How to check if a site is down
When a site will not open, the first question is whether it is down for everyone or just for you. The answer tells you who to chase: your own device and ISP, or the hosting. Here is how to work that out fast and tell a real outage from a local cause (cache, DNS, network, browser extensions).
Check your site
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Check whether it is just you
Open the site from another device or over mobile data instead of Wi-Fi, and in a private window with no extensions. If it works from any of these, the problem is local: your network, cache, or an extension, not the site itself.
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Flush the DNS and browser cache
A stale DNS record or browser cache often makes a live site look down. Reload with Ctrl+F5, then clear the DNS cache on your machine: on Windows run ipconfig /flushdns, on macOS run sudo dscacheutil -flushcache.
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Check the site from an outside location
Local checks do not give an objective picture. Use an online uptime checker that reaches the site from its own server rather than your network. It shows whether the site responds at all, and with which HTTP code.
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Look at exactly what the server returns
The type of error matters more than the error itself. A timeout or connection refused means the server is unreachable. A 500 is a script or .htaccess error. A 503 on LiteSpeed usually means the account has hit its resource limits (entry processes, memory) or a maintenance mode. A 403 is a permissions issue or ModSecurity.
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Separate a domain problem from a server problem
If the domain does not resolve at all (the browser says the address was not found), the issue is more likely DNS or domain expiry than the site being down. If the domain resolves but the page will not load, look at the server and the site. Also check the SSL certificate has not expired, since a certificate error reads as the site not working too.
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If the site really is down, open cPanel
Log in to cPanel and open Resource Usage (Metrics): if the account is hitting its CloudLinux (LVE) limits, the site returns 503 under load. Check Errors for the latest failures, and see whether a maintenance mode is on in the CMS or a block is set in .htaccess.
How to verify the result
The easiest way to tell down for everyone from down for me is the free TechGuard uptime checker: it reaches the site from an external server and shows the HTTP code and response time. If the checker sees the site and you do not, the cause is on your side; if it cannot see it either, the site really is unavailable.
Tip: Do not mistake stale DNS for a site outage: after an IP change or a move to new hosting, the old record can linger in your DNS cache and your ISP's for up to a day, until the TTL expires. During that window the site is down only for you, while everyone else already sees it.