diff --git a/gateway/gateway.go b/gateway/gateway.go
index cc0babba1..cf2ca9104 100644
--- a/gateway/gateway.go
+++ b/gateway/gateway.go
@@ -320,20 +320,22 @@ func cleanHeaderSet(headers []string) []string {
 	return result
 }
 
-// AddAccessControlHeaders adds default HTTP headers used for controlling
-// cross-origin requests. This function adds several values to the
-// [Access-Control-Allow-Headers] and [Access-Control-Expose-Headers] entries.
+// AddAccessControlHeaders ensures safe default HTTP headers are used for
+// controlling cross-origin requests. This function adds several values to the
+// [Access-Control-Allow-Headers] and [Access-Control-Expose-Headers] entries
+// to be exposed on GET and OPTIONS responses, including [CORS Preflight].
 //
-// If the Access-Control-Allow-Origin entry is missing a value of '*' is
+// If the Access-Control-Allow-Origin entry is missing, a default value of '*' is
 // added, indicating that browsers should allow requesting code from any
 // origin to access the resource.
 //
-// If the Access-Control-Allow-Methods entry is missing a value of 'GET' is
-// added, indicating that browsers may use the GET method when issuing cross
+// If the Access-Control-Allow-Methods entry is missing a value, 'GET, HEAD,
+// OPTIONS' is added, indicating that browsers may use them when issuing cross
 // origin requests.
 //
 // [Access-Control-Allow-Headers]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Access-Control-Allow-Headers
 // [Access-Control-Expose-Headers]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Access-Control-Expose-Headers
+// [CORS Preflight]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Preflight_request
 func AddAccessControlHeaders(headers map[string][]string) {
 	// Hard-coded headers.
 	const ACAHeadersName = "Access-Control-Allow-Headers"
@@ -346,8 +348,12 @@ func AddAccessControlHeaders(headers map[string][]string) {
 		headers[ACAOriginName] = []string{"*"}
 	}
 	if _, ok := headers[ACAMethodsName]; !ok {
-		// Default to GET
-		headers[ACAMethodsName] = []string{http.MethodGet}
+		// Default to GET, HEAD, OPTIONS
+		headers[ACAMethodsName] = []string{
+			http.MethodGet,
+			http.MethodHead,
+			http.MethodOptions,
+		}
 	}
 
 	headers[ACAHeadersName] = cleanHeaderSet(
diff --git a/gateway/gateway_test.go b/gateway/gateway_test.go
index 46ce75113..37576193b 100644
--- a/gateway/gateway_test.go
+++ b/gateway/gateway_test.go
@@ -619,6 +619,91 @@ func TestIpnsBase58MultihashRedirect(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+// TestCORSPreflightHeaders ensures CORS headers are present in HTTP OPTIONS responses
+// https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Preflight_request
+func TestCORSPreflightHeaders(t *testing.T) {
+	backend, root := newMockBackend(t)
+
+	// Expect boxo/gateway library's default CORS allowlist for Method
+	headerACAM := "Access-Control-Allow-Methods"
+	expectedACAM := []string{http.MethodGet, http.MethodHead, http.MethodOptions}
+
+	// Set custom CORS policy to ensure we test user config end-to-end
+	headerACAO := "Access-Control-Allow-Origin"
+	expectedACAO := "https://other.example.net"
+	headers := map[string][]string{}
+	headers[headerACAO] = []string{expectedACAO}
+
+	ts := newTestServerWithConfig(t, backend, Config{
+		Headers: headers,
+		PublicGateways: map[string]*PublicGateway{
+			"subgw.example.com": {
+				Paths:                 []string{"/ipfs", "/ipns"},
+				UseSubdomains:         true,
+				DeserializedResponses: true,
+			},
+		},
+		DeserializedResponses: true,
+	})
+	t.Logf("test server url: %s", ts.URL)
+
+	testCORSPreflightRequest := func(t *testing.T, path, hostHeader string, requestOriginHeader string, code int) {
+		req, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodOptions, ts.URL+path, nil)
+		assert.Nil(t, err)
+
+		if hostHeader != "" {
+			req.Host = hostHeader
+		}
+
+		if requestOriginHeader != "" {
+			req.Header.Add("Origin", requestOriginHeader)
+		}
+
+		t.Logf("test req: %+v", req)
+
+		// Expect no redirect for OPTIONS request -- https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/issues/9983#issuecomment-1599673976
+		res, err := doWithoutRedirect(req)
+		assert.Nil(t, err)
+		defer res.Body.Close()
+
+		t.Logf("test res: %+v", res)
+
+		// Expect success
+		assert.Equal(t, code, res.StatusCode)
+
+		// Expect OPTIONS response to have custom CORS header set by user
+		assert.Equal(t, expectedACAO, res.Header.Get(headerACAO))
+
+		// Expect OPTIONS response to have implicit default Allow-Methods
+		// set by boxo/gateway library
+		assert.Equal(t, expectedACAM, res.Header[headerACAM])
+
+	}
+
+	cid := root.String()
+
+	t.Run("HTTP OPTIONS response is OK and has defined headers", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+		testCORSPreflightRequest(t, "/ipfs/"+cid, "", "", http.StatusOK)
+	})
+
+	t.Run("HTTP OPTIONS response for cross-origin /ipfs/cid is OK and has CORS headers", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+		testCORSPreflightRequest(t, "/ipfs/"+cid, "", "https://other.example.net", http.StatusOK)
+	})
+
+	t.Run("HTTP OPTIONS response for cross-origin /ipfs/cid is HTTP 301 and includes CORS headers (path gw redirect on subdomain gw)", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+		testCORSPreflightRequest(t, "/ipfs/"+cid, "subgw.example.com", "https://other.example.net", http.StatusMovedPermanently)
+	})
+
+	t.Run("HTTP OPTIONS response for cross-origin is HTTP 200 and has CORS headers (host header on subdomain gw)", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+		testCORSPreflightRequest(t, "/", cid+".ipfs.subgw.example.com", "https://other.example.net", http.StatusOK)
+	})
+
+}
+
 func TestIpfsTrustlessMode(t *testing.T) {
 	backend, root := newMockBackend(t)
 
diff --git a/gateway/handler.go b/gateway/handler.go
index cb695408d..8c7e92e74 100644
--- a/gateway/handler.go
+++ b/gateway/handler.go
@@ -156,19 +156,25 @@ func (i *handler) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	w.Header().Add("Allow", http.MethodGet)
-	w.Header().Add("Allow", http.MethodHead)
-	w.Header().Add("Allow", http.MethodOptions)
+	addAllowHeader(w)
 
 	errmsg := "Method " + r.Method + " not allowed: read only access"
 	http.Error(w, errmsg, http.StatusMethodNotAllowed)
 }
 
 func (i *handler) optionsHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	addAllowHeader(w)
 	// OPTIONS is a noop request that is used by the browsers to check if server accepts
 	// cross-site XMLHttpRequest, which is indicated by the presence of CORS headers:
 	// https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Access_control_CORS#Preflighted_requests
-	i.addUserHeaders(w) // return all custom headers (including CORS ones, if set)
+	addCustomHeaders(w, i.config.Headers) // return all custom headers (including CORS ones, if set)
+}
+
+// addAllowHeader sets Allow header with supported HTTP methods
+func addAllowHeader(w http.ResponseWriter) {
+	w.Header().Add("Allow", http.MethodGet)
+	w.Header().Add("Allow", http.MethodHead)
+	w.Header().Add("Allow", http.MethodOptions)
 }
 
 func (i *handler) getOrHeadHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
@@ -213,7 +219,7 @@ func (i *handler) getOrHeadHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	trace.SpanFromContext(r.Context()).SetAttributes(attribute.String("ResponseFormat", responseFormat))
 	i.requestTypeMetric.WithLabelValues(contentPath.Namespace(), responseFormat).Inc()
 
-	i.addUserHeaders(w) // ok, _now_ write user's headers.
+	addCustomHeaders(w, i.config.Headers) // ok, _now_ write user's headers.
 	w.Header().Set("X-Ipfs-Path", contentPath.String())
 
 	// Fail fast if unsupported request type was sent to a Trustless Gateway.
@@ -290,9 +296,9 @@ func (i *handler) getOrHeadHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	}
 }
 
-func (i *handler) addUserHeaders(w http.ResponseWriter) {
-	for k, v := range i.config.Headers {
-		w.Header()[k] = v
+func addCustomHeaders(w http.ResponseWriter, headers map[string][]string) {
+	for k, v := range headers {
+		w.Header()[http.CanonicalHeaderKey(k)] = v
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/gateway/hostname.go b/gateway/hostname.go
index 6fb1ac8eb..4df23d22c 100644
--- a/gateway/hostname.go
+++ b/gateway/hostname.go
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ func NewHostnameHandler(c Config, backend IPFSBackend, next http.Handler) http.H
 						return
 					}
 					if newURL != "" {
-						http.Redirect(w, r, newURL, http.StatusMovedPermanently)
+						httpRedirectWithHeaders(w, r, newURL, http.StatusMovedPermanently, c.Headers)
 						return
 					}
 				}
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ func NewHostnameHandler(c Config, backend IPFSBackend, next http.Handler) http.H
 					if newURL != "" {
 						// Redirect to deterministic CID to ensure CID
 						// always gets the same Origin on the web
-						http.Redirect(w, r, newURL, http.StatusMovedPermanently)
+						httpRedirectWithHeaders(w, r, newURL, http.StatusMovedPermanently, c.Headers)
 						return
 					}
 				}
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ func NewHostnameHandler(c Config, backend IPFSBackend, next http.Handler) http.H
 						}
 						if newURL != "" {
 							// Redirect to CID fixed inside of toSubdomainURL()
-							http.Redirect(w, r, newURL, http.StatusMovedPermanently)
+							httpRedirectWithHeaders(w, r, newURL, http.StatusMovedPermanently, c.Headers)
 							return
 						}
 					}
@@ -559,3 +559,14 @@ func (gws *hostnameGateways) knownSubdomainDetails(hostname string) (gw *PublicG
 	// no match
 	return nil, "", "", "", false
 }
+
+// httpRedirectWithHeaders applies custom headers before returning a redirect
+// response to ensure consistency during transition from path to subdomain
+// contexts.
+func httpRedirectWithHeaders(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, url string, code int, headers map[string][]string) {
+	// ensure things like CORS are applied to redirect responses
+	// (https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/issues/9983#issuecomment-1599673976)
+	addCustomHeaders(w, headers)
+
+	http.Redirect(w, r, url, code)
+}