What is 504 error?

[jamerober]

Has anyone else been running into a 504 error lately? My site keeps timing out, and I’m not sure if it’s my hosting, server load, or something else. Would love to know what usually causes this and how to fix it fast.

 

[megamind]

504 Gateway Timeout usually happens when one server doesn’t get a timely response from another server it’s trying to connect to. In simple terms your site’s backend takes too long to respond. Check your hosting server’s resource usage, or try restarting PHP/Apache. If it’s a shared host, it might be server overload.

 

[AngelinaFi]

I swear this 504 error has become my morning alarm lately . Coffee, then “Gateway Timeout.” It’s usually my hosting provider being slow switched to a VPS last month and haven’t seen it since!

 

[Emmawoods]

Nah, it’s not always the hosting. People love blaming hosts for everything. Sometimes it’s your website’s own code or heavy plugins slowing down response time. Especially WordPress sites with a ton of junk plugins they’re 504 factories .

 

[captainghost]

@Emmawoods not entirely fair I had a clean WP setup and still got hit with 504s until I changed hosts. Turns out their reverse proxy was misconfigured. So yeah, sometimes it is the host. Depends on the setup.

 

[ethancarter]

Happened to me last week too. Cleaning up my database and enabling caching fixed it. Also, check your DNS a delay there can cause 504s too. Basically, your server’s waiting for something that’s too slow to answer.