Updated: May 1, 2026, 11:00 Hrs
Update: WordPress.com login, signup and dashboard issues have been resolved
WordPress.com is having a rough morning. Users trying to log in or access their dashboards are hitting 502 Bad Gateway errors and a “Whoops! There was a small systems error. Please try refreshing the page and if the error is still there drop us a note and let us know.” message. The public homepage loads fine for most people – the problem kicks in the moment you try to actually sign in or sign up or access WordPress.com while logged in.
A 502 error means the gateway or proxy server got a bad (or no) response from an upstream server. In plain terms: the front end of WordPress.com is trying to reach its backend, and the backend isn’t answering. At scale, that usually comes down to a server overload, a database chokepoint, or something going wrong in the CDN or load balancer layer. Automattic hasn’t released any official statement yet.
What to do if you’re locked out
Don’t keep hammering the refresh button. It won’t help and adds to the load. Wait 5–10 minutes, then try again. A hard refresh (Ctrl + F5 on Windows, Cmd + Shift + R on Mac) can help if the fix has already rolled out but your browser is stuck on a cached error page. Check the official WordPress.com status page for updates directly from their engineering team.
If you somehow get in, don’t publish anything major until things are confirmed stable.
Your content is fine
A 502 error is a connection problem, not a data problem. Nothing is deleted. The server just isn’t responding to requests right now. In fact, sites hosted on WordPress.com paid plans are fine.
Does this affect self-hosted WordPress.org sites?
Generally, no. If your site runs on Bluehost, SiteGround, WP Engine, or another host, you’re likely unaffected unless you use the Jetpack plugin for login, in which case you may see issues there too.
Most outages like this on major platforms resolve within a few hours. We’ll update when Automattic confirms a fix.
