If you have landed here, it means you are having trouble with your WordPress website. Your site may be showing a completely blank page or throwing a 500 error, and you are looking for a way to fix it.
First of all, do not panic — it is not as serious as it seems. The WordPress 500 error is more common than you might think and the fix is easier than you are imagining.
But before diving into how to fix the WordPress 500 error, you need to understand its cause — so that will be our starting point. Read on for all the information you need.
What is the 500 error?
The Internal Server Error, better known as the 500 error, is one of the most frequent errors thrown by a website and it indicates that something is wrong with the site.
It is essentially an error that appears in your website's code and prevents it from running correctly.
How do you know if the problem is a 500 error?
Your website can throw many errors, and you might wonder how to tell them apart, especially since Error 500 «Internal Server Error» may not always display — WordPress can hide it by default and only show a blank page.
To confirm it is a 500 error, try the following:
- Access the wp-config.php file — the WordPress configuration file.
- It is located in the root folder of the server, where WordPress is installed: «httpdocs» in Plesk or «public_html».
- Once you open this file, find the line: define('WP_DEBUG', false).
- Change its value to true, so it reads: define('WP_DEBUG', true).
- Save the changes and try accessing your site again — this will let you see exactly what error your site is experiencing.
There is also another way to confirm it is a 500 error:
- Log in to cPanel administration.
- In the server logs you will be able to see whether, when trying to access the site, you get a request indicating the 500 error. The log entry will also show the cause of the error, though you will need programming knowledge to interpret what the server is telling you.
What causes the 500 error?
Broadly speaking, the most common causes of a 500 error are two: problems with the hosting provider, or the website itself not functioning correctly.
More specifically, the 500 error can be caused by:
- Modification of the .htaccess file that leads to the error.
- Exceeding the PHP memory limit due to too many resources being executed at once.
- File permissions not set correctly.
- Installation of a theme that is not working properly.
- Installation of a plugin that triggered the error.
Remember that before modifying the .htaccess file, wp-config, or functions.php, the ideal approach is to make a backup of the site.
How to fix the WordPress 500 error
There are several ways to resolve this problem. The most effective are:
- Check that the web server is operating correctly and is not triggering any problems. Do this by accessing the server administration to verify it is responding as expected — also check that your other hosted websites are working.
- If you have a caching, optimization, or performance plugin installed, temporarily deactivate them and flush the cache.
- If you noticed the problem right after downloading a new plugin, I recommend deactivating it. Go to the wp-content/plugins folder inside the root directory.
- Another common cause of the 500 error is a corrupted .htaccess file. Find this file in the root directory, rename it, and then regenerate it.
To do this, go to the WordPress configuration under Settings, then Permalinks, and save the changes to regenerate it. - If the root cause is insufficient PHP memory, the most effective solution is to open your wp-config.php file and add this line: define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '64M').
- You can also go to wp-content/themes in the root directory. Here you will find folders for each theme or template. Rename the one you suspect is causing the problem and WordPress will fall back to a default theme included in the original configuration.
If the 500 error appeared after installing a theme, simply revert to the original theme. - Another solution is to check the permissions of the folders and files to verify they are correct. Folder permissions should be 755 and file permissions should be 644.
- Check the PHP version you are currently using. Go to "PHP Configuration" and verify that it is compatible with WordPress. If your PHP version is too new, it may not be compatible with some of your plugins — try switching to an older version to resolve the issue.
- Finally, verify that no database tables have become corrupted. To do this, go to the database section in phpMyAdmin and select the option to check and repair the database tables.
If the problem persists after trying all these solutions, it is time to hire the services of an expert developer.
And remember — not all websites behave the same way. Some may work without any issues while others can become a real headache.
That is why, before making any change — whether installing a plugin, switching a theme, or modifying configuration — always make a database backup first. That way you can restore everything and resolve the issue without complications if something goes wrong.