About the reverse IP/domain lookup tool
At HostingChecker we have created one of the most powerful free reverse IP lookup tools.
We have database of more than 250 million active domains with their respective IP addresses and we can find matches on both IP addresses and domain names. We update the database weekly.
With our reverse IP/domain checker you can find the domains hosted on the same IP address as the website you are investigating.
How does the reverse IP lookup tool work?
First you have to enter the IP address or the domain name you want to find matches for. If you enter a domain name we use the Google Public DNS to resolve it back to an IP address.
Then we send it to our server and we find matches for this IP address in the 250+ million domains database we have.
The results are displayed like this:
1. Number of the domains associated with the same IPv4 address (we currently do not support IPv6 addresses).
2. The corresponding IP address that the information is displayed for.
3. Which hosting company or data center currently uses this IP address.
4. Country of origin.
5. Autonomous system network that the IP address is registered with.
Below this information you can see an excerpt of up to 1000 domains that are hosted on this IP. If there are more than 1000 results (you can see the total) you can contact us and we can send you a full list of the websites that are hosted on this server for free.
What’s next?
We are still working on the reverse IP search tool. What we want to add to the tool is IP reputation checker where the IP address will be matched in known blacklists for malware, ransomware and other spam activities so you can check if your website is hosted on a reputable IP address.
We will soon add coloring on the domain names based on a list of profanity words we have so you can identify easily websites that might be on your server and cause filtering of your IP address such as adult content, gambling, torrents etc.
Our Reverse IP lookup API is ready but we are still polishing it for public use. We will publish the information on how to use it for your projects and documentation soon.
Reverse IP address lookup on a mobile phone
The reverse IP/domain search is web based and can be used on any modern phone no matter of the model or operating system. We have tested it on Android, iOS, Windows, Linux as well as on various smart phone models, iPhone, iPad etc.
The tool is responsive and easy to navigate. We have made the URLs to the other websites hosted on the same web server clickable and in a new window for easier navigation.
What can the Reverse IP address lookup tool be used for
Find bad neighbors
By doing a reverse IP search you can find all the domains hosted on the same server as your website. I a lot of cases especially with shared hosting providers there are hundreds or thousands of websites hosted on the same IP address.
Some of them might be with adult content, gambling related, torrents etc. A lot of this content is not legal in certain areas and if a website hosted on the same IP as you if filtered by an ISP for delivering illegal content for the geographic location, your site and all the other good sites on the IP will be filtered too.
This can also be the case for e-mail spam. If one website on the same server behind the same IP is flagged as spam there is a big chance your domain will be too and the emails you send will not be delivered or be sent to the spam folder.
This is why when you perform a reverse domain check for your site if you find any suspicious websites hosted on it, ask your web hosting company to move you on another server or another IP address.
Find PBNs for SEO
A lot of people who want to trick Google by do not want to spend a lot of resources use the same web hosting to create many websites and then link to their own site or sell links to other people.
Reverse IP lookup is one of the first things you can do to check if your competition or someone who you offers you links has done a poor job and all his sites are hosted on the same server. Google can also see that and demotes links that come from the same IP address.
Find competitor websites
There are people who use the same hosting for their websites and they can have a network of websites. You can discover such networks if you investigate the domain you know of and see if there are other related domains hosted on the same server.
Penetration testing and information discovery
Ethical hackers and penetration testers can use the Reverse IP lookup for gathering information. Both the blue and the red teams can use the tool to check for other potential target on the same server and evaluate vulnerabilities. This way they can find an easier target on the network like outdated website or software that is behind the same IP address.
Simply discovering new host names can lead to fining new DNS records that can lead to potential new targets.
Network security
A reverse IP lookup can identify host names connected with an attacking system no matter if it is a botnet or a simple scanning. This can help the investigation by adding more informational sources.
Overcrowded web hosting
By doing a reverse domain lookup you can see how many other sites are hosted on the same IP as you. This might not always mean that they are on the same machine and there can be a reverse proxy server that serves the requests for many servers behind it… but the practice is that usually the shared hosting providers host too many domains on the same server to save resources. This may lead to slowing down your website or even timeouts if you have traffic spikes.
Even if your site is fast and hosted on a separate server but behind the same IP address as thousands other sites this raises the risk that it can be filtered or flagged as spam because of some of the other sites served behind this IP.
So if you have problems with your site always do a reverse IP lookup to check your server neighbors and if you have the budget get a dedicated IP for your project.
