You open your WordPress website — and there's nothing. No error message. No content. Just a blank, white page staring back at you.
This terrifying experience is known as the WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD). It's one of the most common WordPress errors, and it can affect your entire site, just the admin dashboard, or only specific pages.
The good news? It's almost always fixable. In this guide, we'll walk you through every known cause of the WordPress White Screen of Death and give you step-by-step solutions to get your site back online quickly.
The WordPress White Screen of Death is an error state where your website displays a completely blank white page with no visible content or error message. It's called the "White Screen of Death" — inspired by Windows' famous Blue Screen of Death — because it gives you almost no information to work with.
This error can appear:
In older versions of WordPress, WSOD was very common because PHP errors were silently suppressed. Since WordPress 5.2, a built-in fatal error protection feature now tries to catch these errors and show a recovery email to admins — but the white screen can still appear in many scenarios.
Before jumping to fixes, it helps to understand what's actually going wrong under the hood. The WSOD is almost never caused by one specific thing — it's a symptom of an underlying PHP or server error. The most common causes include:
Work through these fixes in order. Start with the simplest ones — you'll often solve the problem before reaching the more advanced steps.
Plugins are the #1 cause of WSOD. The fastest way to rule them out is to deactivate all plugins at once.
If you can still access wp-admin:
Now reactivate plugins one by one, reloading after each, until the white screen returns. That last reactivated plugin is your problem.
If you cannot access wp-admin:
/wp-content/plugins/plugins_disabledpluginsIf deactivating plugins didn't help, your active theme may be the cause.
Via FTP or file manager:
/wp-content/themes/mytheme to mytheme_old)If your site loads, the theme was the problem. Either update the theme, contact the theme developer, or switch to a different theme.
If your site has enough plugins and content, it may simply be running out of memory. WordPress defaults to 32MB or 64MB of PHP memory, which is often not enough.
Method 1: Edit wp-config.php
wp-config.php file in your WordPress root folder/* That's all, stop editing! */:define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');Save the file and reload your site
Method 2: Edit .htaccess (Apache servers only)
Add this line to your .htaccess file:
php_value memory_limit 256MMethod 3: Edit php.ini
If the above methods don't work, ask your hosting provider to increase the PHP memory limit directly in php.ini.
If the above fixes haven't solved the problem, it's time to find out exactly what error is occurring. WordPress has a built-in debug mode that reveals hidden PHP errors.
wp-config.php via FTPdefine('WP_DEBUG', false);Replace it with:
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', true);
@ini_set('display_errors', 1);Save the file and reload your site
Instead of a white screen, you should now see an actual error message — this tells you exactly which file and line is causing the problem
If your white screen appeared right after you edited your theme's functions.php file, a syntax error is the likely cause. Even a misplaced comma or missing bracket will break the entire site.
/wp-content/themes/your-theme/functions.php and look for your recent editsIf you're not sure what's wrong, replace the file entirely with a backup copy if you have one.
Sometimes core WordPress files get corrupted — especially after a failed update. Re-uploading fresh copies can fix the issue without touching your content or settings.
wp-content folder from the unzipped download — you don't want to overwrite your existing contentThis replaces all core files while leaving your themes, plugins, uploads, and database intact.
Some plugins and themes require a specific PHP version. If your hosting provider recently upgraded your PHP version, older code may break.
Also check your plugins' and theme's documentation for their minimum PHP version requirements.
If your server is timing out while running WordPress, a white screen can appear. This is especially common on slower hosting with resource-heavy plugins.
Add this to your .htaccess file:
php_value max_execution_time 300Or add it to wp-config.php:
set_time_limit(300);If none of the above fixes have worked, the problem may be on the server side — not WordPress. Your hosting provider can check:
Most managed WordPress hosts have 24/7 support and can often identify the problem faster than manual troubleshooting.
Fixing WSOD is great — preventing it is even better. Here are best practices to avoid ever seeing the white screen again:
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Faulty plugin | Deactivate all plugins, reactivate one by one |
| Broken theme | Switch to default theme via FTP |
| PHP memory limit | Add define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M') to wp-config.php |
| Syntax error in functions.php | Edit or restore the file via FTP |
| Corrupted core files | Re-upload fresh WordPress core files |
| PHP version mismatch | Change PHP version in hosting control panel |
| Unknown error | Enable WP_DEBUG to reveal the actual error |
| Server-side issue | Contact your hosting provider |
The WordPress White Screen of Death looks catastrophic — but it rarely is. In almost every case, a systematic approach (plugin → theme → memory → debug mode) will get your site back online within minutes.
If you've tried everything and your site is still showing a blank screen, it may be time to call in a professional. As a WordPress development company, we've seen and fixed every variation of WSOD imaginable. Get in touch with us and we'll have your site back online fast.
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