What is a website status checker?
A website status checker sends an HTTP request from outside your network. Visual Sentinel reports the status code, response time, SSL state, DNS timing and results from the available check regions. It follows redirects but does not display the redirect chain. A successful HTTP response does not prove that the page looks right or a transaction works.
Is my website down right now?
Enter your URL in the checker above. Visual Sentinel sends external HTTP requests from available check regions and reports the status code, response time, SSL certificate status and DNS timing. If every checked region fails while your browser works, compare another network and inspect access logs. A regional, cached or firewall-limited result is possible; the test alone cannot establish the cause.
How do you check if a website is down or just unreachable from me?
Use a checker that runs outside your local network and compare the result with your browser, mobile data, or another connection. If Visual Sentinel reports the site is up from its check regions but it fails for you, the issue is usually local DNS, ISP routing, browser cache, or a firewall rule. If every checker region also fails, the site, origin server, CDN, or DNS path likely needs investigation.
What does partially reachable mean?
Partially reachable means at least one Visual Sentinel check region can reach the site and at least one region cannot. That usually points to regional DNS propagation, CDN edge trouble, ISP routing, firewall geoblocking, or a hosting issue affecting only part of the internet.
Is the website status checker really free?
Yes. The on-demand website status checker is free and does not require an account, email address, or API key. Fair-use rate limits protect the service from abuse. The checker is funded by Visual Sentinel’s paid monitoring plans, which monitor sites continuously instead of only when you run a manual check.
What do the different HTTP status codes mean?
200 means the HTTP request succeeded, not that the rendered page works. 301 and 302 are redirects. 403 means access was refused; 404 means the requested resource was not found. 500 is a server error. 502 means a gateway received an invalid upstream response. 503 means the service is unavailable, often because of overload or maintenance. 504 means a gateway did not receive a timely upstream response. Use the response and logs together to investigate.
Why does my site load for me but the checker shows it is down?
Three common causes: a CDN cache served the page to your browser while the origin is down, your browser has an active session cookie that bypasses access control, or the site blocks the checker through a firewall, bot rule, or geoblocking policy. Try an incognito window from mobile data and review CDN or firewall logs to reproduce what the checker sees.
How do I monitor a website continuously instead of checking on demand?
Sign up for a Visual Sentinel account. Free covers 3 monitors with 10-minute HTTP checks, SSL expiry alerts, email, and browser push with no card. Solo and Starter allow 5-minute uptime checks; Business and Agency allow 1-minute checks. Additional notification channels depend on the plan, and confirmation or alert-delay settings can add time before a message is sent.
Does the checker also test SSL certificates and DNS?
An HTTPS website check reports certificate validity, issuer, and days remaining, plus DNS lookup timing for the request. For selected DNS record values, use /tools/dns-checker, which provides one service-resolver observation rather than a global propagation matrix. For leaf-certificate identity, trust, hostname, and expiry details, use /tools/ssl-checker; it does not report protocol or cipher coverage.