Database Rate Limiting Policy (Free Plans)

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As this is free hosting, there are going to be limits. However, what is available on the 000webhost free hosting platform is often abused by spammers. Because of this, we have implemented a new policy that limits the number of concurrent MySQL connections. These new limits are as listed below. Be sure to check the overall limits of a website as well.

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1. 30 concurrent connections (per database)
2. max_queries_per_hour = 15000 (DB read)
3. max_updates_per_hour = 5000 (DB write)
4. Database size can be 1GB at most
5. Database can hold 100 tables at most

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These limitations are already at a premium level and are subject to change at any time. For most users, this should not be a problem. Most free users have either a pre-made script that does not require many connections, or custom scripts that only require one or two connections.

However, we have discovered that there is sometimes a problem with Wordpress, which is one of the most common scripts on free websites. Most Wordpress users should not have any problems with their site, however those with a lot of plugins may have the following issues.

1. Pages take upwards of ten seconds to load.
2. Pages refuse to load.
3. Pages throw a 502 Bad Gateway error after refusing to load.

In the case that your site is affected by rate limiting, there are two options.

1. Remove some plugins or find a way to decrease the current number of connections.
2. Upgrade to premium hosting where rate limiting is not limited as much.

In the event that your website or account is suspended for abusing this policy, you should post on this forum and we will suggest an upgrade. There will be no other way for your data to be recovered.

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Plugins Which May Cause Issues

1. W3 Total Cache - causes Error 500. The fix is to go to /public_html/wp-config.php and remove the line: define("WP_CACHE", true);
    
   Also, go to /public_html/.htaccess and remove everything between #BEGIN W3TC Browser Cache and #END W3TC Browser Cache
    
2. WP Speed of Light - causes Error 500. The fix is to manually delete the plug-in from /public_html/wp-content/plugins and replace the .htaccess (before backing it up) with a default one.
    
3. WP Fastest Cache - causes Error 500. The fix is to manually delete the plug-in from /public_html/wp-content/plugins and replace the .htaccess (before backing it up) with a default one.
    
4. WP Performance Score Booster - causes Error 500. The fix is to manually delete the plug-in from /public_html/wp-content/plugins
    
   Also, go to /public_html/.htaccess and remove everything between #BEGIN WP Performance Score Booster Settings and # END WP Performance Score Booster Settings

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I have installed a theme/plugin and now I see a blank page!

First, make sure the plugin is not listed in “Plugins Which May Cause Issues” section. If not, lower your PHP version and try loading your website again: 000webhost cPanel > Settings > General > Change PHP version > 5.6.

If you want premium-grade hosting with no limits, upgrade to Hostinger today! There you can create unlimited MySQL databases!

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If users of WordPress are experiencing issues with their website described above (or any user that has a script that utilises database)

1. Pages take upwards of ten seconds to load.
2. Pages refuse to load at all.
3. Pages throw a 502 Bad Gateway error after refusing to load.

Then it will be rate limiting causing the issue as your website will have exceeded the free platform limits.

There is only a few options in this case

1. upgrade to the unlimited premium Hostinger which is nothing like 000webhost - it has no limits, tons more features and 100% dedicated staff behind it 24/7 managed servers to help you via live chat if you had any issues - it is a completely managed platform with industry tested hardware/software.
   https://www.hostinger.com/special/000webhost

2. Try installing https://wordpress.org/plugins/heartbeat-control/ once your website has come back up from being limited - and DISABLING heartbeat everywhere.

3. Use alternative free hosting.

Hostinger is 100 times better than 000webhost in every way, it is a professional company with real live support agents paid to make their clients happy - you get live chat inside your Hostinger panel, you get hundreds of features all inside the panel ready to use - no limitations, you get a 30 day money back guarantee if you aren’t happy! If you’ve not tried Hostinger before you should at least try the 1 month plan and see the extensive list of features and usage options you actually get!
You won’t experience any issues like you would on 000webhost which is a relatively new platform in terms of the design and is in constant development due to the expanding amount of users we get daily, there are no limitations on Hostinger which 000webhost enforce here to allow an equal experience for all the shared users. On Hostinger you are allocated onto premium servers which are monitored all the time by the team at Hostinger to provide the best experience and performance for you and your visitors.

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Database Troubleshooting Guide

So you may have have come across database troubles on your website creating journey? A common one might be: [image] This normally displays when a WordPress website has incorrect database configuration or the connection cannot be made to the backend server (rate limiting) frozen database. You can simply wait this error out if you confirm it is indeed rate limiting. Waiting these issues out is all you can do, we can’t speed up the process of rate …

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It appears when WordPress is facing issues connecting to the database due to rate limiting it can vary between

1. Showing the unable to connect to database using xyz @ xyz
2. Showing the WordPress installer
3. Showing a bad gateway error.

You just need to wait these issues out as your database is frozen

If you see WordPress installation showing up on an already working / installed WordPress site this just means you’ve hit the free hourly limits - just wait this out - do not reinstall.

If you see WordPress installation showing up on an already working / installed WordPress site this just means you’ve hit the free hourly limits - just wait this out - do not reinstall.

The same for this error - the likelyhood if you see this - it just means you’ve reached the free hourly limits and database has been frozen Just wait it out!

[NEW] Bypass rate limiting

How to WordPress more stable

Due to the rate limiting policy, using WordPress on the free plan has become a hassle. But what if we could change all of that? Would it be possible to bypass 000webhost’s database limits? I see you got excited, but that’s sadly not possible. What we’ll be doing instead is using something called “Remote SQL”. So what this does is move your database outside of 000webhost, while keeping your files and subdomain hosted here. Without further ado, let’s get started! (applies to users having a new…

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So if you see the topic above it details the limits and confines of the free plan.

It also offers the plugin of

Heartbeat Control

If you install that (when you can)

Then DISABLE all the heartbeat functions (not the plugin itself)

You can also use

Query Monitor

It will give you a rough idea of how many requests you are using in the backend just navigating around wp-admin and the front end too.

So if you use 50 requests loading a theme page in the backend, 5000/50 for example gives you a limit of 100 pages loadable in an hour in the backend before you hit rate limiting again (only an example)