HTTP Status Codes

506 Variant Also Negotiates

A server misconfiguration in transparent content negotiation: the variant chosen to answer the request is itself a negotiable resource, creating a loop.

What it means

506 Variant Also Negotiates (RFC 2295) means transparent content negotiation is misconfigured — a negotiated variant points at another negotiable resource instead of a concrete representation. It indicates a server config error, not a client problem.

Why it matters

  • It flags a negotiation configuration loop that needs a server-side fix.

Common mistakes

  • Configuring transparent negotiation so a variant references another variant set.

How WebInspect checks this

  • WebInspect reports negotiation headers (Vary, Content-Type) that surround such misconfigurations.