The dreaded 500 internal server error. It always seems to come at the most inopportune time and y'all're suddenly left scrambling to figure out how to become your WordPress site back online. Trust us, we've all been there. Other errors that behave similarly that you lot might accept besides seen include the frightening error establishing a database connexion and the dreaded white screen of death. But from the moment your site goes down, y'all're losing visitors and customers. Not to mention it simply looks bad for your brand.

Today we're going to dive into the 500 internal server error and walk yous through some ways to get your site back online quickly. Read more below about what causes this error and what y'all tin can practise to prevent information technology in the hereafter.

  • What is a 500 internal server mistake?
  • How to gear up the 500 internal server error

Check Out Our Ultimate Guide to Fixing the 500 Internal Server Error

What is a 500 Internal Server Error?

The Internet Engineering Task Forcefulness (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error as:

The 500 (Internal Server Error) status code indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request.

When you visit a website your browser sends a request over to the server where the site is hosted. The server takes this request, processes it, and sends back the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP also includes what they telephone call an HTTP status code. A status lawmaking is a way to notify y'all about the status of the asking. It could be a 200 status code which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 status code which means something has gone incorrect.

At that place are a lot of unlike types of 500 status error codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all mean something different. In this case, a 500 internal server error indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request(RFC 7231, section 6.6.1).

500 internal server error in WordPress
500 internal server error in WordPress

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Due to the various web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server fault can present itself in a number of dissimilar means. Just they are all communicating the aforementioned thing. Below are simply a couple of the many different variations you might see on the web:

    • "500 Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Mistake"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Fault"
    • "500 Mistake"
    • "HTTP Fault 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Internal Server Error. Sorry something went incorrect."
    • "500. That'south an mistake. There was an error. Delight endeavor once again later. That's all we know."
    • "The website cannot display the folio – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP ERROR 500."

You might also run into this message accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Please contact the server ambassador, [e-mail protected] and inform them of the time the fault occurred, and anything you might have done that may accept caused the mistake. More information almost this error may be available in the server error log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error

Other times, you might only see a blank white screen. When dealing with 500 internal server errors, this is really quite common in browsers like Firefox and Safari.

500 internal server error in Firefox
500 internal server error in Firefox

Bigger brands might even have their own custom 500 internal server error letters, such equally this i from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server error

Here is some other creative 500 server error instance from the folks over at readme.

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server error

Even the mighty YouTube isn't safe from 500 internal server errors.

500 internal server error on YouTube
500 internal server fault on YouTube

If it'southward an IIS seven.0 (Windows) or higher server, they have additional HTTP status codes to more closely betoken the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.xi – Application is shutting downward on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the spider web server.
  • 500.13 – Web server is too busy.
  • 500.15 – Direct requests for global.asax are not allowed.
  • 500.xix – Configuration information is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module non recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.NET httpHandlers configuration does non apply in Managed Pipeline fashion.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.Internet impersonation configuration does non utilize in Managed Pipeline manner.
  • 500.50 – A rewrite mistake occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification treatment. A configuration or inbound rule execution fault occurred.
  • 500.51 – A rewrite error occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification treatment. A global configuration or global rule execution mistake occurred.
  • 500.52 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_SEND_RESPONSE notification handling. An outbound rule execution occurred.
  • 500.53 – A rewrite mistake occurred during RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE notification handling. An outbound rule execution error occurred. The rule is configured to be executed before the output user cache gets updated.
    500.100 – Internal ASP fault.

500 Errors Impact on SEO

Unlike 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to check back at a afterward fourth dimension, a 500 fault can have a negative impact on SEO if not fixed right away. If your site is only down for say ten minutes and it's being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will simply get the folio delivered from cache. Or Google might not even take a chance to re-crawl it before information technology's back upward. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

However, if the site is down for an extended period of time, say vi+ hours, then Google might see the 500 error every bit a site level effect that needs to be addressed. This could impact your rankings. If you're worried near repeat 500 errors yous should figure out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions beneath can help.

How to Set the 500 Internal Server Fault

Where should you start troubleshooting when you run across a 500 internal server error on your WordPress site? Sometimes you might non even know where to begin. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, but from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the first isuser fault (client-side issue), and the second is that at that place is a problem with the server. So we'll swoop into a little of both.

Check out these common causes and ways to fix the 500 internal server error and get dorsum up and running in no time.

1. Try Reloading the Page

This might seem a trivial obvious to some, but 1 of the easiest and first things yous should endeavor when encountering a 500 internal server error is to just wait a minute or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). Information technology could be that the host or server is only overloaded and the site volition come up correct back. While you're waiting, you could too speedily try a dissimilar browser to dominion that out every bit an issue.

Another thing you lot can practise is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell yous if the site is down or if it's a problem on your side. A tool similar this checks the HTTP status code that is returned from the server. If it's anything other than a 200 "Everything is OK" then information technology will render a down indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

Nosotros've besides noticed that sometimes this can occur immediately after you update a plugin or theme on your WordPress site. Typically this is on hosts that aren't set up properly. What happens is they experience a temporary timeout right afterward. However, things usually resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all you need to do.

2. Articulate Your Browser Cache

Clearing your browser cache is always another good troubleshooting step before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Beneath are instructions on how to clear cache in the various browsers:

  • How to Force Refresh a Unmarried Folio for All Browsers
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Google Chrome
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Mozilla Firefox
  • How to Articulate Browser Cache for Safari
  • How to Articulate Browser Cache for Internet Explorer
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Microsoft Edge
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Opera

iii. Check Your Server Logs

You should too take reward of your error logs. If you're a Kinsta client, you can easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This tin assistance y'all speedily narrow downward the result, especially if it'southward resulting from a plugin on your site.

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Check error logs for 500 internal server errors
Check error logs for 500 internal server errors

If your host doesn't have a logging tool, you can also enable WordPress debugging fashion past adding the following code to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

          define( 'WP_DEBUG', truthful ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

The logs are typically located in the /wp-content directory. Others, similar here at Kinsta might have a defended folder chosen "logs".

WordPress error logs folder (SFTP)
WordPress mistake logs folder (SFTP)

You tin also check the log files in Apache and Nginx, which are usually located here:

  • Apache: /var/log/apache2/error.log
  • Nginx: /var/log/nginx/fault.log

If you're a Kinsta customer you tin also take advantage of our analytics tool to get a breakdown of the total number of 500 errors and see how often and when they are occurring. This can help you troubleshoot if this is an ongoing effect, or perhaps something that has resolved itself.

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response analysis 500 mistake breakdown

If the 500 error is displaying because of a fatal PHP error, you lot can also try enabling PHP mistake reporting. Simply add together the following lawmaking to the file throwing the mistake. Typically you lot can narrow down the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

          ini_set('display_errors', 1); ini_set('display_startup_errors', i); error_reporting(E_ALL);

And you might need to also modify your php.ini file with the post-obit:

          display_errors = on

four. Error Establishing a Database Connection

500 internal server errors tin also occur from a database connection mistake. Depending upon your browser y'all might see different errors. Merely both will generate a 500 HTTP condition code regardless in your server logs.

Below is an instance of what an "fault establishing a database connection" message looks like your browser. The entire page is blank because no information can be retrieved to render the folio, as the connectedness is not working properly. Not merely does this intermission the front end-finish of your site, but it will also prevent you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

Example of error establishing a database connection
Instance of error establishing a database connection

And so why exactly does this happen? Well, here are a few common reasons below.

  • The most common event is that yourdatabase login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses separate login data to connect to its MySQL database.
  • Your WordPress database is corrupted. With and so many moving parts with themes, plugins, and users constantly deleting and installing them, sometimes databases get corrupted. This can exist due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or maybe some information was deleted by accident.
  • You may have corrupt files in your WordPress installation. This can even happen sometimes due to hackers.
  • Issues with your database server. A number of things could exist wrong on the web hosts end, such as the database being overloaded from a traffic spike or unresponsive from too many concurrent connections. This is actually quite common with shared hosts as they are utilizing the same resources for a lot of users on the aforementioned servers.

Check out our in-depth mail service on how to ready the error establishing a database connexion in WordPress.

5. Check Your Plugins and Themes

Third-party plugins and themes can easily cause 500 internal server errors. We've seen all types cause them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to ad rotator plugins. A lot of times you should encounter the error immediately after installing something new or running an update. This is i reason why we ever recommend utilizing a staging surround for updates or at least running updates 1 by i. Otherwise, if yous encounter a 500 internal server error you're suddenly scrambling to effigy out which one caused information technology.

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is past deactivating all your plugins. Remember, you won't lose any data if you simply deactivate a plugin. If you can still access your admin, a quick way to exercise this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Conciliate" from the bulk actions bill of fare. This will disable all of your plugins.

Deactivate all plugins
Deactivate all plugins

If this fixes the issue you'll need to find the culprit. Start activating them one past i, reloading the site after each activation. When you see the 500 internal server error return, you lot've found the misbehaving plugin. You can and so accomplish out to the plugin developer for aid or post a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you tin't login to WordPress admin you can FTP into your server and rename your plugins binder to something like plugins_old. And then bank check your site again. If information technology works, then you will need to exam each plugin one past one. Rename your plugin binder back to "plugins" and and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it, one by 1, until you find it. Yous could as well try to replicate this on a staging site first.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

Always makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress core are up to date. And check to ensure yous are running a supported version of PHP. If it turns out to be a disharmonize with bad code in a plugin, you might need to bring in a WordPress developer to ready the consequence.

half dozen. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress cadre files can get corrupted, peculiarly on older sites. It's really quite easy to re-upload only the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We have an in-depth guide with five different ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, make sure to accept a fill-in before proceeding. Skip to i of the sections beneath:

  • How to reinstall WordPress from the WordPress dashboard while preserving existing content
  • How to manually reinstall WordPress via FTP while preserving existing content
  • How to manually reinstall WordPress via WP-CLI while preserving existing content

7. Permissions Error

A permissions mistake with a file or folder on your server can also crusade a 500 internal server fault to occur. Here are some typical recommendations for permissions when it comes to file and folder permissions in WordPress:

  • All files should be 644 (-rw-r–r–) or 640.
  • All directories should be 755 (drwxr-xr-x) or 750.
  • No directories should ever be given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could also be set to 440 or 400 to prevent other users on the server from reading information technology.

Run across the WordPress Codex article on irresolute file permissions for a more in-depth explanation.

You tin can easily see your file permissions with an FTP customer (as seen below). You could also reach out to your WordPress host support team and ask them to quickly GREP file permissions on your folders and files to ensure they're setup properly.

File permissions SFTP
File permissions SFTP

viii. PHP Memory Limit

A 500 internal server error could likewise be caused past exhausting the PHP retentiveness limit on your server. Yous could endeavour increasing the limit. Follow the instructions beneath on how to change this limit in cPanel, Apache, your php.ini file, and wp-config.php file.

Increase PHP Memory Limit in cPanel

If yous're running on a host that uses cPanel, you lot can easily change this from the UI. Under Software click on "Select PHP Version."

Select PHP version
Select PHP version

Click on "Switch to PHP Options."

Switch to PHP options
Switch to PHP options

Yous can then click on the memory_limit attribute and alter its value. Then click on "Salvage."

Increase PHP memory limit in cPanel
Increase PHP memory limit in cPanel

Increase PHP Memory Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special subconscious file that contains various settings you can utilise to modify the server behavior, right down to a directory specific level. First login to your site via FTP or SSH, have a await at your root directory and see if in that location is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If there is you tin edit that file to add together the necessary code for increasing the PHP memory limit. Virtually probable it is set at 64M or below, you can endeavour increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

If the above doesn't work for you might try editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, become to your site's root directory and open up or create a php.ini file.

php.ini file
php.ini file

If the file was already at that place, search for the three settings and change them if necessary. If you just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be institute yous can paste the code below. You can modify of form the values to meet your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might also require that you add together the suPHP directive in your .htaccess file for the above php.ini file settings to piece of work. To practise this, edit your .htaccess file, too located at the root of your site, and add the following lawmaking towards the acme of the file:

          <IfModule mod_suphp.c>  suPHP_ConfigPath /habitation/yourusername/public_html </IfModule>

If the above didn't work for you, it could exist that your host has the global settings locked down and instead have information technology configured to utilize .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, get to your site's root directory and open up or create a .user.ini file. You lot can then paste in the post-obit code:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Retention Limit in wp-config.php

The last option is not one we are fans of, only if all else fails you can give it a get. Outset, log in to your site via FTP or SSH, and locate your wp-config.php file, which is typically in the root of your site.

wp-config.php file
wp-config.php file

Add the following code to the top of your wp-config.php file:

          define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '128M');

Yous tin also ask your host if you're running into memory limit issues. We employ the Kinsta APM tool and other troubleshooting methods hither at Kinsta to help clients narrow downward what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. You can also use your ain custom New Relic fundamental from your own license.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

9. Trouble With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta only uses Nginx, but if y'all're using a WordPress host that is running Apache, information technology could very well exist that your .htaccess file has a problem or has go corrupted. Follow the steps below to recreate a new one from scratch.

First, log in to your site via FTP or SSH, and rename your .htaccess file to .htaccess_old.

Rename .htaccess file
Rename .htaccess file

Normally to recreate this file you lot can simply re-save your permalinks in WordPress. However, if you're in the middle of a 500 internal server fault y'all most probable tin't access your WordPress admin, so this isn't an choice. Therefore you can create a new .htaccess file and input the following contents. Then upload it to your server.

          # BEGIN WordPress <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^alphabetize\.php$ - [L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /alphabetize.php [L] </IfModule> # END WordPress

See the WordPress Codex for more examples, such as a default .htaccess file for multisite.

10. Coding or Syntax Errors in Your CGI/Perl Script

500 errors being caused by errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less mutual than it used to be. Although information technology's still worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where in that location are a lot of one-click CGI scripts still being used. As AEM on Stack Overflow says:

CGI has been replaced by a vast variety of web programming technologies, including PHP, various Apache extensions similar mod_perl, Java of various flavors and frameworks including Coffee EE, Struts, Spring, etc, Python-based frameworks like Django, Red on Runway and many other Ruby frameworks, and various Microsoft technologies.

Here are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, e'er used a plain text editor, such as Atom, Sublime, or Notepad++. This ensures they remain in ASCII format.
  • Ensure correct permissions of chmod 755 are used on CGI scripts and directories.
  • Upload your CGI scripts in ASCII mode (which you tin can select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Confirm that the Perl modules you require for your script are installed and supported.

11. Server Issue (Check With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors can too occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-political party plugins, you tin ever check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors can exist hard to troubleshoot without an expert. Here are just a few mutual examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might have you scratching your head.

          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP message: PHP Fatal mistake: Uncaught Error: Cannot utilize object of type WP_Error every bit assortment in /www/binder/web/shared/content/plugins/plugin/functions.php:525

We monitor all client's sites here at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows us to exist pro-active and start fixing the issue right away. We also utilize LXD managed hosts and orchestrated LXC software containers for each site. This means that every WordPress site is housed in its ain isolated container, which has all of the software resources required to run it (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL). The resource are 100% private and are not shared with anyone else or fifty-fifty your own sites.

PHP timeouts could also occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these crusade 504 errors, not 500 errors. These determine how many simultaneous requests your site tin can handle at a given time. To put information technology simply, each uncached asking for your website is handled by a PHP Worker.

When PHP workers are already busy on a site, they start to build up a queue. Once you've reached your limit of PHP workers, the queue starts to push out older requests which could effect in 500 errors or incomplete requests. Read our in-depth article about PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you lot're worried almost these types of errors happening on your site in the hereafter, you lot can too employ a tool similar updown.io to monitor and notify yous immediately if they occur. Information technology periodically sends an HTTP HEAD request to the URL of your choice. Y'all can merely utilize your homepage. The tool allows you lot to set bank check frequencies of:

  • 15 seconds
  • 30 seconds
  • one infinitesimal
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • 10 minutes

Information technology will send you an email if and when your site goes down. Here is an instance beneath.

Email notification of 500 error
Electronic mail notification of 500 mistake

This tin can exist specially useful if yous're trying to debug a faulty plugin or are on a shared host, who tend to overcrowd their servers. This can give you proof of how ofttimes your site might really be doing down (even during the heart of the night). That's why nosotros e'er recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make certain to check out our post that explores the top 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are ever frustrating, but hopefully, now you know a few additional means to troubleshoot them to quickly become your site support and running. Recollect, typically these types of errors are caused by tertiary-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connection bug, bug with your .htaccess file or PHP retention limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything we missed? Perhaps you have another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, let us know below in the comments.

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