Tool 02 · Networking

Subnet calculator

Enter any IPv4 address and prefix to get the network, broadcast, usable host range, netmask and wildcard. With the network and host bits laid out in binary so the math is visible, not magic. Then split the network into smaller subnets for VLSM planning.

Input

Network

Network
Broadcast
First usable host
Last usable host
Usable hosts
Total addresses
Netmask
Wildcard
Copied

Binary breakdown

Bits: network host. The prefix length is simply how many bits belong to the network.

How subnetting works

An IPv4 address is 32 bits. The prefix (the /24 in CIDR notation) says how many of those bits identify the network; the rest identify hosts inside it. The netmask is the same information written as an address: /24 = 255.255.255.0, i.e. 24 ones followed by 8 zeros. The wildcard mask is its inverse, used in ACLs and OSPF configuration.

The network address is the input address with all host bits set to zero (IP AND mask); the broadcast sets them all to one. Everything in between is usable by hosts, which is why a subnet holds 2^(host bits) − 2 addresses. Minus network and broadcast. Two special cases: /31 keeps both addresses for point-to-point links (RFC 3021), and /32 is a single host route.

Splitting a network borrows host bits to create more, smaller networks: each extra prefix bit doubles the subnet count and halves their size. That's all VLSM is. Choosing a different split per branch so address space matches actual need.