How to Fix the 503 Error in WordPress

When attempting to access a WordPress website, you might get the HTTP error 503 (Service Unavailable). This may be because of various factors out of WordPress’s hands.

Follow these 8 easy steps to resolve the 503 error:

Step 1. Temporarily Deactivate Your WordPress Plugins

Go to the plugin’s settings page and uncheck the box that says ‘Enabled’ to disable it temporarily. Then, try restarting your WordPress site after you’ve disabled the plugin to see if the problem persists. You’ll have to manually delete or disable the extension from your server if it isn’t working.

Step 2. Deactivate Your WordPress Theme

From the WordPress Theme Repository, deactivate your theme before installing a new one. Also, ensure all your plugins and themes are the latest versions. If these procedures fail, you’ll need to contact your theme’s creator to resolve the problem.

Step 3. Temporarily Disable Your Content Delivery Network (CDN)

You can temporarily disable it if your WordPress site uses a content delivery network (CDN) to see if the error goes away. First, look for the ‘Security’ section on your server’s configuration page. There are several options listed under the heading ‘Configure CDN.’ For now, disable it and see if the problem goes away.

Step 4. Limit the WordPress ‘Heartbeat’ API

Limiting the WordPress’ Heartbeat’ API usage might be your best option if you’re running into 503 errors regularly and need help figuring out the root cause. To do so, there are six simple steps:

Go to Settings > General > Performance and set the Limit HTTP Requests field to 100/day or 500/day, etc. Otherwise, your server will only work under heavy load if the configuration is correct or the resources are sufficient.

Step 5. Limit Google’s Crawl Rate

Google’s crawler is a piece of software that collects and organizes information on the Internet in an index to investigate the contents of websites. The crawler travels from site to site and Internet page to page, hunting for fresh material or potential updates of previously explored material.

Another factor that causes 503 errors in WordPress is Google’s maximum crawl rate, which can be avoided by following these steps:

• Upgrade the hosting plan.
• Take a break from the task and do not update anything for a while. You’ll miss visits, but it’s necessary at times.
• The regular use of the internet will return when traffic levels normalize.
• If you have a flood of visitors, optimize WordPress to prevent it from sucking up too many resources and causing a 503 error.

Also Read: How to Tell Google Which Pages Not to Crawl

Step 6. Increase Your Server’s Resources

Increasing your server’s resources may be your only option if you cannot resolve the problem using any of the preceding methods. To increase your server’s resources, ask your hosting provider and request additional resources (CPU/memory).

Step 7. Review Your Logs and Enable WP_DEBUG

It may be beneficial to review your logs and enable WP_DEBUG if the problem persists after increasing your server resources. Then, you’ll have more insight into what’s happening inside the machine.

Step 8. Use a VPN

Since there is a chance that the website isn’t just operating in your region, a virtual private network would suffice as a remedy since some sites have separate servers for various nations. You may easily create your VPN using a third-party service.

Every day, millions of internet users encounter HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) Error 503. So, when you encounter a 503 Service Unavailable error, the website or web application you are trying to access is currently unavailable to serve you for some reason.

There are numerous reasons for a 503 Error, such as an error in the underlying software or hardware, or even malicious activity on the part of someone who owns or operates the site. However, as per the web standards, error 503 is returned mostly when the server is either down for maintenance or overloaded.

The most appropriate way is to ascertain what happened and try to fix the 503 Error as quickly as possible. However, it is not obvious to know what to do in such a situation. Therefore, in this tutorial, we’ll investigate what is HTTP Error 503, the various reasons for it, and how to fix 503 Errors.