Free tool
Redirect Checker
See every hop a URL takes before it lands, with the status code and timing for each.
Frequently asked questions
It follows one URL through its redirect chain hop by hop (every 301, 302, 307, 308, or meta refresh) until it reaches a real page or hits a wall. For each hop it records the status code, the destination, and the timing, so you see the whole path the browser would take.
Every hop is a full round trip (DNS, connection, response) before the browser moves on. Three or four add real latency on slow networks, and crawlers spend part of their budget following them. Each hop is also somewhere to get it wrong: a temporary status that should be permanent, a silent drop from HTTPS to HTTP, a loop that never resolves. Collapsing a chain to one hop is one of the cheapest speed and SEO wins there is.
301Moved permanently. Browsers and crawlers cache it and pass ranking signals to the destination — the right choice for a move that is not coming back.302Found, a temporary detour. The original URL keeps its signals and nothing is cached long-term. A 302 used where you meant a 301 quietly holds the destination back.303See other, a temporary redirect that points the client to a different URL to fetch with GET (typically after a form POST).307Temporary redirect, like a 302 but the request method is preserved, so a POST stays a POST.308Permanent redirect, like a 301 but the request method is preserved. Useful for API endpoints that have permanently moved.meta refresh / JSA redirect in the page itself, not an HTTP status. We detect a meta refresh or JavaScript redirect and stop there rather than executing it.4xxClient errors: 404 not found, 403 forbidden, 410 gone. We separate a genuine break from a bot wall, so a working URL behind bot protection gets its own blocked verdict.5xxServer errors: 500, 502, 503. The destination server failed to answer; the URL may work again later.
Yes. Pick a preset (desktop or mobile browser, Googlebot, a social previewer like Facebook or Slack, or an AI crawler) and we send that exact user agent on every hop. Some sites redirect by who is asking, so you see the chain as that client would.
No. Results are public, and anyone with the link can view the chain, so don't paste URLs that contain secrets like session tokens, password-reset links, or signed download URLs. Check a non-sensitive version instead.
Blocked means the final response looked like a bot wall or firewall (a 403, 429, or 451). It is a separate outcome from broken, so a working URL behind bot protection keeps its own verdict. A different user agent sometimes gets through.
About the Redirect Checker bot
A check fetches your URL and follows its redirects on your behalf. What that looks like in your logs:
- Sends the user agent you picked and nothing that identifies our tool, so sites can't single it out.
- One request per hop, stopping at the final response, a loop, or the hop cap. A single fetch. It does not crawl.
- Does not execute JavaScript and does not read
robots.txt. - Connects over IPv4 only. Any AAAA (IPv6) records are resolved and shown for reference, and the connection still uses IPv4.
- Never stores raw request IPs, and enforces safety rules on every hop: private or reserved addresses, non-standard ports, and non-HTTP schemes end the chain.
Seeing unwanted traffic from the checker? Email support@redirectboss.com and we will look into it.