Too Many Redirects: What This Error Means & How to Fix It

When surfing the web, we’ve all likely stumbled upon a “too many redirects” error message. This can be frustrating for users — and frightening for site owners who are unsure what it means. You don’t want this error message to impact your site's user experience or conversions.

In this post, we’ll go over what this error means and how to fix it on different browsers so you can get your site back up and running.

Depending on what browser visitors are using, the error will show up differently. Here are some common variations below. 

Too Many Redirects Chrome

Image Source

If you see this screen, it demonstrates that your Chrome browser is struggling with too many redirects and is forced to give up.

Too Many Redirects Safari

Image Source

This error also occurs with Safari. Here’s the Safari too many redirects error page.

Too Many Redirects Firefox

Image Source

Last (but not least), here’s what the too many redirects error looks like on Firefox browsers. 

This error is likely caused by a configuration error on the website you’re trying to visit. If the website in question is your website, then you must resolve it as soon as possible. Let’s walk through potential solutions below.

These steps apply to any website, no matter what website builder or content management system (CMS) it uses.

However, if you have a WordPress website, you can take some unique steps to resolve the too many redirects error. Check out How to Fix the Redirect Loop Error in WordPress to learn more.

1. Clear cookies on the redirecting website.

Your first step to fix the too many redirects issue is to clear cookies. Good news: This is the easiest step, and may fix the problem. To start, try clearing cookies on the website causing the redirect loop. The process is similar for any web browser. Here’s how to do that. 

Chrome

At the top right, click the Customize icon then click Settings.

Click Privacy and security from the left toolbar.

Click Cookies and other site data.

At the top right, search for the website's name.

To the right of the site, click Remove.

Safari

Click Privacy.

Click Manage Website Data.

Use the Search field to find the name of the website causing the redirect loop.

Select the site and click Remove.

Firefox

Click Firefox > Preferences.

Click Privacy & Security from the left toolbar.

Image Source

Click Manage Data…

In the Search field, type the name of the website causing the redirect loop.

Image Source

Click Remove All Shown.

Click Save Changes.

2. Clear your browser cache.

If clearing cookies on the specific website causing the redirect loop doesn’t work, try clearing your whole browser cache. The process is similar for any web browser. Here’s how to make it happen. 

Chrome

At the top right, click the Customize icon then click Settings.

Click Privacy and security from the left toolbar.

Click Clear browsing data.

Safari

Click Privacy.

Click Manage Website Data.

Click Remove All.

Click Remove Now.

Click Done.

Firefox

Click Firefox > Preferences.

Click Privacy & Security from the left toolbar.

Image Source

Click Clear Data…

Cookies and Site Data and Cached Web Content should both be checkmarked by default. Click Clear.

3. Ensure your SSL Certificate is installed correctly.

If you’ve cleared your cookies and cache and are still getting the too many redirects error, then the issue could be your HTTPS settings. HTTPS means that your website uses a security protocol called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt data transfers between a browser requesting a website and the web server delivering that website.

This protocol can cause the redirect loop in special circumstances. For example, if you’ve forced SSL on your site without installing an SSL certificate, you’ll likely see the error. That’s because all requests to your hosting server are sent over HTTP, which your server has to redirect to HTTPS repeatedly.

So, it’s important to ensure your SSL certificate is installed correctly and renewed in a timely matter when necessary. You can use an online tool like SSL Shopper, SSL Server Test, or Digicert, to test that your SSL configuration is installed, valid, and trusted in just a few minutes.

4. Evaluate your third-party services and plugins.

If you’ve ruled out your cookies, cache, and HTTPS settings as causing the too many redirect errors on your site, then check any third-party services you use.

If you use a proxy server — an intermediary server that directs requests from multiple clients to different servers —it could be responsible for your too many redirects error. For example, Cloudflare has a Flexible SSL option, which forces requests between clients and Cloudflare to be sent over HTTPS but allows requests between Cloudflare and your origin server to be sent over HTTP.

Image Source

If that option is enabled but you already have an SSL certificate installed on your server, then your server will redirect these requests to HTTPS and likely cause the too many redirects error. You can resolve this issue by switching to another encryption mode, like Full or Full (strict).

If your site is on WordPress, then third-party plugins could also be causing the error. Redirect plugins allow you to easily and quickly set up redirects when the permalink of a post or page is changed or when other conditions are met. But sometimes, changing the settings of these plugins or updating them can cause a too many redirects error to occur, so consider checking this out, too. 

To see if this is the issue on your site, try disabling your plugins. A good way to test this is by deactivating all your plugins in bulk, and then reactivating them individually to isolate the culprit. Here are the steps:

Log into your WordPress admin dashboard.

Select Plugins > Installed Plugins.

If you no longer see the too many redirects error, start activating each plugin one by one and reloading your website after each activation to identify the faulty plugin.

You may need to contact the plugin developer to resolve the issue or find an alternative to use on your site. There are so many plugins out there that do the same thing — so you can definitely find one that won’t cause problems. 

5. Reset your htaccess file.

If none of the steps above have resolved the too many redirects error, then the problem is likely how redirects are set up on your server. To double-check that, you’ll need to access your hypertext access file, or the .htaccess file, rename it, and create a new one. To do so, you can use a file manager like cPanel or via FTP client. The following steps are for cPanel specifically.

Go to File Manager and select your .htaccess file.

Right-click to rename it .htaccess_old. This is now your backup file.

Go to public_html

Create a new text file and name it .htaccess.

Copy and paste the following code into the file: 

 
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

• You can now save and exit File Manager.

This will reset the .htaccess file to its default settings so you can now save and refresh your site. If this hasn’t solved the too many redirects error, you can restore the backup .htaccess file.

6. Contact your hosting provider.

If none of the steps above resolve your issue, it's time to try contacting your hosting provider. If you let them know you’re experiencing a too many redirects error that's impacting your website performance, and they may be able to help you track down what the exact cause is — or even fix it for you.

Resolving the Too Many Redirects Error

There’s no foolproof method for preventing a too many redirects error, but there are steps you can take to resolve it. By fixing this error as quickly as possible, you’ll ensure visitors can continue browsing, navigating, and converting on your site with ease.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.