Website downtime checker
HTTP Status Code Checker
Free, no sign-up. We only fetch the public URL you enter.
Short answer
Enter the website address above and the checker requests it from a server in Germany, follows redirects and shows the HTTP status code, the final URL, the response time, the server and the IP address. A status from 200 to 399 means the site is up; 5xx codes, timeouts and connection errors mean it is down; 4xx codes mean the page or access is the problem. If the site is down here but works for you, it is likely a regional or network problem; if it is down here and for you, the server or hosting is the problem. To catch future downtime automatically, use an uptime monitor such as monitordefend, which checks every five minutes and alerts by email.
- Free, instant check from an independent server.
- Status code, response time, final URL, server and IP.
- For continuous downtime tracking, use an uptime monitor.
Status 503 Service Unavailable Final URL https://www.myshop.com/ Time 8,214 ms Server nginx IP 203.0.113.24 Result DOWN – the server answered with an error
When a website does not load, the first question is always the same: is it down, or is it just me? This website downtime checker answers that in a few seconds. It requests the site from an independent server, shows exactly what came back and tells you whether the site counts as up or down. Below you learn how to read the result, what the most common causes of website downtime are, what to do when your own site is down, how downtime is measured and how to make sure you hear about the next outage before your visitors do.
How the downtime checker works
The checker sends a normal HTTP request to the address you enter, from a server in a German data centre. It follows redirects, for example from http to https or from the bare domain to www, up to the final page. Then it reports the HTTP status code of the final answer, the final URL, the total time, the server software if the server reveals it, and the IP address the domain resolved to.
Because the request comes from outside your network, it shows whether the website is reachable on the public internet, independent of your browser cache, your local DNS, your company firewall or your internet provider. Private and internal addresses cannot be checked, for security reasons.
Reading the result
A status code between 200 and 399 means the site answered normally and counts as up. A code between 500 and 599 means the server or the application behind it failed: 500 is a general error, 502 and 504 usually mean a proxy or load balancer could not reach the application, 503 means overloaded or in maintenance. A timeout or connection error means the server did not answer at all.
Codes between 400 and 499 are a special case. 404 means the page does not exist, 403 means access is denied, 429 means too many requests. The website itself may be up; the problem is the specific URL, a firewall or bot protection. Check the homepage as well to tell the difference.
Down for everyone or just you?
If the checker reports the site as up but it does not load for you, the problem is between you and the site. Typical causes are a local DNS cache with an old address, a browser extension, a VPN or company proxy, your internet provider or a regional network problem. Try another browser, mobile data instead of Wi-Fi, flush the DNS cache or wait a few minutes.
If the checker reports the site as down too, the problem is on the website’s side, and every visitor is affected. If it is not your website, there is little you can do but wait or contact the operator.
Why websites go down
Most downtime has ordinary causes. Servers run out of memory, CPU or disk space during traffic peaks, backups or attacks. Updates of the CMS, plugins or server software introduce errors. Hosting providers have hardware failures, network problems or maintenance. DNS records are changed by mistake, certificates expire, domains are not renewed. Less often, attacks such as DDoS floods or hacks take a site offline.
- Resource limits: memory, CPU, disk, database connections
- Faulty updates or deployments
- Hosting, data centre or network outages
- DNS mistakes, expired certificates or domains
- Attacks, hacked sites, blocked accounts
What to do when your website is down
Confirm the outage with the checker and from a second device. Note the status code and the time. Check your hosting provider’s status page and your email for messages about maintenance, unpaid invoices or blocked accounts. Think about recent changes: an update, a new plugin, a DNS change. Look at the server or application error logs if you have access.
If you cannot find the cause quickly, contact your host with the exact time, status code and IP address. Inform your customers through the channels they use, such as social media, email or a status notice. After the incident, write down cause and fix, so it does not happen again.
How downtime is measured
Downtime is the time during which a website is not available. Monitoring services measure it by checking at regular intervals: if checks fail, an incident starts; when they succeed again, it ends. The uptime percentage is the share of time the site was available. 99.9 % uptime allows about 43 minutes of downtime per month, 99 % more than seven hours.
- Server runs out of memory, site returns 502
- With monitoring: alert after confirmed check
- Without monitoring: first customer email
- Restart, site back online
A single check like the one on this page cannot measure downtime, only the current state. To know how often and how long your site was down, you need a monitor that checks continuously and keeps the history.
What downtime costs
For an online shop, each hour of downtime means lost orders, paid ads sending visitors to an error page and customers who buy elsewhere. For lead-driven businesses it means lost enquiries. For SaaS products it means support tickets and broken service level agreements. Repeated or long outages can also affect search engines, which may drop pages that return errors for extended periods.
Tracking downtime automatically
An uptime monitor runs the same check as this tool automatically, every one to five minutes, from outside your infrastructure. It confirms failures with a second attempt, alerts you by email or other channels, sends an all-clear when the site is back and records every incident with start, end and duration. This turns a one-off downtime check into a downtime history and cuts the time until you react from hours to minutes.
Checking other people’s websites
The checker works for any public website, not only your own. When a service you depend on, such as a payment provider, a supplier portal or a SaaS tool, seems unavailable, a quick check tells you whether it is down in general. For larger services, also look at their official status page and social media accounts, where operators usually confirm outages and give updates. If the site is up for the checker but you still cannot use it, the problem may be your account, a login service or a regional block.
Preventing downtime
Monitoring does not prevent downtime, but many outages are avoidable. Keep enough headroom in hosting resources, test updates on a staging copy first, automate certificate renewal and enable domain auto-renewal, keep backups that you have actually restored once, and watch response time trends, which often rise days before an outage.
Monitoring downtime with monitordefend
monitordefend checks your websites every five minutes from Germany, confirms outages with a second attempt, sends an email when a site goes down and records uptime and response time. Blocks by firewalls or bot protection are reported separately instead of counting as downtime. It also watches broken links, indexing, traffic, checkout and security signals. It does not offer SMS alerts or public status pages.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if a website is down?
Enter the address in the checker above. It requests the site from an independent server and shows whether it answered and with which status code.
Is the website down for everyone or just me?
If the checker shows the site as up but it does not load for you, the problem is your connection, DNS cache, browser or network. If the checker shows it as down, it is down for everyone.
What does a 503 error mean?
The server is temporarily unable to handle the request, usually because it is overloaded or in maintenance mode.
Why does the checker show 403 although the site works in my browser?
Some firewalls and bot protection services block automated requests. The site is probably up for visitors.
Can this tool monitor my website continuously?
No, it checks once. For continuous monitoring with alerts and a downtime history, use an uptime monitor.
How long does downtime usually last?
Most outages on small websites last minutes to a few hours. Without monitoring, they often last longer because nobody notices.
Is the downtime checker free?
Yes, it is free and needs no sign-up.
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