WordPress has a few particularly frustrating issues that tin can completely shut down your site, simply don't provide much guidance well-nigh what'due south causing the problem. The "The site is experiencing technical difficulties." error is one such issue.

On its face, it doesn't tell you lot much. Fortunately, in most cases, it is actually quite simple to resolve. A few troubleshooting steps should have it taken care of in no fourth dimension.

In this article, we'll discuss where you might meet this WordPress error, as well equally what causes information technology. So we'll walk you through half-dozen steps for fixing it if it shows upward on your own site.

Let's jump correct in!

An Introduction to the "The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties." WordPress Fault

"The site is experiencing technical difficulties." is a fatal WordPress error. This means that your website volition be down, and likely unavailable on both the frontend and backend. For your visitors, it may look similar this:

The site is experiencing technical difficulties. error
"The site is experiencing technical difficulties." bulletin on the frontend

On the backend, the message appears similar this:

The site is experiencing technical difficulties.
"The site is experiencing technical difficulties." bulletin on the backend

A variation of this error in newer WordPress versions reads: "There has been a critical error on your website". Hither's how it will appear on the frontend of your site:

critical error visitor
"There has been a critical error on your site" message on the frontend

And hither'due south the backend view:

critical error admin
"In that location has been a critical error on your site" message on the backend.

As you lot tin can run into, the newer variation is quite similar to the old one, apart from a slight divergence in wording.

Sometimes WordPress will send an email to the site's administrator, with more information nearly what may be causing the error. However, it's just as likely that you'll run across this message with no explanation regarding why it appeared.

Most of the fourth dimension, this fault is the event of a plugin or theme disharmonize. Due to WordPress' open-source nature, many dissimilar developers with diverse coding backgrounds and styles create extensions that users tin can add on to the platform.

Unfortunately, this means that sometimes plugins and themes from different developers don't play nicely with one another. When two tools with alien lawmaking are both installed on a WordPress site, it can lead to a wide range of issues.

In some cases, one or both plugins volition simply stop working. Other times, however, this kind of conflict can upshot in a fatal error such as the "The site is experiencing technical difficulties." message.

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How to Set up the "The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties." WordPress Error (In 6 Steps)

If you're already familiar with troubleshooting plugin conflicts, resolving the "The site is experiencing technical difficulties." fault should be fairly easy. If not, don't worry. Below, we've included detailed steps for how to tackle this chore, as well equally what to do if the trouble persists.

Pace i: Check Your Email for a Fatal Error Notification

Every bit we mentioned before, in some cases WordPress will ship the site's admin an electronic mail containing more than information about what may be causing the error:

technical difficulties email
Admin email for the "The site is experiencing technical difficulties." fault.

This electronic mail volition include the following central pieces of information that tin can help you troubleshoot the mistake faster:

  • The name of the plugin or theme causing the disharmonize
  • A link to put your site into 'recovery style'

It is possible to troubleshoot the error without this information. However, it volition require a lot of guesswork to determine which extension is causing the problem. If your site is using a big number of plugins, the process tin can become fourth dimension-consuming.

If you're the site's admin and the "The site is experiencing technical difficulties." error bulletin includes the addendum: "Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions", it'due south best to do so before proceeding (remember to try your spam folder as well). Then follow the instructions for troubleshooting in recovery mode below.

Notwithstanding, if you're not the site's admin and they can't exist reached, or if your mistake bulletin doesn't say anything about an email, never fear. Yous can yet follow the steps for troubleshooting using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) beneath.

Stride ii: Troubleshoot for a Plugin or Theme Conflict

Due to the nature of WordPress' fatal errors, yous won't be able to admission the backend of your site to conciliate the extension that'due south causing the trouble. Depending on whether or not y'all have access to a recovery mode link, you'll have two options for working around this limitation.

Resolving a Conflict in Recovery Mode

If yous have access to a recovery mode link, click on it. This volition take you to your site'south backend, where you will be prompted to log in using your WordPress credentials:

recovery mode login to fix "The site is experiencing technical difficulties." error
The Recovery manner login page

You do not take to utilise an admin account. If the site'southward ambassador wants to send the recovery mode link to another user and let them to troubleshoot the fault, the latter party can use their ain credentials.

It's important to note that, while you lot're working in recovery mode, the fatal mistake will persist for other users and your site's visitors. But the user who logged in via the recovery mode link will exist able to access the website usually.

In recovery mode, the plugins and/or theme that WordPress has identified as causing the error will be paused. They volition as well be identified in a banner notification at the top of the screen.

Click on the link to the Plugins screen to run across the extensions involved in the conflict:

wordpress recovery mode
The WordPress recovery mode

Nether each plugin and/or theme'due south name, click on Conciliate:

recovery mode plugins
Deactivating a plugin in recovery mode

And so, select Leave Recovery Fashion in the admin bar:

exit recovery mode
Exiting recovery fashion

The problematic extensions will now be deactivated for all users, and your site should be available to everyone again. Of course, you'll first want to check and make sure that's the case. Then you can:

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  • Delete the extension(s) if they are non necessary for any cardinal functionality on your site.
  • Remove the conflicting plugin or delete the theme and replace it.
  • Contact the plugin or theme'southward developer and inquire if they can edit the extension's code to resolve the conflict. Then update and reactivate the new version.
  • Edit the tool's lawmaking to resolve the conflict yourself, and and so reactivate it.

Specially if the plugin is pop, you may accept good luck working with the developer to brand the necessary changes. It'southward worth noting, however, that you'll want to examination all potential changes and new extensions on a staging site before implementing them on your live site.

Determining the Source of the Problem With FTP

If you can't access WordPress' recovery manner, y'all can notwithstanding troubleshoot a plugin conflict without access to the backend. To exercise so, yous'll demand an FTP client equally well as your FTP credentials. You should be able to notice the latter in your hosting business relationship'due south profile:

kinsta ftp credentials
FTP credentials in the MyKinsta dashboard

Log into your site's server via your FTP client, using your FTP credentials. So navigate to wp-content > plugins:

filezilla plugins directory
The Plugins subdirectory in FileZilla

There you'll find subdirectories for each of your plugins. If you know which one is causing the problem, right-click on it and select Rename:

filezilla rename plugin
Renaming a plugin in FileZilla

Alter the name of the folder to something similar "plugin-name-deactivated". This will prevent WordPress from finding the plugin'south files:

filezilla deactivated plugin
A deactivated plugin in FileZilla

The plugin will now be deactivated, and you should be able to return to your site and access the backend normally. Yous tin then deal with the problematic plugin as you see fit, co-ordinate to the options we outlined in the previous section.

If you don't know which plugin is responsible for the fatal error, but rename the start one in the list. Then return to your site and refresh your browser to see if the issue is resolved. Echo this procedure, renaming your plugins ane at a fourth dimension, until the error goes away.

At that point, you'll know that the last plugin you deactivated is the ane causing the conflict. Y'all can so remove information technology or contact the developer accordingly. This same procedure will work for themes, and you'll find the relevant subdirectories in wp-content > themes.

Step iii: Ensure That You're Running a Supported Version of PHP

If your site is back to normal after completing Step 2, you can stop here. However, at that place'south a chance that troubleshooting for a plugin or theme conflict will not resolve the "This site is experiencing technical difficulties" mistake.

If that's the instance for you, your next move should exist to determine whether your site is using a supported version of PHP. Since WordPress 5.0, the platform no longer supports versions older than v.6.xx.

Additionally, the PHP developers themselves no longer provide support for versions older than 7.4.

You lot should be able to decide which version of PHP your site is using by logging into your hosting business relationship. Kinsta customers volition find this information in their MyKinsta dashboards, past clicking on Sites in the sidebar:

mykinsta dashboard sites
Accessing your sites in the MyKinsta dashboard

The PHP version for each of your websites will exist listed to the right:

current php version
Viewing your current PHP version in the MyKinsta dashboard

If y'all're running an outdated version of PHP, you'll need to update it. The steps for this process may vary based on your hosting provider.

Kinsta customers can simply use our PHP Engine tool. To access information technology, click on the name of the site y'all want to update. Then select the Tools tab:

Modifying your PHP version in the MyKinsta dashboard
Modifying your PHP version in the MyKinsta dashboard

Scroll downwards until you find the PHP Engine tool. Click on the drop-down menu labeled Change, and select the version you wish to upgrade to.

It's recommended that you run the latest PHP version available, for both security and operation reasons. Once the update is consummate, render to your site to encounter if the fatal error is resolved.

Step 4: Enable WordPress' Debug Mode

If yous're still seeing the "This site is experiencing technical difficulties" bulletin, yous tin effort to diagnose the underlying issue by using WordPress debug mode. This is some other built-in troubleshooting feature that will reveal any underlying PHP errors.

To enable this feature, you'll need to access your wp-config.php file via FTP, and add the following line of code right before "That'southward all, stop editing! Happy publishing.":

          define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );        

Save and re-upload the file, and so render to your site and refresh the page. Peruse the error letters displayed in debug way, and determine whether any of them might be causing the fatal error. You'll then need to follow troubleshooting steps relevant to that result.

Information technology'south of import to note that WordPress isn't meant to exist left in debug mode permanently. This mode should be used for troubleshooting purposes only since it makes sensitive information potentially available to anyone.

To turn it off over again, modify the status in the wp-config.php code snippet from "truthful" to false", then salvage and upload the file again.

Step v: View Your Server's Error Log

If you don't see any suspicious messages in debug mode, you can also check your server'due south fault log. Y'all should be able to access this via your hosting account. Kinsta customers tin do and then by selecting the Logs tab in the relevant site'southward contour:

kinsta error log
Accessing Fault Logs in MyKinsta

From the drop-down menu, select error.log. So look for any bug that may be causing the "This site is experiencing technical difficulties" message, and troubleshoot them every bit necessary.

Step 6: Contact Your Hosting Provider

If you've exhausted all of the above steps, and you still haven't been able to eliminate the "This site is experiencing technical difficulties" error in WordPress, then information technology's time to bring in some aid. The result may lie with your server and be unreachable without assistance from your host.

Therefore, you'll desire to contact your hosting provider past whatever ways they offer. Kinsta customers tin attain our support squad 24/7 via chat, electronic mail, or our Contact folio.

Summary

"The site is experiencing technical difficulties." error in WordPress can be a frustrating outcome. Vague alerts that give you trivial indication equally to what's causing the problem can be especially hard to set.

Fortunately, yous can resolve this item result in vi steps or less:

  1. Bank check your electronic mail for a fatal mistake notification.
  2. Troubleshoot for a plugin or theme conflict.
  3. Ensure that yous're running a supported version of PHP.
  4. Enable WordPress' debug mode.
  5. View your server'due south fault log.
  6. Contact your hosting provider.

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