201 Created

The HTTP 201 status code means a request was successful, and a new resource has been created.

201 Created status code is commonly used as a response to POST and PUT requests that create new resources. For example, if you interact with a billing API, 201 is an appropriate code if your request creates a new subscription.

With PUT requests, you specify the new location yourself, while with POST requests, the server takes care of it.

POST /websites
Content-Type: application/json

In response to POST requests, the server will also include a Location header containing the URL of a newly created resource:

HTTP/2 201 Created
Location: /websites/42

201 vs 200

Both 200 and 201 status codes signal that the resource was successfully created.

The only difference is that with 200 OK, you would return the resource in the response body (for requests that create a resource), while with 201, only the reference would be sufficient.