Monitoring

How to Check if a Website Is Down (And Confirm It's Not Just You)

A 'down' website can mean five different things — server crash, DNS failure, ISP routing issue, regional outage, or just a local cache. Here's how to diagnose each.

Step 1 — Run a third-party uptime check

The first move is to take yourself out of the equation. Use the checker above to test reachability from an independent network. If it reports the site as up, the problem is local to you — restart your router, flush DNS, or try mobile data. If it reports down, continue diagnosing.

Common causes of a website being down

Server crash or restart — the host process died or is mid-deploy.
Expired SSL certificate — modern browsers refuse to load expired-cert sites entirely.
DNS misconfiguration — A or NS records changed and haven't propagated.
Domain expired — registration lapsed and the domain stopped resolving.
DDoS or traffic spike — server is overwhelmed and dropping connections.
Datacenter outage — entire region offline (check the host's status page).
Firewall or geo-block — visitor's IP range is blocked at the edge.

Why intermittent outages are the most dangerous

A site that works 95% of the time and fails the other 5% costs you more revenue than a clean outage. Customers don't report it — they just leave. The only reliable defense is continuous monitoring with alerts so the issue surfaces before users notice.

Recommended next steps

Diagnostic workflow

1
Independent uptime check
Verify the site is reachable from outside your network using the checker above.
Run Uptime Check
2
Ping the host
Confirm the network layer is alive and measure round-trip time.
Run Ping Test
3
Check DNS records
Make sure the domain still resolves to the expected IP.
DNS Lookup
4
Verify server status
Check whether the HTTP service is responding, not just the ping.
Server Status
5
Set up scheduled monitoring
Catch the next outage automatically with alerts every minute.
Configure alerts

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if a website is down for everyone or just me?

Run an uptime check from a third-party service (like the one above). If it reports the site as reachable, the issue is on your network — DNS, ISP routing, or local firewall.

What does it mean when a site won't load but the server pings fine?

The server is online at the network layer but the web service (port 80/443) may be crashed, overloaded, or behind a misconfigured load balancer. Check HTTP status, not just ICMP.

Can a DNS issue make a site appear down?

Yes. If the domain's authoritative nameservers fail to respond, browsers receive no IP address and the site looks completely down — even though the server itself is fine.

How long should I wait before assuming a site is really down?

Re-check after 60 seconds from a different network. Brief blips are common during deploys, edge cache invalidations, or short DDoS spikes.

What's the fastest way to monitor a site continuously?

Set up a scheduled uptime monitor that pings every minute and alerts you on failure. Manual checks miss intermittent outages.