Running into errors on your WordPress site can be intimidating. However, virtually errors give y'all some clue as to what caused them, which can make troubleshooting these common issues a lot easier. The 503 error is non as polite, unfortunately, and doesn't requite yous much information to go on.

Information technology helps to understand what the near mutual causes are for the 503 mistake in WordPress. After that, you'll need to exist methodical when it comes to troubleshooting the error, which means following several steps in order to locate the root cause.

In this article, nosotros'll cover what the 503 error is and how it typically manifests. Then nosotros'll guide you through vi steps in order to troubleshoot it. Let's go to work!

What Is an HTTP Error 503?

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) defines the 503 Service Unavailable every bit:

The 503 (Service Unavailable) status code indicates that the server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overload or scheduled maintenance, which volition likely be alleviated later some delay. The server MAY send a Retry-After header field to advise an appropriate amount of time for the client to wait before retrying the asking.

When you encounter the 503 error, it means that the server in question is unavailable. That could exist because it's too busy, for example, or it'southward under maintenance. Dissimilar other similar error codes, 503 signifies that your website is online and running, but can't be reached at the present moment.

What'due south so vexing well-nigh this particular error is that it barely gives you any information to proceed. Most of the time, it just shows up with a "Service temporarily unavailable" message. That'southward the equivalent of calling a eatery via phone, only to have them tell you that they're closed but refuse to let you know when they'll be open again.

If you're lucky, the 503 error lawmaking will have occurred because your WordPress website is under maintenance. WordPress very briefly sets your site to maintenance fashion when yous're updating a plugin, a theme, or the cadre software:

HTTP 503 Error in WordPress
Maintenance mode

Commonly, this timeout is so brief that no one volition find it. Notwithstanding, in those cases where the 503 mistake persists, you'll have a bigger problem to deal with. After all, not just will users exist unable to visit your site, but you'll lose access to your WordPress admin area too. That means you can't update your site in any way, and in order to troubleshoot it, you'll demand to dig into its files.

503 Error Variations

The 503 fault tin show up in a lot of ways. Still, well-nigh every variation comes accompanied by that 503 lawmaking, making it like shooting fish in a barrel to identify.

Hither are some of the variations you might run across, depending on your server configuration and browser:

  • 503 Service Unavailable
  • 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable
  • HTTP Server Error 503
  • HTTP Fault 503
  • Fault 503 Service Unavailable
  • The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or chapters problems. Please try again later.

Whatever the code yous run into might look like, information technology means you demand to go to piece of work fast earlier information technology affects your users negatively.

Have you ever run into the 503 error in WordPress? That's a bummer! 😱Follow these 6 steps to ready it and get your site back online in no seconds! Click to Tweet

How to Ready the 503 Error in WordPress (vi Steps)

Since you often tin't be sure what caused the 503 error in whatsoever given situation, y'all'll need to get about troubleshooting information technology methodically. The following six sections each cover a potential ready, aimed at resolving the different potential root causes.

Later on each stride, have a moment to return to your website and see if the 503 error is gone. If it is, you lot've successfully fixed the issue. If not, continue on to the adjacent step in the procedure.

i. Temporarily Conciliate Your WordPress Plugins

One of the most mutual causes of the 503 error in WordPress is plugin compatibility issues. To determine if that'southward what's happening, you'll demand to disable all of your site'southward plugins.

Since the 503 fault prevents you from accessing the WordPress admin area, you'll demand to utilise an FTP client for this stride. If you lot don't have 1 set up, we recommend FileZilla.

One time your FTP client is set, connect to your website through information technology and navigate to your WordPress root folder. In case yous can't observe it, it's usually chosen public_html, html, public, www, or your site'due south proper name. If yous're a Kinsta customer, it'due south your public binder.

WordPress root folder SFTP
WordPress root folder SFTP

Open that folder, and navigate to the wp-content directory. Inside, y'all'll encounter a folder called plugins, which contains private subdirectories for each of the plugins installed on your site (both active and inactive).

What yous're going to exercise now is right-click on the plugins folder, and rename it to something else. We recommend plugins.former or plugins.deactivated, and then you tin easily recognize information technology later.

WordPress plugins folder renamed
WordPress plugins folder renamed

WordPress volition now not be able to discover any of your plugins. When that happens, it volition automatically disable those plugins.

Now, try accessing your WordPress dashboard. If the 503 fault is gone, then you lot can assume that one of your plugins was the culprit. All you have to do is figure out which ane was at error.

Return to the wp-content directory, and rename your original plugins folder correctly. Then, y'all'll demand to disable each of your plugins one by 1, until y'all detect the culprit.

To do this, open up the wp-content/plugins directory. Within, you'll find 1 folder for each of your plugins. The process you're going to follow is much the same as earlier:

  1. Start with the first binder, and rename information technology to anything you lot like.
  2. Check your website to see if the mistake is gone.
  3. If information technology isn't, render the plugin binder from the previous step to its original name.
  4. Move on to the side by side plugin on your list, repeating the higher up steps.

This procedure can accept a while if y'all have a lot of plugins, but information technology's vital to check each plugin in plough. If at any point you place the plugin that'southward causing the fault, y'all can uninstall it or supersede information technology with another tool.

If yous make information technology to the end of these steps without finding a solution, yous can motility on to the next stage of troubleshooting.

two. Conciliate Your WordPress Theme

At present that you've ruled out your plugins as the cause of the 503 mistake, it's time to do the aforementioned with your active theme. In fact, your theme could as well be creating compatibility issues.

Unfortunately, the process doesn't work the same equally above. WordPress won't revert to the default theme if simply rename the theme folder, you would end up with an error like "The theme directory "theme proper name" does not exist." Or if you try to rename the entire theme directory binder, you stop up with "Mistake: The themes directory is either empty or doesn't be. Delight bank check your installation."

The theme directory does not exist error
The theme directory does not exist fault

Therefore, y'all demand to access your WordPress database by logging into phpMyAdmin. If you're a Kinsta client, this can be found within the "Info" section of the MyKinsta dashboard.

MyKinsta phpMyAdmin
MyKinsta phpMyAdmin

Click into the "wp_options" table, so click on the "Search" tab. Yous will want to search under the "option_name" for template.

phpMyAdmin wp_options table
phpMyAdmin wp_options table

Nether the "option_value" cavalcade yous will see the current name of your theme. Modify this to i of the default themes, such as "twentynineteen."

Subscribe Now

wp_options template name
wp_options template proper noun

Cheque your website again to see if this has stock-still the error. If it did, information technology simply means it's a problem with your WordPress theme and you might want to try reinstalling it or reverting to your most recent backup.

3. Temporarily Disable Your Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Sometimes, the 503 mistake will show up not considering of a problem on your website, but considering of your Content Delivery Network (CDN). If y'all're using a CDN, a quick way to figure out if that's the case is to temporarily disable it.

Every CDN should include some feature that enables you to pause its services. If you're on Kinsta, you can disable your Kinsta CDN by navigating to CDN → "Disable CDN" within your MyKinsta dashboard:

MyKinsta CDN enable/disable option
MyKinsta CDN enable/disable option

The process you need to follow may be different depending on which CDN you lot're using. Cloudflare has also been known to crusade 503 errors sometimes. If yous can't find the option to interruption yours, cheque out your service'south noesis base of operations, which will normally contain detailed instructions.

If you don't use a CDN or notice that pausing your service doesn't help with your issue, there are yet a few more fixes to try. Practice remember to reactivate your CDN before moving on.

4. Limit the WordPress 'Heartbeat' API

The WordPress Heartbeat is an API built into WordPress, which the platform uses for motorcar-saving content, showing you plugin notifications, letting you know when someone else is working on a post y'all're trying to access, and more.

Just similar a regular heartbeat, the API works in the background with a loftier frequency so that it doesn't miss anything. Every bit you might imagine, this API consumes server resources. Usually, that's not a problem merely in some cases, it may lead to a 503 mistake if your server can't handle the load.

The quickest way to determine if the Heartbeat API is at the center of your problems is to temporarily disable it. To exercise that, connect to your WordPress website via FTP once again, and then open up your current themes folder and await for the functions.php file within:

WordPress theme functions.php file
WordPress theme functions.php file

Right-click on the file and select the View/Edit option, which will open it using your local text editor. Once it'south open, you'll need to add the post-obit code snippet within:

          add_action( 'init', 'stop_heartbeat', 1 ); function stop_heartbeat() { wp_deregister_script('heartbeat'); }        

Those three lines of lawmaking tell WordPress to disable the Heartbeat API. Save the changes to the functions.php file, close it, and endeavor to access your website again.

If the 503 error is gone, you'll know that the API was the trouble. Disabling information technology altogether removes a lot of useful functionality, however. Instead, nosotros recommend that you lot 'slow downward' the Heartbeat, so that it doesn't cause problems.

The easiest way to do that is by installing the Heartbeat Control plugin. Actuate the plugin and navigate to the Settings > Heartbeat Control section. Expect for the Modify Heartbeat options, and driblet the frequency to the lowest possible number:

Heartbeat Control plugin frequency
Heartbeat Control plugin frequency

Save the changes to your settings and return to the functions.php file you tweaked a while back. For the above changes to piece of work, you'll need to remove the cord of code you added before and save your changes to the file.

At this stage, the 503 error should be gone if the Heartbeat API was the problem. If it isn't, then it's fourth dimension to effort something different.

five. Increment Your Server's Resources

If the 503 mistake is yet occurring despite all your attempts to prepare it so far, and so there'due south a good gamble the problem might be due to a lack of server resources. That is to say, you lot'll need to upgrade your hosting programme to encounter if that fixes the consequence. This is particularly true if you're using inexpensive WordPress hosting, as they tend to throttle resources. We don't do this at Kinsta.

Upgrading your program is a big determination, yet. The smart move is to beginning contact your web hosting support service and discuss the 503 fault with them, as well equally the steps you've taken and then far to effort and solve information technology. The support team should be able to help you work out the cause and advise you on whether you need to upgrade your program or not.

6. Review Your Logs and Enable WP_DEBUG

You should also have reward of your fault logs. If you're a Kinsta client, you tin can easily meet errors in the log viewer and enable WordPress debug manner in the MyKinsta dashboard. This tin help yous quickly narrow down the issue, peculiarly if it'due south resulting from a plugin on your site.

Check error logs for HTTP 503 errors
Check error logs for 503 errors

If your host doesn't have a logging tool, you tin can also add the following code to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

                      define            (            'WP_DEBUG'            ,            true            )            ;            define            (            'WP_DEBUG_LOG'            ,            true            )            ;            define            (            'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY'            ,            false            )            ;                  

The logs are typically located in the /wp-content directory. Within it, look for a file called debug.log and open information technology upwards.

Others, like here at Kinsta might have a dedicated folder called "logs".

WordPress error logs folder (SFTP)
WordPress error logs binder (SFTP)

Interpreting your debug log can be a bit intimidating but information technology's not every bit difficult to read every bit you might imagine. In a nutshell, the log contains each error that pops up on your site in chronological order. It shows which file caused each error, too as which specific lines of code were involved.

Beware: you're not going to find direct references to the 503 mistake within your log. Still, if all else fails, it tin can bespeak you in the correct direction by showing you what files are causing problems. That way, you'll know where to focus your efforts adjacent. Every bit we mentioned in the previous stride, now is a proficient fourth dimension to get in bear upon with your hosting provider if you need farther assistance resolving this error.

You can likewise check the log files in Apache and Nginx, which are commonly located hither:

  • Apache: /var/log/apache2/fault.log
  • Nginx: /var/log/nginx/error.log

To learn more, delight cheque out our web server showdown: Nginx vs Apache.

If you're a Kinsta client you can also take advantage of our analytics tool to get a breakup of the total number of 503 errors and see how often and when they are occurring. This can help you troubleshoot if this is an ongoing issue, or perhaps something that has resolved itself.

If the 503 mistake is displaying considering of a fatal PHP error, you tin also try enabling PHP error reporting. Simply add together the post-obit code to the file throwing the fault. Typically you tin narrow downwardly the file in the panel tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

                      ini_set            (            'display_errors'            ,            1            )            ;            ini_set            (            'display_startup_errors'            ,            i            )            ;            error_reporting            (            E_ALL            )            ;                  

And yous might need to also modify your php.ini file with the post-obit:

          display_errors            =            on        

Summary

If you're lucky, the 503 error volition only show upwardly when you put your website into maintenance mode. Notwithstanding, if it appears without warning, then you'll take to roll upwardly your sleeves and do some troubleshooting.

To become at the root cause of the 503 mistake, yous'll demand to follow these steps to fix it:

  • Temporarily conciliate your WordPress plugins.
  • Deactivate your WordPress theme.
  • Disable your CDN.
  • Limit the WordPress Heartbeat API.
  • Increase your server resource.
  • Review your logs and enable WP_DEBUG.

Take yous e'er run into the HTTP 503 fault in WordPress? Share your experiences with us in the comments department below!


Save time, costs and maximize site functioning with:

  • Instant help from WordPress hosting experts, 24/7.
  • Cloudflare Enterprise integration.
  • Global audience reach with 29 information centers worldwide.
  • Optimization with our congenital-in Application Performance Monitoring.

All of that and much more, in one plan with no long-term contracts, assisted migrations, and a 30-day-coin-dorsum-guarantee. Cheque out our plans or talk to sales to observe the program that's right for you.