WordPress White Screen of Death: How to Fix a Blank WordPress Site

A WordPress site showing a completely blank white page, with no error message and no content, is called the white screen of death. The site is not gone. Almost always, PHP hit a fatal error while building the page, and WordPress is configured not to show that error to visitors, so you see nothing instead. The fix is to make the error visible, find which plugin, theme, or resource limit caused it, and remove or correct that one thing.

The white screen of death is almost always a fatal PHP error with the error message hidden. The common triggers are a plugin or theme that was just updated or installed, a plugin that does not work with the PHP version your host runs, or a site that has run out of its allowed PHP memory. It can affect the whole site, only the front end, or only the admin area, and which of those you see is a clue: if wp-admin still loads but the front end is blank, the theme is the likely culprit; if both are blank, suspect a plugin or memory.

Before you change anything, take a copy of what you have, because every step below edits files. If you have access to your hosting control panel, download or snapshot the site files and the database. Also check the email address that is set as the WordPress administrator email. Since WordPress 5.2, a fatal error often triggers a message titled something like Your Site is Experiencing a Technical Issue, with a recovery mode link that lets you log in and deactivate the broken plugin or theme without touching any files. If that email arrived, use it first.

Step 1 is to turn on the error log so the hidden error becomes readable. Connect with SFTP or your host's file manager, open the wp-config.php file in the site's root folder, and add these lines above the line that says That's all, stop editing: define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false ); This writes errors to a file at wp-content/debug.log without printing them on the page. Reload the blank page once, then open debug.log. The last lines usually name the exact file and plugin or theme folder that failed, for example a path inside wp-content/plugins/some-plugin. That tells you where to look.

Step 2 is to rule out a plugin. If the log names a plugin, rename that plugin's folder inside wp-content/plugins to add -off to the end, which deactivates it. If the log is unclear, rename the whole plugins folder to plugins-off and reload the site. If the site comes back, a plugin was the cause: rename the folder back to plugins, then reactivate plugins one at a time from the dashboard, reloading the site after each one, until the white screen returns. The last one you activated is the culprit. Update it, replace it, or contact its developer, and do not keep it active in the meantime.

Step 3 is to rule out the theme. If plugins are not the cause, the active theme may be. In wp-content/themes, rename the folder of your active theme. WordPress will fall back to a default theme such as Twenty Twenty-Four, as long as at least one default theme is installed. If the site loads, the theme was the problem, usually after a theme update or a custom code edit. Restore the theme from a backup or from a clean download of the same version, and review any recent changes to its functions.php file, since a single missing bracket or stray character there is a classic cause of a blank screen.

Step 4 is to check the memory limit. If debug.log shows Allowed memory size of a number of bytes exhausted, the site needs more PHP memory than it is allowed. Add define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' ); to wp-config.php and reload. If the error persists, your host may enforce a lower cap that WordPress cannot override, and you will need to ask them to raise the PHP memory limit. A memory error that appears only on certain pages or actions, such as saving a large post or running an import, points to a heavy plugin rather than a general shortage.

A few other causes are worth checking if the first four steps do not explain it. A PHP version change at the host, often an automatic upgrade, can break older plugins and themes instantly; compare the PHP version shown in your hosting panel with the plugin's stated requirements, and roll the PHP version back temporarily if you can. A failed or interrupted update can leave WordPress core files incomplete, in which case re-uploading a clean copy of the wp-admin and wp-includes folders from wordpress.org fixes it. Corrupted files or a database problem are less common. And if the blank page appeared with no recent change at all, check whether the site has been compromised, because injected malicious code is another way to trigger a fatal error; see our guide on what to do when your WordPress site is hacked. If none of this works, restoring a recent backup from before the problem started is the fastest way to get the site back while you investigate on a staging copy.