How-to · networking

How to find your router's IP address (your default gateway)

To open your router's admin page, forward a port, or troubleshoot a connection, you first need one number: the router's local IP address, also called the default gateway. Here is exactly how to find it on every major operating system — with the real commands — plus how it differs from your public IP and how to log in safely.

What the router IP (default gateway) actually is

Every device on your home network — laptop, phone, TV, printer — is configured with a default gateway: the address it hands packets to whenever it wants to reach something outside the local network. That gateway is your router. So “the router's IP address” and “the default gateway” are the same thing, described from two angles.

This is a private address, valid only inside your own network. It almost always falls in one of the RFC 1918 private ranges: 192.168.0.0/16, 10.0.0.0/8, or 172.16.0.0/12. In practice, on home networks you will see something like 192.168.1.1, 192.168.0.1, or 10.0.0.1. Common factory defaults across popular brands include 192.168.1.1, 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.254, 10.0.0.1, and 10.1.1.1, but none of these are guaranteed — whoever configured the router can change it.

You need this number to reach the router's admin page, set up port forwarding, reserve a DHCP address, change Wi-Fi settings, or diagnose why a device cannot get online. The rest of this guide is the fastest reliable way to find it on each platform.

Find it on Windows

Open the Command Prompt (press the Windows key, type cmd, press Enter) or PowerShell, then run:

ipconfig

Scroll to the network adapter you are actually using — usually Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi or Ethernet adapter — and read the line labelled Default Gateway. That value (for example 192.168.1.1) is your router's IP. Ignore any adapters that show no gateway or are marked Media disconnected; those are inactive.

If you prefer a graphical route: open Settings → Network & internet, click your active connection, and the gateway appears under the IP settings / properties for that adapter.

Find it on macOS

There are three easy ways, in rough order of speed.

Terminal (fastest)

Open Terminal and run either of these:

netstat -nr | grep default

The address next to the default route on your active interface is the gateway. Alternatively, if you are on Wi-Fi:

ipconfig getoption en0 router

Replace en0 with your active interface if needed (Wi-Fi is commonly en0, wired Ethernet often en1). This prints just the router address the interface received over DHCP, with no extra output to sift through.

System Settings

Open System Settings → Network, select your active connection (Wi-Fi or Ethernet), click Details, and go to the TCP/IP tab. The value next to Router is your gateway. On older macOS versions this lives under System Preferences → Network → Advanced → TCP/IP.

Find it on Linux

On any modern Linux distribution, the canonical command is:

ip route

Look for the line that begins with default via — the address right after via is your gateway, for example default via 192.168.1.1 dev wlan0. To print only that address, you can run:

ip route show default

The older route -n and netstat -rn commands still work on many systems (the gateway is the row where the destination is 0.0.0.0), but ip route is the current standard and is present on virtually every distribution.

Find it on Android

Android does not ship a built-in terminal, but the gateway is exposed in the Wi-Fi details. Open Settings → Network & internet → Internet (or Wi-Fi), tap the gear icon next to your connected network, and expand Advanced or View more. Depending on the manufacturer's skin, the router address appears as Gateway or is implied by the IP address and subnet — the gateway is usually the same first three octets with .1 at the end. Exact menu names vary between Samsung, Pixel, and other builds, so the wording may differ slightly.

Find it on iOS and iPadOS

Open Settings → Wi-Fi, tap the small i (info) icon next to the network you are connected to, and scroll to the IPV4 ADDRESS section. The value labelled Router is your default gateway. That is the address to type into Safari to reach the router's admin page.

Private gateway IP vs. your public IP

This is the single most common point of confusion, so it is worth stating plainly. The router IP you just found is a private address — it exists only inside your network and is reused on millions of other home networks. It is not how the internet reaches you.

Your public IP is different: it is the single address your ISP assigns to your whole connection, and it is what every website sees when any device in your home talks to it. Your router performs Network Address Translation (NAT), swapping the private source address for the shared public one on the way out and reversing it on the way back. To see your public IP, open the IPFerret home page — and if you want the full explanation of why the two addresses differ, read public vs. private IP.

A quick way to internalise it: your gateway starts with 192.168, 10., or 172.16–172.31; your public IP almost never does. If the two ever look identical, something unusual is going on with your setup.

Logging into the router admin page

Once you have the gateway address, type it directly into a browser's address bar — for example http://192.168.1.1 — and press Enter. You will be asked for a username and password. A few things to know:

Common gotchas

Two routers (double-NAT)

If you have your own router plugged into an ISP modem-router that is also doing NAT, you have two gateways stacked. The default gateway your device reports is only the inner router; the ISP box sits above it with its own address on a different subnet. This “double-NAT” setup is a frequent reason port forwarding silently fails — the forward on the inner router never gets traffic because the outer one drops it first. See CGNAT and double-NAT for how to tell the difference and fix it.

Mesh Wi-Fi systems

On mesh systems (Eero, Google Nest Wifi, Orbi, and similar), the satellite nodes usually operate as bridges, so there is still one gateway address — the primary node. But many mesh brands expect you to change settings through a phone app rather than a web admin page, and the gateway may sit on a less common subnet like 192.168.4.1. Trust the default gateway your device reports over any assumed default.

A VPN is changing your gateway

When a VPN client is connected, your operating system often installs a new default route pointing at a virtual VPN interface, so commands like ip route or netstat -nr may show the VPN's gateway (frequently a 10.x address) instead of your real router. Disconnect the VPN, or read the gateway for your physical Wi-Fi/Ethernet interface specifically, to see the true router address.

Guest networks and VLANs

If you are joined to a guest SSID or an isolated VLAN, the gateway you see may be a separate address that deliberately blocks access to the main admin page. Connect to the primary network to manage the router.

Frequently asked questions

What is my router's IP address?

It is the private default gateway on your local network — commonly 192.168.1.1, 192.168.0.1, or 10.0.0.1. Find the exact value with ipconfig on Windows (the Default Gateway line), ip route on Linux (the address after default via), or netstat -nr on macOS. It is a LAN address, not your public internet IP.

Is 192.168.1.1 always my router's IP?

No. 192.168.1.1 is a widespread default but not a rule. Other common defaults include 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.254, 10.0.0.1, and 10.1.1.1, and mesh systems or ISP gateways often differ. Always confirm by checking the default gateway on a connected device rather than assuming.

Why is my router IP different from the IP shown on IPFerret?

Because they are two different addresses. Your router IP is private and used only inside your home; the address IPFerret reports is your public IP, the one your ISP assigns and the whole network shares to reach the internet. The router translates between them with NAT. For the full picture, see public vs. private IP.

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