HTTP Server Error 503<\/li>

503 Service Temporarily Unavailable <\/li>

503 Service Unavailable<\/li>

Service Unavailable – DNS Failure<\/li>

Http\/1.1 Service Unavailable <\/li>

Error 503 Backend fetch failed<\/li>

Error 503 Service Unavailable<\/li>

503 Error<\/li>

HTTP Error 503<\/li>

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
$\"503-service-unavailable-error-wordPress\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This can be caused by many reasons. Using outdated themes or plugins or didn’t update WordPress core for a long can be an issue too. But don’t worry fixing HTTP 503 service unavailable isn’t that hard, we will make this easy for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to Fix the 503 Error in WordPress Step by Step<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Since you don’t have an idea of what caused the 503 error, you have to troubleshoot your site as instructed below. We have shared some best methods to find out the potential root causes and fix the 503 error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After each step we recommend you to take a moment and check your website if the 503 error is gone. If the error is gone, ignore the remaining steps. Otherwise, try all the steps until you got the solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Deactivate All Plugins Temporarily<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In most cases, 503 error causes because of incompatible WordPress plugin. If you encountered a 503 error after updating or installing a plugin, you may be found the culprit. Just delete the plugin from the Cpanel \u2192 File Manager<\/strong> to solve it quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To determine if the plugins causing the errors you need to disable all of your plugins. This should diagnose the issue and give you some clue to fix it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to the 503 error prevents you to access wp-admin dashboard area, you will need file manager access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do it via your hosting Cpanel \u2192 file manager and follow the below steps: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 1: <\/strong>After opening the file manager, navigate to your WordPress root folder<\/strong>. Usually, it is named as public_html<\/strong>, www<\/strong>, html<\/strong>, public<\/strong> or your site name. Depends on hosting provider, mostly it is public_html<\/strong>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
$\"file-manager-public-html\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Step 2:<\/strong> Open public_html<\/strong> & navigate wp-content<\/strong> folder.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
$\"public-html-wp-content-folder\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Step 3:<\/strong> Inside the wp-content<\/strong> folder, you will see a folder called plugins<\/strong>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
$\"wordpress-plugin-folder\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Step 4:<\/strong> Now right-click on the plugins folder and rename it to plugins_disabled<\/strong> or plugins_old<\/strong>, to disable all plugins at once.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
$\"wordpress-plugin-folder-rename\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Step 5:<\/strong> At this moment WordPress can’t find any plugins. Head over to your wp-admin area and check if you can access the admin area or not.<\/li>
Step 6:<\/strong> To undo this, rename the plugins_old<\/strong>\/plugins_disabled<\/strong> folder to its original name plugins<\/strong>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
At Step 5<\/strong> if you can see your 503 error has been solved then the plugins are the main culprit of this issue. Now you have to find which plugin causing the error, this may take a while if you are using a lot of plugins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now return to Step 6<\/strong> and undo the changes. Then you have to manually check each plugin one by one until you can see the issue solved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To do this you have to open wp-contents <\/strong>\u2192 plugins<\/strong> directory again and inside it, you will see all plugins are named as each folder. Follow the steps to check one by one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Start with the first folder you see and rename it to anything as we did before.<\/li>
Return to your website to check if the error is gone.<\/li>
If it still has the error, return to the plugin folder and rename the plugin to the original name.<\/li>
Repeat the steps until you see the error is disappeared.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n
After renaming a plugin the 503 error is gone, its clear that the plugin is the main culprit. <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
All you have to do is delete the plugin from the plugins folder. Follow the above steps to access the public_html\/wp-content\/plugins<\/strong> folder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let’s assume the buggy plugin is WPS Hide Login<\/strong>. Just right click on the folder name and delete from the drop-down menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"deleting-wps-hide-login-wordpress-plugin\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
After performing all the above steps the 503 service unavailable should disappear and your site is fully functional. If still, the issue is the same move on the next step for troubleshooting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Deactivate WordPress Theme Temporarily<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
If you tried the plugins that are not causing the 503 error, your WordPress theme might be a problem too. In most cases, after installing a new theme you can get HTTP 503 error<\/em> because of compatibility issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To solve the issue you can switch back to default WordPress theme, like Twenty Sixteen<\/strong>, Twenty Seventeen<\/strong> or the latest Twenty Nineteen<\/strong> theme.<\/p>\n\n\n
Its an advisory to keep at least one default wordpress theme even after installing new theme as backup. As it will help you to troubleshoot whenever the new theme has some error or failed.<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
Unfortunately, the process as we stated above doesn’t work. WordPress won’t revert to its default theme if you simply rename the theme folder like before. This could end up with an error like: <\/p>\n\n\n
The Theme Directory “food-restro” doesn’t exist.
N.B: We are using ‘Food Restro’ theme. You can see as your “theme name”.<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
$\"the-theme-directory-does-not-exist\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
If you wish to rename the entire theme directory as above, you could end up with an error like:<\/p>\n\n\n
ERROR: The themes directory is either empty or doesn\u2019t exist. Please check your installation.<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
$\"the-themes-directory-is-either-empty-or-doesn\u2019t-exist\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Deactivate WordPress Theme through File Manager<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Deactivate WordPress theme through file manager is similar to disable plugin, but this time we will show you how to do it through the file manager. Basically, we want to give you an idea of how you can do it both ways. Let’s follow the steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Login to your Cpanel and navigate the File Manager <\/strong>\u2192 public_html<\/strong> \u2192 wp-content<\/strong> folder.<\/li>
Locate the themes<\/strong> folder and rename your current theme.<\/li>
Let’s assume your current theme is food-restro<\/strong>. Now right-click on it and rename it as food-restro_disable<\/strong>. Your default theme will be automatically activated. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
$\"renaming-corrupted-theme-folder-wordpress\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Reload your wp-admin<\/strong> panel and see if it’s working. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Note: As we stated before your website frontend will come up with errors. But if the current theme has an issue above steps can give you access to your backend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deactivate WordPress Theme through phpMyAdmin<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Can’t remember your currently using theme name? Don’t worry here what to do. Log in to phpMyAdmin<\/strong> to find the theme and deactivate it to revert the default theme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Login to your Cpanel<\/strong> and navigate to phpMyAdmin<\/strong>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
$\"find-phpmyadmin-in-cpanel\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Find your database and open it.<\/li>
Select the wp_options<\/strong> table and click on the Search<\/strong> tab. Now search template<\/strong> under the option_name<\/strong> column.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
$\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
You will see the current theme name under the option_value<\/strong> column. Doble-click on that and change to one of the default themes like twentytwenty<\/strong>, twentynineteen<\/strong>, twentyseventeen<\/strong>. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
$\"changing-theme-to-the-default-twentynineteen\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Refresh your website to see the changes.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
If the 503 service unavailable error <\/strong>fixed by deactivating the current theme, it means there is some issue with your WordPress theme. You should upload the freshly updated theme or try reinstalling it or simply choose another theme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Temporarily Disable Your CDN (Content Delivery Network)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes, 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable <\/strong>error comes due to your CDN provider. If you are using any content delivery network (CDN), a quick fix will be deactivating it temporarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CDN networks like Cloudflare, AWS, Google CDN, Incapsula, etc provided a separate panel to manage it. You can disable it by logging in to their account and give it a try if that’s work or not. Even your hosting Cpanel has an option for CDN, if you are are using Kinsta, Siteground or Hostgator. Just navigate and choose CDN \u2192 Disable CDN<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"enabling-cloudflare-cdn\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Each hosting provider has a different interface to enable and disable it. Most hosting platforms use Cloudflare<\/a> free CDN, which causes a 503 error. If you are unable to disable CDN from Cpanel, you can ask your host provider to do it for you. Or you can check their knowledge base for more detailed information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, have the issue? Don’t worry there are few more tweaks left to try. Don’t forget to reactivate your CDN if you have deactivated earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Enable WP_DEBUG & Check Error Log<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Monitoring your servers error log regularly is a good practice. You can get lots of data about your website statistics even your website running fine. To define the faulty code doing the 503 error we have to enable debug mode. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Enable\/Disable WP_DEBUG<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Activate the WP_DEBUG mode from File Manager and check the error log. Here is how to step by step: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Go to you Cpanel \u2192 File Manager<\/strong>, inside public_html<\/strong> navigate the wp-config.php<\/strong> file and open it.<\/li>
Scroll down to the bottom and add the following code before the line \/*That\u2019s all, stop editing! Happy blogging.*\/<\/strong> You may change ‘WP_DEBUG’ false to true if you have already have the code. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n
\ndefine ('WP_DEBUG', true);\ndefine ('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);\ndefine ('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);\n@ini_set ('display_errors', 0);\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
$\"enabling-disabling-wp-debug-mode\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Save and close the wp-config.php<\/strong> file. <\/li>
Now go back to your website and see the error logs message displaying.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Now you can find the error log located at \/public_html\/error_log<\/strong> or \/public_html\/wp-content\/debug.log<\/strong>. Open the file and see the recent logs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"wordpress-error-logs-folder-file-manager\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
We hope you got some error log to work with. Now simply follow the instructions and try to figure out what causing the 503 error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. 503 Error Due To PHP Custom Code<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
If the HTTP 503 Service Unavailable Error displaying because of a broken PHP code, you can try to enable the PHP error log. But how to know which third party PHP codes are causing the error. That’s why we have to debug and diagnose it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You just have to add the following code snippet to your wp-config.php<\/strong> file. You can check the stats on the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nini_set('display_errors', 1);\nini_set('display_startup_errors', 1);\nerror_reporting(E_ALL);\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
$\"disabling-wp-heartbeat-api-using-php\"$ <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Also, you might have to modify your php.ini file with the following code.<\/p>\n\n\n
\ndisplay_errors = on\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
6. Server Related Issues<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
If the above methods do not work for you, it could be a server-side error. We have added the solution to it. Let’s check them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Increase You Server Resources<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Still, facing the 503 error despite all your attempts to fix so far? Then it will be a reason of due to lack of server resources. You can check google analytics if you are getting high volume traffic than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, you can still face a 503 error if you don’t have huge traffic than regular. It can be your server’s insufficient RAM problem too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We suggest, upgrade your hosting package if the current hosting plan can’t handle all the resources of your website. So the best practice is to first contact your current hosting provider customer support team and discuss the issue with them. They will figure out the issue and solve it for you. The support team will help you to advise whether you need to upgrade your hosting plan or not. Bluehost<\/a> is our only recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Limit the WordPress \u2018Heartbeat\u2019 API<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
WordPress Heartbeat API is an inbuilt API from WordPress, which allows your website some cool features. Like, autosave the content, alert you when someone is editing the content, show you a realtime notification, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
WordPress Heartbeat feature works in the background and consumes your server’s resources, but you have the option to limit or disable it with Heartbeat Control WordPress plugin<\/a>. Usually, that isn’t a problem but in some cases, it cay cause you 503 service unavailable error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fastest way to do it via Heartbeat Control WordPress plugin<\/strong>. Navigate to settings \u2192<\/strong> Heartbeat control section and modify the frequency number lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To determine the error caused by the WordPress Heartbeat function on your website manually, you have to put some code. Locate the public_html \u2192 wp-content<\/strong> \u2192<\/strong> themes<\/strong> folder \u2192<\/strong> choose the current theme and open the functions.php<\/strong> file in edit mode. Add the following code after opening <?php <\/strong>tag: <\/p>\n\n\n
\nadd_action('init', 'stop_heartbeat', 1);\nfunction stop_heartbeat(){\nwp_deregister_script('heartbeat');\n}\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Now save the changes and refresh your website to see if the error has disappeared or not. If this didn’t fix the WordPress 503 error, then it might not be the root cause of the problem. So, you can remove the code from functions.php file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fresh WordPress Installation<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
If all the above 6 steps didn’t help you at all, you have only one option left to give it a try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contact your hosting provider to figure out what’s going on.<\/li>
Upload & extract a fresh WordPress version through the file manager. Most of the cases it solved the error if any WordPress core file was affected.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes the 503 error will only show for a few moments when the website server is in maintenance mode and resolved automatically. Most of the cases it happens due to PHP code error. However, when you don’t get any clue about the error its time to do more troubleshooting or contact your hosting support team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To solve the 503 service unavailable error<\/strong>, you need to follow the steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deactivating all plugins temporarily<\/li>
Deactivating WordPress theme temporarily<\/li>
Temporarily disable CDN<\/li>
Enable WP_DEBUG & check error log <\/li>
Fixing PHP code error<\/li>
Fixing server related issues<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Do you have faced the HTTP 503 WordPress Error? Share your experiences with us on how you fixed the error in the comment section! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don’t forget to check how to duplicate WordPress page or post<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How to Debug and Fix 503 Service Unavailable Error in WordPress Run a WordPress blog is very easy nowadays but … <\/p>\n
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[27,29,28],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wprecommend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/debug-fix-503-service-unavailable-error-wordPress.png?fit=800%2C500&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Sanjay Samanta","author_link":"https:\/\/wprecommend.com\/author\/sanjaysamanta\/"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wprecommend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/debug-fix-503-service-unavailable-error-wordPress.png?fit=800%2C500&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wprecommend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wprecommend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wprecommend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wprecommend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wprecommend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wprecommend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wprecommend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wprecommend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wprecommend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wprecommend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}