NAT Type Strict, Moderate or Open — How to Fix It on PS5, Xbox and PC

A strict NAT type is the reason you cannot hear your friends in party chat, wait forever in matchmaking or cannot join someone’s lobby. It is not a problem with your internet speed: a fast connection can still have a strict NAT. It is about whether other players’ consoles can open a connection to yours, and in most homes that is fixed in the router in a few minutes.

What the NAT Types Mean

Your router uses network address translation (NAT) to share one public IP address among all your devices. Outgoing connections are easy; incoming ones, which peer-to-peer games and voice chat need, depend on how the router treats them. Consoles test this and report a NAT type.

The goal is Open on Xbox and Type 2 on PlayStation.

How to Check Your NAT Type

• Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One: Settings → General → Network settings. The current NAT type is shown on the screen; choose Test NAT type to run the check again.
• PS5: Settings → Network → Connection Status → Test Internet Connection. The result includes the NAT type.
• Nintendo Switch: System Settings → Internet → Test Connection; the result shows a NAT type from A (best) to F.

Run the test again after each change below, so you know which one fixed it.

Why You Get a Strict NAT

There are four common causes, roughly in order of how often they happen:

UPnP is off. Universal Plug and Play lets the console ask the router to open the ports it needs, automatically. With UPnP turned off, the router blocks those incoming connections and the console reports Moderate or Strict.

Two routers in a row. If your own router is connected to a provider gateway that also routes, you have double NAT. The console is behind two layers of NAT, and UPnP on your router cannot open anything on the gateway.

Several consoles sharing UPnP. Two consoles in one home sometimes compete for the same ports, so one of them gets a worse NAT type.

Your provider uses carrier-grade NAT. If the provider shares one public IPv4 address among many customers, nothing in your home can open incoming ports. Our guide to what CGNAT is shows how to check.

How to Fix It, Step by Step

1. Restart everything

Turn off the console, the router and the modem. Start the modem, then the router, then the console, and test again. This clears stale port mappings and fixes a surprising number of strict NAT reports.

2. Turn on UPnP in the router

Log in to the router — if you need the address, see what is my router IP — and look for UPnP under Advanced, NAT Forwarding, WAN or Network settings. Turn it on, save, restart the console and test again. On most home networks this alone turns Strict into Open.

UPnP lets any device in your network open ports, which is why some guides warn against it. For a home with a game console it is the practical choice; if you prefer not to use it, forward ports manually as in step 5.

3. Get rid of double NAT

Check whether your router connects to another router or a provider gateway. If it does, either put the provider’s box in bridge mode, so only your router does the routing, or connect the console directly to the provider’s gateway and turn on UPnP there. Our guide on modem vs router vs gateway explains bridge mode and how to tell which box you have.

4. Give the console a fixed local address

Manual port forwarding needs the console to keep the same local IP address. In the router, find DHCP reservation (sometimes Address Reservation or Static Lease) and reserve the console’s current address. You can find the console’s IP and MAC address in its network settings.

5. Forward the ports manually if UPnP is not an option

Forward the ports your console needs to the console’s reserved address. Microsoft and Sony publish the current port lists in their support articles for network connections on Xbox and PlayStation; use those, because port lists copied around the internet differ and get outdated. Our step-by-step guide on how to port forward shows the router side for TP-Link, NETGEAR, ASUS, Linksys and Xfinity. Do not forward the same ports to two consoles; only one device can receive each forwarded port.

6. DMZ as a last resort

Many routers can put one device in a DMZ (sometimes Exposed Host), which forwards all incoming traffic to it. It usually gives an Open NAT immediately. Use it only for a console, never for a computer, and only if nothing else works, because it removes the router’s protection for that device.

7. If nothing helps, check for CGNAT

If the router’s internet address does not match your public IP and there is no second router, you are likely behind your provider’s CGNAT. Then the fix has to come from the provider: ask for a public IPv4 address. Some providers do this on request.

On a Gaming PC

On Windows, the Xbox app shows the NAT type in its network settings, and Windows 10 also has Settings → Gaming → Xbox Networking. The same fixes apply as for consoles. In addition, the Windows firewall or third-party security software can block incoming game traffic; allow the game through the firewall when Windows asks, or add it in the firewall settings. A VPN also changes the NAT type, because games then see the VPN’s network instead of yours.