50 Creative and Inspiring 404 Pages

Inspiration, Web Design | Jul 14, 2009 | 166 comments

Whenever a user is trying to reach a website’s page that is non-existent or missing, they are usually directed to a page where they’re informed that that specific page cannot be recalled by the HTTP server; this is what is called a 404 error page.

As designers, when we create a web site, normally we’d also include a 404 page.

Depending on the site design, overall focus, and demographics, you’ll want to create a suitable page that will cut straight to the chase and also convey a bit of creativity at the same time.

In this post you will find a showcase containing 50 of the most creative 404 pages that we found on the net.

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Which ones are your favorites? Feel free to share other great examples of 404 pages in the comments’ area below…

 



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Comments
  • http://zero2heroblogger.com Matt Harris

    HAHA plankton! Those crabby patties they were looking for were not found!

  • http://www.jonbergan.com/ Jon Bergan

    Loving some of these. Yet another great post!

    Is mine too lame for the list? http://www.berganblue.com.au/404

    Probably!

    Rgds,
    JB

  • http://www.mydatbroker.com JP

    amazing collection

  • http://www.koodoz.com.au Koodoz Design

    Very cool collection. We just created one for our website too: http://www.koodoz.com.au/404

    • http://www.webdesignerdepot.com Walter

      I like it :) 404s look better with humor for sure :)

  • Adrian

    You should try http://www.rareview.com, made me laugh first time I typed a page name wrong :)

  • Alex
  • http://www.abu-farhan.com Abu Farhan

    Wow beautiful collection, I like Ninja and Loosing bird

  • http://blog.loriskumo.com Kumo

    I created mine a while ago: http://www.loriskumo.com/404

    Obviously it looks like GOG.com…

  • http://www.fabiosecci.com fabio secci

    Very nice!!

  • http://blog.karolzielinski.com karol

    Great collection! I’m impressed.

  • http://graziano.pl Graziano

    Great collection. Fryewiles is my fav.rite. Oops I’ve lost one…. The ones from comments are pretty cool to guys.

  • http://www.edgarleijs.nl Edgar Leijs

    Hi I work inhouse for an insurance broker (boring… boring…. :-) but we made a hilarious 404 (Dutch…)

    Try: http://www.klap.com/error

    greetz…

    • http://www.brushthis.com Liora

      Cool comic strip and great humor!

  • kolin

    Ninja one clearly is the king here.

  • http://www.station.ch Rick
  • http://www.trubru.co.uk Stuart

    Some cracking examples there, scythe.net and istockphoto.com are good ones. Check out the 404 page on my blog… http://trubru.co.uk/404

  • Lana

    very nice collection, but some 404-pages are “too busy to be 404-page” – it have to be simple ^)

  • http://www.jazzdrummerworld.com Dave

    HAHAHA… very nice Collection :)

  • vuk
  • http://www.branditsolutions.com/ web service development

    I was completely blown away, very nice designs.

  • http://www.silver-solutions.co.uk Anthony Woods

    This article just makes me so jelious at how good these error pages can be, my favourite is probably homer from the simpsons, classic line for a wrong error page, but saying that, there all good in their own way. Actually motivates me to change things round on my own error pages now.

    Thanks for the inspiration!

  • http://www.psprint.com/postcards Ashley Adams : Postcard Printing

    Awesome collection!! It will definitely help to create interesting 404 error pages. In fact this page is mandatory for every web site as it helps you to communicate with your visitors when they have landed on error pages and bring them back to the home page. But don’t you think that things are going funny for just a 404 document!!

  • http://www.sitesketch101.com Nicholas Z. Cardot

    Nice collection. I’m going to have to pretty mine up now. Thanks for the inspiration.

  • http://blog.powerflasher.de Carsten Knobloch

    Great List! Thanks!

  • http://www.patternhead.com Patternhead

    Some great stuff here.

    Thanks for the list!

  • kes

    haha… I love the “ninja 404″
    “when the moon has friends and the fox is borrowed?” <– I was like, what the ??

  • http://www.simonday.com Simon Day

    I was allowed to do one for this company… http://www.devonlocks.com/404.html

  • http://www.akashrine.fr/ Akashrine

    Nice collection. I think mine can be add ^^
    http://www.akashrine.fr/404

  • http://vividcopy.co.uk Wizely

    Great collection! I love the killer octopus, the dead fly, the golfer and the upside-down “Whoa that’s weird”… not often you say all that in one sentence!
    I love creative 404 pages. On mine I went for a Haiku:
    http://vividcopy.co.uk/404

    • GalvanicCorrosion

      That’s my favorite, right there.

  • http://www.ilovegoodwebdesign.com Ian Hawkins
  • http://www.ilovegoodwebdesign.com Ian Hawkins
  • http://www.webdesign-gm.co.uk Martyn Web

    What a collection, must of taken ages to gather. Some great examples of 404′s. Makes me want to do one.

  • http://www.littledogdg.com/ Mike

    Loved the ninja 404′s; it says a lot about attention to detail to see companies that design their own 404′s

  • http://automaticlifestyledispenser.com the cowboy
  • http://twitter.com/svgrob Rob MacKay

    cool list :) This is one I did too lol

    http://jayelgibson.com/index.php/404/

    Enjoyed that one :)

  • Trent

    I like this one too:
    http://definedesign.sg/404.htm

  • http://www.wpdesigner.net iwpdesign

    nice collection
    thanks

  • http://www.conseilsmarketing.fr fred de ConseilsMarketing.fr

    Hi,

    Very nice 404 pages :D

    Here is few more really funny : http://infos-actus.blogspot.com/2008/10/les-100-pages-404-not-found-les-plus.html

    Bye

  • http://www.chris-wallace.com/404 Chris Wallace

    These are pretty good. I have one:

    http://www.chris-wallace.com/404

  • http://www.uxbooth.com Matthew

    It seems ninjas are responsible for a lot of 404 on the internets.

  • http://www.keithparent.com Keith
  • http://suredev.com Fred

    Fun 404 pages are great! I spend a lot of time on them, as they can turn accidental users into instant fans.

    Mine: http://blog.suredev.com/oh-noooooo

  • http://tarheelminis.org Mark V
  • http://www.istockphoto.com/So-CoAddict Ian Harding

    Just an FYI for you. That iStockphoto 503 page is old. You can see their new 404 page here (that I designed)…

    http://www.istockphoto.com/404x

  • http://iamkeith.com/blog Keith

    Mine isn’t what I’d call inspiring, http://www.iamkeith.com/404

  • BebopDesigner

    Brilliant collection. Love the ninja one. Thanks for sharing

  • http://cahcepu.com om ipit

    cool, 404 page with nice illustration
    when i can get them one? :-)

  • http://espresso-online.info theamoeba

    love the Plankton one :D

  • http://www.crearedesign.co.uk Adam

    It’s a good idea to add cartoon characters and stuff to 404 pages because it makes a user think ‘I didn’t find the page, but at least I got a little laugh out of it’.

    I never even considered that I could do a creative 404 page.

  • http://www.markstrange.dk Mark

    Of course the only one of these sites i clicked on was the “You got 404′d”
    And, why wouldnt i have my speakers plugged in and set on a rather high volume? :)

  • Tolman

    How does one leave out Homestar Runner?
    http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail999.html

  • http://jarod-billingslea.freehostia.com/ Jarod B

    Wow, I like these, especially the bird one lol.

    Blue Bird: Where’d it go? O_O
    Grey Bird: Where’d what go? T_T

    lol, especially the expression on the face, my favorite :).

  • http://worldrss.info Yanka

    Very cool collection. We just created one for our website too:
    http://elfpix.ru/tyty/404
    http://ifolderlinks.ru/404/

  • http://www.e11world.com e11world

    Adding sound is a nice touch to the 404 error page.
    Very nice collection.

  • RoaldA

    Awsome, and very inspiering!

  • Sav

    This is a pretty funny one – http://www.southparkstudios.com/368934

  • http://www.swip.de Homepagedesign

    Very cool Idea. Now I’m thinking about my own 404 Page. What can i do, hm?

  • http://fab404.com Fab404

    Great list! My favorite is the one from Frye / Wiles.

    Here are 2 more that always crack me up:
    http://fab404.com/the-brand-surgery
    http://fab404.com/weebls-stuff

  • http://www.aledesign.it aledesign.it

    Fantastic collection.Really nice! Thanks!!!!!

  • Marta

    Haha, funny! Really great idea. :) I think, I`ll create my 404page.

  • http://www.supremestrategy.com BrowserGamer

    Great collection! I specially liked the one with Death (PS See you soon). LoL! Here’s mine: http://www.supremestrategy.com/404/

  • http://www.mcdowellcrook.com/ mcd

    These are great! Inspired me to create my own: http://www.mcdowellcrook.com/sfsdfsdf

  • http://cdharrison.com Chris Harrison

    Very nice collection. Here’s my Idiocracy-inspired 404 page… http://cdharrison.com/404 If you have any comments or suggestions on how I might make it better, I’m all ears.

  • gilles

    hi all,

    images (the 50 screenshots) dont appear in my MS IE 7.0 browser AND Maxthon 2.51.
    no problem with firefox 3.5.
    no problem with opera 9.54.

    It is not acceptable that high level webdesigners cannot build compatible code!!!

    • http://www.webdesignerdepot.com Walter

      This has been corrected…

  • http://www.proworkflow.com Julian Stone

    http://proworkflow.com/abc.cfm – That’s our 404 page!
    We have a real ‘orange’ theme going here ;-)

  • http://avigayildamm.com Avigayil

    “Perhaps you are here because: You like 404 pages.” Loved that one!

  • http://www.brushthis.com Liora

    Loved this list, your posts are so original and refreshing, WDD is like a fountain of inspiration. I liked the humorous content in this one. And yes, that Ninja one is just right on!

  • http://www.sametomorrow.com Adam

    Awesome collection of 404s

  • http://austinpassy.com The Frosty

    Those never get old, and only better!

  • http://fullfx.antzfx.com Anaska

    Where is mine?
    See our design of 404 page “You are here!” at:
    http://antzfx.com/i_love_pizza

  • http://www.doc4design.com Doc4

    Nice compilation of 404 error pages. This has inspired me to do a redesign of my own.

  • http://urlgomo feha

    You have missed this one:

    http://www.vision.to/404.php

  • http://www.evohosting.co.uk Caitlin

    Great collection! 404 pages can be a really good way for designers to showcase their sense of humor and creativity!

  • http://www.maxdiversao.com.br Pierre

    Very nice!!

  • Jordy

    Lovely bunch!

    I like this one:
    http://www.intermix.nl/404/

  • http://www.tobbis-blog.de Tobbi

    Wow, great collection. My favourite ist the error-page of gog.com (7th)

  • http://www.espaces-halo.com Laurent

    Fantastic collection

    Thanks

  • http://gamelib.com.br leandro

    Nice collection!
    I love this one… it’s a gaming website from Brazil!
    Check it out: http://www.gamelib.com.br/404

    Hugs!

  • http://www.david-tate.fr David

    Good !

    here for deezer 404 : http://www.david-tate.fr/spip.php?article938

    here for wikio, deezer and twitter : http://www.david-tate.fr/spip.php?article862

  • http://www.grrswf.org/missing.html badbl

    i designed a site for golden retriever rescue and thought this page fit well!

  • http://www.remitaieb.fr Rémi
  • http://project47.viscountbox.com Carlos Eduardo

    Cool examples!

    Why don’t u try this?

    http://www.webstandards.blog.br/erro

  • http://eveltdesign.com joel k.

    :)
    cool post
    I’m actually working on my own 404 now – good timing
    i like http://www.bluedaniel.com/dfdf very creative – but i’ts flash :( i hate flash
    thanks

  • http://www.cuoma.com Santiago Martinez

    We design two really creatives and useful 404 error pages, please add this:

    http://www.cuoma.com/404

    http://www.gpprod.com.ar/404

    Thanks!

  • http://www.misty-blue.net Sarah

    I’ve had mine– http://misty-blue.net/404 for years. Seeing all these reminds me that it’s in need of some sprucing up.

  • http://www.pngised.net Federico Pizzutto

    Nice collection.
    I submit mine http://www.pngised.net/404-page-not-found/

  • http://www.coches.com Iñaki

    Great! It will be inspirative!
    Thanks!

  • Nela

    Nice!!! I like them all!!
    But I love the one submited by Federico Pizzutto, smart!!!

    • http://www.pngised.net Federico

      thank you :-)

  • http://www.parisvega.com/ Paris Vega

    Studio7Designs has the most professional 404 page, in my opinion. The average web user doesn’t know what 404 means so its wise of them to have left it off the page completely, unlike most others.

    The huwshimi.com ninja stolen page is also a favorite.

  • http://www.cheapwebhostingseller.com Hosting boy

    Excellent 404 pages.

  • http://www.adeelsarfaraz.com Adeel Sarfraz

    hi,

    Cool 404 pages. Very nice themes and really professional look and feel.

    Keep em coming

  • José Miguel

    Genial!!!

    Muy buena recopilación de ‘page error 404′

  • http://www.steps-to-create-a-website.com Create a Website

    Excellent websites. Look very professional. Thanks for sharing.

  • Emiel
  • http://toshiyaki.com Denis

    Check out my 404 page
    http://toshiyaki.com/notfound.php

  • http://www.metamatik.dk Flemming

    Very cool and inspiring stuff. Though I wonder, while so many are being so creative, why more people didn’t think about giving the visitors other options than just “we’re sorry bla bla bla”. Some of the 404 pages seem to ahve understood, but an optimal 404 page should in my humble opinion consist og alternative links and suggestions as well as a search box for the visitors. There’s no point in loosing the visitor, just because they came across a 404 page.

  • Bridget

    Hey, you guys missed one:
    http://homestarrunner.com/404
    It’s not mine, but I think it’s really funny. :)

  • Sydney

    I love this one from the comic MindMistress
    http://mindmistress.comicgenesis.com/miss123.htm
    Anytime you go to a page without a comic yet, this pops up.

  • gizmito

    ¡Asombrosas! Estas páginas son mi perdición, mato el rato en su búsqueda. A mí me gusta esta: http://jaymegutierrez.com/sdfasdsf

  • http://www.bickov.com Alexander Bickov

    Great ideas. I want to show you one more moinid of page 404 design, my design http://www.kontain.com/bickov/entries/36756/page-404/

  • Tec

    Blue screen of death:
    http://kyou.nu/404/

  • http://www.leighpurtill.com/404/ MoJo

    Here is an interesting little 404 page

    http://www.leighpurtill.com/404/

  • http://bit.ly/abhishek Abhishek Gupta
  • http://www.gamesfree.ca Denis Hebert

    We are in the gaming industrie and we really like this contest !!!
    lol
    I really like ours :
    http://www.gamesfree.ca/nothing
    Denis, your canadian friend

  • http://www.retroblique.be Davy
  • Daniel
  • Jack

    Here is another one from 5pm website:

    http://www.5pmweb.com/404.html

  • http://www.toledowebshop.com Ohio Web Design

    Some of these are hilarious. I’m sitting in a coffee shop and had to laugh out loud a few times. Plankton, seriously funny. And the skull and cross-bones just freaked me out. I mean, seriously, that would flip me out if I unknowingly went to a page and saw that – I would do a antivirus check ASAP! Thanks for the great posts.

  • http://www.moinid.com Most Interesting Ideas

    Beautiful set of erro 404 pages. Check one more interesting page 404 idea http://www.kontain.com/bickov/entries/36756/page-404/

  • http://fullfx.antzfx.com Anaska

    Have you ever seen a Transparent 404?
    http://blumblum.com/404

  • http://srijankundu.limewebs.com/ Srijan Kundu
  • http://dcblog.net Doug C.

    These are great. Here’s one I thought was hilarious: http://abduzeedo.com/coffee-magic

  • Felix

    Very creative! I came across this one which I thought was funny too:

    http://rhodaw.com/contact.html

  • pesho

    so nice collection
    i liked it

  • http://masteringthe11forgottenlaws.com Bob

    My wife’s site was hacked and we ended up with a lot of “404″ traffic. I made this page for her: http://choosemoose.com/HereIsMy404

  • http://alextavara.com Alex

    This is great. I have to do something like this.

  • http://www.factormetal.com German

    Nice collection here my 404
    http://www.factormetal.com/404

  • http://dougdraws.com/ Doug C.

    This is mine here: http://dougdraws.com/404

  • http://www.dp-agentur.de dp

    haha, there are some great ideas. i should work on a nice 404 for my own… :o)

  • http://www.aydesign.net web tasarım

    My wife’s site was hacked and we ended up with a lot of “404″ traffic

  • http://dadako.net.ru leo

    my page «error 404» — http://dadako.net.ru/error-404 (refresh image)

  • http://tramadolhlc.com healthcare

    Nice article. The pictures is simply best!!

  • http://idea42.ru idea42

    my page “error 404″
    http://sun-circle.ru/404.html

  • http://www.moinid.com Creative Ideas
  • http://photooftheday.yennefer.pl Jenny

    this is the one I really like :) http://www.playmobile.pl/404.html (You are at the end of the internet ;))

  • http://www.mushroomdigital.co.uk website designers

    Very inspirational. I looked at a few before christmas and come up with this one http://www.mushroomdigital.co.uk/404 . Great post guys! Some of these are really amusing!

  • http://www.zimbio.com/Online+Shopping+Deals/articles/ORD0wDT1Os0/Download+Edge+Darkness+movie Download Edge of Darkness movie

    Very creative! I came across this one which I thought was funny too

  • http://www.grafika-m.su Grafika-M

    Nice post!
    Thanks!
    Look at my 404 page!
    http://grafika-m.su/404
    Your opinion?

  • http://trilixgroup.com/ Paul

    Nice 404 page here. http://trilixgroup.com/fjkl

  • http://netjelly.com Zach Hornsby

    I created one after seeing this article.

    http://netjelly.com/404

  • Joseph Alexander Jordan

    LOL excellent! :D

  • eboyblue3

    Club Penguin??? That is so NUTS to put it on a website like this one!

  • http://qdomen.ru Alan

    Cool pages!

  • http://photo-shr.co.cc Bálint Molnár

    Yes, cool ones :)
    I made my first error page a few years ago,
    http://cleargames.weboldala.net/babiworks/php/fasdfgdasgagfgfgfgfg

  • http://espectacular.co.cc Marcelo
  • http://www.inkoperated.com scottie
  • http://www.web-tasarimi.gen.tr web tasarımı

    heheehehehe very funny 404 pages.. I like them… thanks for post..

  • http://etrucks.wordpress.com law

    amazing collection!

  • Spac3Rat
  • http://viuu.co.uk Barbara

    this post reminds me to work on the design of our 404 page !

  • http://www.joakimstahl.se Joakim

    Hey I just finished a 404 page for the site i’m working for right now! Kind of addictive :) But make sure you have sound enabled.

    https://www.comeon.com/pp#page=404

  • http://www.theidealglass.co.uk bigwhale

    Decided to make a custom 404 for my website after seeing this collection. would appreciate any feedback as I am still trying to learn design. Thanks!

    http://www.theidealglass.co.uk/no-route

  • http://www.burek.com Ivan Minic
  • http://www.studenski-online.de Frank Studenski

    HaHa, da sind wirklich viele lustige Pages dabei :-)

    Good work!

  • http://www.stoneykins.com St0ney

    Pretty funny stuff – here’s Mine

    http://www.stoneykins.com/404/404.html

  • http://www.studio0611.de Andreas Papula

    I love this one with the silly moose – or is it a deer? – very much.

    Made by a friend of mine.

  • http://printedpiece.com Wendell Fernandes

    A more serious approach?
    http://printedpiece.com/404/

    Wendell

  • http://www.bonjour404.fr Bonjour 404

    You need more inspiration for your 404?
    http://www.bonjour404.fr
    every day a new amazing and creative 404 error page!

  • http://www.nicecubedesign.com Paul Higgins
  • http://www.ushareimg.com Képfeltöltés

    Very nice collection. It would be great if you can share “How to make custom 404 pages”.

    This way more and more people can make their site’s 404 pages easily :)

  • http://www.kitedigital.co.uk Chris Hulme

    Really cool collection here. We were inspired and created one for our website too:

    http://www.kitedigital.co.uk/404

  • http://www.griffinabox.co.uk Griff

    Great collection.

    Check this one out >> http://www.dvdamnesty.com.au/Error.aspx

  • http://www.mikedascola.com Funny 404
  • http://monkeychucker.com/ obnoxiousoldman

    You have to see this one http://monkeychucker.com/missing.html

  • http://www.inmarketingwetrust.com.au Freddy @ In Marketing We Trust
  • http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Daily-Horoscope/244156254363 Horoscope 2011 free

    Very creative! I like it!!!

  • http://www.zachwoomer.com Zach

    These are great! I went with a zebra.

    http://www.zachwoomer.com/404

  • http://tannerspilipinas.daportfolio.com tanners

    awesome! i love the ninjas, i’m learning, thank you :)

  • Ted Arneson

    This is a great one – should be on the top lists

    http://therockyriver.com/404

  • navyman

    Very nice ones. Yesterday i find one good for this list – 404 page with game on it:
    http://usavisa.eu/404
    Very interesting idea, the designers convince you to go to their error page.

  • mio mio

    Check this 404 page http://page-flip.com/404

  • http://www.swiftcreations.co.uk Swift Creations

    Brilliant collection!