Website Status Checker
Find out whether a website is up or down, with its HTTP status code, response time, redirects and SSL certificate, and a plain-English reason when something is wrong.
Checked from our server over HTTP and HTTPS (ports 80 and 443). Public websites only.
Enter a website address to see whether it's up.
Type a domain like example.com, or paste a full address. We'll show the status code, response time, redirects and certificate.
What a website status check tells you
When a site won't load, the first thing you want to know is whether it's broken for everyone or only for you. A website status check answers that by asking the site for a page from somewhere other than your own connection and reporting what came back: a status code, how long it took, and anything odd on the way.
People use it to settle “is it down or is it me?”, to keep an eye on their own website, to find out why a page returns an error, to check that a redirect or an SSL certificate is set up properly, and to rule out the site before blaming their network.
How this website status checker works
We send a normal web request from our server to the address you give us. If the site redirects, we follow it, up to eight times, and note every step. Then we record the status code from the final response, the time each stage took (looking up the name, connecting, the secure handshake and waiting for the server), the server software and the SSL certificate. We stop once the response headers are in and never download the page itself, apart from reading the title.
Only public websites on the standard web ports (80 and 443) can be checked. The request goes to the address the name resolves to, and the same rule is applied again on every redirect, so the tool can't be pointed at a private network.
Up, up with a catch, or down: how to read the result
Up
The site answered with a normal 2xx response. Our server loaded it, so the site itself is working. If it fails for you, look at your own connection, DNS or browser.
Up, with a catch
The server is running but something stops a normal visit: a 403 or 401 that refuses us, a 404 for this page, or a certificate browsers won't trust. The site isn't down, but not everything works.
Down
No usable answer: the name doesn't resolve, the connection is refused or times out, the secure handshake fails, or the server replies with a 5xx error. This is a real problem on the site's side or on the way to it.
Down for everyone, or just you?
Our check comes from outside your network, so it is a useful second opinion. If we get a 200 and you don't, the fault is almost certainly between you and the site. Work through these, in order of how often they turn out to be the cause:
- Try the site on another device or on mobile data. If that works, it's your Wi-Fi or router.
- Open it in a private window to rule out a bad cookie, cached copy or extension.
- Switch off any VPN or proxy. Some sites block them, and some VPNs break routing.
- Flush your DNS cache, or try a different DNS server, in case your resolver has a stale or missing record.
- Check your device's date and time. A clock that's wrong makes secure sites fail.
- Look in your hosts file for an old entry pointing the domain somewhere else.
If our check fails as well, wait a few minutes and run it again. Short outages and restarts are common, and most clear up on their own. A site that stays down is worth a look at the DNS records and the WHOIS record, since an expired domain is a classic reason for a sudden outage.
HTTP status codes you'll run into
| Code | Name | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | OK | The page loaded normally. |
| 301 / 308 | Moved permanently | A permanent redirect. Search ranking follows it to the new address. |
| 302 / 307 | Temporary redirect | Sent elsewhere for now. Search engines keep the original address. |
| 400 | Bad request | The server couldn't understand the request. |
| 401 | Unauthorized | Login required. |
| 403 | Forbidden | The server refuses the request. Often a firewall or bot protection. |
| 404 | Not found | The server is fine, this page isn't there. |
| 410 | Gone | Removed on purpose and not coming back. |
| 429 | Too many requests | Rate limited. Slow down and retry. |
| 500 | Internal server error | Something broke inside the site's code or config. |
| 502 | Bad gateway | A proxy got a bad answer from the server behind it. |
| 503 | Service unavailable | Overloaded or in maintenance. Usually temporary. |
| 504 | Gateway timeout | A proxy waited too long for the server behind it. |
| 521 / 522 | Cloudflare: origin down / timed out | Cloudflare is working, but it can't reach the site's own server. |
The first digit is the quick read: 2xx means success, 3xx a redirect, 4xx a problem with the request (often the address), and 5xx a problem on the server. A 4xx on a page usually means the site is running fine; a 5xx means it isn't.
What the response time includes
The time is split into the stages a browser goes through before the first byte of the page arrives:
- DNS lookup: turning the name into an address. Usually quick, and cached after the first visit.
- Connect: the TCP handshake. It mostly reflects the distance between us and the server.
- TLS handshake: setting up encryption for HTTPS. It takes a couple of round trips.
- Waiting for the server: the server building its answer. This is the part your hosting, database and caching control, and the first place to look when a site feels sluggish.
It's measured from our server, so distance adds to the connect and TLS stages. Treat the number as a comparison, not an absolute: run it a few times and look at the waiting stage.
Redirects, and why they matter
A redirect sends visitors from one address to another. The common ones are HTTP to HTTPS, a bare domain to its www version, or an old page to a new one. Each hop costs a round trip, so a long chain slows the page and a loop breaks it completely. Use a permanent redirect (301 or 308) for a move that won't change back, and a temporary one (302 or 307) only when it really is temporary, because search engines treat them differently.
If your own website is down
- Check that the domain hasn't expired and the nameservers are right.
- Confirm the DNS records still point at the right server.
- Look at the hosting panel for an overloaded or stopped server, and the error log for a crash.
- Renew the SSL certificate if it has expired or is about to.
- Ask whether anything changed just before it broke: a deployment, a plugin update, a firewall rule, a CDN setting. Reverting the last change is the quickest fix more often than not.
- Confirm that web ports are reachable with the port checker, and that the server isn't listed on a spam list with the blacklist check.
Why a site can look fine here and still be wrong for you
We check from one place. A site can be blocked in certain countries, be broken on one CDN location, or treat our data-centre address differently from a home connection. A 403 or a captcha page when you can browse normally is the usual sign of that. In the other direction, a site can respond to us and still be broken for real visitors, for example when the page loads but a script or database behind it fails. The status check tells you the server is answering. It can't tell you the site works.
Run the same check yourself
You don't need a website for this. From a terminal:
- macOS, Linux and Windows 10 and later:
curl -I https://example.comshows the status line and headers. - Status code and total time only:
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code} %{time_total}s" https://example.com - Windows PowerShell:
(Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://example.com -Method Head -UseBasicParsing).StatusCode
Running it on your own machine gives you your network's view, and ours gives you an outside one. When they disagree, that tells you where to look.
A spot check isn't monitoring
This answers “is it down right now?” and nothing about the past or the future. If a site matters to you, a monitoring service that checks every minute from several locations and alerts you is worth setting up, so you hear about an outage before your visitors do.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if a website is down?
Enter the address above and run the check. We request the page from our server and report the HTTP status code, how long it took, any redirects and the SSL certificate. A 2xx answer means the site is up. A timeout, a refused connection, a DNS failure or a 5xx error means it's down.
Is it down for everyone or just me?
If our check loads the site but your browser can't, the problem is most likely on your side: your connection, DNS, a VPN, a browser extension or a cached page. If our check fails too, the site really is having trouble. One caveat: we check from a single place, so a problem that only affects certain regions can still show as up here.
What does a 503 error mean?
503 Service Unavailable means the server is reachable but can't handle the request right now, usually because it's overloaded or in maintenance. It's normally temporary, so waiting a few minutes and retrying is the right move. If it's your site, check server load and whether maintenance mode was left on.
Why does a site show 403 here but open fine in my browser?
Many sites sit behind a firewall or bot protection that blocks automated requests from data-centre addresses, which is what ours is. A 403 means the server is up and chose not to serve us. It doesn't prove real visitors are blocked.
What counts as a slow response time?
As a rough guide, under 300 ms is fast, up to about 800 ms is good, 800 to 1500 ms is fair, and beyond that visitors start to notice. We measure until the response headers arrive, so it reflects server speed rather than the full page load. A single check can be affected by a cold cache, so run it more than once.
Does this tool follow redirects?
Yes, up to eight of them, and it shows each step: the address, the status code and how long it took. That makes it easy to spot a redirect chain that's too long, a temporary redirect that should be permanent, or a loop.
Why does it say the SSL certificate is invalid?
The certificate may have expired, may not cover the hostname you typed, may be self-signed, or may be missing the intermediate certificate that links it to a trusted authority. Browsers show a full-page warning in all of those cases, so visitors are effectively locked out even though the server is running.
Can I check a website on a port other than 80 or 443?
Not here. This tool only requests web pages on the standard HTTP and HTTPS ports. To test whether another port is reachable, use the Port Checker, which checks one port at a time.
Is this the same as uptime monitoring?
No. This is a single spot check from one location, which is perfect for answering "is it down right now?". Monitoring means checking continuously from several places and alerting you when something changes, which you'd set up with a dedicated service.
Can I check any website with it?
Any public website, yes. It won't connect to private or internal addresses, and checks are rate-limited per visitor and per site so the tool can't be used to flood anyone's server. Please only check sites you own or have a reason to look at.
Check sites you own or have a reason to look at. Requests come from our server, are rate-limited, and only reach public websites.