My website is down: what to check first

1. Confirm it is really down

Try the site on your phone using mobile data (not your Wi-Fi) and on another device. If it loads there, the problem is probably your own connection or a cached copy. The free website checker tests from outside your network.

2. Note what you see

• “Site can’t be reached” or a timeout: the server or DNS is not answering.
• A certificate or “not secure” warning: see what happens when an SSL certificate expires.
• A 500 or 503 error: the server is answering but the site software is failing, often after an update, a plugin problem or a full disk.
• A blank white page: usually a site software error.

3. Check what changed

Most outages follow a change. Did anyone update the website, a plugin or the theme, change DNS records, move hosting or let a hosting plan or domain lapse? Reverting the last change is often the quickest fix.

4. Check your domain and hosting

• Log in to your domain registrar and confirm the domain has not expired and the nameservers are the ones you expect.
• Log in to your hosting control panel. Look for suspended accounts, unpaid invoices, full storage or resource limits.
• Check your host’s status page for known incidents.

5. Contact your provider with facts

When you call or email your host or developer, give them the address, the exact message you see, the time it started and anything that changed. That speeds things up considerably.

6. Make sure you hear first next time

Pingee checks your website every five minutes and emails you after two failed checks, so you find out before your customers do. See website monitoring. Pingee reports problems; it cannot fix them for you.

Written by the Pingee team. Last reviewed 12 October 2026.