401

Unauthorized

Client errors (4xx)·RFC 9110

What 401 means

Authentication is required and has failed or has not been provided.

Despite the name it means "unauthenticated". Send valid credentials (e.g. a token or the WWW-Authenticate scheme) and retry.

Client errors (4xx)

The request contains an error from the client — bad syntax, missing auth or a wrong URL.

Other 4xx codes

FAQ — 401

What does HTTP 401 mean?

401 Unauthorized: Authentication is required and has failed or has not been provided. Despite the name it means "unauthenticated". Send valid credentials (e.g. a token or the WWW-Authenticate scheme) and retry.

Which class does status code 401 belong to?

401 is a Client errors (4xx) code. The request contains an error from the client — bad syntax, missing auth or a wrong URL.

Where is the 401 code defined?

Status code 401 is defined in RFC 9110 and is part of the IANA HTTP Status Code Registry.

← All HTTP status codes