You can prevent the 503 error from appearing on your website by following the instructions below: Thats it folks! 503 Try visiting your site from a different browser in private or incognito mode. You may also want to see our ultimate list of the most common WordPress errors and how to fix them. Otherwise, contact your theme provider and report the 503 error to them. Or you could contact their support and see if they can fix it. Since we know its a plugin-name causing issues, it should be deactivated. Your email address will not be published. First, well discuss what causes this error and why you are probably seeing it. Have you encountered the 503 error on your WordPress site? Disclosure: This blog may contain affiliate links. That said, hosting providers should have mirror servers to ensure that the sites are up and running during maintenance. To see whether the WordPress heartbeat API is causing the 503 error in WordPress, you can disable it temporarily by adding some code to the functions.php file of your active theme. Since you cannot login to your WordPress dashboard due to the 503 error, you will need to connect to your website using a FTP client or File Manager in cPanel. You must have been alerted about it via email by your hosting provider. But anyway, using the user name at the login prompt solved it for me. Finally, an infrequent but possible cause is that your server is being DDOSed. Check your website to determine if the error is gone. Depending on your web host, you can also contact support via chat and/or email and see if they are aware of the error. Increasing your memory limit can potentially fix 503 service unavailable errors. Running into errors on your WordPress website is often daunting. Learn more. This is usually an issue with the PHP code of the plugin/theme, which then causes a problem with the server. Even after replacing all the WP core files. Im using Avada Theme do I need to switch back to the basic theme? Thank you for the article. When you purchase through our links we may earn a commission. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes the 503 error occurs because of maintenance work on your web server. Fixing the 503 HTTP Service Error: A Wrap-up. I can upload and install a theme using ftp or c panel. This applies especially in a couple of cases: If you are using shared hosting, it might be time to consider managed hosting. If your server cannot handle the current amount of traffic that it is receiving, you will likely receive the 503 error. If pausing your CDN fixed the issue, you probably dont want to disable your CDN long-term, so reach out to your provider for assistance. But, a piece of bad custom code can cause a lot of trouble. If it is caused by a bad piece of code, it may recur until you address the issue. The 503 Service Unavailable error is one example. You would want to try disabling the theme to see if it could be a conflict with the theme and your site in which case you could reach out to the themes support for their assistance. Join Joe Williams & Aleksandar Savkovic on 29th of March, 2021. Next, connect to your WordPress site using your hosting services login information: Then, click on the wp-content directory, and find the plugins folder. The problem might lie within WordPress or be due to a faulty plugin requiring the owners intervention. On Cloudflare, you can find this option in the Advanced Actions section of your Quick Actions menu, which is on the right-hand side of the Overview screen (scroll down to see it). When you purchase through our links we may earn a commission. Thank you for this Wonderful website. How to Fix 503 Service Unavailable Error You can reinstall it to see if the error continues and if so you would want to reach out to the plugins support for them to know about the error. Connect to your home directory using FTP. For example, WordPress will display a brief message indicating that the site is under maintenance. Disabling the API altogether removes helpful practicality. The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. 503 Error in WordPress: What It Is and How to Fix It (2023 Guide), How to Link to Page Content From a WordPress Navigation Menu, 5 Ways to Use ChatGPT for WordPress Development. First, download and open an SFTP program such as FileZilla. If changing themes permanently is an option for you, feel free to do that. You can rename or delete that plugin again from SFTP, and youre done. Save your changes to the file, then try accessing your site again to see if the 503 error persists. Navigate to wp-content/plugins/plugin-name and rename the folder to plugin-name-new. How to Fix 503 Service Unavailable Error in WordPress However, if the issue persists, then a fresh install is necessary. I had to delete some plugins. To fix it, we will disable all unnecessary PHP scripts one by one until the error is resolved. So heres what you need to do: log into your hosting account, go to the cPanel section and open the phpMyAdmin. Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Thanks for your support! Have to add my thanks to the 36 others to date for this support post. Debug mode is a setting in WordPress that will display a log of any PHP errors (and other errors) right on your site. We aim to create well researched, highly detailed content related to WordPress, Web design, and guides on how to grow your online business. Beginners Guide: What is a Domain Name and How Do Domains Work? It may seem like a scary error to see, but the source of the error can be found with some methodical troubleshooting. For instance, on Cloudflare, you need to log into your account, select your website, and click on the Pause Cloudflare on site option. Your website may have been deprived of its resources, which caused the 503 errors. This is a common problem for sites using shared hosting plans, which are at the cheapest end of the hosting spectrum. The 503 error you are experiencing could be due to such a bad code snippet. Contact the website or hosting provider if none of your troubleshooting attempts worked. All 503 Error in WordPress Try disabling your CDN and then revisiting your site. The debug mode is built into WordPress as a way to troubleshoot errors. WPBeginner was founded in July 2009 by Syed Balkhi. And after all that I noticed that when I close admin panel for one of my websites, I have two websites on the same hosting, error stops. What Is the 503 Service Unavailable Error? However, with so many claiming to offer the fastest WordPress hosting out there, how do you decide which company to use? The debug.log file wont tell you whats causing the 503 error in WordPress but it will give you clues as to where to look next. How to Fix 503 Service Unavailable Error in WordPress Activate plugins one by one until you get the error message again. The subsequent six sections serve as a possible fix, aimed toward resolving the potential root causes. Join over 1 million designers who get our content first Join over 1 million designers who get our content first. Consult our best web hosting guide to see what we recommend for different types of hosting. How to fix the err connection refused error in chrome, How to deactivate plugins when you cannot log into your WordPress dashboard, Create your own WordPress affiliate program to boost store sales, How to start a food blog with WordPress (step by step guide), How to start a travel blog, make money and live a dream life, How to create a membership website step-by-step guide, How to sell plants online from home with your own eCommerce store, Christmas Countdown: Get your website ready for an awesome holiday season, How to create a travel website with WordPress that visitors will love, 27 essential things to do right after installing your fresh WordPress site. Heres what it should look like when youre finished: Repeat the same step for the stylesheet option_name. There are many reasons as to why this happens. The resources that a server uses are RAM, CPU, I/O, entry processes, and website inodes. Nothing worked? What was once a highly technical form of content is now accessible to the masses. Use themes and plugins from the WordPress repository or trusted developers (like Themeisle). I deactivated my plugins via cpanel as you mentioned and it worked. Those error messages are pretty generic and dont tell us much about the cause. These services will protect your site against a variety of threats, including traffic overload. Open the current theme directory and download a copy of the functions.php file, then edit it. Check Resource Usage. First, you need to connect to your WordPress site using an FTP client or File Manager in cPanel. Sometimes, youll have this option directly in your hosting account. dont own your own servers) then this is somewhat out of your control. I had 503 error and just logged in the WP admin panel it solved the problem. Then, delete it from the web server. Saw the 503 Service Unavailable message in place of website content? Also, a Formula 1 and MotoGP freak. Trying to deal with the 503 error in WordPress? The system will run a search and then show you your current theme under option_value. Contact your WordPress hosting company because they may be able to pin-point whats causing the issue. Podcasts have become a growing media form over the past few decades. Whenever I get any problem on WordPress, I come to your site for finding the solution. WordPress Developer, Lecturer, the product guy interested in Agile product development. I followed this article and find out that it was caused by one of my plugins.. Try to see if the problem is gone. This probably means that whatever website you've set as Safari's home page default is experiencing trouble. She specialize in writing about WordPress, plugins, themes, and WooCommerce. Join the 40,000 developers that subscribe to our newsletter. What was the cause? Thank you soooo so much!! Is the error there? Move to a better hosting plan if your site requires more resources to function properly. This way, we can figure out if the problem is caused by your site itself or if the problem is with the server. However, if it is caused by bad code on your website, then it will keep occurring unless you find and disable the code thats causing it. To do so, from the ZETTAHOST admin panel once again go to Domain Manager->Open Files->wp-content/. Required fields are marked *. Would this error happen again? When you purchase through referral links on our site, we earn a commission. 1. If the error appears to have cleared, its likely that your theme was the problem. There are two very easy solutions to prevent the error. You would want to use the steps in the troubleshooting section of contacting your hosting provider for what they can see on their end as well as possibly reuploading the WordPress files. For the latter option, follow these simple steps. I was having an issue with Woocommerce too and they just changed a version in cPanel. i followed your steps of renaming plug in folder as old plugins and then renaming it back to just plugins and none of my plugins show up in the dashboard and i tried reinstalling one and received an error that wordpress could not create directory please help. Thankfully, fixing it is usually pretty easy and doesnt require much time or effort. If I install and activate it back. Use your FTP editor to access your theme directory. We select and review products independently. The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Check Resource Usage. If the error goes away, that was most likely the cause. Hi Guys, However, if you have the 503 error, you wont be able to access your sites control panel. Just make sure to delete the code snippet from the functions.php file before setting up the plugin. Wait a few minutes for the update to conclude, then refresh your browser. Then rename wp-content/plugins to wp-content/plugins-new. Join now (its free)! Then, find the plugins folder. The server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server. Try one of the options below: Finally, a CDN can sometimes be the culprit when it comes to the HTTP 503 Error. Its a common WordPress error that can be fixed by following the steps we have covered in todays tutorial. Right-click on your functions.php file to edit it (you may wish to take a backup first). Oftentimes, server issues will be resolved quickly by your host in a matter of minutes. How to Fix 503 Service Unavailable Error in WordPress Here are the 8 steps to fix 503 Service Unavailable Error in WordPress: Step 1: Wait a Few Minutes and Refresh Step 2: Try a Different Browser and Use Incognito Mode Its an excellent way to see exactly what the source of an issue is. Its not the most common culprit, but the fix is worth a try. Note: The existence of the 503 status code does not imply that a server must use it when becoming overloaded. So basically your advice is to potentially destroy all the site, since you have no idea what dependencies there were and what will get destroyed after these operations Thats a really great advice, I guess. This will automatically deactivate the plugin so you will have access to the WordPress dashboard. Having installed a 2 factor authentication plug-in by the time the log in page loaded the verification access code had expired and I was locked out. Our editorial team at Astra is a group of experts led by the co-founder of Brainstorm Force, Sujay Pawar. But at least you can access the dashboard and start the rest of the debugging process. The WordPress heartbeat API controls several essential functions on WordPress. As they say, the best way to solve a problem is to avoid it in the first place! Sometimes, youll have this option directly in your hosting account. Most reputable hosts will give you a warning before doing significant maintenance. To change the theme, use phpMyAdmin or Cloudways database manager. Navigate to wp-content/plugins/ plugin-name and rename the folder to plugin-name-new. Fix 503 Service Unavailable Error in WordPress So, what causes the error? 10 Best WordPress Podcast Themes in 2023 (Compared) Posted on July 5, 2023 in WordPress. You need to contact your web host to find out what is going on and how quickly your website is expected to be online. To do this, open the wp-content/plugins directory. Talk to your hosting provider about upgrading your plan. To determine if a plugin caused the error, you will need to disable all the plugins only temporarily. Another possible source of 503 errors is your theme. The reasons for unavailability can be a badly coded plugin or theme, a code snippet gone rogue, a glitch in the server, a DDoS attack, or quality issues with your hosting service overall. Note were assuming that you still have the default Twenty Twenty-Three theme installed on your site. People love to share ideas, voice their thoughts, and maybe even try to reach a global audience. Do the same for your modem. So, upgrading your host is a simple way to solve this problem. Otherwise, you need to access your site via FTP/SFTP or SSH. There are a few different variations of its name, but it will usually look something like this: If we look at technical documentation, we can see more detail about exactly what this means. Your email address will not be published. Thank you for awesome service. I noticed this issue on a couple of sites. To figure out which plugin was causing the issue, you need to switch back to your FTP client or file manager in cPanel. To deactivate your theme, first connect to your site via FTP/SFTP or SSH. Depending on your host, it might have a different prefix from wp_ for example wpcz_options. Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. Go inside and start working through all your plugins one by one. Pick a better hosting plan on your current hosting provider, Pick a different hosting provider altogether. A badly coded plugin may be the source of the 503 error in WordPress. You need to contact your web host to find out what is going on and how quickly your website is expected to be online. Instead, you need to use phpMyAdmin to access the WordPress database, and change the active theme there. Right-click on it and select edit. If you dont use a CDN or you are unable to pause your service, there are still additional ways to troubleshoot. You would want to reach out to the support for your specific hosting to see if you are hitting a resource limit or something similar as the most likely cause. I reinstalled a fresh WordPress but 503 error is till there. Connect to your site. 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 will likely be alleviated after some delay. WebHopefully, you found the cause of the 503 service unavailable in WordPress and have been able to fix it. If it isnt, move on to subsequent plugin on your list, repetition the on top of steps. This will make all your previously installed plugins available to WordPress. WPBeginner - WordPress Tutorials for Beginners, WPBeginnerBlogTutorialsHow to Fix 503 Service Unavailable Error in WordPress. This PHP script could be a WordPress plugin, a theme, or a misbehaving custom code snippet. Aside from waiting a bit and trying again, or restarting Safari or your Mac, you can also change Safari's home page to a different URL. In this case, youll need to connect to your site via FTP/SFTP or SSH and find the functions.php file. Before we dive into the solutions, make sure you are carrying out the following preliminary steps: The 503 error WordPress also occurs when you are updating a plugin or a theme. Thank you so much for sharing this!! NEW Retrace consumption pricing starts at $9.99 per month! We generally recommend a managed WordPress host, as they can help solve many of these issues for you.