As you know, WordPress has a huge collection of themes and plugins to make your site looks good and to add more features. But unfortunately, not all the themes and plugins are compatible with the platform. And there is where WordPress “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error occurs.
The most difficult part of this error is, that it doesn’t provide you details about the reason behind it. It’s just the new way to alert you to PHP errors. So, it’s difficult to find out the cause and fix it.
Yet, there is nothing to worry about. In this guide, we will show you different ways to fix the “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error, as well as what causes it.
Now, without wasting any more time let’s move forward.
What is WordPress “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” Error?
“The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error is a fatal WordPress error. Sometimes when you update your WordPress themes and plugins suddenly you see “White Screen of Death” or this error. Because “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error is also known as the WordPress “White Screen of Death”. After WordPress 5.2 version, WordPress displays this error message instead of displaying the white screen.
Sometimes, the error message appears even if you are not updating any files. This means, your website may be processing an automatic update and once the update is completed the message will disappear. But if the message stays longer than 10 minutes, then it could be a real problem. It will restrict you to access your website from the front as well as the backend. However, compatibility is not the only cause of this error, other causes can be PHP errors, server issues, malware, botched update, etc. In the next section, we will tell you what could be the other reasons behind this error.
Why Does WordPress “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” Error Occur?
There can be many reasons behind the occurrence of the WordPress “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error. Generally, this error message comes without any explanation regarding why it appeared. So it’s difficult to find out the reason causing it. Even though, sometimes WordPress sends information about what may be causing the error to the site’s administrator with an email. It’s necessary to detect why this error occurs for finding the right solution. So, let’s check what can be the reason behind this error.
Plugin/Theme incompatibility or conflict:
As we said earlier, this error message can be displayed if any conflict occurs due to updating WordPress core, themes and plugins. But using outdated WordPress core, themes and plugins also can be the cause of the conflict and followed by the error. Moreover, even if you copied and pasted code snippets to your WordPress site, incompatibility and conflict problems may occur for that also.
PHP error:
As we know, WordPress core and its themes and plugins use PHP. And PHP also receives updates as WordPress core, themes and plugins do. If you don’t update the PHP version and use an outdated version then it could cause the “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error.
Botched Update:
If your WordPress core /themes/ plugins update gets interrupted midway, gets timed out or failed then you may face the “The site is experiencing technical difficulties” error.
Malware:
If hackers are able to gain access to your WordPress site and install malware that could be also a reason for this error.
Server Issue:
If you could not able to find anything wrong with your website, then the problem might be on your server.
How to Fix the “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties.” WordPress Error:
In this section, we are going to discuss 7 ways to fix the “The site is experiencing technical difficulties” error in WordPress. Those simple methods will help you to resolve this issue even if are not a coding expert.
1. Check Your Email Notification:
In some cases, the site owner receives an email from WordPress with details about the cause of the error. This notification contains helpful information about what caused the error on your website which makes troubleshooting errors a lot easier and simpler. It will also give you a link to put your site into recovery mode.
Check your email inbox or spam to know if you have received an email. If you don’t get an email with helpful details, don’t worry. It is possible to troubleshoot the error without this information. You just need to follow the steps you are going to mention below.
2. Solving Plugin Conflicts:
As mentioned, plugins and themes conflict is the root cause of this error. That’s the reason, it’s wise to determine if a plugin or theme is causing the issue. We are starting with checking plugin conflict.
As this error doesn’t give access to the WordPress admin area, we need to use the FTP client to access our public_html directory. First of all, “navigate to /wp-content/plugins”. Now, you need to rename the “plugins” folder, right-click on the folder and click “Rename”. You can rename the folder to anything you want.
Once you rename the folder, WordPress should not be able to find the files related to the problematic plugin. Reload your WordPress site and check whether the error is still there or not. If you don’t see the error, it’s clear that any of the plugins was causing the issue and you will get access to your site.
Now, you need to find out which plugin is causing the issue. For that, rename each plugin folder back to the “plugins”, and go back to “WordPress Dashboard > Plugins”. Now, activate the plugins one by one, until the error appears again.
Once you found out which plugin is causing the issue, check if the previous version of the plugin is compatible or not. For that, install the WP Rollback plugin and choose any of the older versions of that plugin. If that is also unable to solve the issue, reach out to the plugin developer or install an alternative plugin.
But, what will you do if don’t get access to your site? Again, use the FTP client, rename each plugin folder and name them back one-by-one to the original name. Keep refreshing your site each time to detect which plugin is causing the issue. Delete the plugin folder to get access to the admin dashboard.
3. Solving Theme Conflicts:
If the issue is not with plugins, then it might be because of the theme. To check if the theme you are using is the culprit, you need to repeat the same procedure as the plugin. Simply log in to the FTP client, go to “wp-content/themes/ directory” and rename the currently active theme.
Now, refresh your WordPress site and check if the “The site is experiencing technical difficulties” error message has disappeared. If it is, then delete the theme. For that, just right-click your theme folder and select “Delete”. WordPress will start using one of the default themes you have.
But if the error doesn’t disappear after renaming the theme folder, then the issue is not with the theme. So you don’t need to delete the theme and make sure to rename the theme folder back to its original name.
However, even a lot of unused themes can be also caused this error. So it’s best practice to remove unnecessary themes from your WordPress site.
4. Use Upgraded PHP Version:
If troubleshooting for plugins or theme conflict could not help to resolve the error, then determine whether you are using an updated version of PHP or the PHP memory limit is running low.
If you’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. It’s recommended to use the latest version for your site performance and security. WordPress doesn’t support PHP versions older than 5.6.20 and recommends using version 7.2 at least. Even PHP developers themselves don’t provide support for versions older than 7.4. If you don’t know how to upgrade the PHP version then check our tutorial on How to Update the PHP Version on WordPress.
Another thing you need to check is if your PHP memory limit is running low. To increase the memory limit, open your wp-config.php file and add the following line of code within the main PHP tags.
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '128M');
Now, save and exit the file.
You can also increase the PHP memory limit from the .htaccess file. For that, go to the WordPress root directory and open your .htaccess file and add the following code:
php_value memory_limit 128M
Don’t forget to save the file once you are done.
You can even increase your PHP memory limit to 256M. In that case, you just need to add 256M instead of 128M. But it is wise to increase memory too much, which can cause your site to crash.
5. Enable Debug Mode:
Enabling the debug mode in WordPress is another way to get rid of this issue. It allows you to exact the location where this error occurs and troubleshoot it.
To enable debugging, find your wp-config.php file by using an FTP client. You will see the statement “That’s all, stop editing! Happy publishing.” at the end of the file. Now, add the following line of code just before that statement:
define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true );
Then, save the file and refresh your WordPress site.
Now, debug mode is enabled on your website. It will show you the fatal error messages which will help you to find out the cause of the problem. Once you find it, troubleshoot the problem accordingly.
Don’t forget to disable debug mood once you are done. For that, delete the code line you added to your wp-config.php code or change the value of “true” to “false” in the code and save the file.
6. Reinstall WordPress:
A Corrupted WordPress core file can be also the reason for the “The site is experiencing technical difficulties” error. To get rid of this, you need to replace old WordPress files with a fresh WordPress installation. For that, browse WordPress.org and download a copy of WordPress. After that, unzip the file to get all the files you need to reinstall WordPress.
Now, use the FTP client to get access to the root folder of your WordPress website. Next, you need to upload freshly installed files to your WordPress site using an FTP client. You will be asked, if you want to overwrite these files or skip them, select “Overwrite”.
That’s it. Your FTP client will replace your entire core WordPress file with the fresh one. Refresh and try to visit your site to check if the is still there.
7. Contact Your Hosting Provider:
If all the above-mentioned steps fail to remove the error from your WordPress site, then there is nothing wrong with your end. The issue may lie with your server and needs serious professional help. So, you need to ask for help from your hosting provider.
In this tutorial, we have shown you 6 different ways to fix the “The site is experiencing technical difficulties” error in WordPress. Follow the steps carefully, you must be able to get rid of the error. If you have more queries, feel free to ask in the comment section below.
Also, if you have already faced the problem and got rid of the error with any other technic, let us know. Lastly, always keep taking a backup of your WordPress site so that you can restore it easily if anything goes wrong.
As you know, WordPress has a huge collection of themes and plugins to make your site looks good and to add more features. But unfortunately, not all the themes and plugins are compatible with the platform. And there is where WordPress “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error occurs.
The most difficult part of this error is, that it doesn’t provide you details about the reason behind it. It’s just the new way to alert you to PHP errors. So, it’s difficult to find out the cause and fix it.
Yet, there is nothing to worry about. In this guide, we will show you different ways to fix the “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error, as well as what causes it.
Now, without wasting any more time let’s move forward.
What is WordPress “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” Error?
“The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error is a fatal WordPress error. Sometimes when you update your WordPress themes and plugins suddenly you see “White Screen of Death” or this error. Because “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error is also known as the WordPress “White Screen of Death”. After WordPress 5.2 version, WordPress displays this error message instead of displaying the white screen.
Sometimes, the error message appears even if you are not updating any files. This means, your website may be processing an automatic update and once the update is completed the message will disappear. But if the message stays longer than 10 minutes, then it could be a real problem. It will restrict you to access your website from the front as well as the backend. However, compatibility is not the only cause of this error, other causes can be PHP errors, server issues, malware, botched update, etc. In the next section, we will tell you what could be the other reasons behind this error.
Why Does WordPress “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” Error Occur?
There can be many reasons behind the occurrence of the WordPress “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error. Generally, this error message comes without any explanation regarding why it appeared. So it’s difficult to find out the reason causing it. Even though, sometimes WordPress sends information about what may be causing the error to the site’s administrator with an email. It’s necessary to detect why this error occurs for finding the right solution. So, let’s check what can be the reason behind this error.
Plugin/Theme incompatibility or conflict:
As we said earlier, this error message can be displayed if any conflict occurs due to updating WordPress core, themes and plugins. But using outdated WordPress core, themes and plugins also can be the cause of the conflict and followed by the error. Moreover, even if you copied and pasted code snippets to your WordPress site, incompatibility and conflict problems may occur for that also.
PHP error:
As we know, WordPress core and its themes and plugins use PHP. And PHP also receives updates as WordPress core, themes and plugins do. If you don’t update the PHP version and use an outdated version then it could cause the “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error.
Botched Update:
If your WordPress core /themes/ plugins update gets interrupted midway, gets timed out or failed then you may face the “The site is experiencing technical difficulties” error.
Malware:
If hackers are able to gain access to your WordPress site and install malware that could be also a reason for this error.
Server Issue:
If you could not able to find anything wrong with your website, then the problem might be on your server.
How to Fix the “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties.” WordPress Error:
In this section, we are going to discuss 7 ways to fix the “The site is experiencing technical difficulties” error in WordPress. Those simple methods will help you to resolve this issue even if are not a coding expert.
1. Check Your Email Notification:
In some cases, the site owner receives an email from WordPress with details about the cause of the error. This notification contains helpful information about what caused the error on your website which makes troubleshooting errors a lot easier and simpler. It will also give you a link to put your site into recovery mode.
Check your email inbox or spam to know if you have received an email. If you don’t get an email with helpful details, don’t worry. It is possible to troubleshoot the error without this information. You just need to follow the steps you are going to mention below.
2. Solving Plugin Conflicts:
As mentioned, plugins and themes conflict is the root cause of this error. That’s the reason, it’s wise to determine if a plugin or theme is causing the issue. We are starting with checking plugin conflict.
As this error doesn’t give access to the WordPress admin area, we need to use the FTP client to access our public_html directory. First of all, “navigate to /wp-content/plugins”. Now, you need to rename the “plugins” folder, right-click on the folder and click “Rename”. You can rename the folder to anything you want.
Once you rename the folder, WordPress should not be able to find the files related to the problematic plugin. Reload your WordPress site and check whether the error is still there or not. If you don’t see the error, it’s clear that any of the plugins was causing the issue and you will get access to your site.
Now, you need to find out which plugin is causing the issue. For that, rename each plugin folder back to the “plugins”, and go back to “WordPress Dashboard > Plugins”. Now, activate the plugins one by one, until the error appears again.
Once you found out which plugin is causing the issue, check if the previous version of the plugin is compatible or not. For that, install the WP Rollback plugin and choose any of the older versions of that plugin. If that is also unable to solve the issue, reach out to the plugin developer or install an alternative plugin.
But, what will you do if don’t get access to your site? Again, use the FTP client, rename each plugin folder and name them back one-by-one to the original name. Keep refreshing your site each time to detect which plugin is causing the issue. Delete the plugin folder to get access to the admin dashboard.
3. Solving Theme Conflicts:
If the issue is not with plugins, then it might be because of the theme. To check if the theme you are using is the culprit, you need to repeat the same procedure as the plugin. Simply log in to the FTP client, go to “wp-content/themes/ directory” and rename the currently active theme.
Now, refresh your WordPress site and check if the “The site is experiencing technical difficulties” error message has disappeared. If it is, then delete the theme. For that, just right-click your theme folder and select “Delete”. WordPress will start using one of the default themes you have.
But if the error doesn’t disappear after renaming the theme folder, then the issue is not with the theme. So you don’t need to delete the theme and make sure to rename the theme folder back to its original name.
However, even a lot of unused themes can be also caused this error. So it’s best practice to remove unnecessary themes from your WordPress site.
4. Use Upgraded PHP Version:
If troubleshooting for plugins or theme conflict could not help to resolve the error, then determine whether you are using an updated version of PHP or the PHP memory limit is running low.
If you’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. It’s recommended to use the latest version for your site performance and security. WordPress doesn’t support PHP versions older than 5.6.20 and recommends using version 7.2 at least. Even PHP developers themselves don’t provide support for versions older than 7.4. If you don’t know how to upgrade the PHP version then check our tutorial on How to Update the PHP Version on WordPress.
Another thing you need to check is if your PHP memory limit is running low. To increase the memory limit, open your wp-config.php file and add the following line of code within the main PHP tags.
Now, save and exit the file.
You can also increase the PHP memory limit from the .htaccess file. For that, go to the WordPress root directory and open your .htaccess file and add the following code:
Don’t forget to save the file once you are done.
You can even increase your PHP memory limit to 256M. In that case, you just need to add 256M instead of 128M. But it is wise to increase memory too much, which can cause your site to crash.
5. Enable Debug Mode:
Enabling the debug mode in WordPress is another way to get rid of this issue. It allows you to exact the location where this error occurs and troubleshoot it.
To enable debugging, find your wp-config.php file by using an FTP client. You will see the statement “That’s all, stop editing! Happy publishing.” at the end of the file. Now, add the following line of code just before that statement:
Then, save the file and refresh your WordPress site.
Now, debug mode is enabled on your website. It will show you the fatal error messages which will help you to find out the cause of the problem. Once you find it, troubleshoot the problem accordingly.
Don’t forget to disable debug mood once you are done. For that, delete the code line you added to your wp-config.php code or change the value of “true” to “false” in the code and save the file.
6. Reinstall WordPress:
A Corrupted WordPress core file can be also the reason for the “The site is experiencing technical difficulties” error. To get rid of this, you need to replace old WordPress files with a fresh WordPress installation. For that, browse WordPress.org and download a copy of WordPress. After that, unzip the file to get all the files you need to reinstall WordPress.
Now, use the FTP client to get access to the root folder of your WordPress website. Next, you need to upload freshly installed files to your WordPress site using an FTP client. You will be asked, if you want to overwrite these files or skip them, select “Overwrite”.
That’s it. Your FTP client will replace your entire core WordPress file with the fresh one. Refresh and try to visit your site to check if the is still there.
7. Contact Your Hosting Provider:
If all the above-mentioned steps fail to remove the error from your WordPress site, then there is nothing wrong with your end. The issue may lie with your server and needs serious professional help. So, you need to ask for help from your hosting provider.
In this tutorial, we have shown you 6 different ways to fix the “The site is experiencing technical difficulties” error in WordPress. Follow the steps carefully, you must be able to get rid of the error. If you have more queries, feel free to ask in the comment section below.
Also, if you have already faced the problem and got rid of the error with any other technic, let us know. Lastly, always keep taking a backup of your WordPress site so that you can restore it easily if anything goes wrong.
Sidratul Sohrat
I am Sidratul Sohrat, a dedicated content writer with a fervent passion for creating engaging and informative content related to technology, business, and marketing.