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

Today we're going to dive into the 500 internal server mistake and walk yous through some ways to get your site back online chop-chop. Read more below about what causes this error and what you can do to prevent it in the future.

  • What is a 500 internal server error?
  • 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 Net Engineering science Chore Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error as:

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

When yous 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 back the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP likewise includes what they phone call an HTTP status code. A status code is a way to notify you nigh the status of the asking. It could be a 200 status code which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 status lawmaking which means something has gone wrong.

There are a lot of different types of 500 status mistake codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all hateful 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.vi.one).

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 error can present itself in a number of different ways. Just they are all communicating the same thing. Beneath are just a couple of the many different variations y'all might run into on the web:

    • "500 Internal Server Fault"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Mistake"
    • "HTTP Error 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Internal Server Error. Distressing something went wrong."
    • "500. That's an error. There was an error. Delight effort again later. That's all we know."
    • "The website cannot brandish the page – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP ERROR 500."

Yous might also see this bulletin accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to consummate your request. Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the fault occurred, and anything you lot might have done that may have acquired the error. More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error

Other times, you lot might only run into 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 take their own custom 500 internal server error messages, such as this one from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server fault

Hither is another creative 500 server error example from the folks over at readme.

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server error

Fifty-fifty the mighty YouTube isn't safe from 500 internal server errors.

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

If it's an IIS vii.0 (Windows) or higher server, they have additional HTTP condition codes to more than closely indicate the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI mistake occurred.
  • 500.11 – Awarding is shutting downwards on the spider web server.
  • 500.12 – Awarding is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.13 – Web server is too busy.
  • 500.15 – Straight requests for global.asax are non allowed.
  • 500.xix – Configuration information is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module not recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does non utilise in Managed Pipeline fashion.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.Internet httpHandlers configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.Internet impersonation configuration does not use in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.fifty – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A configuration or entering dominion execution error occurred.
  • 500.51 – A rewrite error occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification treatment. A global configuration or global rule execution error 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 error.

500 Errors Impact on SEO

Unlike 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to check dorsum at a later time, a 500 error tin can accept a negative affect on SEO if not fixed right away. If your site is only downwardly for say x minutes and information technology's being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler volition but get the page delivered from cache. Or Google might not even have a take chances to re-clamber it before information technology's back up. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

However, if the site is down for an extended catamenia of time, say 6+ hours, then Google might see the 500 error as a site level issue that needs to be addressed. This could impact your rankings. If you're worried virtually repeat 500 errors you should figure out why they are happening to brainstorm with. Some of the solutions below can assistance.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should yous start troubleshooting when you run into 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, but from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the showtime isuser fault (client-side effect), and the second is that there is a problem with the server. And then we'll dive into a niggling of both.

Check out these mutual causes and ways to prepare the 500 internal server error and become back up and running in no time.

1. Effort Reloading the Page

This might seem a little obvious to some, but one of the easiest and showtime things y'all should try when encountering a 500 internal server error is to simply wait a minute or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could be that the host or server is only overloaded and the site will come right back. While you lot're waiting, you could also rapidly attempt a dissimilar browser to rule that out every bit an issue.

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

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

We've also noticed that sometimes this can occur immediately later yous update a plugin or theme on your WordPress site. Typically this is on hosts that aren't gear up up properly. What happens is they experience a temporary timeout right afterward. Still, things usually resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all you demand to do.

ii. Articulate Your Browser Enshroud

Clearing your browser cache is ever another proficient troubleshooting footstep earlier diving into deeper debugging on your site. Beneath are instructions on how to clear cache in the diverse browsers:

  • How to Force 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 Enshroud for Microsoft Border
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Opera

3. Check Your Server Logs

You lot should also take advantage of your error logs. If you're a Kinsta customer, you can easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can assistance y'all quickly narrow down the result, especially if information technology's resulting from a plugin on your site.

Subscribe At present

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 mode by calculation the following lawmaking to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

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

The logs are typically located in the /wp-content directory. Others, like hither at Kinsta might have a dedicated folder called "logs".

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

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

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

If you're a Kinsta client you can also take reward of our analytics tool to become a breakdown of the total number of 500 errors and see how often and when they are occurring. This can assistance y'all troubleshoot if this is an ongoing effect, or mayhap 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 effort enabling PHP fault reporting. Just add the following code to the file throwing the error. Typically y'all can narrow downward the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

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

And y'all might need to also modify your php.ini file with the following:

          display_errors = on

4. Error Establishing a Database Connection

500 internal server errors can also occur from a database connection error. Depending upon your browser you might see dissimilar errors. Just both will generate a 500 HTTP condition code regardless in your server logs.

Beneath is an instance of what an "mistake establishing a database connectedness" message looks like your browser. The unabridged folio is blank because no information can be retrieved to render the page, equally the connexion is not working properly. Not just does this break the front-end of your site, but it volition also forestall you lot from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

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

  • The most common issue is that yourdatabase login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses separate 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 become corrupted. This can exist due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or perhaps some data was deleted past 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 incorrect on the web hosts finish, 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.

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

five. Check Your Plugins and Themes

Third-party plugins and themes can easily crusade 500 internal server errors. We've seen all types cause them hither at Kinsta, from slider plugins to ad rotator plugins. A lot of times you should run into the error immediately afterward installing something new or running an update. This is i reason why nosotros ever recommend utilizing a staging environment for updates or at to the lowest degree running updates ane past 1. Otherwise, if you come across a 500 internal server fault you're suddenly scrambling to figure out which one caused it.

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is past deactivating all your plugins. Call up, yous won't lose whatever data if you merely deactivate a plugin. If you lot can yet access your admin, a quick way to do this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Conciliate" from the bulk actions card. 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 i by 1, reloading the site afterward each activation. When y'all encounter the 500 internal server error return, yous've establish the misbehaving plugin. You lot can and so achieve out to the plugin developer for help or mail a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If yous can't login to WordPress admin yous can FTP into your server and rename your plugins folder to something similar plugins_old. And so check your site over again. If it works, so y'all will need to test each plugin i by one. Rename your plugin binder back to "plugins" and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it, i by 1, until you observe information technology. You could as well endeavour to replicate this on a staging site outset.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

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

6. Reinstall WordPress Cadre

Sometimes WordPress core files can get corrupted, especially on older sites. It'southward really quite piece of cake to re-upload just the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. Nosotros have an in-depth guide with 5 dissimilar means to reinstall WordPress. And of grade, make sure to take 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 mistake with a file or folder on your server tin also cause a 500 internal server mistake to occur. Hither 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.

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

Yous can easily run across your file permissions with an FTP client (as seen below). You could also attain 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

8. PHP Retentivity Limit

A 500 internal server error could also be caused by exhausting the PHP memory limit on your server. You could endeavor increasing the limit. Follow the instructions below on how to modify this limit in cPanel, Apache, your php.ini file, and wp-config.php file.

Increase PHP Memory Limit in cPanel

If you're running on a host that uses cPanel, y'all tin 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

You lot can then click on the memory_limit aspect and change its value. Then click on "Save."

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

Increase PHP Memory Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings yous can use to change the server behavior, right down to a directory specific level. Outset login to your site via FTP or SSH, take a look at your root directory and see if there is a .htaccess file at that place.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If at that place is you can edit that file to add together the necessary code for increasing the PHP memory limit. Nigh likely it is set at 64M or below, you can try increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

If the in a higher place doesn't work for you might effort editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site'due south root directory and open 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 found you can paste the code below. Y'all can modify of course the values to meet your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

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

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

If the in a higher place didn't work for you, information technology could be that your host has the global settings locked down and instead have it configured to utilize .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 and then paste in the post-obit lawmaking:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Retentivity Limit in wp-config.php

The terminal option is not one we are fans of, but if all else fails you can requite it a go. Get-go, 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 lawmaking to the elevation of your wp-config.php file:

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

Yous tin also ask your host if you're running into retention limit issues. We employ the Kinsta APM tool and other troubleshooting methods here at Kinsta to aid clients narrow down what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. You can as well use your own custom New Relic primal from your own license.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

ix. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta just uses Nginx, but if you're using a WordPress host that is running Apache, it could very well be 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 can simply re-salvage your permalinks in WordPress. All the same, if you're in the eye of a 500 internal server mistake y'all most likely can't admission your WordPress admin, so this isn't an option. Therefore you lot 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 ^index\.php$ - [50] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /index.php [50] </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 beingness caused past errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less mutual than it used to be. Although it'southward nonetheless worth mentioning, particularly for those using cPanel where there are a lot of 1-click CGI scripts all the same being used. As AEM on Stack Overflow says:

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

Hither are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, always used a plain text editor, such equally 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 can select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Ostend that the Perl modules y'all crave for your script are installed and supported.

xi. Server Issue (Check With Your Host)

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

          PHP message: PHP Fatal mistake: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Fault: Cannot use object of type WP_Error as array in /world wide web/folder/spider 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 united states to be pro-active and starting time fixing the issue right abroad. We also utilize LXD managed hosts and orchestrated LXC software containers for each site. This means that every WordPress site is housed in its own isolated container, which has all of the software resources required to run information technology (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL). The resources are 100% private and are not shared with anyone else or even your own sites.

PHP timeouts could also 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 it merely, each uncached request for your website is handled by a PHP Worker.

When PHP workers are already decorated on a site, they get-go to build upward 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 commodity about PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If yous're worried nigh these types of errors happening on your site in the time to come, yous can also utilise a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify yous immediately if they occur. It periodically sends an HTTP Head request to the URL of your choice. You tin can just use your homepage. The tool allows yous to set check frequencies of:

  • fifteen seconds
  • xxx seconds
  • 1 minute
  • 2 minutes
  • five minutes
  • 10 minutes

It will send y'all an email if and when your site goes down. Here is an example below.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 fault

This can be particularly 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 oft your site might actually be doing down (even during the middle of the night). That'due south why we always recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Brand sure to check out our post that explores the top ix reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, but hopefully, now you know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to chop-chop get your site back upward and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are caused by third-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connection issues, problems with your .htaccess file or PHP retention limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything we missed? Perhaps you lot have some other tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, let usa know beneath in the comments.

Salve time, costs and maximize site functioning with:

  • Instant assist from WordPress hosting experts, 24/7.
  • Cloudflare Enterprise integration.
  • Global audition reach with 32 data centers worldwide.
  • Optimization with our congenital-in Awarding Performance Monitoring.

All of that and much more, in one plan with no long-term contracts, assisted migrations, and a 30-day-money-back-guarantee. Check out our plans or talk to sales to find the plan that's right for you.