Everyone knows 200 OK, 404 Not Found, and 500 Internal Server Error — but HTTP has over 60 status codes, and some of them are genuinely useful yet barely talked about.
Here are some hidden gems:
418 I'm a Teapot ☕
Yes, this is real. Originally an April Fools' joke (RFC 2324), but it's in the spec. Some devs use it to reject requests that "shouldn't" hit a server.
207 Multi-Status
Returns multiple status codes in one response body. Super useful for bulk operations — e.g., when you upload 10 files and some succeed while others fail.
409 Conflict
More specific than 400 Bad Request. Use this when a request conflicts with the current state — like trying to create a username that already exists.
410 Gone
Different from 404. Use 410 when a resource used to exist but has been permanently deleted. Great for SEO — tells crawlers to stop indexing it.
425 Too Early
Tells the client not to retry yet because the server isn't ready to process it safely. Useful in early-data TLS scenarios.
103 Early Hints
Sent before the final response to let the browser start preloading resources. Can noticeably improve page load performance.
Which status codes do you actually use in your projects? Drop them below