HTTP Status Checker

Check the HTTP status code for any URL and quickly understand redirect behavior. Follow redirects (up to 10) to detect loops and confirm the final destination response. Ideal for uptime checks, health endpoints, SEO audits, and debugging misrouted URLs. Export results to JSON.

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About HTTP Status Checker

Paste a URL to see its HTTP status (200, 301, 302, 404, 500…) and, if needed, follow redirects to inspect the full redirect chain. Perfect for diagnosing availability issues, validating health checks, and making sure your redirects are SEO-friendly and loop-free.

Features

Check the HTTP response status for any URL (website or API).
Follow redirects and inspect redirect chains (up to 10 hops).
Detect redirect loops and misconfigurations quickly.
Great for health endpoints to confirm 200 OK behavior.
Helps validate canonical destinations (HTTP→HTTPS, www, locale paths).
Copy/share results for debugging and support tickets.
Export a JSON report for automation and monitoring workflows.
Safety defaults: blocks private-network targets and uses a fixed User-Agent.

🧭 How to use for http-status-checker

Enter the URL

Paste the URL you want to check (page, API endpoint, or health path).

Choose redirect behavior

Enable "Follow Redirects" to reach the final destination. Disable it if you only want the first-hop response.

Set the redirect limit if needed

Adjust "Max Redirects" to avoid long chains and detect redirect loops safely.

Interpret the result

Use the reported status code to decide next steps (fix broken URLs, correct redirects, troubleshoot server errors).

Export for documentation or automation

Download JSON if you want to track changes over time or attach evidence to a ticket.

Technical specs

Request model

This tool checks the response status for a given URL and can follow redirects to surface the final status and chain behavior.

Setting	Behavior	Default
Follow Redirects	Follows redirect responses (3xx) to the final destination	Enabled
Max Redirects	Redirect cap to prevent loops	10 (range 0–20)
Timeout	Request timeout limit	12000 ms
User-Agent	Identifies the request user agent	Encode64Bot/1.0 (+https://encode64.com)
Private networks	Blocks access to private network ranges for safety	Disabled (private networks not allowed)

Status code categories (quick guide)

Understanding the status family helps you decide whether the issue is a redirect, client error, or server failure.

Range	Meaning	Common examples
2xx	Success	200 OK, 204 No Content
3xx	Redirect	301 Moved Permanently, 302 Found, 307 Temporary Redirect, 308 Permanent Redirect
4xx	Client error	400 Bad Request, 401 Unauthorized, 403 Forbidden, 404 Not Found, 410 Gone
5xx	Server error	500 Internal Server Error, 502 Bad Gateway, 503 Service Unavailable, 504 Gateway Timeout

For SEO, prefer permanent redirects (301/308) when you've moved content for good, and keep redirect chains short.

Command line

Use these commands to check status codes and redirects outside the browser. Great for CI checks and incident response.

macOS / Linux

Check status code only (no body)

curl -o /dev/null -s -w "%{http_code}
" https://example.com/health

Prints only the HTTP status code.

Follow redirects and print final status

curl -L -o /dev/null -s -w "%{http_code}
" http://example.com

Follows redirects (HTTP→HTTPS, www, etc.) and prints the final status code.

Show redirect chain headers

curl -I -L http://example.com

Displays headers for each hop, including Location.

Windows (PowerShell)

Get status code

$r = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://example.com/health -Method Get -MaximumRedirection 0 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; $r.StatusCode

Gets the response status code (adjust redirection handling depending on your PowerShell version).

For monitoring, use a dedicated /health endpoint that returns 200 quickly and doesn't require authentication. Keep it stable and lightweight.

Use cases

Validate health endpoints and uptime

Confirm critical endpoints return 200 OK and are reachable within expected constraints.

Check /health and /status endpoints
Detect intermittent 5xx during incidents
Export JSON for incident evidence

Debug redirect chains and loops

When a URL unexpectedly redirects multiple times (or never resolves), inspect the chain and stop loops fast.

Detect redirect loops
Confirm HTTP→HTTPS and www canonicalization
Spot long chains caused by mixed rules (Nginx, app, CDN)

SEO audits and broken link checks

Status codes heavily influence crawling/indexing. Use this tool to confirm correct responses for pages and sitemaps.

Confirm 200 for indexable pages
Use 301/308 for permanent moves
Find 404/410 for removed content
Catch 302/307 used unintentionally for permanent redirects

API debugging

Quickly check whether an API endpoint is reachable and whether it redirects (which can break some clients).

Confirm 200/204 for expected success
Catch unexpected 3xx redirects or 401/403 auth failures
Identify 502/504 gateway issues

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

❓What's the difference between 301 and 302?

301 (and 308) indicates a permanent redirect. 302 (and 307) indicates a temporary redirect. For SEO, permanent redirects are preferred when the move is permanent.

❓Why should I keep redirect chains short?

Long redirect chains slow down users and crawlers, increase failure points, and can dilute signals. Prefer a single hop to the canonical destination when possible.

❓What does a redirect loop look like?

The URL keeps redirecting between two or more locations (often HTTP↔HTTPS, www↔non-www, or trailing slash rules). The tool will hit the max redirect limit and report the issue.

❓Is 404 always bad?

Not always. 404 is correct for missing resources. For permanently removed content, 410 Gone can be even clearer. What matters is that your important pages return 200 and your redirects are intentional.

❓Why do I see 403 or 401?

401 means authentication is required. 403 means access is forbidden. This can be expected for private endpoints, WAF rules, geo-blocking, or misconfigured permissions.

❓Is it safe to paste URLs here?

The tool makes server-side requests to the provided URL and blocks private-network targets. Avoid including secrets in URLs (like tokens in query strings).

Pro Tips

Best Practice

For canonicalization, prefer a single redirect hop to your final URL (HTTPS + your chosen hostname).

Performance Tip

Monitor a fast /health endpoint for uptime instead of your homepage, which may be heavier and more variable.

CI Tip

For SEO migrations, use 301/308 for permanent moves and update internal links + sitemaps to point directly to the final URLs.

Best Practice

If you suspect loops, set Max Redirects low (e.g., 3–5) to fail fast and identify the misconfigured rule set.

CI Tip

Export JSON and attach it to incident tickets to document status changes during outages and rollbacks.

Additional Resources

HTTP response status codes (MDN)

Documentation

URL redirection and 3xx (MDN)

Reference

SEO: status code guidance (Google Search Central)

Reference

HTTP Status Checker

About HTTP Status Checker

✨ Features

🧭 How to use for http-status-checker

Enter the URL

Choose redirect behavior

Set the redirect limit if needed

Interpret the result

Export for documentation or automation

🧩 Technical specs

🔧Request model

🧠Status code categories (quick guide)

💻 Command line

🧑‍💻macOS / Linux

🪟Windows (PowerShell)

🎯 Use cases

🧪Validate health endpoints and uptime

🔁Debug redirect chains and loops

🔍SEO audits and broken link checks

🧰API debugging