A short definition for each term, linked to the detailed article. Use the #anchor to link to a single term.
An ASN identifies an independently operated network, such as a carrier, cloud provider or large organization. An IP block normally belongs to one ASN, which tells you who runs the address better than its location does.
Read more: What Is an ASN, and How to Find Out Who an IP Belongs To
An organization that provides internet access, such as a home broadband or mobile carrier. The carrier shown in an IP lookup usually comes from the organization name of the IP's ASN.
Read more: Home Broadband vs. Mobile vs. Business Leased-Line IPs
An IP held by a cloud or hosting provider and deployed in a data center. A lot of automated traffic comes from such addresses, so platforms are generally more cautious about them.
Read more: Datacenter vs Residential IP: Differences, Detection and Real Impact
An IP that a home broadband carrier assigns to an ordinary subscriber. Its traffic looks like everyday browsing, so it is usually seen as the more trusted network type.
Read more: Datacenter vs Residential IP: Differences, Detection and Real Impact · Home Broadband vs. Mobile vs. Business Leased-Line IPs
The exit IP of a mobile carrier network (4G/5G). It is usually shared by many users through CGNAT and tends to change fairly often.
Read more: CGNAT and Shared IPs: Why Many Users Share One Address and What It Means for Risk Control · Home Broadband vs. Mobile vs. Business Leased-Line IPs
An IP whose block is registered in the same place where it is actually used. This is an industry expression with no formal technical standard, and it does not mean residential or clean.
Read more: Native vs Broadcast IP: What the Difference Is, How to Check It, and Common Mistakes
An IP registered in place A but announced through routing for use in place B, so registration and usage differ. Common when a hosting provider leases address space to data centers elsewhere.
Read more: Native vs Broadcast IP: What the Difference Is, How to Check It, and Common Mistakes
A carrier practice of mapping many subscribers onto a small number of public IPv4 addresses, telling connections apart by port. The subscriber's router often gets a private address, or one from the reserved 100.64.0.0/10 range (RFC 6598).
Read more: CGNAT and Shared IPs: Why Many Users Share One Address and What It Means for Risk Control
A dynamic IP is assigned by the carrier on demand and may change, while a static IP stays fixed over the long term. This is independent of network type (datacenter or residential).
Read more: Dynamic vs. Static IP: Which One Fits Your Business
The 128-bit successor to IPv4, with plenty of address space and no need for CGNAT. Devices often get their own address or prefix, which changes how an IP maps to a user.
An estimate of how much a platform is likely to trust an IP. Platforms do not publish their internal scores; ipscoper's value is a heuristic estimate based on ASN and carrier names, described on the methodology page.
Read more: What Is an IP Risk Score and How Platforms Judge It
A blocklist of IPs queried through DNS, used mainly for email anti-spam, for example the Spamhaus lists. Each list has its own reasons for listing and its own meaning.
Read more: IP Blacklists and Reputation: How to Check, Why IPs Get Listed, and What to Do Next
Inferring where an IP is located from registration data, network measurements and operator data. The result is an estimate, not a precise address: country level is usually reliable, city level less so.
Read more: Why Your IP Location Looks Wrong: How Geolocation Works, Where Errors Come From, and How to Correct Them · What Can an IP Lookup Actually Tell You
A file that network operators publish themselves under RFC 8805, declaring which region each IP prefix serves. Database vendors can use it.
A protocol and command for looking up registration data of an IP block or domain, showing the holder, network name and registered country. The registered country is not necessarily where the IP is used.
Read more: Native vs Broadcast IP: What the Difference Is, How to Check It, and Common Mistakes
The protocol networks use to exchange routing information across the internet. Networks announce the IP blocks they hold through BGP, which is also why a broadcast IP can be used somewhere else.
Read more: Native vs Broadcast IP: What the Difference Is, How to Check It, and Common Mistakes
A DNS record (PTR) that maps an IP back to a hostname. The hostname often contains a provider, data center or city, which makes it a useful clue.
Read more: What Is an IP Risk Score and How Platforms Judge It
Three ways of relaying traffic, with very different anonymity and risk profiles. A proxy typically relays specific applications, a VPN usually takes over the whole device's traffic, and Tor routes through multiple relays.
Read more: Proxy vs VPN vs Tor: How Risk Systems Tell Them Apart
The browser's WebRTC feature can bypass a proxy and expose a real or different network address to a website.
Read more: WebRTC Leaks: Why a Proxy Can Still Expose Your Real IP
DNS requests that skip the proxy and are handled by the local network's resolver, which exposes the real network location.
Read more: What Is a DNS Leak, and Can It Reveal Your Real Location
A way for websites to recognize a device from the combination of many parameters such as canvas, WebGL, fonts and screen. Clearing cookies does not change it.
Read more: What Makes Up a Browser Fingerprint, and Why Clearing Cookies Does Not Help · How to Avoid IP Correlation Across Multiple Accounts
A fingerprint computed from the parameters in the TLS ClientHello, used to tell which kind of software initiated a connection.
Read more: TLS and TCP/IP Fingerprints: Why Changing Your IP Isn't Always Enough
A method of guessing the remote operating system from traits such as TTL, window size and TCP options.
Read more: TLS and TCP/IP Fingerprints: Why Changing Your IP Isn't Always Enough
The time a round trip takes, in milliseconds. A web test measures an HTTP round trip that includes DNS, TCP and TLS time, so it reads higher than command-line ping.
Read more: What Counts as a Good Ping: From the Number to the Fix · Latency, Jitter and Packet Loss: What Each of the Three Means
The variation in latency. A latency that is not low but steady often works better than a low one that swings.
Read more: Latency, Jitter and Packet Loss: What Each of the Three Means
The share of packets that never reach their destination. Sustained loss causes stuttering video and dropped connections.
Read more: Latency, Jitter and Packet Loss: What Each of the Three Means
A packet's time to live, reduced by 1 at every router and discarded when it reaches 0. Traceroute uses it to probe a path hop by hop.
Read more: How to Read traceroute and MTR: Finding Which Hop Causes Slowness and Packet Loss
Tools that show every hop a packet crosses on its way to a target, with each hop's latency. MTR combines ping and traceroute and keeps per-hop loss and latency statistics.
Read more: How to Read traceroute and MTR: Finding Which Hop Causes Slowness and Packet Loss