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404 page examples (135)

A 404 page is what visitors see when they do not find what they were looking for. Its job is to get them back on track. See 135 real examples.

How to build a 404 page, by the numbers

The questions a team asks when it designs a 404 page, answered from the 135 here.

Should the page keep the site navigation?

  • The full header on 74%
  • The site footer on 63%

This is the widest gap in the set: 100% of the strongest keep the footer, against 4% of the weakest.

Adalo 404 page
AdaloNo-CodeThe full site navigation kept on the error page, on 74% of 404 pages.Visit

Where should the visitor go next?

  • A link back to the homepage on 91%
  • Links to other pages people want on 52%
  • A full sitemap in the footer on 53%

How many pages the 404 suggests, beyond the homepage

  • 0
    63 404 pages
  • 3
    20 404 pages
  • 4
    14 404 pages
  • 2
    12 404 pages
  • 5
    6 404 pages
  • 6
    6 404 pages
Aha! 404 page
Aha!Product ManagementLinks to the pages a lost visitor is likely to want, on 52% of 404 pages.Visit

How should the links look?

How the suggested links are shown

  • A plain list of links
    70 404 pages
  • Links as cards
    15 404 pages
  • Oversized text links
    8 404 pages

Most use a plain list. Cards are rarer, and they only show up among the stronger pages: 33% of the strongest against 0% of the weakest.

Deepgram 404 page
DeepgramAISuggested links laid out as cards, on 16% of the 404 pages that suggest any.Visit

Should a 404 page try to be funny?

  • A joke on 47%
  • An illustration on 61%

The joke is what separates them: 81% of the strongest pages make one, against 11% of the weakest. The illustration barely moves.

ShipBob 404 page
ShipBobOperationsA joke about getting lost, on 47% of 404 pages.Visit

Should the page sell, or offer help?

  • A way to contact support on 38%
  • A product call to action on 30%
DocuSign 404 page
DocuSignSaaSA product call to action under the error message, on 30% of 404 pages.Visit
Instawork 404 page
InstaworkHR TechA way to reach support from the error page, on 38% of 404 pages.Visit

The moves almost nobody makes

Each sits under 15% of the market, with the strongest 404 page that uses it.

A search box

9% put a search field on the error page, the most direct way back to what the visitor came for.

Datadog 404 page
DatadogDeveloper ToolsA search box on the 404 page, on 9% of them.Visit

A newsletter signup

10% turn the dead end into a signup form.

HEY 404 page
HEYConsumer AppA newsletter signup on the 404 page, on 10% of them.Visit
Gabriel Amzallag

Curated by

Gabriel Amzallag , Founder, Web Anatomy

5 years CRO + SEO at Qonto (2021–2025). After advising 15+ SaaS on their websites (Payfit, Pigment…), the same patterns kept breaking, so I decided to build the source of truth on what works on the web: the intelligence layer every tool, builder, and team uses to ship sites that perform.

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Library

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Each 404 page on this page, section by section, with what works and what does not. Free account.

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FAQ

404 page design, answered

The questions people ask before designing a 404 page, answered from 135 real ones.

What should a 404 page include?

01

Nine in ten link back to the homepage. The strongest go further: they keep the full site header and footer, and they link to the pages a lost visitor is most likely to want. A bare page with one sentence on it is common, and it sits almost entirely among the weakest.

Should a 404 page keep the site navigation?

02

Yes. About three in four keep the header, and every page in the strongest group does. Fewer than one in ten of the weakest do, which leaves the visitor with one way out: the back button.

How many links should a 404 page suggest?

03

About half suggest nothing beyond the homepage. The ones that do usually offer three to five links, as a plain list most of the time and as cards on the stronger pages.

Should a 404 page be funny?

04

Close to half try a joke, and it matters more than the drawing: four in five of the strongest pages joke about getting lost, against about one in ten of the weakest. An illustration is common on both sides: about three in four of the strongest pages, three in five of the weakest.

Should a 404 page have a search box?

05

Fewer than one in ten have one. It is the rarest way back in the set, and it shows up mostly among the strongest pages.

How is this different from the best landing pages leaderboard?

06

This gallery is a visual browse: what 404 pages look like and what they contain. The best landing pages benchmark is the graded view, where pages are scored against conversion best practices and ranked by industry. Same companies, different question.