503 Service Unavailable How To Fix a 503 Service Unavailable Error

• "503 Service Unavailable"
  
• "503 Service Temporarily Unavailable"
  
• "Http/1.1 Service Unavailable"
  
• "HTTP Server Error 503"
  
• "Service Unavailable - DNS Failure"
  
• "503 Error"
  
• "HTTP 503"
  
• "HTTP Error 503"
  
• "Error 503 Service Unavailable"

503 Service Unavailable errors can appear in any browser in any operating system.

The 503 Service Unavailable error displays inside the browser window, just as web pages do.

Cause of 503 Service Unavailable Errors

The 503 Service Unavailable error is an HTTP status code that means the web site's server is simply not available right now. Most of the time this is because the server is too busy or because there's maintenance being performed on it.

How To Fix the 503 Service Unavailable Error

The 503 Service Unavailable error is a server-side error, meaning the problem is usually with the web site's server. It's possible that your computer is having some kind of problem that's causing the 503 error but it's not likely.

Regardless, there are a few things you can try:

1. Retry the URL from the address bar again by clicking the reload/refresh button or pressing F5.
   
   Even though the 503 Service Unavailable error means that there's an error on another computer, the issue is probably only temporary. Sometimes just trying the page again will work.
   
   Imporant: If the 503 Service Unavailable error message appears while paying for an online purchase, be aware that multiple attempts to checkout may end up creating multiple orders - and multiple charges! Most payment systems, and some credit card companies, have protections from this kind of thing but it's still something to be aware of.
   
2. Come back later. The 503 Service Unavailable error is a common error message on very popular websites when a huge increase in traffic by visitors (that's you!) is overwhelming the servers.
   
   As more and more visitors leave the website, the chances of a successful page load for you increases.
   
3. Restart your router and your computer, especially if you're seeing the "Service Unavailable - DNS Failure" error.
   
   While the 503 error is still most likely the fault of the web site you're visiting, it's possible that there's an issue with your computer's or router's DNS server configurations and a simple restart of both might fix the problem.
   
4. Contact the webmaster. There's a very good chance that the website administrators are already working on fixing the 503 error but you can always try to contact the website directly if think that might not be the case.
   
   The best way to find a website's contact information is usually through a WHOIS search, using the domain name (e.g. facebook.com) as your search term. If that doesn't get you an email address, the webmaster of most websites can be reached at webmaster@website.com, replacing website.com with the actual website name.

Errors Like 503 Service Unavailable