A 500 Internal Server Error is the server's way of saying "something broke while loading your site, and I won't be more specific." The good news: the usual suspects are few, and most are fixed without support.
The big four causes
- A broken .htaccess file — corrupted rules or an aborted edit.
- A PHP fatal error — a plugin or theme with a fatal bug (very common right after updates).
- Wrong file permissions — folders/files set to a mode the server won't run.
- Memory exhaustion — a script blew past the PHP memory limit.
Fix 1 — reset .htaccess
Rename .htaccess in public_html to .htaccess_old (via File Manager) and reload your site. If it works, the old file was the problem — restore a known-good copy or regenerate it (WordPress can recreate a standard one via Settings > Permalinks).
Fix 2 — isolate the PHP failure
For WordPress, temporarily disable the plugins folder as described in WordPress Critical Error — that separates plugin faults from everything else. Then switch to a default theme if the error persists. See also Common PHP Errors.
Fix 3 — check permissions
Files should be 0644 and folders 0755 on shared hosting. In File Manager, right-click > Change Permissions. Don't set files to 0666 or 0777 — that's a security risk and often its own cause of 500s.
Fix 4 — raise the memory limit
If a memory exhausted fatal hides behind the 500, raise memory_limit in Select PHP Version > Options to 256M.
Still stuck?
Check Website Not Loading for the wider picture, then open a ticket with the domain and the last change you made. Our team can pull the actual server error behind the generic 500 in seconds.