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Fix: WordPress Memory Exhausted Error – Increase PHP Memory

Last updated on by Editorial Staff | Reviewed by: Syed Balkhi

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Are you seeing an allowed memory size exhausted error message in WordPress?

This is one of the most common WordPress errors, and you can easily fix it by increasing the PHP memory limit in WordPress.

In this article, we will show you how to fix the WordPress memory exhausted error by increasing the PHP memory limit.

Fix: WordPress Memory Exhausted Error – Increase PHP Memory

What Is the WordPress Memory Exhausted Error?

WordPress is written in PHP, which is a server-side programming language. Additionally, every website needs a WordPress hosting server for it to function properly.

Web servers are just like any other computer. They need a certain amount of memory to efficiently run multiple applications at the same time. Server administrators allocate specific memory sizes to different applications, including PHP.

When your WordPress code requires more memory than the default allocated memory, you will see this error message:

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 33554432 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 2348617 bytes) in /home4/xxx/public_html/wp-includes/plugin.php on line xxx

Memory exhausted error displayed on a WordPress site

Your WordPress site may be exhausting its server memory if it has:

  • A lot of images, videos, and other types of media
  • Plenty of unused WordPress plugins
  • Outgrown its hosting plan resources

By default, WordPress automatically tries to increase the PHP memory limit if it is less than 64MB. However, 64MB is often not high enough.

Having said that, let’s see how to easily increase the PHP memory limit in WordPress to avoid the memory exhausted error.

How to Increase the PHP Memory Limit in WordPress

There are several ways to increase the PHP memory limit. One is to edit the wp-config.php file, another is to tweak the .htaccess file, and the last method is to check the php.ini file.

Let’s go through each one:

Editing the wp-config.php File

First, you need to edit the wp-config.php file on your WordPress site. It is one of the core WordPress files located in your WordPress site’s root directory, usually named public_html.

You will need to use an FTP client like FileZilla or file manager in your web hosting control panel.

Next, you need to paste the following line in the wp-config.php file just before the one that says, That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging.

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );
Hosted with ❤️ by WPCode
1-click Use in WordPress

This code tells WordPress to increase the PHP memory limit to 256MB.

For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to find and edit the wp-config.php file.

Once you are done, you need to save your changes and upload your wp-config.php file back to your server.

You can now visit your WordPress site, and the memory exhausted error should have disappeared.

Editing the .htaccess File

The next method is to edit the .htaccess file. This file is also located in the WordPress website’s root folder.

Here, you need to paste the following code before the line that says #END WORDPRESS.

php_value memory_limit 256M
Hosted with ❤️ by WPCode
1-click Use in WordPress

Similar to the previous code, it will tell WordPress to increase the PHP memory limit to 256MB.p

After that, simply save your changes and upload the file back to your web server. You can now open your WordPress website again to see if the memory limit error has gone.

If you can’t find the .htaccess file, check out our guide on why the .htaccess file may be missing and how to find it.

Checking Your php.ini File

If the above methods don’t work, you may want to look at your php.ini file.

php.ini is a file that controls your PHP settings, including the PHP version and PHP scripts. It’s not a WordPress core file, as your hosting provider usually manages it.

You can check its code to see your PHP memory usage limit. For more details, you can see our guide on how to find and edit the php.ini file.

However, because this is an advanced method, we recommend contacting your web hosting provider’s support team instead to see if they can increase the WordPress memory limit manually. Otherwise, this can result in further errors.

We hope this article helped you solve the WordPress memory exhausted error by increasing the PHP memory limit. You may also want to see our step-by-step beginner’s guide to troubleshooting WordPress errors, along with our expert picks for the best WordPress plugins to grow your site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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460 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Hey WPBeginner readers,
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  2. AFter updating my .htaccess it gives me this error:

    Internal Server Error
    The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

    Reply

  3. Regarding the .htaccess file, be cautious. Many shared web hosting providers may have directives for increasing the memory limit disabled. Such a directive in the .htaccess file can cause a 500 error on the website, requiring its removal or commenting out. Be careful with this. Sometimes, simply increasing the memory limit may not solve the problem but rather delay it, like a painkiller. The pain might subside, but it doesn’t mean the cause has been resolved. Therefore, while increasing the memory limit might seem like a solution, it’s also important to check what is consuming the memory. Sometimes, people increase the memory limit from 512 MB to 1024 MB without considering whether it’s necessary, and whether the memory limit isn’t masking an underlying issue on the website.

    Reply

    • Thank you for sharing your feedback on the htaccess change. Unless the host has very strict rules in place adding to the htaccess shouldn’t cause an error it is more likely to not work and would require you reach out to the host to request an override.

      Reply

      Admin

  6. It doesn’t solve my problem still shows an error after placing the code “define( ‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘256M’ );” and I also change the size of Memory_limit of Php.ini file

    Reply

    • As we state in the article, if our code does not work, there is a good chance your hosting provider is overriding the memory limit and you would need to reach out to your host to fix the error.

      Reply

      Admin

  7. It doesn’t solve my problem still shows an error after placing the code “define( ‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘256M’ );” & this is my front-end page showing

    Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 67108864 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 8192 bytes) in /home/X/wp-includes/class-wp-dependencies.php on line 260

    Reply

    • If the code does not work for you, we recommend reaching out to your hosting provider as they may have a limit set on their end that could be the root of the issue.

      Reply

      Admin

  11. Thank you, this was helpful! All problem has been solved by carefully following this step-by-step instructions. Keep up the good work :)

    Reply

  14. Hi,

    Thank you for this awesome website. I got this in the error log after adding this code.
    [26-Apr-2022 02:45:31 UTC] PHP Warning: Use of undefined constant ‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’ – assumed ‘‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’’ (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /wp-config.php on line x

    Is this a problem? Should I remove the code?

    Reply

    • That would only be an error for future versions of PHP. This solution should only be a temporary fix and your hosting provider should be able to assist with the root cause of the issue.

      Reply

      Admin

  15. Thank you! You folks rock. This solved my problem. WPBeginner is my go-to website for learning new things about WordPress, even though I’m not a beginner.

    Reply

  16. “Once you are done, you need to save your changes and upload your wp-config.php file back to your server.”

    How again do you upload the file back to your server?

    Reply

    • You would need to use FTP or your host’s file manager again and there should be the option to upload and replace the file :)

      Reply

      Admin

  17. The changes are not having effects. We are still with 40MB and the site does not accept the changes. What should I do?

    Reply

    • As we state at the end of the article, if our recommendations do not work, please reach out to your hosting provider as they may have set a limit that would override what you as a user can set.

      Reply

      Admin

  18. Really worked.

    I had white screen when I wanted to create a new post on PC browser. But worked on my phone.

    Thanks

    Reply

  20. Thank you for providing a straight forward solution to an error which occurred when I tried to update the php version from 7.1 to 7.4

    Reply

  21. Fantastic, thank you soooo much for this, simple straight talk.. excellent.. first problem solved … now got to learn more

    Reply

    • It can mean the site can take longer to notice issues if some arise but shouldn’t cause a major issue in general.

      Reply

      Admin

  23. I added the code problem is gone but a text “WP_MEMORY_LIMIT” has appeared in the top corner of logo. So what should I do about that?

    Reply

    • You would want to ensure you added the code snippet correctly as it is likely showing that code thinking it is text.

      Reply

      Admin

  24. “First you need to edit the wp-config.php file on your WordPress site. It is located in your WordPress site’s root folder, and you will need to use an FTP client or file manager in your web hosting control panel.”

    Simple! What does that mean? It is gobbledegook to me.

    Reply

  26. I’m new in WordPress and I’m trying to figure out, for a couple of days, why suddenly I get an error 500 and can’t save my edits. This helped solve my problem. Thank you so much!

    Reply

  32. This solution is not working for me, my website is hosted at AWS server and I have all the access, I have tried to set memory_limit in php.ini, wp-config and .htaccess. but still getting issue when accessing backend pages.

    Reply

    • You would want to reach out to the support for your hosting for what other options you have available with AWS

      Reply

      Admin

  36. Thanks so much! Was so worried when I had this fatal error, but this fix is just a piece of cake! :-)

    Reply

    • If our recommendations are not working, you would want to reach out to your hosting provider and they should be able to assist

      Reply

      Admin

  45. Hi, I had the memory exhausted message and I increased the wp memory limit to 12mb and it worked. Then a few days later I had the same error, so I had to increase the wp memory limit to 256mb and the message kept showing. I am currently on 1024mb, which seems excessive for a small website of 4 pages and a blog post of 15,000 words. Any suggestions how to resolve the issue or what might be causing it?

    Reply

    • You would want to reach out to your hosting provider and they can normally assist in finding the root of the issue for your specific site.

      Reply

      Admin

  49. My website has been hacked. Which is showing the homepage blank. In which the script has been injected, as well as the entire WordPress files. Database file is also affected.

    Please suggest any solution for this. What do i have to do next steps.

    Reply

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