Three layers of information
What we know about an IP falls into three layers by granularity. The lower the layer, the closer it is to what the IP is actually doing, and the more weight it carries for the IP type.
| Layer | Question it answers | Typical fields |
|---|---|---|
| Network owner (ASN / company) | Who runs this network | ASN type, company type, PeeringDB self-report, Cloudflare Radar human/bot share |
| Range usage | Who the range is assigned to and what it is used for | IP2Location usage code (DCH datacenter / ISP / MOB …), registry assignment records |
| Single IP | What kind of connection this IP is | MaxMind connection type, AbuseIPDB usage type, ProxyCheck, hosting and proxy detection |
"IP type" answers layers two and three; "ASN ownership" answers layer one. They disagree often, and that does not mean either is wrong.
Myth 1: company and ASN are both ISP, so it must be home broadband
"ISP" describes what kind of operator owns the network. An ISP's addresses do not all go to households: one ASN usually carries home broadband, business lines, IDC datacenters and cloud hosts side by side.
A "double ISP" only tells you an ISP owns the range, not that it reaches anyone's home. Korea's Sejong Networks (AS9848) is an ISP, yet one of its ranges is labelled datacenter (DCH), so IPs in that range are classified as datacenter IPs.
The reverse also happens: hosting-company ASNs sometimes hold small business or education ranges. Judging by ASN alone goes wrong in both directions.
Myth 2: a high human traffic share means real people use this IP
The Human / Bot share on the result card comes from Cloudflare Radar and covers all traffic from the whole ASN to Cloudflare, not this one IP.
- A consumer ISP naturally has a high human share; its datacenter ranges are a small fraction and vanish in the average.
- A high bot share does not mean datacenter either: search engines, monitoring and app backends all count as bots, and large ISPs have plenty of that.
- Cloud and VPS ASNs usually show a high bot share — a property of the network, which again cannot be pinned on a specific IP.
So the human/bot share only describes the network profile; it never decides the IP type on its own.
Myth 3: most sources say ISP and only one says datacenter, so it's a mistake
Not necessarily. Many sources' "ISP" is an ASN-level label — every IP in the ASN gets the same answer. Range-level and per-IP signals are fewer but carry more information.
Range labels can still be stale or coarse, e.g. a whole /16 marked datacenter. When the range says datacenter but per-IP signals (MaxMind Cable/DSL, AbuseIPDB fixed line) say home broadband, CleanIP still conservatively classifies it as datacenter, but it:
- shows a yellow question mark on the "Datacenter IP" badge — hover to see each source's raw verdict;
- marks the evidence as "sources disagree", separate from verdicts where sources agree;
- accepts corrections: tell us the actual provider and usage and we review and fix it.
CleanIP's classification order
IP type is decided in this order; earlier evidence wins:
- Known public infrastructure (public DNS, root servers, CDN edges) and transit backbones (e.g. Cogent, NTT) are treated as datacenter. Backbone ASNs still show as ISP — they are operators, they just don't sell home access.
- Hosting / datacenter flags on this IP (datacenter detected by multiple sources, ProxyCheck Hosting, etc.).
- Range usage: IP2Location marks the range as datacenter (DCH).
- Per-IP connection type: AbuseIPDB fixed line, MaxMind Cable/DSL, cellular, etc.
- Only when none of the above exist do we fall back to the ASN type, marked "inferred from ASN".
Every verdict carries an evidence strength: direct evidence for this IP, inferred from the ASN, or sources disagree. Hover the IP type badge on the result card to see it.
FAQ
I'm sure this is home broadband but it's classified as datacenter. What now?
Hover the "Datacenter IP" badge to see which rule decided it. If it is only a range label while other sources point to broadband, send a correction from the result page with your provider and usage, and we will review it manually.
Will platforms always block a datacenter IP?
No. A datacenter IP only means the address serves servers or datacenters; platforms weigh account behaviour, device and IP history together. Sign-up, login and payment flows are usually stricter with datacenter IPs, so read it together with the purity score and risk checks.
Why do different sites report different IP types?
They use different sources at different granularity: some only look at the ASN type, some at the range, some at the single IP. Map their answers onto the three layers above to see which is more specific.
Check what type your IP is
Enter any IPv4 / IPv6 or leave it blank to test your own. Hover the IP type badge on the result card to see the evidence and every source's raw verdict.
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