Difference Between Public IP and Private IP: Public vs Private IP Address Explained

Public IP and private IP addresses are two important concepts in computer networking. A public IP address is used for communication across public networks such as the Internet, while a private IP address is used within private networks such as home, school and office networks.

Every device that communicates using the Internet Protocol needs IP addressing appropriate to its network environment. However, not every device inside a local network needs a globally unique Internet-routable IPv4 address.

This is where the distinction between public IP address and private IP address becomes important.

Private IPv4 addresses are reserved for use inside private networks and are not directly routed across the public Internet. Public IP addresses are globally used for Internet communication and must be allocated through appropriate Internet addressing mechanisms.

In this article, we will learn the difference between public IP and private IP, private IPv4 ranges, NAT, Internet connectivity, security considerations, examples, advantages, limitations and a detailed parameter-based comparison.

Difference between IPv4 and IPv6

Characteristics	IPv4	IPv6
Deployed	1981	1999
Address Size	It uses 32 bit addresses	It uses 128 bit addresses.
Address Format	Dotted Decimal Notation: 192.168.1.1	Hexadecimal Notation: FFFE:F200:3204:0B00: 0122:4555:8001:AB00
Prefix Notation	192.168.1.1/24	2FFE:0200:6234::/48
Number of Addresses	232= ~4,294,967,296	2128 = ~340,282,366, 920,938,463,463,374, 607,431,768,211,456
Compatibility	It is less compatible to mobile networks.	It is much compatible to mobile networks.
Uses	It is used in 99% of the networks.	It is used only in remaining 1% of networks.