You're working inside your WordPress dashboard — installing a plugin, running an import, or simply loading a page — and suddenly you see this:

Or your site throws a White Screen of Death with no visible message at all.

This is the WordPress Memory Exhausted Error — and it means PHP ran out of the memory it was allocated to run your WordPress site and stopped dead in its tracks.

It's one of the most common WordPress errors, especially on shared hosting plans — and it's almost always fixable in under five minutes. This guide covers every method to increase your PHP memory limit, from the simplest one-line fix to server-level solutions.

What Is the WordPress Memory Exhausted Error?

Every time someone loads a page on your WordPress site, PHP executes code — loading WordPress core, your active theme, every active plugin, and the content from your database — all in memory.

Your hosting server allocates a fixed amount of RAM for each PHP process. This is called the PHP memory limit. If your WordPress installation tries to use more memory than this limit allows, PHP throws a fatal error and stops executing.

The error message looks like one of these:

• Fatal error: Allowed memory size of X bytes exhausted
• Fatal error: Out of memory (allocated X) (tried to allocate X bytes)
• PHP Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 33554432 bytes exhausted

Or it may produce no visible message at all — just a White Screen of Death or a 500 Internal Server Error.

The number in the message is the current memory limit in bytes:

WordPress officially recommends a minimum of 64 MB, and for most modern sites with multiple plugins, 256 MB is a more realistic requirement.

What Causes the WordPress Memory Exhausted Error?

• Default PHP memory limit is too low — Many shared hosting providers set the default at 32 MB or 64 MB. This was sufficient years ago but is often not enough for modern WordPress sites
• Too many plugins running simultaneously — Every active plugin consumes memory. Sites with 20, 30, or more plugins can easily exceed modest memory limits
• Resource-heavy plugins — Page builders like Elementor, WooCommerce, SEO plugins like Yoast, and backup plugins all consume significant memory
• Large media imports or data processing — Importing a large CSV, processing a batch of images, or running a large WooCommerce order export can spike memory usage temporarily
• Poorly coded plugins or themes — A plugin or theme with a memory leak — code that continuously allocates memory without releasing it — can exhaust even a generous memory limit
• WordPress core update — Major WordPress updates temporarily require more memory than usual during the upgrade process

How to Check Your Current PHP Memory Limit

Method 1: Via WordPress admin (easiest)

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard
2. Go to Tools → Site Health
3. Click the Info tab
4. Expand the Server section
5. Look for PHP memory limit — this shows your current limit

Method 2: Create a temporary phpinfo file

1. Create a new file called phpinfo.php in your WordPress root directory via FTP
2. Add this single line:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

3. Visit https://yourdomain.com/phpinfo.php in your browser
4. Search the page for memory_limit
5. Delete this file immediately after checking

/* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );
define( 'WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT', '512M' );

php_value memory_limit 256M

memory_limit = 256M

# Locate the php.ini file
php --ini

# Open the file
sudo nano /etc/php/8.1/apache2/php.ini

# Find and update the line
memory_limit = 256M

# Save and restart your web server
sudo systemctl restart apache2
# or for Nginx with PHP-FPM:
sudo systemctl restart php8.1-fpm

After Increasing the Memory Limit: Verify It Worked

After applying any of the methods above, verify the new limit is actually in effect:

1. Go to Tools → Site Health → Info → Server in your WordPress dashboard
2. Check the PHP memory limit value — it should reflect your new setting
3. Try the action that was triggering the memory error

Fixing the Root Cause: Reducing Memory Usage

Increasing the memory limit solves the immediate error — but if your site is genuinely pushing against memory limits, it's worth also addressing the root cause.

• Deactivate and delete unused plugins. Every active plugin consumes memory whether you actively use it or not. Audit your plugins and remove anything you don't need
• Switch to a lighter theme. Feature-heavy themes with built-in page builders can consume as much memory as several plugins. A lightweight theme like GeneratePress or Astra has a fraction of the memory footprint
• Identify memory-hungry plugins with Query Monitor. Install the free Query Monitor plugin and load a page that was throwing memory errors. It shows you a memory usage breakdown — exactly which plugins and processes are consuming the most RAM
• Optimise WooCommerce if you're running a store. WooCommerce is memory-intensive by nature. Use a dedicated WooCommerce caching solution and avoid running too many WooCommerce extension plugins simultaneously
• Switch to a better hosting plan. If your site has grown to the point where 256 MB is not enough, you've outgrown shared hosting. A managed WordPress host or VPS gives you dedicated resources and much more headroom

How Much PHP Memory Does WordPress Actually Need?

When in doubt, 256 MB is a safe all-round starting point for most WordPress sites.

Quick Reference: Memory Exhausted Error Fix Summary

Frequently Asked Questions