Is my website down for everyone or just me?

The website won't load. Before blaming your internet, your browser or the server, there's one question that saves a lot of time: is it down for everyone or just for you? The answer completely changes what you should do next.

Step 1: test from outside your network

Use TestePing's Is it down? tool. The check runs from our server, outside your home and your ISP:

• If it says "Up": the site works for the rest of the internet. The problem is on the path between you and the site.
• If it says "Down": the site is down for everyone. Nothing you change on your computer will help.
• If it says "Up, with error": the server is reachable but broken, for example returning a 500 or 502 error.

A second quick test: open the site on your phone using mobile data, with Wi-Fi turned off. If it loads on 4G or 5G but not on Wi-Fi, the problem is your network or your ISP.

Down just for me: what to do

1. Private/incognito window. Rules out the browser's cache, cookies and extensions in one go.
2. Flush your DNS cache. On Windows, run ipconfig /flushdns in Command Prompt. If the site recently moved servers, your computer may be holding on to the old address. Check the current address with the DNS lookup.
3. Change the DNS on your computer or router to 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8. Sometimes the ISP's DNS fails only for certain domains.
4. Turn off VPNs, proxies, antivirus web protection and blockers and test again.
5. Restart your modem and router.
6. If nothing works, the block may be at your ISP or on a specific route. Run a traceroute and open a support ticket with the result.

Down for everyone: understanding the error

• The domain won't load at all and the tool says it has no IP: it's a DNS problem. The domain may have expired (check WHOIS) or the name servers may be wrong.
• Certificate error ("your connection is not private"): the SSL certificate has expired or doesn't cover the address. Check it with the SSL checker.
• Error 500: a failure in the site's application, such as a coding or database error.
• Error 502 or 504: the web server is up, but the application behind it has stopped or is too slow.
• Error 503: service unavailable, usually due to overload or scheduled maintenance.
• No response (timeout): the server is off, overloaded or blocked by a firewall.

If it's your website

1. Check the domain's expiration date in WHOIS and the certificate in the SSL checker. These are the easiest causes to fix and the easiest to forget.
2. Look at the HTTP headers: the status code and redirects show where the response fails.
3. Log in to your hosting control panel and look for notices about maintenance, suspension or resource limits reached.
4. In the server logs, look for errors around the time the problem started.
5. Once it's fixed, set up an external monitor so you're alerted next time, before your customers are.

Why a site goes down only in some regions

Large services use content delivery networks (CDNs) with servers in many places. A failure may affect only one region or only customers of certain ISPs. In those cases it's normal for the site to load for some people and not for others at the same time, and the check history helps you see whether the problem is intermittent.