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Generate a Random MAC Address
Look Up a Vendor from a MAC Address
Find the Vendor Behind a MAC Address
The Tools Kit's free MAC Address Lookup tells you which company most likely made a network interface, using the first three bytes of its MAC address. Paste an address from a router's client list, a DHCP lease table, or an arp -a output, and the tool matches its OUI prefix against a vendor table and shows the likely manufacturer.
The same page also works as a MAC address generator: it creates a random, valid unicast MAC address you can copy into a test config, a virtual machine, or documentation. It is one of several network utilities in our security tools collection.
How to Use the MAC Address Lookup
- 1
Enter the MAC address
Type or paste the address into the lookup field as six pairs of hex digits separated by colons or hyphens, such as 00:0C:29:4F:8E:12 or 00-0C-29-4F-8E-12. Upper or lower case both work.
- 2
Click Look Up Vendor
The button becomes active once the format is valid. The first three bytes, the OUI, are checked against the vendor table.
- 3
Read the result
A match shows the likely vendor and the OUI that was searched. No match means the prefix is not in the table, and a note appears if the address has the locally administered bit set.
- 4
Generate a random MAC if you need one
The top panel shows a random unicast MAC address. Click Generate New for another and Copy to put it on your clipboard.
There is no signup. Generating addresses has no limit, and lookups are only rate limited to a generous number per minute to keep the service fair.
How a MAC Address Is Structured
A MAC (Media Access Control) address is 48 bits long, written as six bytes in hexadecimal, such as 00:0C:29:4F:8E:12. The first three bytes, 00:0C:29, are the OUI that the IEEE assigned to the manufacturer (VMware in this case). The last three bytes, 4F:8E:12, are picked by the manufacturer so that no two of its interfaces share an address.
Two bits in the first byte carry extra meaning. Bit 0, the lowest bit, is the unicast/multicast flag: 0 means the address belongs to a single interface, 1 means a group address such as 01:00:5E:... used for IPv4 multicast. Bit 1 is the universal/local flag: 0 means the address was assigned by the manufacturer, 1 means it was set locally by software. Take the first byte 3C: in binary it is 0011 1100, so both flags are 0 and it is a normal, manufacturer-style unicast address. The first byte DA is 1101 1010, so bit 1 is set and the address is locally administered.
MAC addresses are a layer 2 identifier and only travel within the local network segment. IP addresses do the job across networks; to see your public one, use the IP address checker, and to work out the range of addresses a subnet holds, try the CIDR calculator.
OUI Lookup: What the Vendor Result Means
The vendor lookup checks the OUI against a curated table of 56 prefixes for common consumer, networking and virtualization vendors, including Apple, Samsung, Google, Amazon, Sony, Huawei, Cisco, Netgear, D-Link, TP-Link, Intel, Belkin, Sonos, Philips Hue, Nest and the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It is not the full IEEE registry, so a “no vendor match” result means the prefix is not in the table rather than that the address is fake or invalid.
Virtual machines are one of the most useful matches. Prefixes such as 00:0C:29 and 00:50:56 (VMware), 08:00:27 (Oracle VirtualBox) and 00:15:5D (Microsoft Hyper-V) tell you a host in a DHCP table is a VM rather than a physical machine. A vendor result is only a hint about the network card: it cannot tell you who owns a device or where it is. For an owner or registrant of a domain you would need a WHOIS lookup instead, and for the hostname behind an IP address a reverse DNS lookup.
Randomized MAC Addresses and the Random MAC Generator
Modern iPhones, Android phones, and Windows and macOS laptops can use a private, randomized MAC address for each Wi-Fi network so they cannot be tracked from place to place. These addresses have the locally administered bit set, which makes the second hex digit of the first byte 2, 6, A or E (for example DA: or F6:). When you look one up, the tool shows a note that the address may be randomized, since no manufacturer owns it.
The random MAC address generator works the other way. It creates six random bytes in your browser, then clears the multicast bit and the locally administered bit of the first byte, so the second hex digit is always 0, 4, 8 or C and the address is a valid unicast address in manufacturer style. Because the first three bytes are random, they can occasionally match a real vendor's OUI. For a lab address that is guaranteed never to clash with real hardware, change the second digit to 2, 6, A or E. If you need unique identifiers for software records rather than network cards, a UUID generator is the better fit.
Common uses
- Identifying an unknown device in your router's connected-clients list by its manufacturer
- Spotting VMware, VirtualBox and Hyper-V guests in a DHCP lease or ARP table
- Checking whether a phone or laptop is using a private, randomized Wi-Fi address
- Generating a placeholder MAC address for a test fixture, lab VM or documentation
- Pairing with a port scanner to profile what a device on your network is running
MAC address terms explained
| Term | What it means here |
|---|---|
| MAC address | A 48-bit hardware address for a network interface, written as six pairs of hex digits |
| OUI | Organizationally Unique Identifier: the first three bytes, assigned by the IEEE to a manufacturer |
| NIC-specific part | The last three bytes, chosen by the manufacturer to make each interface unique |
| Unicast / multicast bit | Bit 0 of the first byte; 0 means the frame is for one interface, 1 means a group |
| Locally administered bit | Bit 1 of the first byte; 1 means the address was set by software, not burned in by the maker |
| Randomized MAC | A locally administered address phones and laptops use per Wi-Fi network for privacy |
Frequently Asked Questions
Paste the address into the lookup field in colon or hyphen form, such as 00:50:56:A1:B2:C3, and click Look Up Vendor. The first three bytes, the OUI, are matched against the vendor table and the likely manufacturer is shown, here VMware.
The Organizationally Unique Identifier is the first three bytes (six hex digits) of a MAC address. The IEEE assigns OUIs to manufacturers, so the OUI tells you who made the network interface, while the last three bytes identify the individual device.
No. It uses a curated table of 56 prefixes covering common vendors such as Apple, Samsung, Google, Cisco, TP-Link, Netgear, Intel, Raspberry Pi, VMware, VirtualBox and Hyper-V. The full IEEE registry has tens of thousands of entries, so a missing result means the prefix is not in this table, not that the address is invalid.
Either the prefix is outside the curated table, or the address is randomized. Phones and many laptops use a random, locally administered MAC on each Wi-Fi network; those addresses belong to no manufacturer, and the tool shows a note when the locally administered bit is set.
Look at the second hex digit of the first byte. If it is 2, 6, A or E, the locally administered bit is set and the address was assigned by software rather than burned in by the manufacturer, which is how private or randomized Wi-Fi addresses are built.
Six pairs of hex digits separated by colons or hyphens, in upper or lower case, for example 3c:a9:f4:10:20:30 or 3C-A9-F4-10-20-30. Cisco dotted notation (3ca9.f410.2030) and 12 digits with no separators are not accepted, so add colons first.
A random address is generated when the page loads. Click Generate New for another and Copy to copy it. Each address is six random bytes in uppercase, colon-separated form, with the multicast bit cleared so it is always a valid unicast address.
No. The generator clears both the multicast bit and the locally administered bit, so the second hex digit is always 0, 4, 8 or C and the address looks like a manufacturer-assigned one. Its first three bytes are random, so they can coincide with a real vendor prefix. If you need a locally administered address, change the second digit to 2, 6, A or E.
No. A MAC address only identifies the manufacturer of the network interface through its OUI. It does not reveal who owns the device or where it is, and MAC addresses are not carried beyond the local network segment, so websites never see them.
Random MAC generation runs entirely in your browser. The vendor lookup sends the address to this site's own lookup endpoint, which compares the first three bytes against the vendor table and returns the match; the address is not stored.
Reviewed by Raja Jahangir · Last reviewed: October 7, 2026
How do you find the vendor of a MAC address?
To find a MAC address vendor, enter the address in colon or hyphen form, such as 00:1A:11:22:33:44. The first three bytes, the OUI, are matched against a vendor table that covers common consumer device makers rather than the full IEEE registry. Addresses with the locally-administered bit set are flagged as likely randomized. A random unicast MAC can also be generated.
Why does my phone's MAC address show no vendor?
Modern iPhones and Android phones use randomized MAC addresses on Wi-Fi for privacy. A randomized address sets the locally-administered bit, the second-lowest bit of the first byte, so the first byte ends in 2, 6, A, or E. These addresses are not assigned by any manufacturer, so no vendor lookup can match them.