Can I fix the critical error without FTP access?

Yes — use the recovery mode link from the WordPress email, your hosting control panel's file manager (cPanel, Plesk, Hostinger), or SSH if your host provides it. Many hosts (SiteGround, WP Engine, Kinsta) also have a 'Disable plugins' or 'Reset .htaccess' button in their WordPress tools panel. As a last resort, enable WP_DEBUG via your host's database editor by setting an option, but FTP/SSH/file manager is the standard path.

Why does the critical error appear after a WordPress update?

Updates often bump the minimum PHP version or remove deprecated functions. A plugin or theme that hasn't been updated in years calls a removed function (e.g., create_function() removed in PHP 8.0) and crashes. Roll back via the WP Rollback plugin if you have access, otherwise disable plugins one by one via FTP and update or replace the offender.

WordPress / Troubleshooting April 24, 2026 9 min read

"There Has Been a Critical Error on This Website" — How to Fix It in WordPress (2026)

Q: What does 'There has been a critical error on this website' mean in WordPress?

It's the user-facing replacement for the old 'White Screen of Death' (WSOD), introduced in WordPress 5.2. It means PHP threw a fatal error that prevented the page from rendering — usually a plugin or theme calling a non-existent function, hitting a memory limit, or running on an incompatible PHP version. The actual error is hidden from visitors, but WordPress emails the site admin a recovery link that loads the dashboard with the broken plugin paused.

Q: Why didn't I get the recovery mode email?

Three common reasons. (1) The fatal error occurs so early that wp_mail() itself can't run — the email never gets sent. (2) Your site uses a transactional mail plugin (SMTP, SendGrid) that's part of the broken plugin chain. (3) The admin email in Settings → General is wrong or its inbox spam-filters @yourdomain.com mail. Check your hosting control panel's mail logs, or fix it via FTP/SSH instead.

Q: How do I see the actual error message instead of 'critical error'?

Edit wp-config.php and set define('WP_DEBUG', true); define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true); define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false); — the error will be written to wp-content/debug.log with the exact file, line number, and stack trace. Don't enable WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY in production: it shows file paths to visitors. Read the log via FTP or hosting file manager, then revert WP_DEBUG to false once you've identified the cause.

A blank page with a single sentence — "There has been a critical error on this website. Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress." — is WordPress's polite way of saying PHP just crashed. Here's how to find the actual error and recover the site, in order from fastest to most thorough.

mysite.com

There has been a critical error on this website.

Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.

My Blog

HomeBlogAbout

✓ Site recovered

Hello World — My First Post

SimpleReview PRO

waiting for selection…

Error detected

TypePHP Fatal

Filebroken-cache.php

Fix plan

Disable plugin via FTP, rename folder to .disabled

Result

Site loads. Broken plugin paused, recovery email sent.

✓ Auto-deployed

fix: disable broken-cache plugin
1 plugin paused via WP_DISABLE_FATAL_ERROR_HANDLER

Click SimpleReview → select the error → Fix it → site recovered

Site is down right now? → SimpleReview reads your debug.log over SFTP, finds the broken plugin or theme line, and pushes a PR — even when wp-admin is unreachable.

Key Takeaways

The "critical error" screen replaces the old White Screen of Death — added in WordPress 5.2 along with recovery mode.
Always check the admin email first: WordPress sends a recovery link that auto-pauses the broken plugin.
If no email arrives, enable WP_DEBUG_LOG in wp-config.php to write the real error to wp-content/debug.log.
Most causes (in order): plugin update broke compatibility, theme update, PHP version mismatch, exhausted memory limit, corrupted .htaccess.
Disable plugins from FTP/SFTP by renaming wp-content/plugins/PLUGIN-NAME to PLUGIN-NAME.disabled — WordPress treats it as deactivated.

What the Critical Error Screen Actually Means

WordPress 5.2 introduced "Site Health" and a new fatal error handler. Before 5.2, a PHP fatal error showed visitors a blank white page (the WSOD). Since 5.2, WordPress catches the error, hides it from the public, and shows a generic message:

There has been a critical error on this website.
Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.

At the same time, WordPress emails the site administrator a one-time recovery mode link. Clicking it loads wp-admin with the broken plugin or theme deactivated, so you can investigate without the site staying down.

Recovery mode is a special wp-admin session that pauses any plugin or theme that triggered a fatal error in the last hour. The pause lasts until you log out or click Resume. Cookie name: wp-recovery-mode.

Fix #1: Check the Admin Email for the Recovery Link

This is the fastest path — try it before anything else:

Open the inbox of the email set in Settings → General → Administration Email Address. Check spam too.
Look for a message with subject like "Your Site is Experiencing a Technical Issue" from [email protected].
Click the recovery link inside. WordPress logs you into wp-admin with the broken plugin paused.
Go to Plugins — the offender will have a yellow notice. Update it, replace it, or click Deactivate.

No email? The fatal error may have crashed wp_mail() itself, or your SMTP plugin is the broken one. Skip to Fix #3.

Fix #2: Turn On WP_DEBUG to See the Real Error

The "critical error" message is intentionally vague to avoid leaking file paths to the public. To see what actually broke, enable debug logging in wp-config.php:

define( 'WP_DEBUG',         true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG',     true );   // writes to wp-content/debug.log
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );  // do NOT show errors to visitors
@ini_set( 'display_errors', 0 );

Reload the broken page, then open wp-content/debug.log via FTP or your hosting file manager. You'll see something like:

PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function create_function()
in /wp-content/plugins/old-cache-plugin/loader.php on line 42

Now you know exactly which file and which line. Once you've identified the cause, set WP_DEBUG back to false — debug logs in production are a security risk.

Fix #3: Disable Plugins via FTP / SFTP / File Manager

If wp-admin is also unreachable, disable plugins by renaming their folders. WordPress only loads plugins from folders that exactly match the registered name:

Connect to your site via FTP, SFTP, or your host's file manager (cPanel, Plesk, Hostinger).
Navigate to /wp-content/plugins/.
Rename the entire plugins folder to plugins-off. WordPress will deactivate every plugin in one shot.
Reload the site. If it loads now, the issue is plugin-related.
Rename plugins-off back to plugins, then rename one plugin folder at a time (e.g., old-plugin → old-plugin.off) until the site breaks again — that's the offender.

If your host gives you SSH access, WP-CLI is faster:

# Deactivate every plugin
wp plugin deactivate --all --skip-plugins --skip-themes

# Or one by one
wp plugin deactivate old-cache-plugin --skip-plugins --skip-themes

Fix #4: Switch to a Default Theme

If renaming the plugins folder didn't help, the theme is the culprit. Same trick:

Open /wp-content/themes/.
Rename your active theme's folder (e.g., my-theme → my-theme.off).
WordPress falls back to twentytwentyfive (or the latest default). If the site loads, your theme had a fatal error.
Restore the folder name and edit the broken file directly, or roll back to a previous theme version.

Fix #5: Raise PHP Memory Limit

If the error log says "Allowed memory size of X bytes exhausted", you need more PHP memory. Add to wp-config.php, above the "Happy publishing" line:

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT',       '256M' );
define( 'WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT',   '512M' ); // for admin pages

If your hosting plan caps PHP memory below this, you'll need to set memory_limit in php.ini or .htaccess — or upgrade plan. Shared hosting often locks this at 64M or 128M.

Fix #6: Restore .htaccess and Check PHP Version

A corrupted .htaccess can cause infinite redirect or 500 errors that surface as the critical error:

Rename .htaccess in your site root to .htaccess.bak.
Reload the site. If it loads, log into wp-admin and go to Settings → Permalinks → just click Save Changes. WordPress regenerates a fresh .htaccess.
While you're there, check Tools → Site Health → Info → Server. WordPress 6.5+ requires PHP 7.4 minimum, recommends 8.1+. If your host is still on PHP 7.0 or 7.2, plugins built for 8.x will break.

Cause Cheat Sheet

Symptom in debug.log	Likely cause	Fix
Call to undefined function	Plugin uses removed PHP function (e.g. create_function)	Update plugin or PHP downgrade
Allowed memory size exhausted	Plugin loads too much in memory	Raise WP_MEMORY_LIMIT or disable plugin
Maximum execution time exceeded	Slow query, big import	Raise max_execution_time, optimize
Cannot redeclare function	Two plugins declare same function	Disable one, rename function
Class not found	Composer autoload broken / plugin missing	Reinstall plugin, run composer install
White page, no log entry	Crash before WP loads (wp-config typo)	Fix wp-config.php syntax

How SimpleReview Handles This

If your site is down right now and you don't want to dig through FTP, SimpleReview can do it from the browser:

Install the Chrome extension and open the broken site.
Click the SimpleReview icon, then click the "There has been a critical error" message.
Type "Fix critical error on this site" and click Fix it. SimpleReview connects to your repo, reads the latest debug.log, identifies the file and line that crashed, and opens a PR that disables the offending plugin (or replaces the broken function).

This is particularly useful when wp-admin is unreachable, the recovery email never arrived, and you'd rather not spend 20 minutes renaming folders over SFTP.

Recover Your WordPress Site Without FTP Spelunking

Click on the error message — SimpleReview reads your repo, finds the broken plugin, and opens a PR.

Install SimpleReview Chrome Extension →

Prefer a WordPress plugin? Download SimpleReview for WordPress → — installs in 30 seconds, no Chrome required.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "There has been a critical error on this website" mean?

PHP threw a fatal error and WordPress's fatal-error handler caught it, replacing the page output with this message and sending a recovery link to the admin email. The actual error (file, line, message) is logged in wp-content/debug.log if WP_DEBUG_LOG is enabled.

Why didn't I get the recovery mode email?

Either wp_mail() itself crashed, your SMTP plugin is part of the broken chain, your admin email is wrong, or the message went to spam. Use Fix #2 (debug log) or Fix #3 (rename plugins folder) instead.

How do I see the actual error message instead of "critical error"?

Edit wp-config.php and set WP_DEBUG, WP_DEBUG_LOG to true and WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY to false. The error appears in wp-content/debug.log with file path and line number.

Can I fix the critical error without FTP?

Yes. Use the recovery email link, your hosting control panel's file manager, an SSH terminal, or your host's "Disable plugins" button (most managed WP hosts have one). The recovery link is the fastest path if it arrives.

Why did the critical error appear right after a WordPress update?

WordPress core updates often bump the minimum PHP version or remove deprecated functions. Old plugins or themes that call removed functions (e.g., create_function() removed in PHP 8.0, or each() removed in 8.0) crash. Roll back the plugin or update to its latest version.