HTTP Status Checker

The HTTP Status Checker sends a request to a URL and reports the HTTP status code the server returns along with the response time, giving you an instant health check for any web resource. Status codes are the standardized three-digit signals servers use to describe the outcome of a request: the 2xx family means success, 3xx means redirection, 4xx means a client error like a missing page, and 5xx means the server itself failed. Reading these codes correctly is fundamental to diagnosing nearly any web issue.

Knowing the exact code removes guesswork. A 200 OK confirms the resource is reachable, a 404 Not Found flags a broken link or removed page, a 403 Forbidden indicates blocked access or a firewall rule, a 500 Internal Server Error points at application crashes, and a 503 Service Unavailable usually means the server is overloaded or in maintenance. The accompanying response time also tells you whether the endpoint is healthy or sluggish, which is useful for spotting performance degradation before users complain.

This is a go-to tool for verifying that pages are live after a deployment, monitoring an API endpoint, confirming that error pages return the correct code rather than a soft 200, and checking links during a content audit. It complements the URL Redirect Checker when a 3xx response appears and you want to trace the full chain, and the Website Speed Test when the response time itself is the concern.

A practical tip: make sure pages that no longer exist return a real 404 or 410 rather than a 200 with an error message, since soft 404s confuse search engines and leave broken content indexed. For temporary maintenance, return 503 with a Retry-After header so crawlers know to come back rather than deindexing the page. If you see a 405, the endpoint exists but rejects the HTTP method you used, which often points at calling a POST-only API with a GET.