Why is my website down? A troubleshooting checklist

Your website won’t load and your stomach drops. Before you panic, work through this checklist — most “my site is down” situations have a quick, identifiable cause, and a surprising number aren’t actually outages at all.

Step 1: Is it down for everyone, or just you?

Start here, because it saves a lot of wasted worry. Use a free tool like “Down for Everyone or Just Me” or “Is It Down Right Now” and enter your address.

• If it’s up for them but down for you, the problem is on your end — keep reading Step 2.
• If it’s down for everyone, skip to Step 3.

Step 2: When it’s just you

Common causes that look like an outage but aren’t:

• Browser cache. Try a hard refresh (Ctrl+F5 / Cmd+Shift+R) or open the site in a private/incognito window.
• Your DNS cache. Your computer or router may be remembering an old address. Restarting your router or switching networks (e.g. to mobile data) often proves this.
• A local network or firewall blocking the site.
• You recently changed DNS or nameservers and it hasn’t propagated to you yet (see Step 5).

If it works in incognito or on another network, your site is fine — it’s a local caching issue that’ll clear.

Step 3: Check what kind of error you’re seeing

The message tells you a lot:

• “This site can’t be reached” / DNS error — usually a domain or DNS problem (Step 5), not the server.
• 500 Internal Server Error — something in your site’s code or a plugin broke (Step 4).
• 503 Service Unavailable — the server is overwhelmed or in maintenance; often a traffic spike or resource limit (Step 6).
• Database connection error — the site can’t reach its database; often a server issue or a corrupted config.
• A blank white page — frequently a WordPress/PHP error. Our white screen guide covers this specifically.
• “Not secure” / certificate warning — an SSL issue, not really “down”; see do you need an SSL certificate.

Step 4: Did you (or an update) just change something?

If the site was fine an hour ago and now isn’t, the most likely cause is a recent change:

• A plugin or theme update that went wrong.
• An edit to code or settings.
• A new plugin conflicting with an existing one.

The fastest fix is to undo the change — restore a backup from just before it, or deactivate the most recent plugin. This is exactly why a pre-change backup is so valuable.

Step 5: Domain and DNS

If you get a DNS or “can’t find the server” error:

• Has your domain expired? An expired domain takes the site down instantly. Check your registrar/billing account — it’s a more common cause than people expect.
• Did nameservers or DNS records change recently? Changes take time to propagate across the internet — usually minutes on our network, but sometimes longer depending on caches outside our control. Our DNS setup guide explains this.

Step 6: Traffic spikes and resource limits

A 503 error during a busy period often means your site briefly outgrew its plan’s resources — a viral post, a sale day, or a bot surge. It usually recovers when the spike passes. If it’s happening regularly, your site may have outgrown its tier; see understanding resource limits.

Step 7: Check whether it’s the host

Genuine server outages do happen, though good hosts keep them rare. Check your host’s status page or support channel. We post status updates on our support page when something on our side is degraded, and our monitoring usually catches issues before customers do.

Still down? Open a ticket — with details

If you’ve worked through the above and your site’s still offline, contact support, and make it fast to help you by including:

• your domain name,
• the exact error message (a screenshot is ideal),
• when it started and anything you changed beforehand,
• whether it’s down for everyone or just you.

That detail turns a slow back-and-forth into a quick fix. On our plans, open a ticket and it goes straight to the sysadmins who run the platform — and site-down issues are our top priority, answered 24/7.