Network Port Reference

108+ TCP/UDP ports with a security rating & firewall rule generator.

A free, searchable reference of common TCP and UDP network ports — from everyday services like 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), 22 (SSH) and 3306 (MySQL) to email, remote access, database, directory, file sharing, messaging/VoIP, developer & monitoring, VPN, printing and gaming ports. Each entry shows the protocol (TCP, UDP or both), the service name, a plain-English description and a Secure/Insecure/Neutral security rating so risky ports are obvious at a glance. Check which range any port falls into with the built-in port range checker, or select ports to generate ready-to-run firewall rules for ufw, iptables or Windows Firewall. Search by port, service or protocol, or filter by category. Runs fully in your browser — no API.

Network Port Reference features

How to use Network Port Reference

  1. Open the list

    Launch this free network port reference to look up any TCP or UDP port in one searchable table.

  2. Search a port or service

    Type a port number like 443, a service name like SSH or MySQL, or a protocol like UDP.

  3. Filter by category

    Tap a category chip — Web, Email, Database, Remote Access, VPN & Security, Gaming and more — to narrow the list.

  4. Read the security rating

    Each row is flagged Secure, Insecure or Neutral, so you can spot ports that shouldn't be exposed to the internet at a glance.

  5. Select ports for a firewall rule

    Tick a port's checkbox to add it to the firewall rule generator, then pick ufw, iptables or Windows Firewall and copy the commands.

  6. Check a specific port

    Use the port range checker to instantly see whether any port 0–65535 is well-known, registered or dynamic.

Best practices

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)

TCP is connection-based and provides reliable, ordered delivery with error checking. It establishes a session with a three-way handshake before any data moves. Web browsing, email and file transfers rely on TCP because data integrity and correct ordering matter more than raw speed.

UDP (User Datagram Protocol)

UDP is connectionless and faster, but it doesn't guarantee delivery or order — a lost packet is simply gone. That trade-off suits real-time traffic like video streaming, online gaming, DNS lookups and VoIP, where a fresh packet arriving late is less useful than the next one arriving on time.

Port security best practices

Frequently asked questions

What is a network port?

A network port is a 16-bit number (0–65535) that identifies a specific process or service on a device, alongside its IP address. It lets one machine run many network services at once — for example, a web server on port 80 and an SSH server on port 22 — without them interfering with each other.

What's the difference between TCP and UDP?

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is connection-based and guarantees ordered, reliable delivery — used for web traffic, email and file transfer. UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is connectionless and faster but doesn't guarantee delivery or order — used for DNS lookups, streaming, gaming and VoIP where speed matters more than a retry.

What are well-known, registered and dynamic ports?

Ports 0–1023 are 'well-known' ports reserved for standard services (HTTP, SSH, DNS…) and usually need admin privileges to bind. Ports 1024–49151 are 'registered' ports assigned to specific applications on request. Ports 49152–65535 are 'dynamic' or 'ephemeral' ports the OS hands out temporarily for outgoing connections.

What do the Secure / Insecure / Neutral labels mean?

Secure means the port is encrypted and/or authenticated by design (HTTPS, SSH, WireGuard…) and is generally safe to expose with normal precautions. Insecure means it's cleartext, unauthenticated by default, or a common attack target (Telnet, SMB, exposed databases…) — it shouldn't be reachable directly from the internet without a VPN or tunnel. Neutral covers infrastructure, discovery or dev-only ports (DNS, DHCP, a local dev server) where the rating depends entirely on how it's configured and used.

What port does HTTPS use?

HTTPS uses TCP port 443 by default (and UDP 443 for HTTP/3/QUIC). Plain, unencrypted HTTP uses TCP port 80.

What port does SSH use?

SSH (Secure Shell) uses TCP port 22 by default, for both remote terminal access and SFTP secure file transfer over the same connection.

Why do some ports need to be opened in a firewall?

A firewall blocks unsolicited inbound connections by default. If you're running a server (a website, game server, database, etc.) and want other machines to reach it, you need to explicitly allow — 'open' — the specific port that service listens on, ideally only from trusted sources. Select the ports you need on this page to generate the exact ufw, iptables or Windows Firewall command.

What happens if two services try to use the same port?

The second service fails to start and throws an 'address already in use' error — only one process can bind to a given port/protocol combination at a time. On Linux, `sudo ss -tulpn` or `sudo netstat -tulpn` shows which process currently holds a port.

Why are ports below 1024 restricted?

On Unix-like systems, binding to a well-known port (0–1023) requires root/administrator privileges. This stops an unprivileged user or process from impersonating a system service like SSH or a web server on its standard port.

What is port forwarding?

Port forwarding maps an external port on a router (or firewall) to an internal IP address and port, letting traffic from outside your network reach a specific device inside it. It's how you host a game server, security camera or web server behind a home router that uses NAT.

Is this network port reference free and up to date?

Yes — it's completely free with no sign-up, no API key and no limits. The list is a curated, static reference of the most common IANA well-known and registered ports plus widely used developer/app defaults, and it runs entirely in your browser.

What ports do common databases use?

MySQL/MariaDB uses 3306, PostgreSQL uses 5432, Microsoft SQL Server uses 1433, Oracle Database uses 1521, MongoDB uses 27017 and Redis uses 6379 by default. Filter this list by 'Database' to see all of them together — and note that most are flagged Insecure to expose directly to the internet.

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