Is your website down?

How to check if a website is really down

Run through this quick checklist before digging into traceroutes, logs and deep debugging.

• Try loading the site from a different network (mobile tethering).
• Check DNS — make sure your domain resolves and the records are correct.
• Inspect server processes and logs if you control the host.
• Use the commands below to test connectivity from your machine.

Terminal commands

Ping (ICMP) — quick reachability test

Ping tests whether the host responds to network packets. Not all servers allow ICMP.

# Linux / macOS
ping -c 4 example.com

# Windows (PowerShell)
ping -n 4 example.com

Traceroute — see where packets stop

Traceroute (tracert on Windows) shows the path packets take. Useful to find network hops causing issues.

# Linux
traceroute example.com

# macOS (uses traceroute too)
traceroute example.com

# Windows (Command Prompt / PowerShell)
tracert example.com

HTTP checks — curl

Use curl to inspect HTTP status codes and headers.

curl -I https://example.com
# or follow redirects
curl -L -I https://example.com

Online tools

• isup.me — quick global reachability check (visit isup.me).
• DownDetector — community reports & outage maps (visit downdetector.com).
• Third-party monitors — many providers offer free/paid checks from multiple locations.
• Status Page tools — run free uptime, SSL, DNS and email checks from our website monitoring tools.

What else to check

• DNS TTL and recent changes — incorrect or half-propagated DNS records often cause "site is down" errors.
• SSL certificate validity — expired certs cause browsers to refuse connections.
• Rate limits / WAF rules — some protection layers block legitimate traffic.
• DKIM/SPF records — misconfigured email authentication can flag your domain and disrupt transactional email delivery.
• Hosting provider status pages — your provider may be experiencing a wider outage that affects multiple customers.

Manual checks vs automated uptime monitoring

Doing these checks manually works in a pinch, but it's slow and easy to forget. If you run a website or API, you want automation: uptime checks from multiple regions, instant alerts to your team, a public status page so visitors can see what's happening without opening a ticket, and incident management to keep your team on the same page.

Automate for free with StatusPage.me

StatusPage.me runs checks for you, shows historical uptime, and notifies your team when something breaks. You can start for free — it saves time and keeps your users informed. Perfect for site owners who want reliable monitoring and clear incident communication without ops overhead.

Interested? See plans & get started — or create a free account to try automated checks right away.