diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint-test.yml b/.github/workflows/lint-test.yml
index 35e6c8a..1b3e4c7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint-test.yml
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        traefik: [v2.11, v3.0, v3.1, v3.2, v3.3]
+        traefik: [v2.11, v3.0, v3.1, v3.2, v3.3, v3.4]
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 10c6191..72f6f99 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ services:
 | `exemptUserAgents`      | `[]string`              | `""`                     | Comma-separated list of case-insensitive user agent **prefixes** to never challenge. e.g. `exemptUserAgents: edge` would never challenge useragents like "Edge/12.4 ..."                         |
 | `challengeURL`          | `string`                | `"/challenge"`           | URL where challenges are served. This will override existing routes if there is a conflict. Setting to blank will have the challenge presented on the same page that tripped the rate limit.     |
 | `challengeTmpl`         | `string`                | `"./challenge.tmpl.html"`| Path to the Go HTML template for the captcha challenge page.                                                                                                                                     |
+| `challengeStatusCode`   | `int`                   | `200`                    | HTTP Response status code to return when serving a challenge                                                                                                                                     |
 | `enableStatsPage`       | `string`                | `"false"`                | Allows `exemptIps` to access `/captcha-protect/stats` to monitor the rate limiter.                                                                                                               |
 | `logLevel`              | `string`                | `"INFO"`                 | Log level for the middleware. Options: `ERROR`, `WARNING`, `INFO`, or `DEBUG`.                                                                                                                   |
 | `persistentStateFile`   | `string`                | `""`                     | File path to persist rate limiter state across Traefik restarts. In Docker, mount this file from the host.                                                                                       |
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 9a8b17d..795a971 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	ExemptUserAgents      []string `json:"exemptUserAgents"`
 	ChallengeURL          string   `json:"challengeURL"`
 	ChallengeTmpl         string   `json:"challengeTmpl"`
+	ChallengeStatusCode   int      `json:"challengeStatusCode"`
 	CaptchaProvider       string   `json:"captchaProvider"`
 	SiteKey               string   `json:"siteKey"`
 	SecretKey             string   `json:"secretKey"`
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ func CreateConfig() *Config {
 		ExemptUserAgents:      []string{},
 		ChallengeURL:          "/challenge",
 		ChallengeTmpl:         "challenge.tmpl.html",
+		ChallengeStatusCode:   0,
 		EnableStatsPage:       "false",
 		LogLevel:              "INFO",
 		IPDepth:               0,
@@ -210,6 +212,15 @@ func NewCaptchaProtect(ctx context.Context, next http.Handler, config *Config, n
 		excludeRoutesRegex: excludeRoutesRegex,
 	}
 
+	// if a status code was not configured
+	// retain the default set before this config option was added
+	if config.ChallengeStatusCode == 0 {
+		bc.config.ChallengeStatusCode = http.StatusOK
+		if bc.ChallengeOnPage() {
+			bc.config.ChallengeStatusCode = http.StatusTooManyRequests
+		}
+	}
+
 	err := bc.SetIpv4Mask(config.IPv4SubnetMask)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -325,11 +336,10 @@ func (bc *CaptchaProtect) serveChallengePage(rw http.ResponseWriter, destination
 		"ChallengeURL": bc.config.ChallengeURL,
 		"Destination":  destination,
 	}
-	status := http.StatusOK
-	if bc.ChallengeOnPage() {
-		status = http.StatusTooManyRequests
-	}
-	rw.WriteHeader(status)
+
+	// have to write http status before executing the template
+	// otherwise a 200 will get served by the template execution
+	rw.WriteHeader(bc.config.ChallengeStatusCode)
 
 	err := bc.tmpl.Execute(rw, d)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/main_test.go b/main_test.go
index 2c52aac..ccf1190 100644
--- a/main_test.go
+++ b/main_test.go
@@ -481,6 +481,7 @@ func TestServeHTTP(t *testing.T) {
 		expectedStatus uint
 		challengePage  string
 		expectedBody   string
+		challengeCode  int
 	}{
 		{
 			name:           "Redirect to 302",
@@ -488,13 +489,31 @@ func TestServeHTTP(t *testing.T) {
 			challengePage:  "/challenge",
 			expectedStatus: http.StatusFound,
 			expectedBody:   "/challenge?destination=%2Fsomepath",
+			challengeCode:  http.StatusOK,
 		},
 		{
-			name:           "429 on same page",
+			name:           "403 when changing default challenge code",
+			rateLimit:      0,
+			challengePage:  "/challenge",
+			expectedStatus: http.StatusFound,
+			challengeCode:  http.StatusForbidden,
+			expectedBody:   "/challenge?destination=%2Fsomepath",
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "429 when challenging on same page",
 			rateLimit:      0,
 			challengePage:  "",
 			expectedStatus: http.StatusTooManyRequests,
 			expectedBody:   "One moment while we verify your network connection",
+			challengeCode:  http.StatusTooManyRequests,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "403 when challenging on same page",
+			rateLimit:      0,
+			challengePage:  "",
+			expectedStatus: http.StatusForbidden,
+			challengeCode:  http.StatusForbidden,
+			expectedBody:   "One moment while we verify your network connection",
 		},
 	}
 	for _, tc := range tests {
@@ -503,6 +522,7 @@ func TestServeHTTP(t *testing.T) {
 			config.CaptchaProvider = "turnstile"
 			config.ProtectRoutes = []string{"/"}
 			config.ChallengeURL = tc.challengePage
+			config.ChallengeStatusCode = tc.challengeCode
 			config.ExemptIPs = []string{}
 			cp, err := NewCaptchaProtect(context.Background(), next, config, "captcha-protect")
 			if err != nil {
@@ -519,6 +539,21 @@ func TestServeHTTP(t *testing.T) {
 			if !strings.Contains(body, tc.expectedBody) {
 				t.Errorf("expected %s got %s", tc.expectedBody, body)
 			}
+
+			// we're done testing if challenging on same page
+			if tc.challengePage == "" {
+				return
+			}
+
+			// if redirecting, test the /challenge page
+			// and ensure it returns the status we set
+			req = httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "http://example.com"+tc.challengePage, nil)
+			req.RequestURI = tc.challengePage
+			rr = httptest.NewRecorder()
+			cp.ServeHTTP(rr, req)
+			if rr.Code != int(tc.challengeCode) {
+				t.Errorf("expected %d got %d", tc.challengeCode, rr.Code)
+			}
 		})
 	}
 }