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An avoidable hop is one that could be collapsed into a single redirect. Common examples:

• http://example.com → https://example.com (scheme change)
• example.com → www.example.com (host change)
• https://example.com → https://example.com/ (trailing slash added)
• https://example.com/Path → https://example.com/path (case change)

These are individually defensible, but if four hops do four different things, the stack is still four round trips. Often they can be combined into a single redirect at the origin server.

An unavoidable hop is one that Redirectdepth cannot determine was unnecessary — for example, a redirect to a completely different hostname whose purpose is not detectable from the URL alone.

A chain with zero avoidable hops means the redirect chain is performing as configured. That does not guarantee it is optimal — only that Redirectdepth detected nothing clearly wasteful.

Redirectdepth runs on Cloudflare Workers. A Cloudflare Worker cannot open a connection into Cloudflare's own network — so any site that uses Cloudflare (including cloudflare.com itself, example.com, stackoverflow.com, and many of the most popular domains on the web) will appear as unreachable. This is a platform restriction, not a problem with your server or your network.

If a URL you trace shows as unreachable and you know that site uses Cloudflare, that is the likely cause. There is no workaround within the current architecture. This is listed as a known limitation below.

Redirectdepth follows the browser standard of 20 redirect hops. If a chain exceeds 20 hops, the trace stops at the limit and reports every hop collected before it. This is the same limit most browsers enforce — an endless chain beyond 20 hops would fail in a real browser too.

No. Every trace is ephemeral. The URL you submit is sent to the Cloudflare Worker, which makes the HTTP requests to follow the chain, returns the results, and discards everything. No trace data persists — not server-side, not in a database, not in a log file.

See the Privacy Policy for full details.

Yes. After a trace completes, two export buttons appear in the toolbar above the results:

• Export JSON — downloads the full trace data as a JSON file, including every hop, its status code, the change details, and the verdict.
• Export CSV — downloads a flat CSV file with one row per hop, suitable for spreadsheet analysis.

Both exports are generated client-side in your browser. The tool does not send your export data to any server.

The Professional tier ($9/month) is not yet available for purchase. It is listed on the Pricing page as coming soon with planned features — bulk trace, saved trace history, webhook notifications, and higher-rate API access. No payment processor is connected and no accounts system exists yet.

All features of the Free tier are available now, immediately, with no account, no payment, and no limits.

A trace may fail to reach a host for several reasons:

• The host is behind Cloudflare. This is the most common cause — see the separate FAQ above.
• DNS resolution failure. The hostname does not exist or the DNS lookup timed out.
• Connection timeout. The server did not respond within the Worker's timeout window (typically 10 seconds).
• Invalid or malformed URL. The URL did not parse as a valid absolute URL with a recognised scheme.

Redirectdepth reports the specific error message it received. It never guesses at the cause — if the Worker cannot reach a host, it says so with the reason it has.

The most common redirect status codes you will see:

• 301 Moved Permanently — the resource has a new permanent URL. Browsers and search engines update their records.
• 302 Found — a temporary redirect. The original URL should continue to be used for future requests.
• 307 Temporary Redirect — like 302, but the HTTP method and body must be preserved across the redirect.
• 308 Permanent Redirect — like 301, but the HTTP method and body must be preserved.

When the chain reaches a page that does not redirect (typically a 200 OK), Redirectdepth marks the chain as Resolved. If it hits an error (4xx or 5xx) or a connection failure, the chain is marked as Terminated.