Bots and scrapers
Most automated traffic runs on cloud servers. Rate-limit or challenge it without bothering home users.
What counts as hosting
Hosting addresses belong to data centers, cloud platforms and server providers. Real people almost never browse from them, but bots, scrapers, credential-stuffing tools and self-hosted VPNs and proxies do.
Look up an IP and VPN Blocker tells you if it’s in a hosting network with host-ip and the hosting category, plus who owns the network. On Professional and up you also get the hostname and location.
GET https://api.vpnblocker.net/v2/json/116.203.10.10
{
"status": "success",
"package": "Professional",
"remaining_requests": 987654,
"ipaddress": "116.203.10.10",
"host-ip": true,
"categories": ["hosting"],
"confidence": 90,
"hostname": "static.10.10.203.116.clients.your-server.de",
"org": "Hetzner Online GmbH",
"country": {
"name": "Germany",
"code": "DE"
},
"subdivision": {
"name": "Bavaria",
"code": "BY"
},
"city": "Nuremberg",
"postal": "90403",
"location": {
"lat": 49.4527,
"long": 11.0783
}
}How to check for hosting
Act when host-ip is true, which also covers VPN and proxy networks, or check categories for hosting to target data centers only.
JavaScript
const r = await lookup(ip); // see the guides for lookup()
const isHosting = r !== null && (r['host-ip'] === true || r.categories.includes('hosting'));PHP
$r = vpnblocker_lookup($ip); // see the guides for vpnblocker_lookup()
$isHosting = $r !== null && ($r['host-ip'] === true || in_array('hosting', $r['categories'], true));Python
r = lookup(ip) # see the guides for lookup()
is_hosting = r is not None and (r["host-ip"] is True or "hosting" in r["categories"])Full walkthroughs: PHP · Node.js · Python · game servers and Discord
Why sites check for hosting addresses
Self-hosted VPNs and proxies
Catch VPNs and proxies people run on their own rented servers.
Fake sign-ups
Accounts created from data centers are rarely genuine.
API abuse
Spot keys being used from servers you don’t expect.
Cleaner analytics
Leave server traffic out of your visitor and conversion numbers.
Game servers
Stop alt accounts and bots joining from cloud servers.
Questions
What’s the difference between host-ip and the hosting category?
host-ip is true for any address in a network that isn’t a regular user’s: hosting, VPN and proxy networks. The hosting category says the network is specifically a hosting provider, data center or cloud. host-ip can also be true with no category when we know an address isn’t a regular user’s but haven’t put it in a category.
Should I block all hosting addresses?
Not always. A few real people browse from cloud desktops, company networks or privacy services that run in data centers. Many sites block hosting on sign-up and payments, and show a captcha elsewhere. Use confidence to decide how strict to be.
Which networks count as hosting?
Cloud platforms, VPS and dedicated server providers, and data centers: anywhere servers run rather than people. Our machine learning models categorize networks continuously, so new providers are picked up as they appear.
Is hosting detection on every plan?
Yes, including the Free plan.
More detection
Start detecting hosting addresses today
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