Inspect and analyze HTTP response headers for any website. Use our free HTTP Headers Parser to debug issues, check security settings, and more.

HTTP Headers Parser: Inspect and Understand Website Response Headers

Every time you visit a website, your browser communicates with a web server using a protocol called HTTP (or HTTPS). During this exchange, the server sends HTTP response headers — crucial bits of metadata that tell the browser how to handle the response. These headers include everything from cache policies and content types to security directives and redirection rules.

Our HTTP Headers Parser lets you analyze these headers quickly and easily. Just enter a domain, and the tool will show you all the response headers returned by the server — allowing you to troubleshoot, debug, and optimize your website’s performance and security.

What Are HTTP Response Headers?

HTTP headers are part of the communication between a web browser (client) and a server. The response headers sent by the server provide important information about the content being served and how it should be processed or cached.

Examples of common HTTP response headers:

• Content-Type: Indicates the type of content (HTML, JSON, etc.)
• Cache-Control: Tells the browser how to cache the page
• Content-Encoding: Defines the compression used (e.g., gzip)
• Location: Used in redirects
• Strict-Transport-Security: Enforces HTTPS-only access
• X-Frame-Options: Prevents clickjacking attacks
• Server: Reveals the server software used

Understanding these headers is vital for debugging and optimizing websites.

Why Use an HTTP Headers Parser?

Whether you're a developer, site owner, SEO expert, or system administrator, this tool gives you full visibility into what your server is sending back to users and bots.

Use the HTTP Headers Parser to:

• Debug redirect loops or missing content
• Verify security headers like CSP and HSTS
• Check if GZIP compression is enabled
• Identify server-side issues with cookies or content type
• Confirm cache settings for better performance
• Understand how your site appears to search engines

Key Features of the HTTP Headers Parser

• Instant Header Display: See all headers returned by a URL in real time
• No Installation Needed: Browser-based and free to use
• Works with HTTP and HTTPS: Supports both secure and non-secure protocols
• Status Code Insights: View 200, 301, 404, 503 responses and more
• Highlight Security Issues: Detect missing or misconfigured security headers

Use Cases for Developers and Site Owners

• Performance Optimization: Ensure proper cache headers and compression
• SEO Audits: Confirm correct redirects (301 vs 302), canonical headers, etc.
• Security Hardening: Validate the presence of headers like X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy, and Permissions-Policy
• Compliance Checks: Align with best practices for data handling and privacy
• Troubleshooting: Fix errors with mixed content, redirects, or header conflicts

How to Use the HTTP Headers Parser

1. Enter the full URL you want to inspect
2. Click “Parse”
3. View a detailed breakdown of all server response headers
4. Use the data to diagnose issues or fine-tune server settings

You can run as many tests as you like — there’s no limit and no signup required.

Explanation of HTTP Headers Returned by the HTTP Headers Parser

1. Date
Indicates the date and time at which the response was generated by the server.
Example: Mon, 21 Apr 2025 12:31:00 GMT

2. Content-Type
Specifies the media type of the response content. Here, it’s HTML text using UTF-8 character encoding.
Example: text/html; charset=UTF-8

3. Content-Length
Shows the size (in bytes) of the response body. This helps the browser know how much data to expect.
Example: 4518

4. Connection
Controls whether the network connection stays open after the current transaction.
Example: keep-alive means the connection remains open for reuse.

5. X-Frame-Options
Prevents your site from being embedded in a frame or iframe, which protects against clickjacking attacks.
Example: SAMEORIGIN allows framing only from the same origin.

6. Referrer-Policy
Specifies how much referrer information should be included with requests.
Example: same-origin sends the full referrer only to the same origin.

7. Cache-Control
Instructs browsers on how to cache the content.
Example: max-age=15 allows caching for 15 seconds.

8. Expires
A fallback for older browsers to indicate when the content should be considered stale.
Example: Mon, 21 Apr 2025 12:31:15 GMT

9. Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS)
Forces browsers to use HTTPS for future requests, enhancing transport-layer security.
Example: max-age=15552000; includeSubDomains; preload enforces HTTPS for 180 days across all subdomains.

10. X-Content-Type-Options
Prevents browsers from MIME-sniffing a response away from the declared Content-Type.
Example: nosniff helps prevent certain types of attacks.

11. speculation-rules
Used by some performance tools (e.g., Cloudflare) to prefetch or prerender content based on likely user actions.
Example: "/cdn-cgi/speculation" is a Cloudflare-specific rule.

12. Server
Reveals the server software or CDN provider handling the response.
Example: cloudflare indicates the server is behind Cloudflare’s CDN.

13. CF-RAY
A unique identifier for a specific request passing through Cloudflare, useful for troubleshooting.
Example: 933ce559bee3cf0a-SJC includes the data center code (SJC = San Jose).

14. alt-svc
Specifies alternative services supported, such as HTTP/3 (h3) for better performance.
Example: h3=":443"; ma=86400 tells browsers to use HTTP/3 for the next 24 hours (86400 seconds).

These are typically shown at the top of the header output for easy identification.