The dreaded 500 internal server mistake. It always seems to come at the most inopportune fourth dimension and you lot're suddenly left scrambling to figure out how to go your WordPress site back online. Trust us, we've all been there. Other errors that behave similarly that you might have likewise seen include the frightening mistake establishing a database connection and the dreaded white screen of death. But from the moment your site goes downward, you lot're losing visitors and customers. Non to mention it simply looks bad for your brand.

Today nosotros'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 than beneath about what causes this mistake and what you tin can do to prevent it in the futurity.

  • What is a 500 internal server fault?
  • How to fix the 500 internal server fault

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

What is a 500 Internal Server Error?

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Mistake every bit:

The 500 (Internal Server Error) condition lawmaking indicates that the server encountered an unexpected status 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 asking, processes it, and sends dorsum the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) forth with an HTTP header. The HTTP also includes what they phone call an HTTP status code. A condition code is a way to notify you about the condition of the request. It could be a 200 status code which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 status code which ways something has gone wrong.

There 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 mistake indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request(RFC 7231, section half-dozen.6.one).

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

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Due to the diverse web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server error can nowadays itself in a number of different ways. But they are all communicating the same matter. Below are just a couple of the many unlike variations y'all might encounter on the web:

    • "500 Internal Server Fault"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Fault"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Error"
    • "HTTP Error 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Internal Server Error. Sorry something went incorrect."
    • "500. That's an error. There was an fault. Delight try again afterwards. That'south all nosotros know."
    • "The website cannot brandish the page – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP ERROR 500."

You might besides see this message accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to consummate your asking. Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and annihilation you might have done that may take caused the fault. More data about this error may exist available in the server error log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error

Other times, you lot might merely see a blank white screen. When dealing with 500 internal server errors, this is actually 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 ain custom 500 internal server mistake messages, such as this ane from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server error

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

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server mistake

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 information technology'southward an IIS 7.0 (Windows) or higher server, they have additional HTTP status codes to more closely indicate the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.11 – Awarding is shutting down on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is decorated restarting on the web server.
  • 500.13 – Spider web server is besides busy.
  • 500.fifteen – Direct requests for global.asax are not allowed.
  • 500.19 – Configuration information is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module non recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline way.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.Internet httpHandlers configuration does not use in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.Cyberspace impersonation configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.fifty – A rewrite mistake occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification treatment. A configuration or inbound rule execution error occurred.
  • 500.51 – A rewrite fault occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A global configuration or global rule execution fault occurred.
  • 500.52 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_SEND_RESPONSE notification treatment. An outbound dominion execution occurred.
  • 500.53 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE notification handling. An outbound rule execution mistake occurred. The dominion is configured to be executed before the output user enshroud gets updated.
    500.100 – Internal ASP error.

500 Errors Impact on SEO

Dissimilar 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to bank check back at a later time, a 500 error tin have a negative touch on SEO if not stock-still correct away. If your site is only downwards for say 10 minutes and it's beingness crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will only become the page delivered from cache. Or Google might not fifty-fifty take a chance to re-crawl it earlier information technology'due south support. In this scenario, yous're completely fine.

Withal, if the site is downwardly for an extended flow of fourth dimension, say six+ hours, then Google might see the 500 mistake as a site level issue that needs to be addressed. This could touch your rankings. If you're worried about repeat 500 errors you should figure out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions below can help.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should you beginning troubleshooting when you run across a 500 internal server error on your WordPress site? Sometimes you might not fifty-fifty know where to begin. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, only from our experience, these errors originate from ii things, the start isuser fault (client-side issue), and the 2d is that there is a trouble with the server. So nosotros'll dive into a little of both.

Check out these common causes and ways to fix the 500 internal server mistake and go back up and running in no fourth dimension.

i. Try Reloading the Page

This might seem a piffling obvious to some, merely one of the easiest and first things y'all should try when encountering a 500 internal server error is to merely wait a infinitesimal or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could be that the host or server is merely overloaded and the site will come right back. While y'all're waiting, you could also rapidly effort a different browser to rule that out as an outcome.

Another thing you lot tin can do is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell y'all if the site is down or if it'south a trouble on your side. A tool like this checks the HTTP status code that is returned from the server. If it's anything other than a 200 "Everything is OK" then it volition return a down indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

We've too noticed that sometimes this can occur immediately later you update a plugin or theme on your WordPress site. Typically this is on hosts that aren't fix upwards properly. What happens is they experience a temporary timeout right afterward. However, things commonly resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all y'all need to do.

2. Clear Your Browser Enshroud

Immigration your browser cache is ever another practiced troubleshooting stride before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Below are instructions on how to clear cache in the diverse browsers:

  • How to Strength Refresh a Single Page for All Browsers
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Google Chrome
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Mozilla Firefox
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Safari
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Internet Explorer
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Microsoft Border
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Opera

iii. Check Your Server Logs

You should besides take advantage of your error logs. If yous're a Kinsta customer, you can hands run into errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can help y'all quickly narrow down the outcome, especially if it'south resulting from a plugin on your site.

Subscribe Now

Check error logs for 500 internal server errors
Bank check mistake logs for 500 internal server errors

If your host doesn't have a logging tool, you tin can as well enable WordPress debugging fashion by calculation the following lawmaking to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

          define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', imitation );

The logs are typically located in the /wp-content directory. Others, like here at Kinsta might have a dedicated binder chosen "logs".

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

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

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

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

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response analysis 500 error breakdown

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

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

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

          display_errors = on

4. Error Establishing a Database Connexion

500 internal server errors tin can also occur from a database connection mistake. Depending upon your browser you lot might see different errors. Only both will generate a 500 HTTP status lawmaking regardless in your server logs.

Below is an example of what an "error establishing a database connection" message looks like your browser. The entire page is bare because no data can be retrieved to render the page, as the connection is non working properly. Non merely does this intermission the forepart-end of your site, simply it will besides prevent you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

So why exactly does this happen? Well, hither are a few common reasons below.

  • The most common issue is that yourdatabase login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses split up login information to connect to its MySQL database.
  • Your WordPress database is corrupted. With so many moving parts with themes, plugins, and users constantly deleting and installing them, sometimes databases get corrupted. This tin be due to a missing or individually corrupted tabular array, or maybe some information was deleted past blow.
  • You may have corrupt files in your WordPress installation. This can fifty-fifty happen sometimes due to hackers.
  • Issues with your database server. A number of things could be incorrect 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 same servers.

Bank check out our in-depth post on how to set the error establishing a database connection in WordPress.

5. Check Your Plugins and Themes

Tertiary-party plugins and themes tin can easily cause 500 internal server errors. Nosotros've seen all types cause them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to ad rotator plugins. A lot of times you should meet the error immediately after installing something new or running an update. This is i reason why we always recommend utilizing a staging environment for updates or at least running updates 1 by ane. Otherwise, if you lot encounter a 500 internal server error you're all of a sudden scrambling to figure out which ane caused it.

A few ways you tin troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Remember, you won't lose whatever data if you merely conciliate a plugin. If you lot tin still access your admin, a quick way to do this is to scan to "Plugins" and select "Conciliate" from the majority deportment carte du jour. This will disable all of your plugins.

Deactivate all plugins
Conciliate all plugins

If this fixes the issue you'll need to find the culprit. Start activating them 1 by one, reloading the site after each activation. When you see the 500 internal server error return, you lot've found the misbehaving plugin. You tin can then reach out to the plugin developer for help or post a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you lot can't login to WordPress admin y'all can FTP into your server and rename your plugins folder to something like plugins_old. Then bank check your site again. If it works, then you will need to examination each plugin one by ane. Rename your plugin folder dorsum to "plugins" and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it, one by one, until yous observe information technology. You could also try to replicate this on a staging site start.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin binder

Always makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress cadre are up to appointment. And check to ensure you are running a supported version of PHP. If it turns out to be a conflict with bad code in a plugin, you lot might need to bring in a WordPress developer to fix the effect.

half dozen. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress cadre files tin get corrupted, especially on older sites. Information technology's really quite easy to re-upload simply the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We have an in-depth guide with 5 different ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, brand certain to accept a backup before proceeding. Skip to one of the sections below:

  • 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 error with a file or folder on your server tin can likewise cause a 500 internal server error to occur. Hither are some typical recommendations for permissions when information technology 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 exist given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could also be prepare to 440 or 400 to forestall other users on the server from reading it.

See the WordPress Codex article on changing file permissions for a more in-depth explanation.

You can easily run into your file permissions with an FTP client (as seen below). You could likewise reach out to your WordPress host support team and ask them to chop-chop GREP file permissions on your folders and files to ensure they're setup properly.

File permissions SFTP
File permissions SFTP

8. PHP Memory Limit

A 500 internal server error could also be caused by exhausting the PHP retentiveness limit on your server. You could try increasing the limit. Follow the instructions below 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 can easily alter 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

You can then click on the memory_limit attribute and modify its value. Then click on "Relieve."

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 use to modify the server behavior, right downward to a directory specific level. First login to your site via FTP or SSH, take a look at your root directory and see if there is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If in that location is you lot tin edit that file to add the necessary lawmaking for increasing the PHP memory limit. About probable it is set at 64M or beneath, you lot can endeavor increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increment PHP Retentiveness 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, get 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 there, search for the three settings and modify them if necessary. If you just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be institute yous tin paste the code below. You tin alter of course the values to come across your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might also require that you add the suPHP directive in your .htaccess file for the higher up php.ini file settings to work. To practise this, edit your .htaccess file, also located at the root of your site, and add the following code towards the top of the file:

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

If the in a higher place didn't work for you, it could be that your host has the global settings locked down and instead accept it configured to use .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site's root directory and open up or create a .user.ini file. You can then paste in the following code:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The last option is not one we are fans of, but if all else fails you can requite it a go. First, 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 peak of your wp-config.php file:

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

You can likewise ask your host if you lot're running into memory limit bug. We utilize New Relic and other troubleshooting methods here at Kinsta to help clients narrow down what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. You can also use your own custom New Relic key.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

9. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta merely uses Nginx, but if y'all're using a WordPress host that is running Apache, it could very well be that your .htaccess file has a problem or has become 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 can just re-save your permalinks in WordPress. However, if yous're in the heart of a 500 internal server error you most likely can't access your WordPress admin, so this isn't an option. Therefore you tin 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 . /index.php [L] </IfModule> # Stop 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 existence acquired by errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less common than it used to be. Although information technology'due south still worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where there are a lot of one-click CGI scripts still being used. Every bit AEM on Stack Overflow says:

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

Hither are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, always used a obviously 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 way (which you 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.

xi. Server Effect (Check With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors can also occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-party plugins, you can always bank check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors tin can be difficult to troubleshoot without an good. Here are just a few common examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might accept y'all scratching your head.

          PHP message: PHP Fatal mistake: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Cannot use object of type WP_Error as array in /www/folder/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 be pro-agile and start fixing the issue correct abroad. We also utilize LXD managed hosts and orchestrated LXC software containers for each site. This ways 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 non shared with anyone else or even your ain sites.

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

When PHP workers are already busy on a site, they start to build upward a queue. One time you've reached your limit of PHP workers, the queue starts to button out older requests which could result in 500 errors or incomplete requests. Read our in-depth article nigh PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you lot're worried almost these types of errors happening on your site in the future, you tin too utilize a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify you lot immediately if they occur. It periodically sends an HTTP Head request to the URL of your pick. You lot can just use your homepage. The tool allows you to set up check frequencies of:

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

It will ship you an email if and when your site goes down. Here is an example below.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 error

This tin can be especially useful if you're trying to debug a faulty plugin or are on a shared host, who tend to overcrowd their servers. This tin can give you proof of how oftentimes your site might actually be doing down (even during the middle of the night). That's why nosotros always recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make sure to cheque out our post that explores the height 9 reasons to cull managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are e'er frustrating, but hopefully, now you know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to speedily get your site dorsum upwardly and running. Call up, typically these types of errors are caused by third-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connection bug, bug with your .htaccess file or PHP memory limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything we missed? Mayhap you have some other tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, permit us know below in the comments.

Save fourth dimension, costs and maximize site performance with:

  • Instant help from WordPress hosting experts, 24/vii.
  • Cloudflare Enterprise integration.
  • Global audience accomplish with 29 data centers worldwide.
  • Optimization with our congenital-in Awarding Operation Monitoring.

All of that and much more, in one programme with no long-term contracts, assisted migrations, and a xxx-day-money-back-guarantee. Check out our plans or talk to sales to discover the plan that'south right for you lot.