How to Fix 503 Service Unavailable Error on WordPress?

• One of the most common reasons for this error is server overload. This can be caused due to excess traffic visiting your website.
• Any updates or changes require putting the website on maintenance mode, this can also show a service unavailable error.
• A newly added plugin or theme can also lead your server to be unavailable to the users.
• It might be possible that the error can also be from the hosting provider's end.
• Corrupted WordPress files in the file manager can also lead to this error.
• Any issues in the connection between the database and the website result in this error.
• DDoS attacks send too many requests at the same time to a server which can lead to causing the service not available error.

1. Review the error logs in the hosting account to find any specific error messages.
2. Try increasing the memory limit temporarily and see if the problem persists.
3. Find where the website is hosted, here let's look at C-Panel, in the c panel go to file manager, click on the WP content folder and then navigate to the plugins and themes. Now try renaming the plugins and themes folders and check whether the error is gone.
4. This can help you identify if the error is caused due to themes or plugins.

Steps:

1. Find where the website is hosted, here let's look at C-Panel, in the C-Panel go to file manager, click on the WP content folder and then navigate to the plugins.
2. Tap on the plugins folder and you will find all the installed plugins on your site.
3. Right click on the folder and rename this.
4. Try reloading the site, if the error is gone, the problem is caused due to one of these plugins.
5. Do this until you disable each plugin one by one to find the reason.

Steps:

1. Log in to cPanel and open File Manager
2. Navigate to the Themes Folder and Go to the public_html directory (or the directory where your WordPress is installed).
3. Open the wp-content folder.
4. Find and click on the themes folder.
5. Right-click on the themes folder, select Rename and change the name of the folder.
6. This will deactivate all themes and revert your site to the default WordPress theme.
7. Refresh your website to see if the error is resolved, if the error is gone, one of the themes was causing the issue.
8. To find out which one, rename the folder back to themes.
9. Inside the themes folder, rename each theme folder one by one (except the default WordPress theme) and check your site after each change.

Steps:

1. Login to your CDN provider’s dashboard and access the dashboard to go to settings
2. Find the option pause or disable in the CDN service and disable the service.
3. Check whether there is an option to purge or clear CDN cache, this can solve the issue without disabling it.
4. After disabling the CDN, refresh the site and see if the error persists.
5. Once the issue is resolved re-enable the CDN for performance enhancements.

Steps:

1. Log in to access your control panel with your credentials.
2. Look for options ‘Service Plan’, ‘Hosting Plan’, ‘Upgrade’, or ‘Resources’.
3. Check the current resource usage statistics if available and identify which resources are being maxed out (e.g., CPU, memory).
4. Select an upgrade option that provides higher resource limits.
5. Confirm and pay for the upgrade and review the new resource limits and costs.
6. After upgrading, monitor your site’s performance and resource usage.

Review Your Logs:

1. Log in to your hosting control panel.
2. Find Error Logs under ‘Advanced’, ‘Metrics’, or similar.
3. Now, open the error logs and look for any entries that correspond to the time the error occurred. Note down the recurring errors or specific file references.

Enable WP_DEBUG:

1. In your hosting account, open the File Manager and navigate to the root directory of your WordPress site.
2. Now, edit wp-config.php, locate the wp-config.php file and right-click on it and select ‘Edit’.
3. Add WP_DEBUG Code: Find the line that says /* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */.

Just before this line, add the following code:
// Enable WP_DEBUG mode
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
// Enable Debug logging to the /wp-content/debug.log file
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
// Disable display of errors and warnings
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);
@ini_set('display_errors', 0);

4. After adding the code, save the file and close the editor.
5. Try to replicate the error by visiting your site.
6. Return to the File Manager and navigate to /wp-content/. Look for a file named debug.log and review any new entries.