In this article we will explain what a 520 error is and how to fix this issue.

Error 520 is a diagnostic message received from the server indicating that the response sent to the server is delivered as an invalid HTTP response or the request is not interpreted or the server is unable to process the request.

How do I fix the 520 error?

The first step in fixing the 520 error is to isolate the Cloudflare factor from it. There are several methods to perform this. We could either disable it from the Cloudflare Home page. We could also try turning off the Cloudflare DNS cloud to grey or pause the Cloudflare option. Please contact your webhosting to help you with this if you can’t seem to find the Cloudflare service.

Once it is turned off we could then search for the error logs to find further details of the error for the crash.

The major reason for the 520 error is the failure of the web server application. It primarily happens due to excessive resource usage in the server. Please contact your webhosting to help you with this.

Larger header sizes can be related to excessive use of plugins that requires too many cookies. Some of them also store too much data in cookies. This makes the headers heavy and Cloudflare may not be able to handle them.

The fix here would be to try disabling those plugins one by one. If there are quite a lot of plugins that need cookies, it is also a preferred to remove some of them.

An empty response from the origin web server generally happens due to an improper configuration of DNS entry at Cloudflare end. Thus it is not a bad idea to cross-check the existing DNS records added to the domain. Ensure that the A record points to the correct IP address. You can also check this with your hosting provider to see if they can help you with this.

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