How to Check if a Website Is Down: 6 Reliable Methods
When a website won't load, guessing wastes time. These six methods tell you — quickly and objectively — whether a site is really down, ordered from easiest to most technical.
1. Use an online down checker (fastest)
An external checker loads the site from a server outside your network and reports the result. Because the request doesn't come from your machine, it cleanly separates "the site is down" from "my connection is down."
Paste the address into the free website down checker and you'll get the HTTP status code, response time, and a plain up/down verdict in a couple of seconds.
2. Try another network or device
Load the page on your phone using mobile data with Wi-Fi turned off. If it works on cellular but not on your home or office network, the site is up — something on your local network (or ISP) is blocking it.
3. Open your browser's developer tools
Press F12, open the Network tab, and reload. You'll see the exact status code and how long each request took. A red request with no response points to a connection problem; a 500-range status means the server answered with an error.
4. Ping the server
From a terminal:
ping example.comIf you get replies, the host is reachable at the network level. If every packet times out, the server or network may be down. Note that many servers block ping on purpose, so a failed ping alone isn't proof — pair it with method 1 or 5.
5. Use curl for the full picture
curl shows you exactly what the server returns, headers and all:
curl -I https://example.comThe first line shows the HTTP status. Adding curl -v shows the DNS resolution and TLS handshake too, which helps you see where a request fails — name resolution, connection, certificate, or the response itself.
6. Check DNS
If the domain won't resolve, nothing else matters. Look up the domain's records:
nslookup example.comNo answer, or an unexpected IP address, means a DNS problem — an expired domain, a misconfigured record, or a change still propagating.
Which method should you use?
- Just need a yes/no? Method 1.
- Is it me or them? Method 2.
- Debugging your own site? Methods 3–6 tell you where it breaks.
Check once, or check continuously
All six methods are one-off checks — useful in the moment, useless at 3 a.m. when you're asleep. For a site you care about, replace the manual check with continuous monitoring that runs every minute and alerts you on failure.
Start monitoring free with SiteIsOnline — HTTP, keyword, ping and TCP checks with alerts to email, SMS, Telegram or Slack. See everything it checks on the features page, or read the complete guide to uptime monitoring first.