WordPress is slow or shows an error – first aid

Your WordPress site suddenly shows an error, a blank page or loads very slowly? Most problems come from a plugin, a theme or an update. These checks help you find the cause and get the site back.

First: what changed?

Think about the last thing that happened before the problem started: a plugin or theme you installed or updated, a WordPress update, a change of the PHP version, or code you added. Undoing that change fixes most problems.

“There has been a critical error on this website”

1. Look in the mailbox of the WordPress admin e-mail address. WordPress sends an e-mail with the name of the plugin or theme that caused the error and a link to sign in to the dashboard in recovery mode.
2. Sign in with that link, then deactivate or update the plugin or theme named in the e-mail.
3. No e-mail? Switch off all plugins without the dashboard: in cPanel, open File Manager, go to your WordPress folder, then wp-content, and rename the folder plugins to plugins-off. If the site works again, rename it back to plugins and switch the plugins on again one by one in the dashboard under Plugins until the error comes back. See Upload files with File Manager.

Blank white page or “500 Internal Server Error”

• Look at the latest lines of the error log: in cPanel, click Errors under Metrics. The message usually names the file, and the folder name after wp-content/plugins/ or wp-content/themes/ tells you which plugin or theme it is. See Look at your site's error log.
• Did you just change the PHP version? Set it back under Select PHP Version in cPanel. Old plugins and themes often don't work with newer PHP versions. See Change the PHP version (Select PHP Version).
• Did you just edit the file .htaccess? Undo the change in File Manager.

“Error establishing a database connection”

WordPress can't reach its database. Check whether the database still exists under MySQL® Databases in cPanel. If you changed the database user's password, the new password must also be in the file wp-config.php of your WordPress folder. If you didn't change anything, open a ticket.

The site is slow

• Update everything: WordPress, themes and plugins. Out-of-date plugins are a common cause. See Update WordPress, themes and plugins.
• Fewer plugins: deactivate and delete plugins you don't use. Every active plugin adds work to each page view.
• Smaller images: photos straight from a phone or camera are often several megabytes. Make them smaller before you upload them, or use an image optimisation plugin.
• Check the limits of your plan: the Statistics column on the right of the cPanel start page shows CPU Usage, Physical Memory Usage and Entry Processes against the limits of your plan. Resource Usage under Metrics shows more detail. If your site often reaches a limit, a caching plugin or a larger plan helps.

The site doesn't open for you, but works for others

Try it on your phone with Wi-Fi switched off. If it works there, the server's firewall may have blocked your internet connection, for example after several wrong passwords. Open a ticket from another connection and tell us your public IP address (search for “what is my IP” to find it).

Nothing helps?

Restore the last backup from before the problem started: see Back up and restore WordPress with Softaculous, or Back up and restore your site (JetBackup 5). If you still need help, open a ticket with the address of the page, the exact error message and what you changed last.

Related articles

• Update WordPress, themes and plugins
• Back up and restore WordPress with Softaculous
• Look at your site's error log
• Change the PHP version (Select PHP Version)

Need help? Open a ticket or call us on 082 412 6556.