{"id":30501,"date":"2021-04-21T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhblog.dream.press\/blog\/?p=30501"},"modified":"2026-08-27T14:37:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T21:37:55","slug":"how-to-fix-wordpress-memory-limit-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-wordpress-memory-limit-error\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Fix the WordPress Memory Exhausted Error by Increasing Your Site\u2019s PHP Memory Limit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Your site goes blank, and in place of your homepage WordPress prints an alarming message: \u201cAllowed memory size exhausted.\u201d Don\u2019t panic \u2014 your website isn\u2019t broken. PHP<\/a>, the language WordPress is built on, has simply hit the memory ceiling your server allows it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a nutshell, this error means your server isn\u2019t allocating enough resources for WordPress to execute the PHP scripts<\/a> it needs to function properly. This issue can negatively affect your site\u2019s functionality, but there are several ways you can fix and even prevent it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fix: increase your PHP memory limit.<\/strong> Connect to your site via SFTP, open the wp-config.php<\/em> file in your WordPress root folder, and add define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );<\/code> on its own line above \/* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. *\/<\/code>. If the error persists, your host\u2019s server-level memory_limit is the cap \u2014 ask your host to raise it. Below, we\u2019ll walk through every method step by step, starting with how to recognize the error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why you\u2019re seeing a WordPress memory limit error on your site<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As we mentioned earlier, the PHP memory limit error means you\u2019re not allocating enough resources for your WordPress installation to function correctly. The problem usually presents itself with a message such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 2348617 bytes)<\/pre>\n\n\n
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\"The<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
That message is more useful than it looks. The byte figure is your current memory limit \u2014 divide it by 1,048,576 to convert to megabytes, so \u201c134217728 bytes\u201d means a 128 MB limit. The message also names the file that ran out of memory, and its path usually points straight at the plugin or theme responsible. One warning: if the same plugin keeps exhausting memory no matter how high you set the limit, raising it further just masks a memory leak. Update, replace, or remove the culprit instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t be scared by the word \u201cfatal,\u201d though. In PHP, a fatal error just means the one script that ran out of memory stopped running: your files and your database are untouched. You will need to make a small configuration change to keep it from happening again \u2014 specifically, raising your PHP memory limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can\u2019t even reach your dashboard? That\u2019s common with this error: a memory-exhausted fatal error can take down wp-admin<\/em> along with the rest of your site. The good news is that every file fix in this guide works over SFTP, no login required. And if a specific plugin caused the crash, you can disable it over SFTP too \u2014 open wp-content\/plugins<\/em> and rename that plugin\u2019s folder to switch it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What actually uses up your PHP memory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The limit is just a ceiling; something on your site has to hit it. The usual suspects: heavy plugins (WooCommerce, for example, loads product, customer, and payment logic on every request, and that work takes real memory), bloated multipurpose themes that ship dozens of features you never use, poorly coded plugins with memory leaks, two plugins conflicting with each other, and big one-off jobs like image regeneration or site backups. To find your culprit, start with the file path in the error message. If you host with DreamHost, the panel\u2019s AI-powered error log analysis can also read the raw log for you and suggest a fix. Raising the limit cures the symptom; a leaky plugin will keep crashing your site until you update, replace, or remove it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WP_MEMORY_LIMIT vs. the server\u2019s PHP memory_limit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
By \u201cPHP memory limit,\u201d we mean the amount of server memory that\u2019s allocated to run PHP scripts \u2014 but there are actually two separate values in play, and knowing the difference explains why some fixes seem not to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n