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Redirect checker

Follow a URL's redirects one hop at a time and see every status code, every location, and where the chain finally lands.

What this tool does

Every hop between the URL and the page

A redirect is a response that says 'the page is over there': a 301 or 308 for a permanent move, a 302 or 307 for a temporary one. Browsers follow them silently, which is why a chain of four hops, a loop, or a temporary redirect where a permanent one was intended can go unnoticed for years. This tool requests a URL from Cloudflare's network with redirects disabled, records the response, follows the Location header itself, and repeats, up to ten hops.

A chain that works today breaks when a rule changes or a target page is removed. Upcheck follows redirects on every uptime probe, and alerts your team when the final answer stops being a 2xx.

Read on every check
Each hopThe URL requested, the status code, and the Location it pointed to
TimingHow long each hop took, and the total
Final URLWhere the chain ends, and the status it answered with
PermanenceWhether every hop is a 301/308 or a temporary redirect is mixed in
ProblemsLoops, chains longer than ten hops, and targets that don't respond
How it works

Three steps, no signup

  1. 01

    Enter a URL

    The old URL, the http:// version, the non-www version, a short link: anything that should redirect.

  2. 02

    We follow it hop by hop

    Each request is made with redirects disabled so every intermediate response is captured, then the Location header is followed by hand.

  3. 03

    The chain is laid out

    Status, URL, and timing for each hop, with the final destination and a verdict on the chain as a whole.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect?

301 means the page has moved permanently: browsers may cache the redirect and search engines transfer the old URL's ranking to the new one. 302 means the move is temporary: nothing is cached and search engines keep indexing the original. 308 and 307 are the stricter modern equivalents that also preserve the request method. Using a 302 for a permanent move is one of the most common redirect mistakes, and this tool flags it.

How many redirects are too many?

Every hop adds a round trip before the visitor sees anything, so fewer is better; one is normal, two is common, more than three is worth fixing. Browsers give up somewhere around twenty. Search engines follow a handful and may stop passing ranking after that. A long chain usually means old rules were stacked on top of each other instead of updated to point at the final destination.

What is a redirect loop?

A chain that leads back to a URL it has already visited, so the browser would follow it forever; browsers stop and show a 'too many redirects' error. The classic cause is a rule that redirects http to https on a server that sits behind a proxy which terminates TLS, so every request looks like http. The tool stops at the first repeated URL and tells you.

Why does my redirect work in a browser but show differently here?

Redirects can depend on the request. Some sites redirect by country, by language, by cookie, or by user agent; some serve a page to browsers and a redirect to everything else. This tool sends a plain GET with no cookies from Cloudflare's network, identifying itself as UpcheckBot, so what you see is what an anonymous first-time visitor from that vantage point gets.

Is this redirect checker free?

Yes. No account, no limit on checks by hand; scripted use is rate limited so the tool can't be used against other people's servers. Upcheck's paid monitoring requests every website you add every 5 minutes, redirects followed, and alerts your team when the final response stops being a 2xx.

One trace shows the chain. Monitoring shows when a link in it breaks.

Add your websites to Upcheck and get alerted by email, Slack, Discord, Teams, or webhook the moment one stops answering.