The WordPress White Screen of Death, commonly known as WSOD, refers to a website problem that makes a site show only a blank white screen without any error messages.
The situation creates anxiety for site owners because it usually starts without any signs, and it can disrupt either the website’s front end, the admin dashboard, or both simultaneously. From an SEO perspective, WSOD also poses a serious risk because search engines cannot crawl or index pages that fail to load. This may lead to ranking drops if the problem persists for several hours or days.
In this tutorial, you will learn about the most common reasons behind the White Screen of Death in WordPress and how to fix them right away.
Why does the White Screen appear?
WordPress works on PHP, which stops all execution when a fatal error occurs in the system. When the server disables error display, WordPress fails to present messages, which results in a blank page showing up in the browser. The issue occurs most commonly when users install new plugins, or update their existing ones, or when they switch themes, or modify functions.php, or when upgrade their server’s PHP version.
Memory exhaustion serves as a primary cause which regularly leads to this problem. The process ends when a plugin or theme consumes more memory than the server allows. Shared hosting environments, which limit memory to 128 MB, experience this problem more frequently than managed WordPress hosting environments. The identification of these fundamental causes helps you solve the problem instead of hiding it.
Enable debugging to reveal the actual error
The most effective way to diagnose WSOD involves enabling WordPress debugging. WordPress hides error messages by default to protect its users from security threats. The wp-config.php file inside your WordPress root directory contains the settings that determine this behaviour.
The debug.log file inside the wp-content directory stores error logs when debug mode is active in WordPress. The crash report file contains exact information about the location of the crash, including the file path and line number. The error message will show you the exact file from the plugin or the outdated function that causes the problem. The identification of the problem source enables you to fix the problem directly without needing to turn off random system parts. After resolving WSOD, always turn debugging off to avoid exposing sensitive information.
A Plugin is causing compatibility issues
If you can access the administration screens, try deactivating all of your plugins and then reactivating them one by one. If you are unable to access your screens, log in to your website via FTP. Locate the folder wp-content/plugins and rename the plugin folder plugins_old. This will deactivate all of your plugins. You can read more about manually deactivating your plugins in the Troubleshooting FAQ.
Your Theme may be causing the problem.
This is especially likely if you are experiencing the white screen of death after you have just activated a new theme or created a New Site on a WordPress Network. Log in to the Administration Screens and activate the default WordPress Twenty Sixteen Theme. If you can’t access your Administration Screens, access your website via FTP and navigate to the /wp-content/themes/ folder. Rename the folder to the active Theme.
Your Theme directory may be missing or renamed.
This is common for developers who have just created a local development environment and cloned the database, which is pointing to a theme (or theme directory) that might be missing or renamed. To test this solution, try accessing wp-login.php or /wp-admin/. If you see anything, this is a good indication it’s theme-related. Log in as an administrator, then try to view the front end, and you should see a WordPress error message that the theme directory “{theme-name}” does not exist.
Memory limit exceeded
If your WordPress site is trying to use more memory than is allowed by your hosting provider, this can also trigger the WSoD.
Solutions to Fix the White Screen of Death Issue on WordPress
If you are experiencing the WSoD on your WordPress site, there are a few things you can try to fix it:
Check your error logs:
Your WordPress site generates error logs that can help you identify the cause of the WSoD. To access your error logs, go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Tools > Site Health > Info. Then, click on the Debug tab to view your error logs.
Disable your plugins:
If you are unable to identify the cause of the WSoD from your error logs, you can try disabling all of your plugins to see if that resolves the issue. To do this, go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins. Then, click on the Deactivate checkbox next to each plugin.
Switch to a default theme:
If disabling your plugins does not fix the WSoD, you can try switching to a default WordPress theme. To do this, go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Appearance > Themes. Then, click on the Activate button next to a default theme, such as Twenty Twenty-Three.
Theme-related WSOD often stems from outdated functions incompatible with the current PHP version. The problem gets solved when users update their theme or contact their theme developer for assistance. The step proves site activity to search engines, which supports long-term SEO trust.
Increase your memory limit:
When memory exhaustion triggers WSOD, increasing the PHP memory limit often restores the site. You can define a higher memory limit by editing wp-config.php. In most cases, raising the limit to 256 MB resolves issues caused by heavy plugins or large database queries.
To do this, open your wp-config.php file and add the following line:
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');However, memory increases should not replace proper optimisation. The White Screen of Death (WSOD) may vanish once you increase the limit, but you need to identify which plugin or theme causes excessive resource consumption. Data from managed hosting providers shows that badly optimised plugins require three times the normal memory allocation. This causes both stability issues and performance problems. The protection of your site in the long run depends on fixing the root cause of the malfunction.
Restoring a backup:
If troubleshooting fails to resolve WSOD quickly and your site handles critical traffic or revenue, restoring a recent backup remains a practical option. The process reduces system downtime while maintaining user confidence. After restoring, recreate the issue in a staging environment to identify the root cause without risking live visitors.
Reliable backup strategies significantly reduce stress during incidents like WSOD. The results from industry surveys demonstrate that websites with automated daily backups achieve 70% faster recovery from critical failures than websites without this feature.
Contact your hosting provider:
If you have tried all of the above steps and the WSoD persists, you may need to contact your hosting provider for further assistance.
The WP_DEBUG feature often provides additional information. If you are still experiencing problems and are looking at your error logs, you can check out the PHP errors.
Conclusion
It is important to note that the WSoD can be caused by a variety of factors, so there is no fixed or universal solution that can deal with all types of issues. However, the troubleshooting steps above should help you identify and fix the cause of the error on your WordPress site. If you need professional support to fix this issue or any other WordPress-related problems, you can contact us.
Also Check Out: How to Increase the PHP Memory Limit in WordPress
