How to Fix the 503 Error

Fixing the 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable error

Updated over a week ago

What Is a 503 Error?

Error 503 (Service Temporarily Unavailable) means that the resource limits of your hosting plan are being reached The most common reasons are a poorly optimized website, or if your has outgrown your current plan.

How to Fix 503 Error

First, make sure that your website is fully optimized. Poorly optimized websites can reach limits without much traffic, topping the resources of even the strongest hosting plans.

If the issue persists after optimization, check the Resources Usage details and try the following solutions, depending on which limit was reached:

Exceeded Inodes and Disk Space Limits

If you find a 503 error on your website while the resource usage is low, it may be a matter of disk space and/or inodes. You can check the disk usage by navigating to Websites → Manage, search for Resources Usage on the left sidebar and click on it:

The hPanel sidebar showing to select Resources Usage

You will find the charts for disk usage in GB and inodes in inode count:

The disk and inode usage graphs showing exceeded inode limit

If your site has exceeded the limit of inodes or the amount of disk space, you have a few alternatives:

  • If you expect an increased need for more storage for a 24 hours or less, you can boost your hosting plan

  • Delete all unnecessary files (cache files, duplicates, any old backup files, etc.). Before deleting, you can generate a backup and download it to your local device, in case you may want to recover any files in the future. You can also identify which exact folders are generating too many inodes/taking too much disk space and focus the cleanup there

  • Store large files, such as videos and images on Google Drive and add the public links to them on your site

  • If you definitely need all your current files and prefer to store them all in one place, you can upgrade your hosting plan - this way, you will get more storage and a higher inode limit 🚀

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