Is It Down?
Check if any website is down right now—instantly test from multiple locations worldwide. Find out if it's just you or a global outage affecting everyone, with HTTP status and response time details.
Why Use Is It Down Checker
The frustration of not knowing whether a website problem is yours or theirs is universal. Before spending time troubleshooting your connection, browser, or VPN, confirm whether the site is actually down globally. This tool runs checks from multiple probe locations worldwide—returning definitive "down for everyone" or "up but blocked for you" answers in seconds. Saves hours of unnecessary local troubleshooting when the issue is on the server side, and prevents false support tickets when the issue is local.
- Clear verdict: "Down for everyone" or "It's just you"
- Multi-location probes: Tests from 4+ countries simultaneously
- Response details: HTTP status code and response time
- DNS check: Verifies domain resolves to valid IP
- No signup needed: Instant check, no account required
Step-by-Step Tutorial
- Enter site URL (e.g., github.com or https://github.com)
- Click "Check"
- Within 5 seconds see probe results from multiple locations
- All red = globally down — check hosting provider status page
- All green = up globally — troubleshoot locally (DNS, VPN, ISP)
- Mixed = partial/regional outage — check CDN or regional issues
Real-World Use Case
A developer's team Slack erupts: "GitHub is down!" Before filing incident reports or switching workflows, one developer runs an "is it down" check. Results: all four probe locations return 200 OK with normal response times. GitHub is up globally. The developer shares the results link in Slack—team realizes the issue is their company's GitHub Enterprise proxy, not GitHub itself. Network team identifies proxy server restart happening during routine maintenance. The 10-second check saves the team from a 2-hour wild goose chase and prevents unnecessary escalation to GitHub support. Rapid verification with geographic evidence pinpoints the actual failure point immediately.
Best Practices
- Try both with and without www prefix (some sites handle them differently)
- Test specific page URL if homepage works but app doesn't
- Share result URL in incident channels—gives team instant shared context
- If down, check the service's official status page for ETA
- Re-check every 2-3 minutes during active outages to track recovery
Performance & Limits
- Check time: Full results in under 5 seconds
- Probe locations: 4+ countries including US, UK, Germany, Singapore
- Protocols: HTTP and HTTPS
- Timeout: 10 seconds per probe
- Frequency: Up to 10 checks/minute
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Checking wrong URL: Verify you're testing the right domain/subdomain
- Not clearing cache after fix: Browser cache can hide a recovered site
- Assuming global down = your fault: It truly might be them
- Single check verdict: Run 2-3 checks before concluding
Privacy and Data Handling
Only the URL you enter is used for the check. No personal data is collected. Checks are performed by our infrastructure—results are not stored after your session ends. Do not check internal/private URLs that should not be accessible externally.
Frequently Asked Questions
The site shows as up but I still can't access it—why?
Our probes access the site fine but yours can't—classic "it's just you" scenario. Root causes: (1) DNS issue—your ISP's DNS returning wrong IP. Fix: change DNS to 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8, flush cache, (2) ISP routing issue—packets not reaching server correctly. Fix: switch to phone hotspot to confirm, contact ISP, (3) VPN/proxy misconfiguration—your VPN routing site through blocked region. Fix: disconnect VPN, (4) Hosts file redirect—someone or software modified your local hosts file. Check /etc/hosts (Mac/Linux) or C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (Windows), (5) Browser extension blocking—ad blockers or security extensions may block certain domains. Test in incognito with extensions disabled.
What does it mean when only some locations show the site as down?
Partial outage patterns: (1) Single region down = that datacenter or edge node failed. CDN will reroute traffic but some users experience slowness during failover, (2) Two regions slow/down = potential DDoS attack targeting specific geographies, network route issues, or CDN cache poisoning, (3) Alternating results = load balancer issue—some backend servers healthy, others not, (4) Specific continent down = regional DNS issue, routing problem, or geo-block recently applied. Actions: check CDN dashboard for regional health, review load balancer health checks, contact hosting support with specific failing regions. Partial outages often harder to diagnose than complete outages since some users report fine while others can't access.
How do I know if a website outage is planned maintenance?
Check these sources: (1) Service's status page (status.github.com, status.shopify.com—most major services have one), (2) @ServiceNameStatus Twitter account for real-time updates, (3) Site itself may show maintenance page (503 Maintenance mode), (4) Their social media channels, (5) DownDetector.com for user-reported outages with timeline. For planned maintenance: companies typically post 48-72 hour advance notice on status pages and maintenance windows usually occur off-peak hours (2-6 AM local time). If no notice and 503 shown: likely unplanned. If HTTP shows 200 but content is maintenance page: intentional maintenance mode. Bookmark key services' status pages for quick reference during incidents.
Can I use this to monitor my competitors' downtime?
Yes, this is a legitimate and common use case. Manually checking competitor uptime during sales cycles or incident comparisons provides market intelligence. Observations: if competitor regularly has downtime and you don't, that's a selling point; if they have outages during high-traffic periods (Black Friday), understand their infrastructure limitations. For systematic monitoring: set up automated uptime monitoring on competitor URLs using free tools (UptimeRobot allows monitoring any public URL). Note: frequent automated checks could trigger their anti-bot systems—keep check intervals reasonable (every 5-15 minutes). Focus on their status page and public announcements rather than probing aggressively. This knowledge helps position reliability as a competitive differentiator.