# 421 Misdirected Request > The request was directed at a server that is not able to produce a response. Source: https://apiguide.dev/status-codes/421 Class: client-error Defined in: RFC 9110, Section 15.5.20 Updated: 2026-07-09 ## What does HTTP status code 421 mean? The 421 Misdirected Request status code indicates that the client directed its request to a server that is unable to generate a response for the combination of scheme and authority in the request. ## When to use it in APIs Useful in HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 settings, where connections are commonly reused (coalesced) across multiple hostnames that share an IP address and TLS certificate. If a client reuses such a connection to request a hostname the server isn't actually configured to serve, the server returns 421 to tell the client to retry on a fresh connection instead. ## How it compares to other codes * **404 Not Found**: Implies the path doesn't exist on this host, whereas 421 implies the request reached the wrong host entirely.