Why is my website down? How to find the cause and fix it

Before you start fixing anything, find out whether the site is really down. A surprising number of "outages" are a problem with one network, one device or one browser.

Run the address through our website down checker. It loads the exact page you enter from a server in the UK and reports the HTTP status code, the response time, the SSL certificate and whether the domain resolves in DNS. If it loads fine there, the problem is probably local: try another network (for example mobile data instead of Wi-Fi), a private browser window and another device. If the check fails too, the site is down for everyone and the steps below apply.

The error message narrows the cause down quickly:

What you see	What it usually means
"This site can't be reached" or "server not found"	A DNS problem: the domain does not point anywhere, the domain has expired, or DNS records were changed or deleted.
Connection refused or timed out	The server is off, overloaded, or a firewall is blocking web traffic.
"Your connection is not private"	The SSL certificate has expired, does not cover the name, or is not trusted.
403 Forbidden	Permissions, a security rule or a firewall is blocking the request.
404 Not Found	The server is up, but that page is missing or a rewrite rule broke.
500 Internal Server Error	The application crashed: often a code change, a plugin or a configuration error.
502 Bad Gateway, 503 Service Unavailable or 504 Gateway Timeout	A proxy or load balancer cannot get a good answer from the server behind it, the site is overloaded, or it is in maintenance mode.
Cloudflare 521, 522 or 523	Cloudflare is working, but it cannot reach your origin server.

Our guide to HTTP status codes explains each code in more detail.

A recent change

Deployments, plugin and theme updates, configuration edits and server upgrades are a common cause of outages. If the site broke soon after a change, that change is the first suspect.

The hosting server or provider has a problem

Hardware faults, maintenance and network problems at the host take sites offline. Check your provider's status page and support channels.

The domain has expired

When a domain registration lapses, the registrar usually stops it resolving, and the website and email go down together. Look the domain up with our domain expiry checker.

The SSL certificate has expired

Browsers show a full-page warning instead of the site. Check it with the SSL checker, and see our guide to an expired SSL certificate for the fix.

DNS records were changed

A moved hosting account, a new DNS provider or an edited record can point the domain at the wrong server. After a change, resolvers update at different times; our DNS propagation checker shows which public resolvers have the new answer.

The server ran out of resources

A traffic spike, a runaway process, a full disk or exhausted memory can make a site slow and then unreachable. Hosting plans with fixed limits may suspend sites that exceed them.

The database is down

Many sites show an error page such as "Error establishing a database connection" when the database server stops or runs out of connections.

A firewall, CDN or security rule is blocking visitors

Overly strict firewall rules, a CDN misconfiguration or a security plugin can block real visitors along with attackers.

An attack

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks flood a site with traffic until it cannot respond. A CDN or your host's protection is the usual defence.

1. Confirm the outage from outside your network with the website down checker, and note the exact error or status code.
2. Undo the most recent change if the timing fits: roll back the deployment, disable the newly updated plugin, or restore the previous configuration.
3. Check your hosting provider's status page and control panel for outages, suspensions or resource limits.
4. Check the domain and certificate with the domain expiry checker and the SSL checker.
5. Look at the server's error logs for the moment the site failed. They usually name the failing component.
6. Restart the failing service (the web server, the application or the database) once you know which it is.
7. Tell your customers. A short update on a status page or social media saves a flood of support emails.

Most site owners find out about an outage from a customer. Uptime monitoring turns that round: a service checks your site every few minutes from outside and alerts you the moment it stops responding.

PulseStack™ website monitoring checks from London, New York and Sydney and only alerts when at least two locations fail, so a blip on one network does not wake you up. Paid plans add SSL certificate, domain expiry and DNS monitors that warn you before those problems take the site down. The Free plan covers 25 monitors with 5-minute checks and needs no card. To see how much downtime an uptime target allows, try the uptime calculator.

Why is my website down but working for other people?

When a site loads for others but not for you, the cause is usually local: your connection, router, DNS resolver, a browser extension or a cached error. Try another network and a private browser window. If you recently changed DNS, your resolver may still hold the old answer until its cache expires.

How do I check if my website is down for everyone?

Use an outside check, such as the website down checker at pulsestack.co.uk/is-it-down. It loads the page from a server in the UK and reports the HTTP status, response time, SSL certificate and DNS. If it fails there too, the site is down for everyone, not just you.

What should I do first when my website goes down?

Confirm it is down from outside your network, note the exact error, then check the things that change most often: recent deployments or plugin updates, the hosting provider's status page, the domain's expiry date and the SSL certificate. Roll back the latest change if the timing matches.

Does website downtime hurt SEO?

A short outage rarely has a lasting effect, but long or repeated outages can make search engines crawl less and drop pages from results. For planned maintenance, return a 503 Service Unavailable status, ideally with a Retry-After header, rather than an error page with a 200 status.

How can I find out the moment my site goes down?

Set up uptime monitoring. PulseStack™ checks your site from London, New York and Sydney and alerts you as soon as at least two locations fail. The Free plan covers 25 monitors with 5-minute checks and needs no card.