The difference between router and switch

A switch uses a little more intelligence. It learns the IP address of each computer attached to it, by matching up IP addresses with hardware MAC (Medium Access Control)addresses. When data comes into the switch, it only sends data back out the port assigned to that computer’s MAC address. Switches are said to work at a hardware level, and help relieve bandwidth across the network.




A router is the most intelligent networking device. But routers aren’t like really intelligent switches, they actually work in a completely different way. Routers are designed to connect networks together. So, your internal network might have IP addresses, like 192.0.0.100, while your Internet service provider might give your computer an IP address that starts with 64.x.x.x. A router can take internal traffic bound for destinations out on the Internet in general, and route it from your internal network to the external network. Whenever you change networks, you need a router. And vice versa when information comes from the external network to your home network.




A switch sorts and distributes the network packets sent between the devices on a local area network (LAN), while a router is a gateway that connects two or more networks, which can be any combination of LANs, wide area networks (WAN), or the Internet.