HTTP Headers Checker

Inspect status codes, redirects, security and caching headers for any URL.

HTTP Headers Checker

Inspect response headers, status codes, and redirects for any URL.

Settings Prefilled examples
Include http:// or https://. If omitted, https:// is assumed.
0/5000
Some servers return different headers for HEAD vs GET. Compare if needed.
Use only for debugging. Disabling verification reduces security.
If a site blocks bots, changing the User-Agent may help reproduce browser behavior.
Higher values help slow servers; lower values fail faster.
Result Copy-ready
No output yet
Configure settings and click Generate.
Copied

About HTTP Headers Checker

HTTP Headers Checker – Inspect Response Headers Online

An HTTP headers checker helps you view exactly what a web server returns before any page content loads. Paste a URL, run the check, and review status codes, redirects, caching rules, security headers, cookies, and content negotiation in one clean report.

How HTTP Headers Checker Works

This tool sends a lightweight request to the URL you provide and prints the server’s response headers in a readable format. You can choose a HEAD request (headers only) or a GET request (headers plus the normal response handling). If you enable redirect following, the tool records the final destination and shows you the redirect chain so you can diagnose canonicalization and tracking hops.

Step-by-step

  • 1) Enter a URL: Provide a full address such as https://example.com/page. The tool validates the URL and blocks unsupported schemes.
  • 2) Pick request mode: Use HEAD to request headers only, or GET when you want servers/CDNs that behave differently for GET to be reflected.
  • 3) Choose redirect handling: Toggle “Follow redirects” to capture 301/302/307/308 hops and the final URL.
  • 4) Run the check: The tool performs the request with a safe timeout and a standard user-agent to avoid being rejected by strict edge rules.
  • 5) Review the report: You’ll see status code, timing, the full header block, and key metadata such as effective URL and redirect count.

Key Features

Accurate status and redirect insight

See the HTTP status code and the effective URL after redirects. This makes it easy to verify www vs non-www, http vs https, and trailing slash rules, as well as diagnose unexpected redirect loops.

Security header visibility

Quickly check for headers like Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, and Referrer-Policy. These headers help reduce common web risks and harden browsers against unsafe behavior.

Caching and CDN debugging

Inspect Cache-Control, Expires, ETag, Last-Modified, Vary, and any CDN-specific headers (for example, cache hits/misses). This is useful for confirming that your assets are cacheable, that your dynamic pages are not, and that revalidation works as intended.

Content negotiation checks

Review Content-Type, Content-Encoding, Transfer-Encoding, and Content-Language. When debugging compression or incorrect MIME types, headers provide the most direct source of truth.

Copy and download results

Copy the output to your clipboard or download it as a .txt file for tickets, audits, or sharing with teammates. Keeping a snapshot of headers is especially helpful when diagnosing intermittent CDN rules or security policies.

Use Cases

  • SEO audits: Verify canonical redirects, confirm 301 vs 302 behavior, and check that important pages return the expected 200 status.
  • Security reviews: Confirm the presence and correctness of security headers, cookie flags, and HTTPS enforcement.
  • Performance tuning: Ensure caching headers are set properly, compression is enabled, and CDN headers reflect the intended cache policy.
  • API troubleshooting: Inspect CORS headers, content types, and rate-limit headers when integrating third-party services.
  • Deployment verification: After a release, confirm that the live environment serves the correct headers (no staging indicators, correct server settings, correct cache policy).
  • Cookie diagnostics: Review Set-Cookie attributes like Secure, HttpOnly, SameSite, Domain, and Path to avoid authentication issues across subdomains.

In practice, headers are your quickest window into how browsers, crawlers, and CDNs interpret your site. A single scan can reveal misconfigured caching, missing security policies, or redirect mistakes that would otherwise be hard to spot from the page alone.

Optimization Tips

Prefer HEAD for fast checks

When you only need metadata (status, cache, security, cookies), a HEAD request is typically lighter than GET because it requests headers without downloading the full content. If a server behaves differently for GET, switch modes and compare results.

Validate redirect intentions

Enable redirect following to confirm your final destination and the number of hops. Ideally, core URLs should resolve in one hop. Multiple hops add latency and can cause inconsistencies for bots and analytics tools.

Audit security headers regularly

Security headers often change with proxies, CDN rules, and application updates. Keep a baseline report and re-check after releases so you catch missing headers early—before they turn into warnings from scanners or issues reported by users.

FAQ

Response headers are key-value fields returned by a server that describe how to handle the response. They include status details, caching rules, content type, security policies, and cookie settings.

Use HEAD when you only need headers quickly. Use GET if the server, WAF, or CDN returns different headers for full requests or if you want to mimic typical browser behavior more closely.

Multiple blocks typically indicate redirects (each hop has its own headers) or intermediate proxies that add headers. Following redirects helps you confirm the final URL and which hop adds which header.

This checker is designed for public URLs and does not send custom cookies or authentication tokens. For protected resources, run the request from your own environment where you can attach the required credentials.

Start with HSTS for HTTPS sites, a sensible Content-Security-Policy, and safe cookie flags (Secure, HttpOnly, SameSite). Then check clickjacking and MIME sniffing protections via X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options.

Why Choose This HTTP Headers Checker?

This tool gives you a fast, copy-ready view of the headers that matter for debugging, SEO, security, and performance. Because it focuses on response metadata, it’s ideal for quick checks during development, migrations, and incident response when you need immediate clarity.

Use it as a repeatable part of your workflow: verify redirects after DNS and CDN changes, confirm caching policies after asset optimizations, and spot missing security headers after deployments. A simple header report can save hours of guesswork and make your fixes precise and measurable.