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Common HTTP Status Codes Explained
A practical overview of the five HTTP response status classes and frequently encountered codes such as 200, 301, 404, 500, and 503.
An HTTP status code is a three-digit number that describes the result of a server’s response. Its first digit identifies one of five response classes.
1xx: informational responses
The request has been received and processing should continue. HTTP/1.0 did not define 1xx responses, so servers generally should not send them to HTTP/1.0 clients outside experimental conditions.
2xx: successful responses
- 200 OK: The request succeeded, and the response contains the expected headers or body.
- 201 Created: The request succeeded and created a resource. Its URI is normally returned in the
Locationheader. If creation cannot finish immediately,202 Acceptedmay be more appropriate. - 202 Accepted: The server accepted the request but has not finished processing it.
3xx: redirection and caching
The client must take another action to complete the request. For redirects, the target is supplied in the Location header.
- 301 Moved Permanently: The resource has permanently moved to a new location. Clients normally follow the new URL for
GETorHEADrequests. - 302 Found: The resource is temporarily available at a different URI, while clients should continue using the original URI for future requests.
- 304 Not Modified: The requested representation has not changed since the previous conditional request, so the server returns no response body and the browser can reuse its cache.
4xx: client errors
The request appears to contain an error that prevents the server from handling it.
- 401 Unauthorized: Authentication is required.
- 403 Forbidden: The server understood the request but refuses to fulfill it. Authenticating again will not necessarily help.
- 404 Not Found: The server cannot find the requested resource. The response does not state whether the condition is temporary or permanent. Use
410 Gonewhen a resource is known to be permanently unavailable without a replacement.
5xx: server errors
The server failed while processing an apparently valid request or lacks the resources to complete it.
- 500 Internal Server Error: An unexpected server-side condition prevented the request from completing.
- 503 Service Unavailable: Temporary maintenance or overload prevents the server from handling the request. The condition is normally temporary.