--- title: 401 vs 403 Error Codes: What's the Difference? | daily.dev description: HTTP error codes 401 and 403 are often confused but represent different issues. A 401 error means 'Unauthorized' and indicates the user needs to authenticate.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/401-vs-403-error-codes-what-s-the-difference--j00dw2tlb twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: 401 vs 403 Error Codes: What's the Difference? | daily.dev og:description: HTTP error codes 401 and 403 are often confused but represent different issues. A 401 error means 'Unauthorized' and indicates the user needs to authenticate.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/401-vs-403-error-codes-what-s-the-difference--j00dw2tlb og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/J00dw2TLb.png og:image:alt: 401 vs 403 Error Codes: What's the Difference? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 401 vs 403 Error Codes: What's the Difference? **[Cerbos](https://daily.dev/sources/cerbos)** · 4 min read · 43 upvotes · 7 comments ## Summary HTTP error codes 401 and 403 are often confused but represent different issues. A 401 error means 'Unauthorized' and indicates the user needs to authenticate. A 403 error means 'Forbidden' and indicates the user is authenticated but doesn't have permission to access the resource. Understanding these differences helps in diagnosing and solving the issues accurately. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#webdev](https://daily.dev/tags/webdev) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/401-vs-403-error-codes-what-s-the-difference--j00dw2tlb) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"401 vs 403 Error Codes: What's the Difference?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/401-vs-403-error-codes-what-s-the-difference--j00dw2tlb","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/401-vs-403-error-codes-what-s-the-difference--j00dw2tlb"},"datePublished":"2024-08-06T09:52:23.910Z","dateModified":"2024-11-08T08:16:24.335Z","description":"HTTP error codes 401 and 403 are often confused but represent different issues. A 401 error means 'Unauthorized' and indicates the user needs to authenticate....","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/971de051999a89877d638ec197f90768?_a=AQAEuiZ","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/971de051999a89877d638ec197f90768?_a=AQAEuiZ","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Cerbos","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Cerbos","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/3a1b9cc36ed049dea39344fe1beb7e7e","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/cerbos"},"commentCount":7,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/401-vs-403-error-codes-what-s-the-difference--j00dw2tlb","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":43},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":7}],"keywords":"security,webdev","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cerbos","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/cerbos"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"401 vs 403 Error Codes: What's the Difference?"}]} ```