---
title: "506 Variant Also Negotiates — what it means and how to fix it"
description: "A content negotiation misconfiguration: the chosen variant is itself a negotiating resource, so the server loops. What causes an HTTP 506, what to try as a visitor, and what to check if it is your own site."
url: https://atoneplace.net/error/506/
site: "At One Place"
---

# HTTP 506 — Variant Also Negotiates

**HTTP 506: Variant Also Negotiates**

A content negotiation misconfiguration: the chosen variant is itself a negotiating resource, so the server loops.

## What 506 actually means

From the transparent content negotiation extension. The server picked a variant to serve, but that variant is configured to negotiate too, which would recurse forever — so it stops and reports the configuration error instead. It is a server misconfiguration by definition, and vanishingly rare outside Apache setups that use type maps.

## Common causes

- An Apache type map pointing at another negotiable resource
- A circular content negotiation configuration
- A misconfigured `MultiViews` setup

## If you're just trying to view the page

1. Nothing — this is a configuration fault on the server
2. Report the URL to the site owner

## If it's your site

1. Check your Apache type maps (`.var` files) — a variant must be a concrete resource, not another negotiable one
2. Review `MultiViews` and `Options` settings for the affected directory
3. Consider dropping transparent content negotiation entirely in favour of `Accept`-header handling in the application

## Reference

- **Status code:** 506
- **Reason phrase:** Variant Also Negotiates
- **Category:** 5xx — Server Error
- **Cacheable by default:** No
- **Defined in:** RFC 2295 §8.1

## Common questions

### What does HTTP 506 mean?

A content negotiation misconfiguration: the chosen variant is itself a negotiating resource, so the server loops. From the transparent content negotiation extension. The server picked a variant to serve, but that variant is configured to negotiate too, which would recurse forever — so it stops and reports the configuration error instead.

### How do I fix a 506 error?

Nothing — this is a configuration fault on the server

### Is 506 a client error or a server error?

506 is in the 5xx range, which means server error. The request was acceptable but the server could not fulfil it, so retrying later can succeed.

## Related pages

- [500 Internal Server Error](https://atoneplace.net/error/500/)
- [502 Bad Gateway](https://atoneplace.net/error/502/)
- [503 Service Unavailable](https://atoneplace.net/error/503/)
- [504 Gateway Timeout](https://atoneplace.net/error/504/)
- [524 A Timeout Occurred](https://atoneplace.net/error/524/)
- [521 Web Server Is Down](https://atoneplace.net/error/521/)
- [522 Connection Timed Out](https://atoneplace.net/error/522/)
- [520 Web Server Returned an Unknown Error](https://atoneplace.net/error/520/)
- [525 SSL Handshake Failed](https://atoneplace.net/error/525/)
- [526 Invalid SSL Certificate](https://atoneplace.net/error/526/)
- [530 Origin DNS Error](https://atoneplace.net/error/530/)
- [501 Not Implemented](https://atoneplace.net/error/501/)

## Sources

- Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Status Code Registry — IANA (https://www.iana.org/assignments/http-status-codes/)
- RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics — IETF (https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html)