Start here — this resolves the majority of database connection errors. Your wp-config.php file stores the four credentials WordPress uses to connect to the database:

• Database name
• Database username
• Database password
• Database host

If any one of these is wrong, the connection fails immediately.

Step 1: Open wp-config.php

Connect to your server via FTP or your hosting file manager and navigate to your WordPress root directory. Open the file named wp-config.php.

Look for these four lines:

define( 'DB_NAME', 'your_database_name' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'your_database_username' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'your_database_password' );
define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );

Step 2: Verify the credentials against your hosting account

Now log in to your hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, etc.) and find the database section — usually called MySQL Databases or Database Manager.

Cross-check every value:

• DB_NAME — Must exactly match the name of your database as shown in your hosting panel
• DB_USER — Must exactly match the database username that has been assigned to that database
• DB_PASSWORD — Must match the password for that database user (passwords are case-sensitive)
• DB_HOST — Usually localhost on shared hosting. Some hosts use 127.0.0.1 or a custom hostname like mysql.yourdomain.com

Step 3: Update any incorrect values

If any credential doesn't match, correct it in wp-config.php, save the file, and reload your site. This single step fixes the database connection error in a large percentage of cases.

Even if your credentials are correct, the database or user may have been accidentally deleted, or the user may not have been properly assigned to the database.

In cPanel:

1. Log in to cPanel and go to MySQL Databases
2. Scroll down to the Current Databases section and confirm your database is listed
3. Scroll further to Current Users and confirm your database user exists
4. Check the Add User to Database section and confirm the user is linked to the database with All Privileges

If the user is not linked to the database:

5. Select the user and database from the dropdowns in "Add User to Database"
6. Click Add
7. On the next screen, select All Privileges and click Make Changes

Reload your site and test.

Sometimes the issue isn't your credentials — it's that the MySQL server itself has crashed or stopped running.

Signs that this is the cause:

• The error appeared suddenly without any changes on your end
• The error is intermittent (comes and goes)
• Multiple websites on the same server are experiencing issues

What to do:

1. Log in to your hosting control panel and check the server status panel if one is available
2. Check if your host has posted any service announcements or outage notices
3. Contact your hosting provider's support team and ask them to confirm whether the MySQL server is running

On a VPS or dedicated server where you have root access, you can check and restart MySQL yourself:

# Check MySQL status
sudo systemctl status mysql

# Restart MySQL if it's stopped
sudo systemctl restart mysql

# For MariaDB
sudo systemctl restart mariadb

If your credentials are definitely correct but the connection still fails, the database host value may be wrong. localhost works for most shared hosting, but not always.

Try replacing localhost in your wp-config.php with each of the following, saving and testing after each:

define( 'DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1' );

define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost:3306' );

If you're on a specific managed host, check their documentation for the correct database host value. For example:

• WP Engine uses a custom hostname like yoursitename.mysql.wpengine.com
• Kinsta uses a custom internal hostname
• GoDaddy shared hosting sometimes requires a specific hostname found in cPanel

If your credentials are correct but WordPress still can't operate properly — or if your wp-admin shows a message about unavailable database tables — your database may be corrupted.

WordPress has a built-in database repair tool that you can activate with a single line in wp-config.php.

Step 1: Enable the repair tool

Open wp-config.php and add this line just before the /* That's all, stop editing! */ comment:

define( 'WP_ALLOW_REPAIR', true );

Save the file.

Step 2: Run the repair tool

Open your browser and navigate to:

https://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/maint/repair.php

Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain.

You'll see a page with two options:

• Repair Database — Fixes corrupted tables
• Repair and Optimize Database — Fixes and optimizes all tables for better performance

Click Repair Database first. WordPress will scan all tables and attempt to repair any that are corrupted.

Step 3: Disable the repair tool

This is important. Once the repair is complete, remove the line you added from wp-config.php immediately:

define( 'WP_ALLOW_REPAIR', true ); // Remove this line

The repair page is publicly accessible — anyone can visit it. Leaving it enabled is a security risk.

Step 4: Repair via phpMyAdmin if the built-in tool doesn't work

1. Log in to your hosting control panel and open phpMyAdmin
2. Select your WordPress database from the left sidebar
3. Click Check All to select all tables
4. In the "With selected" dropdown at the bottom, choose Repair table
5. Click Go

phpMyAdmin will attempt to repair each table and report the results.

A single typo in wp-config.php — a missing quote, an extra space, or an accidental character — can prevent WordPress from reading the file entirely, causing a database connection error.

Common mistakes to look for:

Wrong (missing closing quote):

define( 'DB_NAME', 'my_database );

Correct:

define( 'DB_NAME', 'my_database' );

Wrong (extra space in password):

define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'mypassword ' );

Correct:

define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'mypassword' );

Also make sure there is no whitespace or blank lines before the opening <?php tag at the very top of the file. Any character before <?php can break PHP's ability to parse the file.

If you're not sure whether the file is correct, you can download a fresh copy of wp-config-sample.php from the WordPress repository on GitHub, use it as a template, and carefully re-enter your credentials.

On shared hosting plans, your account is allocated a maximum number of simultaneous database connections — typically between 10 and 25. During a traffic spike or if a plugin is opening connections inefficiently, you can hit this limit and start seeing connection errors for some visitors.

Signs this is the cause:

• The error is intermittent — it appears and disappears on its own
• It happens more during busy periods
• Your server resource usage in cPanel shows high MySQL usage

How to fix it:

1. Install a database optimization plugin like WP-Optimize or WP-DBManager to clean up unnecessary data and post revisions that may be causing excessive queries
2. Enable a caching plugin like W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache to reduce the number of database queries per page load
3. Contact your hosting provider and ask about increasing your database connection limit, or consider upgrading to a VPS plan that offers greater resources

If you've tried every fix above and nothing has worked — or if your database is so corrupted that the repair tool can't help — restoring from a clean backup is the most reliable path to recovery.

How to restore a WordPress backup:

If you use UpdraftPlus:

1. Go to Settings → UpdraftPlus Backups in wp-admin (you may need to access this via a temporary recovery URL)
2. Find the most recent backup before the error appeared
3. Click Restore and select the Database component

If you use your hosting provider's backup system:

4. Log in to cPanel or your hosting panel
5. Find the Backup or Backup Wizard section
6. Restore the most recent MySQL database backup

After restoring, update your wp-config.php to confirm all credentials still match, then reload your site.

If your database connection error appeared suddenly and without any changes on your part, a malware infection may have modified your wp-config.php file, changed your database credentials, or corrupted your database tables.

Steps to check for malware:

1. Install and run Wordfence Security (free version available) — it will scan all files including wp-config.php for unauthorized changes
2. Check wp-config.php manually via FTP and look for any credentials that don't match what's in your hosting panel — a clear sign of tampering
3. Contact your hosting provider — most managed hosts offer malware scanning and will alert you if malicious activity is detected on your account

If malware is confirmed, follow a full WordPress malware removal process, change all passwords (WordPress admin, database, FTP, hosting panel), and consider engaging a professional security service.

If you've worked through every fix in this guide and the database connection error persists, it's time to contact your hosting provider. Provide them with:

• The exact error message you're seeing
• When the error started
• What changes (if any) preceded the error
• The steps you've already tried

Good hosting providers can check:

• Whether the MySQL server is running and accepting connections
• Whether your database account is intact and has correct privileges
• Server-side error logs showing what MySQL is reporting
• Whether there's a known issue or maintenance affecting your server