403 Forbidden
The server understood the request and refused it. The site is up; this request is not allowed.
Where it failed: the request
What visitors see
A "403 Forbidden" or "Access denied" page.
Usual causes
- A firewall or bot protection blocked the visitor (Cloudflare, Sucuri, Wordfence, a WAF rule).
- File or folder permissions that do not let the web server read the page.
- A missing index file with directory listing switched off.
- An IP, country or login restriction.
How to tell which one it is
- A firewall's 403 page carries the provider's name and a reference (Cloudflare shows a Ray ID).
- If only some visitors get it, it is a rule about them (IP, country, bot score); if everyone does, it is permissions or configuration.
What to do
- Check the firewall's event log for the rule that matched and relax it.
- Fix permissions (folders 755, files 644 on most Linux hosts).
- Add an index file or the right DirectoryIndex / index setting.
Check the site now
The Down Checker names the layer that failed (DNS, connection, TLS or the server) and decodes the error page it gets.
Free, no sign-up. Scan only sites you own or may test. 60 scans an hour per address.