WordPress Error Log Location: How to Turn On, Find and Read WordPress Error Logs

On this page

1. Where WordPress error logs are kept
2. How to turn on the WordPress error log
3. How to find the PHP error log on your host
4. How to read a WordPress error log line
5. Edge cases that hide errors
6. Turn logging off when you finish
7. FAQs

WordPress does not keep an error log until you turn one on: add define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); and define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); to wp-config.php, and errors are written to /wp-content/debug.log. Separately, your server keeps its own PHP error log, usually a file called error_log or a log viewer in the hosting panel.

Those two places answer almost every "where are my WordPress errors" question. The rest of this guide shows how to switch logging on without showing errors to visitors, where each host type keeps the files, and how to read the lines you find.

Where WordPress error logs are kept

Log	Usual location	What it records
WordPress debug log	/wp-content/debug.log (only after you enable it)	PHP notices, warnings and fatal errors raised while WordPress runs
PHP error log	A file named error_log in the site root or /wp-admin/, or a path set by the host	PHP errors even when WordPress debugging is off
Web server log	Hosting panel, for example cPanel > Metrics > Errors or hPanel's log section	500, 403 and timeout errors from Apache, LiteSpeed or Nginx
WooCommerce logs	WooCommerce > Status > Logs	Payment gateway, webhook and fatal error logs for the store

A fatal error email from WordPress ("Your Site is Experiencing a Technical Issue") also names the file and line. It goes to the admin email in Settings > General, so check that address is yours and not an old developer's.

How to turn on the WordPress error log

1. Take a backup of wp-config.php, or copy it to your computer first.
2. Open the file. Use File Manager in your hosting panel or SFTP, and open wp-config.php in the site root.
3. Find the existing WP_DEBUG line. Most installs already have define( 'WP_DEBUG', false );. Replace it rather than adding a second copy, because a duplicate define causes its own warning.
4. Paste these lines above /* That's all, stop editing! */:

   define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
   define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
   define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
   @ini_set( 'display_errors', 0 );

5. Reproduce the problem. Load the broken page, save the post or run the checkout that fails.
6. Open /wp-content/debug.log in File Manager and read the newest lines at the bottom.

WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY set to false keeps errors out of the page, so visitors do not see paths or messages. Logging works on a live site this way.

Log to a private location

By default debug.log sits in wp-content, which a browser can often open by URL. Since WordPress 5.1 you can give a path instead of true:

define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', '/home/youruser/logs/wp-debug.log' );

Use a folder above public_html so it can't be downloaded. If you leave the default path, delete the file when you finish.

How to find the PHP error log on your host

1. cPanel hosts: look for an error_log file in public_html and in public_html/wp-admin. cPanel > Metrics > Errors shows the last web server errors.
2. Hostinger hPanel: open the website, then search the sidebar for logs or check Advanced > PHP Configuration to confirm error logging is on; error files appear in the site's folders through File Manager.
3. Managed WordPress hosts usually give a log viewer in their dashboard (for example under the site's Logs or Tools tab) rather than file access.
4. VPS with Nginx: check /var/log/nginx/error.log and the PHP-FPM log, often under /var/log/ with the PHP version in the name.
5. Still not sure? Create a temporary PHP file with <?php phpinfo();, open it, and search for error_log to see the exact path. Delete the file straight after.

How to read a WordPress error log line

A typical line looks like this:

[11-Nov-2026 06:42:10 UTC] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function some_function() in /home/user/public_html/wp-content/plugins/example-plugin/inc/init.php:42

• The time is usually UTC, which is 5 hours 30 minutes behind India time. Match it to when you saw the problem.
• The level tells you how serious it is. A Fatal error stops the page. Warning, Notice and Deprecated lines rarely break anything.
• The path names the culprit. /plugins/example-plugin/ points to that plugin, /themes/ to the theme, and /wp-includes/ usually means a plugin passed bad data into core.
• The line number is what a developer needs. Copy the whole line, including the stack trace below a fatal error.

Once you know the plugin, deactivate it from Plugins > Installed Plugins, or rename its folder over SFTP if the admin won't load. Our guide to fixing the WordPress critical error walks through that part.

Edge cases that hide errors

• The log stays empty. A caching plugin or server cache may be serving an old copy of the page, so PHP never runs. Purge the cache, or test while logged in.
• Constants defined twice. Some hosts or security plugins add their own WP_DEBUG line further down wp-config.php. The first one wins, so search the whole file.
• Errors from a must-use plugin. Files in /wp-content/mu-plugins/ can't be deactivated from the Plugins screen; they have to be renamed or moved.
• A huge debug.log. Old notices can grow the file to hundreds of megabytes and use up disk space. Delete or rename it before testing so you only see fresh lines.
• Memory errors. "Allowed memory size exhausted" lines point to the memory limit rather than one plugin; see WordPress memory limit errors.

Turn logging off when you finish

1. Set WP_DEBUG back to false in wp-config.php.
2. Delete /wp-content/debug.log, or the custom log file, so file paths are not left readable.
3. Clear any cache and check the front end once.

If you'd rather someone else watched logs, updates and backups each month, that is part of our WordPress maintenance service.

FAQs

Where is the WordPress error log by default?

There isn't one until you set WP_DEBUG_LOG to true. After that the file is /wp-content/debug.log.

Can I view WordPress error logs from the dashboard?

Not by default. WooCommerce stores have WooCommerce > Status > Logs, and some hosts and log viewer plugins show debug.log inside the admin. For a white screen you still need File Manager or SFTP.

Is it safe to keep WP_DEBUG on a live site?

Only for a short time, with WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY false and the log outside the public folder or deleted afterwards.

Why does debug.log not appear?

Either no error has happened since you enabled it, the folder isn't writable, or another WP_DEBUG line overrides yours. Check file permissions on wp-content and search wp-config.php for duplicates.