WPhelp

Seeing the message “There has been a critical error on this website” can be terrifying. You are locked out of your dashboard, your visitors see a white screen, and your business is effectively offline.

Fortunately, this error simply means there is a fatal PHP issue happening behind the scenes—usually caused by a bad plugin update, a theme conflict, or exhausted server memory. Here is how to diagnose and fix it step-by-step.

Step 1: Enable WP_DEBUG to Find the Culprit

WordPress hides the actual error message for security reasons. To fix the issue, we need to see what is actually breaking.

1. Log into your server via FTP or your hosting cPanel File Manager.
2. Locate the wp-config.php file in your root directory.
3. Find the line that says: define( 'WP_DEBUG', false );
4. Change it to: define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
5. Save the file and refresh your broken website.

You should now see a specific error path pointing directly to the broken plugin or theme file.

Step 2: Disable the Problematic Plugin via FTP

If the error message names a specific plugin (e.g., /wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/...), you can disable it without dashboard access.

• Navigate to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory using FTP.
• Find the folder of the plugin mentioned in the error.
• Rename the folder (e.g., change woocommerce to woocommerce-disabled).
• Refresh your site. WordPress will automatically deactivate the plugin and your site should load.

Step 3: Increase PHP Memory Limit

Sometimes, the critical error is simply your server running out of memory while running a heavy process.Open your wp-config.php file again and paste this line just above the “That’s all, stop editing!” message:

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );

Save the file and check if your site returns to normal.