How to Check If a Website Is Down

Six dependable ways to find out whether a site is really offline — ranging from instant to in-depth.

"Is it down, or is it me?" is one of the most common questions on the internet, and there are several good ways to answer it. Some take seconds; others give you a deeper, more technical picture. Here they are, roughly from quickest to most detailed.

1. Use an online status checker (fastest)

The quickest method is to let a tool reach the site from somewhere other than your own connection. Enter the domain into our website checker and we'll connect to it from our server and report whether it responds, along with the response time. Because the request comes from a different network and location than yours, the result instantly tells you whether the problem is the site or your own setup. If you want to understand the verdict, our down for everyone or just me guide breaks it down.

2. Try the site in a private window or another browser

Before assuming an outage, rule out your own browser. Open a private/incognito window, or a different browser entirely, and load the site. This bypasses extensions and cached files that can make a healthy page look broken. A hard refresh (Ctrl+F5, or Cmd+Shift+R on a Mac) does something similar.

3. Ping the server from the command line

A ping sends a small packet to a server and waits for a reply, confirming basic reachability. Open a terminal or command prompt and run:

• ping example.com — replies mean the server is reachable; timeouts suggest it isn't.

One caveat: many servers intentionally ignore pings for security, so "no reply" doesn't always mean "down." Ping is a useful signal, not a final verdict — pair it with an actual page request.

4. Run a traceroute to find where it breaks

If a site is unreachable, a traceroute shows the path your connection takes and where it stalls, which helps distinguish a problem near you from one near the site:

• Windows: tracert example.com
• macOS / Linux: traceroute example.com

If the trace dies a hop or two from your own network, the issue is likely local or with your ISP. If it travels far before failing, the problem is closer to the destination.

5. Check the service's own status page and social media

Many large services publish a status page (often at status. followed by their domain) where they post known outages and maintenance. It's the authoritative source when it exists. Failing that, searching the company's name plus "down" on social media will quickly show whether others are reporting the same problem in real time — a crowd of complaints within the last few minutes is a strong sign the outage is real and widespread.

6. Use your browser's developer tools

For a closer look, open your browser's developer tools (usually F12) and watch the Network tab as you reload. You'll see the exact HTTP status code the server returns — a 200 means success, a 5xx points to a server-side outage, and a failed/blocked request shows up clearly. The Console tab may also reveal errors that explain a page that loads but doesn't work.

Putting it together

For everyday "is it down?" questions, methods 1 and 2 answer it in seconds. When you need certainty or you're troubleshooting your own site, layer on ping, traceroute, status pages, and developer tools for a complete picture. And remember the golden rule: if an outside checker can reach the site but you can't, the fix is on your end — start with our local troubleshooting checklist.