A public IP address is an IP address that your home or business router receives from your ISP; it is used whenever you access the Internet. Public IP addresses are required for all publicly accessible network hardware, such as a home router and the servers that host websites.

Public IP addresses distinguish devices connected to the public Internet. Each device that accesses the Internet uses a unique IP address. A public IP address is sometimes called an Internet IP.

This is the address that each Internet service provider uses to forward Internet requests to a specific home or business, similar to the way a delivery vehicle uses a physical address to forward packages to your home.

Think of your public IP address as any other address you have. For example, your email address and your home address are unique to you, and therefore sending email to those addresses ensures that messages go to you and not someone else.