What does /26 mean?
A /26 has 64 addresses and 62 usable hosts, with netmask 255.255.255.192. A /24 holds four of them, starting at .0, .64, .128 and .192; 192.168.1.0/26 runs from 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.63.
Worked example: 192.168.1.0/26. Type any block to compare.
192.168.1.0/26 is 64 addresses: 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.63. 62 usable for hosts (the first is the network address, the last is broadcast).
- Network
192.168.1.0- First usable
192.168.1.1- Last usable
192.168.1.62- Broadcast
192.168.1.63- Addresses
64- Usable hosts
62- Netmask
255.255.255.192- Wildcard (ACL) mask
0.0.0.63- Historic class
C- Range type
Private network · not routed on the internet
Special-purpose range
Private network 192.168.0.0/16 RFC 1918
The private range most home routers use (192.168.0.x, 192.168.1.x).
Split it into subnets
4 subnets.
| Subnet | Usable range | Hosts | Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|
192.168.1.0/28 | 192.168.1.1 – 192.168.1.14 | 14 | 192.168.1.15 |
192.168.1.16/28 | 192.168.1.17 – 192.168.1.30 | 14 | 192.168.1.31 |
192.168.1.32/28 | 192.168.1.33 – 192.168.1.46 | 14 | 192.168.1.47 |
192.168.1.48/28 | 192.168.1.49 – 192.168.1.62 | 14 | 192.168.1.63 |
Is this IP in the range?
Range to CIDR blocks
What to know
/26 is a convenient size for a small department VLAN, a lab, or a cloud subnet for a handful of services. AWS's 5 reserved addresses leave 59 usable in a /26.
In a VPC with public and private subnets across two or three availability zones, carving a /24 into four /26s is a common small layout.
Gotchas
- 192.168.1.63 and 192.168.1.64 are not hosts in a /26 layout: one is the broadcast of the first block, the other the network address of the second.
- Azure needs some subnet types (for example its gateway or firewall subnets) to be at least a certain size; a /26 is a common minimum there. Check the service's requirement before choosing.