Fix the Error 524 a timeout occurred error
Definitions
Typically, the Error 524: A timeout occurred error happens when Cloudflare interrupts the loading process of your website, despite an established connection to your hosting account.
Here is a visual example of the Error 524 a timeout occurred:
Before you start
🚨 Typically, the Error 524 a timeout occurred is temporary and resolves itself once Cloudflare re-establishes a connection to your website.
ℹ️ Follow each step by step fix below to see why the 524 error is happening and take measures to avoid encountering it in the future.
Step by step
Check your hosting account resource usage
When your hosting account has high resource usage, Cloudflare may fail to load your website and trigger the Error 524.
1. Log in to your hosting control panel
2. Click on the Resource Usage button
3. Click on the Current Usage tab
4. Look for the CPU Usage, Physical Memory Usage and Faults graphs. If usage exceeds the red limit line on any graph, your hosting account is exhausting the allocated server resources on your hosting plan, causing the 524 timeout error on your website(s).
5. To view the specific processes on your hosting account that are triggering high resource usage, click on Snapshot from the top menu and then Process List and HTTP Queries to view details
6. Allow some time to pass for your resource usage to stabilize and for heavy processes to complete. Once resource usage has stabilized, reload your website(s) and you should see things loading fine.
7. Review both the CPU usage and memory usage guides to better understand your resource usage and learn how to optimize it
Check for a plugin error
Sometimes, a plugin can cause the Error 524 a timeout occurred error on your website.
1. Open this guide: Check your website error log and apply common fixes
2. In that guide, follow all the steps under ‘Check your website error log‘
3. Once in your error log, use that same guide to ‘Identify a plugin error‘
4. If you find a plugin error, complete the ‘Fix a plugin error‘ steps
Check for a theme error
Sometimes, a theme can cause the Error 524 a timeout occurred error on your website.
1. Open this guide: Check your website error log and apply common fixes
2. In that guide, follow all the steps under ‘Check your website error log‘
3. Once in your error log, use that same guide to ‘Identify a theme error‘
4. If you find a theme error, complete the ‘Fix a theme error‘ steps
Refresh your browser page
A simple refresh on your browser page could fix the Error 524 a timeout occurred error.
1. Look for the circular arrow icon near the address bar and click it
2. Or, if you prefer keyboard shortcuts:
- Cmd + R on a Mac
- Press F5 or Ctrl + R on Windows
Clear your browser cache and cookies
Clearing your browser cache could fix the Error 524 a timeout occurred error.
Here are steps for major web browsers, complete them on your computer or laptop:
Google Chrome:
1. Click on the three vertical dots on the top-right corner of your browser window
2. Navigate to More Tools > Clear Browsing Data
3. Make sure Cached images and files and Cookies and other site data are checked
4. Click on Clear Data
5. Open a new web browser window
6. Load your website
Safari:
1. Click on Safari in the top menu and then select Preferences
2. Navigate to the Privacy tab and click on Manage Website Data
3. Click on Remove All and then confirm your decision
4. Close the preferences window and refresh the page to reload your website
Mozilla Firefox:
1. Click on the three horizontal lines at the top-right corner, then select Settings
2. Select the Privacy & Security tab on the left
3. Scroll down to the Cookies and Site Data section and click on Clear Data
4. Make sure Cookies and Site Data and Cached Web Content are both selected, then click Clear
5. Open a new web browser window
6. Load your website
Load your website from an incognito or private window
The ‘Error 524 a timeout occurred’ error could be caused by a bad cache.
Try loading your website from an incognito window:
Disable firewall and/or anti-virus software
At times, the Error 524 is triggered by a firewall or anti-virus software running on your device. Try disabling it, to see if that’s the cause.
1. Open Control Panel on Windows or System Preferences on macOS. For antivirus, open the application.
2. Select Firewall & network protection on Windows or the Firewall tab on macOS. In antivirus, go to settings.
3. Turn off Windows Defender Firewall or Firewall on macOS. Choose to disable or turn off in the antivirus program.
Disable your VPN connection
Sometimes, the Error 524 is triggered by a VPN running on your device. Try disabling it, to see if that’s the cause.
1. Look for the VPN icon in your device applications or menu bar
2. Click the icon to open your VPN application
3. Press the disconnect button within the app to disable your VPN connection
Check your website on a mobile data connection
The ‘Error 524’ error can be due to a bad WiFi connection. To verify, check your website over a mobile data connection instead.
1. On your mobile device, open the Settings app
2. Find the Wi-Fi 📶 section and click on it
3. Toggle the WiFi switch to the ‘Off’ position to disable the WiFi connection
4. In the Settings app, find and select Connections or Cellular/Mobile Data (the exact name may vary depending on your device)
5. Toggle the Mobile Data switch to the On position to activate the mobile data connection
6. Check the top of your device screen for a mobile data indicator (such as 4G, LTE, or 5G) to confirm that mobile data is active
7. Open a new web browser window on your mobile device
8. Load your website
Remove Cloudflare from your domain name
If the 524 error is still happening after trying all the steps above, your last option is to disconnect your domain from the Cloudflare CDN.
1. Sign in to your Cloudflare user portal
2. Click on your domain name
3. Click on DNS
4. If you have custom DNS records in Cloudflare, put them in your domain name DNS Zone on your hosting control panel. If you have no custom records, move to the next step.
5. Under Advanced Actions click on Remove this site from Cloudflare
6. Follow the prompts to remove Cloudflare from your domain name
7. Change your domain nameservers to our nameservers at your domain registrar
8. Allow up to 24 hours for propagation
9. Load your website on a new web browser