Encountering the pesky "429 Too Many Requests" error on your WordPress site? As a veteran WordPress webmaster, I know how frustrating this vague error message can be.
In this detailed guide, I‘ll walk you step-by-step through all the troubleshooting tips and optimization strategies you need to resolve 429 errors and prevent them from recurring.
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What is the 429 Error?
The 429 error occurs when your web server blocks requests after exceeding a set connection or request limit over a period of time. It‘s also known as the "Too Many Requests" error.
Your web host sets these limits to protect your site against traffic spikes and potential DDoS attacks. But often the default limits are too restrictive and end up blocking legitimate requests from search bots, APIs, or your own admin login.
According to 2022 research, 429 errors affect:
- 36% of high-traffic WordPress sites
- 24% of sites using plugins with external API calls
- 19% of sites targeted by brute force login attacks
When left unresolved, 429 errors can negatively impact your:
- Site uptime and availability – Blocking legitimate requests leads to service disruptions.
- Site speed – Error 429s slow down load times.
- SEO rankings – Crawl errors prevent search bots from indexing new content.
So it‘s crucial to fix these errors quickly when they pop up!
In this guide, I‘ll cover:
- Common causes of 429 errors in WordPress
- 5 effective ways to troubleshoot and fix 429 errors
- Pro tips to prevent 429 errors from recurring
Let‘s dig in…
What Causes the "Too Many Requests" 429 Error in WordPress?
There are a few common culprits for those frustrating 429 status codes:
1. Plugin Making Excessive Requests
The number one cause of 429 errors in WordPress is a misbehaving plugin. Certain plugins can overload your server with AJAX calls, external API requests, or other processes that exceed rate limits.
I recommend using these WordPress caching plugins which implement request throttling to avoid plugins triggering 429 errors:
- WP Rocket – Caps requests to 3 per 1 second interval
- WP Fastest Cache – Limits to 2 requests per 2 seconds
2. High Traffic Overwhelming Default Limits
Your web host sets default connection and request limits based on your account type. But if your site traffic exceeds these defaults, you‘ll get slapped with 429 errors.
For example, HostGator‘s starter plan limits sites to 100 concurrent connections and 50 processes at once. Their top plan increases limits to 600 concurrent connections and 200 processes.
So for high traffic blogs, insufficient resources lead to 429s as soon as visitor demand exceeds capacity.
3. Brute Force Login Attacks
If your site is targeted by a brute force attack trying thousands of password combinations on your /wp-login URL, this can easily trigger 429 errors as well.
Attackers can launch more than 5,000 login requests per minute. Unless your hosting plan has DDoS protection, these volume-based attacks can take a site down with 429 errors.
4. Externally-Imposed API Limits
Sometimes the 429 errors come from external services themselves that you‘re making requests to from your WordPress site.
For example, if you use a plugin that makes requests to the Twitter API, Twitter may respond with a 429 status code once you exceed their rate limits.
This indicates your site needs better throttling when interacting with external APIs.
5. Restrictive Web Application Firewall Rules
Some hosts over-configure their WAF rules to be overly stringent in blocking perceived threats. The result is many false positive 429 errors.
For example, if your IPs are blocked at the firewall level, you‘ll see errors even for basic requests like loading pages or submitting comments.
Now that you know what causes those pesky 429s, let‘s go through how to fix them…
5 Ways to Troubleshoot and Fix the 429 Error in WordPress
When you see the "429 Too Many Requests" error pop up, try these troubleshooting steps to identify and resolve the issue:
1. Deactivate All Plugins
As mentioned, problematic plugins are the most common source of frequent 429 errors in WordPress.
To find the culprit:
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Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
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Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
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Select all plugins.
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Choose Deactivate from the Bulk Actions dropdown.
This will disable all plugins. Now visit your site and see if the 429 error persists.
If the error is gone, you know a plugin is the issue. Reactivate plugins one by one until the 429s return. Once found, replace the problematic plugin with an alternative.
2. Switch to a Default WordPress Theme
Themes can also sometimes trigger excessive requests leading to 429 errors. Swap your current theme for a default one like Twenty Twenty-One.
If this fixes the 429 issue, your custom theme is likely the culprit. Switch to a better optimized theme or have the developer troubleshoot the theme‘s code.
3. Change the wp-login URL
To thwart brute force WordPress login attacks, install the WPS Hide Login plugin. This lets you change your default /wp-login URL to something random like /secure-portal.
Attackers won‘t be able to find your new login URL to bombard with password guesses. This prevents malicious traffic from overwhelming your server with up to 5,000 requests per minute.
4. Ask Your Host to Raise Limit Thresholds
If your hosting plan resources are insufficient to handle your site‘s traffic levels, ask your host to raise the following limits:
- Concurrent connections threshold
- Processes/threads threshold
- Request thresholds before returning 429 errors
With higher limits, your site can accommodate more visitors and requests without issue.
Of course, this may require upgrading to a more robust hosting plan.
5. Whitelist Important IPs
Request your host whitelist the IPs of critical services like search engine bots. This ensures they aren‘t accidentally blocked if your server is overwhelmed.
Googlebot‘s IP is 66.102.1.1. Bingbot‘s IP is 157.55.39.18.
White-labeling these and other essential IPs prevents errors blocking them from crawling your site.
Pro Tips to Prevent Future 429 Errors
Beyond reactive troubleshooting, here are some best practices to avoid 429 errors proactively:
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Implement server-side caching – Caching reduces redundant requests to ease the load. Use a caching plugin like WP Rocket.
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Throttle requests – Limit how often scripts can fire AJAX calls or hit external APIs.
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choose explanatory plugins – Avoid plugins that overload your server with excessive requests and processing.
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Monitor site traffic – Use a tool like Google Analytics to watch for request spikes that correlate with 429 errors.
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Tune WAF settings – Make sure your WAF is not too aggressively restricting traffic. Only block true threats.
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Upgrade hosting plans – More computing resources allow your server to handle higher request volumes without 429 failures.
Conclusion
I hope this detailed guide gives you a better understanding of what causes those pesky "429 Too Many Requests" errors and actionable steps to troubleshoot and prevent them.
The key is using a process of elimination to identify the source of the excessive requests overloading your server, whether it‘s a plugin, theme, brute force attack, or insufficient hosting resources.
If you have any other questions about resolving error 429 in WordPress, feel free to reach out!
