My WordPress site is down
What to do when your WordPress website is unavailable — a calm, step-by-step guide to diagnosing and reporting the problem.
Your website is down. Visitors are seeing an error, a blank page, or nothing at all. This is stressful — but before you panic, know that most downtime is short-lived and fixable.
This guide helps you figure out what kind of problem you have so you (or we) can fix it quickly.
Quick summary
First, confirm the site is actually down and not just a browser glitch. Then identify the type of error you're seeing — it tells us a lot. Contact us right away with the error message and your site URL. Most site outages are resolved within an hour.
Step 1: Confirm the site is actually down
Sometimes what looks like a site outage is a browser or internet issue.
Try a different browser. If Chrome shows an error, try Safari or Firefox.
Try on your phone using mobile data (not your office Wi-Fi). If the site loads on your phone, the problem is local to your computer or network.
Check an independent status checker. Go to downforeveryoneorjustme.com and enter your site address. It will tell you if the site is down for everyone or just you.
If the site loads on mobile data
The problem is with your local network or computer. Try restarting your router, or ask a colleague on a different network to check. You can also clear your browser's cache: see how to clear your cache.
Step 2: Read the error message carefully
Error messages look scary but they tell us exactly what's wrong. Here's what the most common ones mean:
| Error message | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| "This site can't be reached" or **ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED | A DNS or domain problem — the domain may have expired or DNS has been changed |
| 503 Service Unavailable | The server is temporarily overloaded or under maintenance |
| 500 Internal Server Error | A plugin, theme, or WordPress error has crashed the site |
| "This site is currently unavailable" (often on managed hosts) | The host has suspended the site — often due to billing or resource limits |
| ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR or SSL warning | An SSL certificate (the security padlock) has expired or misconfigured |
| 404 Not Found | The specific page doesn't exist, but the site itself may be fine |
Take a screenshot of whatever error you see. It speeds up diagnosis enormously.
Step 3: Check if it's a domain problem
A domain is your website's address (like yourcompany.com). If it expires or the settings change, your site will disappear even though nothing is wrong with WordPress itself.
Think about whether you recently received any emails about domain renewal. Did you renew it?
Check the email address associated with your domain registrar (the company where your domain is registered). Look for any unpaid renewal notices.
Contact us. We can check the domain status within minutes and take action if it has expired.
See also: What happens when a domain expires
Step 4: Check your hosting status
Your host is the company that stores and serves your website. Sometimes they take servers offline for maintenance, or a billing issue causes a suspension.
Log in to your hosting account and look for any alerts, maintenance notices, or billing warnings.
Check the host's status page. Most major hosts publish live outage information. Search for "[your host name] status page" to find it.
If there's a billing problem, resolve it through the hosting dashboard. Sites are usually restored within minutes of a payment.
Hosting billing lapses
If your hosting bill hasn't been paid, the host will usually suspend your site rather than delete it. Pay the outstanding balance and your site should come back automatically. If it doesn't, contact the host's support team.
Step 5: Contact us
If you cannot identify the cause, or if you've found the cause but aren't sure how to fix it, contact us immediately.
Please tell us:
- Your site URL
- The exact error message you see (or a screenshot)
- When you first noticed the problem
- Whether anything changed recently (a new plugin, a billing event, a DNS change)
See how to report a problem with your site for everything to include.
Don't try to fix hosting-level problems yourself if you're unsure
Well-meaning but incorrect changes to DNS settings, hosting configuration, or SSL certificates can make a short outage into a longer one. If you're uncertain, wait for us — we can usually diagnose and fix things faster than manual trial and error.
While your site is down
A few things you can do while waiting for a fix:
- Let your team know so they don't keep trying and reporting the same issue.
- Put a message on social media if your customers depend on your site — a brief "we're aware of a technical issue and working on it" goes a long way.
- Check if your contact form or online shop is affected — some errors only affect parts of the site, not all of it.
Common questions
Related guides
- Fixing the "white screen" error
- My layout broke after an update
- How to report a problem with your site
- What happens when a domain expires
- Uptime monitoring explained
- Troubleshooting hosting problems
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