Is My Website Down, or Is It Just Me?

What's happening

To tell whether your website is down for everyone or just for you, open it on your phone with Wi-Fi switched off. If it loads there, the problem is on your side: your computer, your network, or a block on your connection. If it doesn't load anywhere, the site is down for everyone, and what the screen says tells you which kind of problem you have:

• "This site can't be reached", sometimes with a code like DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN. Your web address isn't pointing anywhere. Most often the domain name expired, or its settings (the DNS) were changed.
• A page from your domain company saying the domain has expired. The domain lapsed. Renewing it usually brings the site back, though it can take a while to reappear everywhere.
• "Account suspended" or a page from your hosting company. The host switched the site off, usually over an unpaid bill, sometimes because it found malware. Here's what a malware suspension means.
• A WordPress error or a blank page. The server is up but WordPress crashed. See the critical error message, the white screen, a 500 Internal Server Error or a database connection error.
• "Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance." An update stopped halfway. Here's why sites get stuck in maintenance mode.
• "Your connection is not private." The site's security certificate has a problem. Here's what the warning means.

If the site loads but sends visitors somewhere else, or shows pages you didn't make, that isn't an outage. It's a common sign of a hack: see My WordPress site was hacked.

Why it happens

When it's only you, the cause is usually close to home: your browser holding an old copy, a problem with your network, or a security plugin that blocked your connection after too many wrong passwords. When it's everyone, the usual causes are a domain or hosting account that lapsed, a problem at your host, or WordPress itself crashing, most often after an update.

What you can safely try

• Check from outside your network. Use your phone on mobile data, ask someone elsewhere to try, or use a free "is it down for everyone" website.
• If it's only you, try a private browser window or another device. If you were recently locked out after failed logins, the block often lifts by itself after a while.
• Check your email. Look for an expiry reminder or failed payment from your domain company or host, a suspension notice, or a WordPress email titled "Your Site is Experiencing a Technical Issue." Here's what that email means.
• Check your host's status page or support account for a known outage.
• Think back to what changed. An update, a new plugin, or a change to your hosting or domain settings usually lines up with when it started.
• Don't reinstall WordPress or delete plugins to test. That can turn a straightforward repair into a much bigger one.

When to call us

If the domain or hosting bill lapsed, renewing it is the fix, and you don't need us. If your host says everything is fine and the site still won't load, or WordPress itself has crashed, that's a standard repair for us. We work on business websites: we find what's actually wrong, fix it, and check your key pages and forms afterward, at a flat rate you approve before any work starts. Start with our Site Down or Critical Error Fix.