects Switzerland for 45.178.7.246:
GeoIP2 Precision: City returns Cyprus for 31.220.20.202 exactly like the Lite version does:
Thus, it's worth using multiple geolocation services together for more accurate results.
Pretty-Formatted IP Address Whois Results
As you may know, raw whois output is not very user-friendly and can be hard to read by non-tech-savvy people. We've spent a lot of time making whois results better formatted. We also do some post-processing and fine-tuning — all for better readability and informativity.
Now you can get straight to the information you may need: what network this IP address belongs to, which organization owns it, who administers it, and what are the technical or abuse contacts.
Raw whois vs. our IP Lookup
For example, look at the raw whois output:
and now how we render it:
ARIN Whois/RDAP vs. our IP Lookup
You can also compare the better-formatted ARIN RDAP whois output:
...to the whois results from our IP Lookup tool:
Neustar WHOIS IP Lookup Tool vs our IP Lookup
Explore the results of the WHOIS IP Lookup Tool from Neustar, which is the first result in Google for "IP address whois":
...and see how much more information you can get with our tool:
Both IPv4 and IPv6 Address Types Are Supported
Unlike some other utilities which only support IPv4 addresses, our tool fully supports both IPv4 and IPv6 IP address lookups:
Autonomous System Details
Among other data, our tool also finds and shows the properties of an autonomous system to which the IP address belongs. An autonomous system usually identifies the top-level hosting or internet provider of the examined host:
Routing Information
Unlike the whois data, which shows the organisation registered a particular network block, BGP data can reveal who is actually using it. We show the BGP prefix, its registry, country, and allocation date, and provide a link to the RADB whois where you can view the routing prefix details:
Websites on This IP
In the "Websites on this IP" section you can view the list of top websites that are hosted on the IP address:
Links to the Additional Resources
As you have seen above, there are services that can help in further IP address research. We list a selection of such resources, like "Ping + MTR from multiple locations", "Visual traceroute", and a number of IP blacklist and fraud checkers:
Do you know a free, worthwhile service or tool providing additional information about IP addresses that should be on our list of useful resources? Feel free to suggest it in the comments!
