Difference Between MAC and IP address

Parameter	MAC Address	IP Address
Acronym for	media access control address	Internet Protocol Address
Used for	It is a unique identifier that is assigned to network interfaces for communicating on the physical network segments.	It is a numerical value that is assigned to all the participating devices in a network. i.e. Servers, Computers, Printers, WAP, Laptops etc.
Provided BY	It is generally provided by the manufacturer of the NIC cards and is stored in its hardware.	It is provided by the ISP (Internet Service Provider) or by the Network Administrator.
Length	It is 48 bit address which contains 6 groups of 2 hexadecimal digits, separated by either hyphens (-) or colons (:) E.g. 00:FF:FF:AB:BB:AA Or 00-FF-FF-AB-BB-AA	IPv4 uses 32 bit address in dotted notations, whereas IPv6 Uses 128 bit address in hexadecimal notations. e.g. IPv4      192.168.1.1 IPv6    FFFE:F200:3204:0B00: 0122:4555:8001:AB00
Use of Classes	No classes are used in MAC addressing.	IPv4 uses A,B,C,D,E classes for IP addressing
Static Vs Dynamic	Although intended to be a permanent and globally unique identification but it is possible to change the MAC address on most modern hardware.	IP address can be static or dynamic. i.e. a fixed IP can be assigned to device (Computer/ Printer/ Server) or it may have dynamic IP that can change its value on every boot.
Spoofing	MAC spoofing Possible.	IP Address Spoofing Possible.
Address Sharing	MAC Address Sharing is not allowed and unique MAC address is assigned to each NIC.	Multiple client devices can share IP addresses: either because they are part of a shared hosting web server environment or because an IPv4 network address translator (NAT) or proxy server acts as an intermediary agent on behalf of its customers.
Subnetting	No subnetting is used.	IP networks may be divided into subnetworks in both IPv4 and IPv6.