How to Fix the WordPress 429 Too Many Requests Error

Are you seeing the ‘429 Too Many Requests’ error on your WordPress site?

This error message means that a user has sent too many HTTP requests to your website’s server. This error can be extremely frustrating because it is hard to figure out what’s causing it.

In this article, we will show you how to easily fix the ‘WordPress 429 Too Many Requests’ error.

What Causes the WordPress 429 Too Many Requests Error?

The most common cause of the ‘429 Too Many Requests’ error is when a user, bot, or script tries to make too many requests to the website’s servers. It is a measure to prevent DDOS attacks on the website.

However, if this measure is not properly configured, it may prevent search engines or other APIs from running properly. This can cause unexpected behavior on your website or prevent you from logging in to your WordPress admin dashboard.

Sometimes the error is caused when a script on your WordPress website is making too many requests to another website or service using an API. In that case, the API will respond with a 429 error code.

That being said, let’s look at how to easily troubleshoot and fix the ‘429 Too Many Requests’ error in WordPress.

Fixing the 429 Too Many Requests Error in WordPress

This error can be caused by a number of factors. We will show you multiple ways to troubleshoot and fix the ‘429 Too Many Requests’ error.

You can use the quick links below to jump to the method you wish to use.

Find and Deactivate the Misbehaving Plugin

The most common culprit of the 429 error is usually a bad plugin on your website. Plugins can sometimes make multiple requests to your website, which the server may reject with a 429 error code.

The first thing you need to do is deactivate all WordPress plugins on your website.

You can do this by visiting the Plugins » Installed Plugins page in your WordPress admin area and selecting all the plugins. After that, select ‘Deactivate’ from the ‘Bulk actions’ dropdown menu and click ‘Apply’.

If you are unable to access the WordPress admin area, then see our guide on how to deactivate all WordPress plugins via FTP.

Now visit your website again to see if you can reproduce the ‘429 Too Many Requests’ error. If you can’t, then this means a plugin was causing this issue.

You can now activate your plugins one by one and check your website after activating each one. This way, you can find the plugin causing the error.

Once you find the plugin causing the error, you can replace it with an alternative WordPress plugin or try contacting the plugin author to let them know about the error.

You can see our guide on how to ask for WordPress support and get it for more details.

Switch to a Default WordPress Theme

Many WordPress themes include functionality that normally comes with plugins. These themes may also cause the ‘429 error Too Many Requests’ on your website.

The easiest way to find out if this is the case is by switching to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-One.

You can do this by heading to Appearance » Themes and clicking on ‘Activate’ beneath one of the default themes.

For more details, please see our guide on how to properly change a WordPress theme. This post will also show you what to do if you can’t access the WordPress admin dashboard.

If changing to a default theme resolves the 429 error, then you can find another WordPress theme. You can also report the problem to the theme developer, and they may be able to fix it.

Change Your WordPress Login URL

If you are worried that you are seeing the ‘409 Too Many Requests’ error because of a DDoS attack, then you may want to change your WordPress login URL.

This way, hackers won’t be able to find your login page by adding wp-admin or wp-login to the end of your website’s URL.

You can easily change the WordPress login URL by using the WPS Hide Login plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once activated, you need to go to Settings » WPS Hide Login.

Simply enter a new login page URL into the ‘Login url’ box. You can also add a ‘Redirection URL’.

Make sure to click on ‘Save Changes’ to store your settings.

For more information, please see our guide on how to add a custom login URL in WordPress.

Ask Your Hosting Provider

A lot of times, you will see a ‘429 Too Many Requests’ error in third-party services that need access to your website. These could be search engines, crawlers, and other web apps.

If you are seeing the error in Google Search Console or any third-party service, then most likely, they are sending too many requests to your website.

In that case, you need to ask your WordPress hosting provider not to block those requests.

We hope this article helped you fix the WordPress ‘429 Too Many Requests’ error on your website. You may also want to see our list of the most common WordPress errors and how to fix them, and our top picks for the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools.

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