What this site is
Gate46 shows you the public address your connection is using and gives you the tools that usually come next: looking up an address, checking a DNS record, testing a port.
Every tool here is about addresses, names, routes or checks on a network. There are no password generators, text converters or VPN sales pages. If a tool is not about the network, it does not belong on this site.
The tools are grouped into four lines, the way a transit map groups stations:
- Address line. My IP, IP lookup, IPv6 test and the subnet calculator.
- Names line. DNS lookup, reverse DNS and WHOIS.
- Routes line. Ping, traceroute and the port checker.
- Checks line. Blacklist check, HTTP headers and user agent.
The guides explain the ideas behind the tools in plain language.
Both protocols, treated as equals
The internet runs on two address systems side by side. IPv4 is the older one. IPv6 is its replacement. Many connections have both, some have only one, and either situation is normal.
This site checks for each protocol separately and gives them the same weight. If no IPv6 address is detected, the page says so. It is a state, not a fault: usually your provider or router has not switched IPv6 on, and everything still reaches you over IPv4. Tools that take an address take either kind, with one exception: the blacklist check covers IPv4 only, because most blocklists do not list IPv6 addresses.
How the tools work
Some tools run entirely in your browser. Some ask a public internet service a question on your behalf, straight from your browser. A few need a server of ours to run the test, because a web page is not allowed to send the kind of traffic they need.
Tools that run in your browser
| Tool | How it gets the answer |
|---|---|
| My IP | Your browser calls address detection endpoints: one reachable only over IPv4, one only over IPv6, and, when you have both, one reachable over either to show which protocol your device prefers. Each replies with the address it saw. A geolocation provider then supplies the network owner and approximate location, and a public DNS resolver supplies the hostname. |
| IP lookup | Your browser asks the geolocation provider about the address you enter, and a public DNS resolver for its hostname. If you enter a name, the resolver turns it into an address first. |
| IPv6 test | The same detection endpoints, including the one that answers on either protocol, plus one DNS query to confirm that IPv6 records can be looked up. |
| DNS lookup and reverse DNS | Your browser asks a public DNS-over-HTTPS resolver: Google Public DNS first, then Cloudflare if the first does not answer. |
| WHOIS | Your browser sends an RDAP query, the structured successor to WHOIS. A public redirect service points it to the registry that holds the record. |
| Subnet calculator and user agent | Pure calculation and information your browser already has. Nothing you enter leaves your device. |
For these tools there is no server of ours in the middle. The public service sees the request coming from your own connection, exactly as it would if you used a command line tool at home.
Tools that run from a probe server
Ping, traceroute, the port checker, the blacklist check and HTTP headers cannot run inside a web page. Browsers do not let pages send ICMP packets, open raw TCP connections or read another site's response headers, and many blocklists refuse queries that arrive through the large public DNS resolvers a web page can use. A port check also only means something when it comes from outside your network. A check from inside your own router tells you nothing about what the internet can reach.
So these tools send the target you enter to a probe server, which runs the test from the internet and returns the result. If you give the blacklist check a hostname, your browser first asks a public DNS resolver for its address. When the probe server is not connected, they show sample output instead. Sample output is always labeled as sample, above the result, and is never presented as a live measurement.
What the data can and cannot tell you
- Location is approximate. IP geolocation works from databases that map address blocks to places. It is city level at best and often points to your provider's nearest hub, which can be a long way from you. The map on the home page is deliberately coarse for this reason.
- An address identifies a connection, not a person. It shows your provider and a rough area. It does not show your name or street address.
- DNS answers are cached. A public resolver may show an older value until the record's TTL runs out.
- Registration records are often redacted. Registries hide personal contact details in many WHOIS and RDAP replies. That is by design.
- Third-party services can be unavailable. When one does not answer, the tool says so plainly and does not guess.
How the site is funded
Gate46 does not currently show advertising. There are no accounts, subscriptions or paid tiers either; every tool is free to use. If advertising is introduced later, it will follow rules we hold ourselves to: every ad labeled, never dressed up as a result, never placed beside or between form controls, given a fixed reserved size so the page never jumps, and always shown after your address and your results, never before. This page, the contact page, the privacy policy and the terms will carry no ad spaces regardless.
Your privacy, in brief
The site has no sign-up and does not ask who you are. Showing you your IP address means your browser has to send it to the services that detect it, and looking something up means sending the question to the service that answers it. The privacy policy names each of those services and lists the small items the site keeps in your browser.
Who runs it
Gate46 is operated by [Operator name]. To report a bug, point out wrong data or ask about privacy, use the contact page or write to [contact email].
Use of the site is covered by the terms of use. Please only test systems you own or have permission to test.