{"id":501,"date":"2012-12-26T15:19:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-26T15:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/2012\/12\/26\/allowed-memory-size-exausted\/"},"modified":"2025-02-22T10:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T15:33:08","slug":"allowed-memory-size-exhausted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/website\/error-numbers\/allowed-memory-size-exhausted\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Fix the Allowed Memory Size Exhausted Error"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A common error with Open Source software like WordPress<\/a>, Drupal<\/a>, Moodle<\/a>, and Joomla<\/a> is the PHP “Allowed memory size error”<\/strong>. Increasing the memory limit is an easy solution. This memory_limit<\/em> can be changed in the php.ini<\/em> in the public_html<\/em> folder in your hosting account. This error can creep up in your website during the normal development process. The following is an example of the error:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 268435465 bytes exhausted
(tried to allocate 280559520) in Unknown on line 0<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is due to PHP variable data being stored in the memory that is not cleared while the PHP scripts for your CMS or web application are running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who code their own sites:<\/strong> Coders use the unset()<\/strong> function to clear variable data that is no longer needed; however, with open source software, you will not want to alter any code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Fix the “Allowed Memory Size Exhausted” Error<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The PHP memory resource can be increased in the php.ini<\/strong> file located in the public_html<\/strong> directory on your server. The following steps will explain how to set the php.ini to allow a larger amount of memory use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Login to cPanel<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Go to the File Manager<\/a><\/strong>, or FTP\/SSH into your server.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Select the Web root (public_html\/www)<\/strong> directory and click Go<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Find the php.ini file<\/strong> in the public_html<\/strong> directory.

    Note!<\/strong> If you do not have a php.ini<\/em> in your public_html<\/em> files, you can have our tech support staff restore<\/a> the php.ini<\/em> to your public_html<\/em> directory.<\/div>Open the php.ini file<\/strong> with a code editor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Find the following section in the php.ini file.

    max_execution_time = 30
    max_input_time = 60
    memory_limit = 128M<\/code>

    Increase the memory_limit<\/code> value to 256M<\/strong>.

    If the PHP memory_limit<\/code> is already at 256M, you can increase it to 512M.

    Important:<\/strong> The PHP max_execution_time<\/code> is capped at 90 seconds<\/strong> on Shared Hosting Plans<\/a> to prevent extremely long processes from impacting other users sharing the server resources. If you need a longer max_execution_time<\/code>, consider one of our VPS Hosting Plans<\/a>.<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n\n

  6. Save<\/strong> the changes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. In order for your memory limit to take effect you will need to make the php.ini recursive<\/strong>.

    \n
    Important!<\/strong> Making the php.ini recursive is an important step. If you do not know how to do this, please see our article on Make the php.ini recursive in the .htaccess<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Now visit the website these changes were applied to. You should not see the “Allowed memory size” error anymore. If the error still shows on your website, there may be a setting within the software itself that is overriding the change or the php.ini<\/strong> file in the public_html<\/strong> directory may be overwritten by another setting elsewhere. If this is the case, you can contact our our tech support staff<\/a> to have them look into the error further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A common error with Open Source software like WordPress, Drupal, Moodle, and Joomla is the PHP “Allowed memory size error”. Increasing the memory limit is an easy solution. This memory_limit can be changed in the php.ini in the public_html folder in your hosting account. This error can creep up in your website during the normal Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56983,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4335],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-error-numbers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Fix the Allowed Memory Size Exhausted Error<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This article will explain how to fix the fatal error "Allowed memory size exhausted" by changing a few lines of code in the php.ini file.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/website\/error-numbers\/allowed-memory-size-exhausted\/\" \/>\n<meta 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