diff --git a/esphome/components/web_server/ota/ota_web_server.cpp b/esphome/components/web_server/ota/ota_web_server.cpp
index 7211f707e9..8d46860361 100644
--- a/esphome/components/web_server/ota/ota_web_server.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/web_server/ota/ota_web_server.cpp
@@ -198,9 +198,20 @@ void OTARequestHandler::handleUpload(AsyncWebServerRequest *request, const Strin
 void OTARequestHandler::handleRequest(AsyncWebServerRequest *request) {
   AsyncWebServerResponse *response;
   // Use the ota_success_ flag to determine the actual result
+#ifdef USE_ESP8266
+  static const char UPDATE_SUCCESS[] PROGMEM = "Update Successful!";
+  static const char UPDATE_FAILED[] PROGMEM = "Update Failed!";
+  static const char TEXT_PLAIN[] PROGMEM = "text/plain";
+  static const char CONNECTION_STR[] PROGMEM = "Connection";
+  static const char CLOSE_STR[] PROGMEM = "close";
+  const char *msg = this->ota_success_ ? UPDATE_SUCCESS : UPDATE_FAILED;
+  response = request->beginResponse(200, TEXT_PLAIN, msg);
+  response->addHeader(CONNECTION_STR, CLOSE_STR);
+#else
   const char *msg = this->ota_success_ ? "Update Successful!" : "Update Failed!";
   response = request->beginResponse(200, "text/plain", msg);
   response->addHeader("Connection", "close");
+#endif
   request->send(response);
 }