State vs Status: What's the Difference in Programming?

For many years I’ve been writing code, but it wasn’t until recently that I realised I had been using “state” and “status” interchangeably. Turns out I’m not alone. A quick search, reveals countless posts where people ask the same question: what’s the actual difference between state and status?

Last week, whilst refactoring some code, I noticed that both terms throughout the codebase, with no apparent logic. Some entities had a status field, others had state (some even had both 🤷). It was time to sort this out properly.

State vs Status: Understanding the Key Difference

After diving into various technical discussions and design articles, the distinction between state and status finally clicked. The key insight was surprisingly simple, though most explanations make it sound very abstract or make it sound more complex than it needs to be.

State describes internal operational modes. Think of your laptop going to sleep, running, or hibernating. These are different modes of operation that affect how the machine behaves internally. The laptop can transition between these states based on various conditions, and each state makes the laptop function differently.

Status represents outcomes or standings. Your job application might have a status of accepted, rejected, or pending. These are results of a process, often communicated externally. When you check your order status on Amazon, you’re looking at the outcome of various fulfilment processes.

When to Use State vs Status: Real Examples for Developers

Consider HTTP response codes, those three digit numbers you see when web pages fail to load. They’re called status codes, not state codes. Why? Because they represent the outcome of your request. You asked for a webpage, and the server is telling you the result: 200 for success, 404 for not found, 500 for server error, etc. These are outcomes, not operational modes.

Now think about a video player . When we say it’s playing, paused, or stopped, we’re describing its state. These are operational modes that determine how the player behaves. It’s not reporting an outcome; it’s in a particular mode of operation.

State vs Status in User Accounts and Authentication

Some cases aren’t immediately obvious. Take user accounts in a web application. When an account is marked as active, suspended, or cancelled, should that be state or status?

The answer lies in what these values represent. A suspended account is typically the result of an administrative action, perhaps due to payment failure or terms violation. It’s an outcome that’s communicated to the user. They receive an email saying their account has been suspended. That makes it a status.

But what about a feature within that same application, say a mailing list that can be active, paused, or archived? These describe how the list operates. When paused, it stops collecting new subscribers. When archived, it’s removed from active use but kept for reference. These are operational modes that users toggle as part of normal usage, making them states.

State vs Status in API Design and Database Fields

Here’s another angle that helped me understand the distinction between state and status. Email validation in our system initially seemed like a state because it goes through stages: pending, validated, unconfirmed. I thought of it as an internal workflow.

But then I realised validation requires external participation. We send an email to someone, and we’re waiting for them to click a link. We’re essentially reporting the outcome of that communication attempt. Did they verify their email or not? That’s a status, not a state.

Contrast this with processing that same email through our internal systems. As it moves from pending to processed to failed, it’s going through internal workflow stages. That’s state.

Why the Difference Between State and Status Matters in Software Development

You might wonder why any of this matters. Surely it’s just semantics? Not quite. Using these terms correctly makes your code more intuitive for other developers. When I see a field called “status”, I now expect it to contain outcomes or standings. When I see “state”, I expect operational modes or workflow stages.

More importantly, this distinction helps you think more clearly about what you’re modelling. Are you tracking how something behaves internally, or are you recording outcomes that need to be communicated? The answer guides not just your naming but also your architecture decisions.

Quick Guide: Should You Use State or Status?

Next time you’re naming that database field or API parameter, ask yourself: am I describing an operational mode that affects behaviour, or am I recording an outcome that represents a result? The former is state, the latter is status.

Common state examples in programming:

• Thread states (running, blocked, terminated)
• UI Component states in e.g. React or Vue (focused, hovered, disabled, etc)
• Process states in operating systems
• Connection states in WebSockets

Common status examples in programming:

• HTTP status codes
• Order status in ecommerce
• Payment status
• User account status
• API response status

And if you’re working with a legacy codebase where these terms are already mixed up? Well, sometimes consistency within your own system matters more than perfect semantic accuracy. Pick a convention and stick with it. Your future self and your teammates will thank you for understanding the difference between state and status.