WordPress White Screen of Death: 6 Fixes That Work

In shortClear caches first, then check the error log. If there’s no log, enable WP_DEBUG_LOG. Most white screens are plugin conflicts or memory limits.

The “white screen of death” is a blank page — no error, no content. It’s the same underlying problem as the critical error, but with error display hidden.

1. Clear all caches

Clear your caching plugin, your host’s cache and your CDN. Sometimes the site is fixed and you’re seeing a cached blank page.

2. Check whether it’s front end, admin or both

If only the admin is blank, suspect an admin-only plugin. If only one page is blank, suspect a shortcode or block on that page.

3. Read the error log

Your hosting panel usually has an error log. Or enable WP_DEBUG_LOG in wp-config.php and read /wp-content/debug.log.

4. Disable plugins via FTP

Rename the plugins folder. If the site returns, a plugin is the cause. Rename it back and test one by one.

5. Switch to a default theme

Rename your theme folder so WordPress falls back to a default theme.

6. Increase memory

Add define( ‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘256M’ ); to wp-config.php. Page builders and WooCommerce often need more than the default.

Still blank?

Check file permissions (folders 755, files 644), a corrupted .htaccess (rename it and re-save permalinks) or a failed auto-update that left a .maintenance file in the root folder.

A broken site also hurts SEO if it stays down — Google reduces crawling of sites that keep failing. If you’d rather not dig through FTP, I can fix it for you, usually the same day.