diff --git a/lib/ipaddress/ipv4.rb b/lib/ipaddress/ipv4.rb
index a123e7116931b0e8d6b4dfbc5461c681c02a111b..597948915267f15e8d53b70cf72de62a26e201e7 100644
--- a/lib/ipaddress/ipv4.rb
+++ b/lib/ipaddress/ipv4.rb
@@ -509,6 +509,7 @@ module IPAddress;
     #     #=> ["10.100.100.1/8","10.100.100.1/16","172.16.0.1/16"]
     #
     def <=>(oth)
+      return nil unless oth.is_a?(self.class)
       return prefix <=> oth.prefix if to_u32 == oth.to_u32  
       to_u32 <=> oth.to_u32
     end
diff --git a/lib/ipaddress/ipv6.rb b/lib/ipaddress/ipv6.rb
index 6ae651dc509b628bd15825947317e48fefbfd65b..2205de44385677e250cbe6f2c059ff29a77fc790 100644
--- a/lib/ipaddress/ipv6.rb
+++ b/lib/ipaddress/ipv6.rb
@@ -494,6 +494,7 @@ module IPAddress;
     #     #=> ["2001:db8:1::1/64","2001:db8:1::1/65","2001:db8:2::1/64"]
     #
     def <=>(oth)
+      return nil unless oth.is_a?(self.class)
       return prefix <=> oth.prefix if to_u128 == oth.to_u128  
       to_u128 <=> oth.to_u128
     end
diff --git a/test/ipaddress/ipv4_test.rb b/test/ipaddress/ipv4_test.rb
index 19264e22c957ee6d072c97b6dc47d659ee84563a..33b3a3125e7c6a8e83b193ff8cdb23ec43b5ef17 100644
--- a/test/ipaddress/ipv4_test.rb
+++ b/test/ipaddress/ipv4_test.rb
@@ -372,6 +372,12 @@ class IPv4Test < Minitest::Test
     ip3 = @klass.new("10.0.0.0/8")
     arr = ["10.0.0.0/8","10.0.0.0/16","10.0.0.0/24"]
     assert_equal arr, [ip1,ip2,ip3].sort.map{|s| s.to_string}
+    # compare with alien thing
+    ip1 = @klass.new('127.0.0.1')
+    ip2 = IPAddress::IPv6.new('::1')
+    not_ip = String
+    assert_equal nil, ip1 <=> ip2
+    assert_equal nil, ip1 <=> not_ip
   end
 
   def test_method_minus
diff --git a/test/ipaddress/ipv6_test.rb b/test/ipaddress/ipv6_test.rb
index 7eaa76529c37e2040a33f62ab3389284b051c153..3c3da90cf0816d83bb3b5183c0458523066cb67e 100644
--- a/test/ipaddress/ipv6_test.rb
+++ b/test/ipaddress/ipv6_test.rb
@@ -260,6 +260,12 @@ class IPv6Test < Minitest::Test
     arr = ["2001:db8:1::1/64","2001:db8:1::1/65",
            "2001:db8:1::2/64","2001:db8:2::1/64"]
     assert_equal arr, [ip1,ip2,ip3,ip4].sort.map{|s| s.to_string}
+    # compare with alien thing
+    ip1 = @klass.new('::1')
+    ip2 = IPAddress::IPv4.new('127.0.0.1')
+    not_ip = String
+    assert_equal nil, ip1 <=> ip2
+    assert_equal nil, ip1 <=> not_ip
   end
 
   def test_classmethod_expand