What is the difference between 401 and 403?

401 Unauthorized means no valid credentials were provided. 403 Forbidden means the client is authenticated but lacks permission to access the resource.

Should I use 301 or 308 for permanent redirects?

301 may cause browsers to change POST to GET. 308 preserves the original HTTP method. Use 308 when method preservation matters.

When should I use 400 vs 422?

400 Bad Request is for malformed syntax or missing required fields. 422 Unprocessable Content is for syntactically valid requests with semantic errors like invalid field values.

What is the difference between 302 and 307?

302 Found may cause browsers to change POST to GET. 307 Temporary Redirect preserves the original HTTP method. Use 307 for method-safe temporary redirects.

When should I return 204 vs 200?

200 OK returns a response body. 204 No Content signals success with no body — ideal for DELETE or PUT operations where no data needs to be returned.

Tools

HTTP Status Code Picker

Not sure which status code to return? Answer a few questions and this tool will recommend the right one — with explanations and links to the full reference.

What happened with the request?

Status Code Categories

1xx Informational — Request received, processing continues. 100 Continue, 101 Switching Protocols.

2xx Success — Request was received, understood, and accepted. 200 OK, 201 Created, 204 No Content.

3xx Redirection — Further action needed. 301 Moved Permanently, 302 Found, 307 Temporary Redirect.

4xx Client Error — The request has a problem. 400 Bad Request, 401 Unauthorized, 404 Not Found.

5xx Server Error — The server failed. 500 Internal Server Error, 502 Bad Gateway, 503 Service Unavailable.

Browse all HTTP status codes or try the HTTP Playground to see status codes in action.