Website Down or Just Me? How to Check and Who to Call

A customer texts that your website isn't working. Or you open it yourself and get an error page where your homepage should be. The first question is the one in your search bar: is the website down, or is it just me? It could be your phone, your Wi-Fi, your host, your domain or something worse, and from one screen they can look the same. You can usually get a clear answer in about fifteen minutes with a phone, one free website down checker and a few notes. The harder part is what comes next, because the company that can fix it depends on which piece failed. You will know which piece to suspect, who to call and what to have ready before you pick up the phone.

How do I check if my website is down for everyone?

Use two checks that do not share your connection, then look at your provider. Your laptop, your office Wi-Fi and your browser's saved copies of pages can all hide or fake a problem, so one failed load at your desk proves very little. The three checks below take a few minutes together. Each one tests something different, and none of them proves a worldwide outage on its own.

Load the site on a phone with Wi-Fi turned off

Turn off Wi-Fi on your phone and open the exact address your customer used, on cellular data. That sends the request through a different network and a different DNS resolver, the service that turns your domain name into a server address. If it loads on the phone but not at your desk, the problem may be on your side: your office network, your router or your computer's saved settings. If it fails on the phone too, move to the next check.

Run the address through a website down checker

A website down checker asks a server somewhere else to load your site and report back. Down for Everyone or Just Me makes an HTTP request to the address you enter from its own systems and tells you whether it could reach it. That is a useful second opinion, but it tests one address. It does not test every page, your login, your checkout or what a visitor in another region sees. Enter the full address, including the page that failed, not only your homepage.

Check your host's status page

If both checks fail, look at the official status page for the company that hosts your site, and for your DNS or CDN provider if you use a separate one. A status page such as Bluehost's reports the health of that provider's own monitored systems. A posted incident tells you the problem is theirs and they already know. A green page does not clear your site, though. It covers their systems, not your one account, your DNS settings or a broken update on your site.

If the phone loads the site and the checker says it is up, it is probably just you. Restart your router, try another browser, and ask the customer to try again on another connection. If both fail, the site is down for at least some visitors, and the next step is reading the error.

What is the error on the screen telling me?

What you see on the screen narrows the search, even though it rarely names the cause. Browsers and servers use standard messages. The HTTP status codes are defined in RFC 9110, published by the IETF in June 2022, and MDN's list of HTTP status codes explains each one in plainer terms. No reliable dataset ranks these failures by how often they happen to small business sites, so the order below is a checking order, not a league table.

A DNS error means the browser could not find a server for your domain at all. That points at an expired registration, nameservers that changed, or DNS records that were edited or removed. It does not point at your host's servers, because the browser never reached them.

A certificate warning is different. The browser reached a server but would not trust its TLS certificate, the file that lets your site load over a secure connection. That can come from an expired certificate, a certificate issued for a different address, or a setup mistake. It is a certificate problem, not an HTTP 5xx error, and it does not by itself mean the site was hacked.

The 5xx codes mean a request reached a server and something went wrong while handling it. RFC 9110 defines 500 as an unexpected condition on the server, 502 as an invalid response received by a gateway or proxy, 503 as a server not ready to handle the request, and 504 as a gateway that did not get a timely response from the server behind it. They tell you where the failure happened, not whose fault it is. A 502 can come from a host's servers, a CDN in front of them or the site's own software.

If your site runs on WordPress, the WordPress developer documentation on common errors describes the blank pages, critical error messages and database connection errors that can follow a plugin, theme, PHP or database problem. A 404 is not a site outage at all. The server answered and said it could not find that page. And an unpaid hosting bill can show up as a suspension page, a 403 or a 5xx, depending on the host.

Who do I call, and what should I have ready?

Your website depends on several separate companies, and they are often not the same company. The registrar holds your domain name. A DNS provider, sometimes the registrar and sometimes a CDN, holds the records that point the domain at your server. The host runs the server. A developer or maintenance provider handles the site itself. Calling the wrong one costs time, so match the call to what the error pointed at, and take the same short evidence pack to each.

The registrar: domain expired or nameservers changed

The registrar fixes an expired registration, ownership problems and nameserver changes. Have the domain name, your registrar login or the email address the domain is registered under, your last renewal receipt, and the time the site stopped resolving. ICANN's registrant FAQ explains that its Expired Registration Recovery Policy requires registrars to send two renewal notices, about one month and about one week before expiration. Search your inbox for them. Post-expiry rules and recovery periods vary by registrar, so ask yours exactly where the domain stands.

The DNS provider: records wrong or missing

If the domain is paid up but DNS still fails, the records themselves may be wrong. Have the records you expect, when anything was last changed, and a copy or screenshot of the error. A DNS fix can be a small edit, followed by a wait while saved copies of the old records expire across the internet. It becomes a bigger job if nobody knows what the correct records should be.

The host: server outage, suspension or billing

The host fixes its own outages, a suspended account, and server or database problems on its side. Have your account ID, the domain, the error code or a screenshot, when it started, and your phone and checker results. If you see a suspension notice, log in to the billing dashboard and look at the account status before calling. If the status page shows an incident, the host already owns the repair and your job is to wait and keep customers informed.

The developer: the site's own code, plugins or updates

A developer or maintenance provider fixes faults in the site itself: a failed update, a broken plugin or theme, a bad deployment or a configuration change. Tell them the last change anyone made and when, and whether backups exist. That one detail can turn a long investigation into a quick rollback.

You: payment, access and approvals

Some fixes only you can make. You pay the overdue renewal, recover access to the email address that owns the accounts, and approve changes. If you do not know which company holds your domain or your hosting, recover access to your business email and billing records first. The receipts there usually name them.

What should I avoid doing in the first hour?

Do not start changing things before you have recorded what is happening. Editing DNS records without writing down the old values, switching off plugins on the live site, or restoring a backup as a first move can make the outage bigger and erase the evidence someone needs to find the cause.

A short, safe order for the first fifteen minutes:

1. Minutes 0 to 3: Copy the full address, take a screenshot and note the exact time and any error text or code.
2. Minutes 3 to 6: Test on a phone with Wi-Fi off and run one independent website down check.
3. Minutes 6 to 8: Check your host's status page, and your DNS or CDN provider's page if you know it.
4. Minutes 8 to 10: Log in to your registrar and hosting billing dashboards only to confirm renewal dates and account status.
5. Minutes 10 to 15: Ask whoever has access whether anything changed in the last 24 hours: a plugin, theme, content, DNS, CDN, certificate, deployment or bill.

If you suspect the site was hacked, treat it as a security incident rather than a broken page. Contact your host's support and keep the evidence in place instead of deleting files or updating plugins at random. CISA's guidance on denial-of-service attacks advises notifying your internet or hosting provider and documenting timestamps, logs, alerts and other evidence. No single error screen proves a hack.

When the homepage comes back, test a page that earns you money, such as a booking form or the checkout. A checker that says "up" tested one address, not every part of your site.

Do I need to pay someone to fix this?

Not always. If your checks show the problem was only your network or browser, nothing needs fixing. If your host has posted an incident and is restoring service, the repair is already theirs, and paying a developer will not make it faster. If the cause is an overdue renewal or a suspended account, you may only need to pay the bill or open a support ticket with the right company.

A maintenance provider cannot repair a registrar's, DNS provider's or host's own outage, because those systems belong to someone else. Where outside help earns its fee is when the evidence points at the site itself, when nobody knows who controls the accounts, when the failure followed a change, or when a compromise is possible. In those cases help looks like isolating the failed piece, dealing with the right provider on your behalf, restoring a known good version when that is the right call, and setting up monitoring afterward.

Will my host pay me for the downtime?

Do not count on it. A hosting uptime promise is usually a promise of a credit toward future bills, not payment for lost sales, and it comes with exclusions. WP Engine's service level agreement states that it gives credits, not refunds, capped at 100% of the applicable monthly fees. Bluehost's user agreement sets out its own uptime terms and remedies. Read your host's agreement for the exact figure it publishes, how to claim, and the deadline to ask. If your host does not publish an uptime figure, do not assume one.

How do I find out before a customer does?

Set up an outside uptime monitor once the site is back. A monitor is a website down detector that runs on a schedule: it loads your address every few minutes and emails you when it fails. UptimeRobot documents a free plan with HTTP, keyword, ping, port and heartbeat checks at five-minute intervals, and Better Stack also lists a free tier. Paid plans check more often and cover more sites.

A basic monitor watches a public address. It will not tell you a checkout step broke unless you set up a check for that page, and even then it tests only what it can load. Point one monitor at your homepage and another at the page that brings in money, such as your booking or contact page. Then keep a one-page contact sheet that lists your registrar, DNS provider, host and developer, with the login email for each. The next outage then starts with a phone call instead of a search.

Frequently Asked Questions About website down or just me

How can I tell if my website is down for everyone or just me?

Load the exact address on a phone with Wi-Fi turned off, and run it through an independent website down checker. If both fail, check your host's status page. Together these show whether the problem is only on your side.

Is a website down checker accurate?

It shows whether one address answered its own servers at that moment. It does not test your login, checkout or every page, and it does not prove what every visitor sees, so use it alongside a second network.

Does a 404 error mean my website is down?

No. A 404 means the server answered and could not find that page. The rest of the site may be fine; check the address and whether the page was moved or deleted.

What does 502 Bad Gateway mean?

A gateway or proxy received an invalid response from the server behind it. It tells you where the failure happened, not which company caused it, so send the screenshot and time to your host or developer.

Who do I call if my website is down?

Call the registrar for domain and renewal problems, the DNS provider for wrong records, the host for server outages or a suspended account, and a developer for problems in the site's own code or updates.

Are free uptime monitors enough?

For a basic check that your public pages load, a free monitor can alert you within minutes. It checks on a schedule and may not test checkout or every location, so add a check on your most important page.

What This Means for You

When a customer says your website isn't working, check it from a phone on cellular data and one website down checker, then look at your host's status page. Read the error for the layer that failed, save a screenshot and the time, and take that evidence to the company that controls that layer. Change nothing until you have recorded what is happening.

Once the site is back, a free uptime monitor and a one-page list of who holds your domain, DNS, hosting and code turn the next outage into a short phone call. You hear about the problem first, and you already know who to ring.

If your checks point at the site itself, or you cannot tell who controls your accounts, we can help. At Web Leveling, our website maintenance work covers finding the failed piece, dealing with the right provider, restoring a known good version when that is the right step, and setting up monitoring so you hear about the next problem before your customers do. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Tell us what your site is showing through our contact form and we will reply with the next step.

Terms