The /26 subnet, explained.

The /26 subnet uses 255.255.255.192 as its subnet mask — meaning the first 26 bits of every address identify the network, and the remaining 6 bits identify the host within that network. That gives you 64 total addresses (62 usable on standard RFC math, after subtracting the network and broadcast addresses).

The wildcard mask — the bitwise inverse of the subnet mask — is 0.0.0.63. Wildcards are what Cisco access-control lists and OSPF area definitions use instead of subnet masks; the "1" bits mark "don't care" positions. For a /26, that leaves 6 don't-care host bits.

To find the network address for any IP in a /26 block, perform a bitwise AND between the IP and the subnet mask. To find the broadcast, OR the network address with the wildcard. Modern tools — like our subnet calculator — do this in microseconds, but the underlying mechanics are straightforward binary arithmetic.

A /26 has 62 usable hosts (59 on AWS / Azure). Common for switch-management VLANs, IoT subnets, and small lab environments. Below /26, cloud reserved-IP overhead starts hurting capacity badly.

Cloud-provider quirks matter at every prefix size: AWS and Azure reserve 5 IPs per subnet, GCP reserves 4, and OCI reserves 3. So a /26 on standard RFC math gives you 62 usable hosts, but on AWS or Azure that drops to 59. The capacity-planning gap bites hardest at small prefixes (a /28 has 14 usable on paper, only 11 on AWS) but exists at every size. Our cloud-aware calculator applies the right math automatically.