HTTP 503 Service Unavailable Error - Meaning & Fix

The HTTP 503 Service Unavailable error means the server is currently unable to process your request due to temporary overloading or maintenance. This issue is generally momentary, but in web scraping, it can often indicate that a website is overwhelmed by excessive automated requests or has implemented anti-scraping measures. Some websites display a user-friendly maintenance page, while others may block scrapers with a generic 503 response.

Main causes

Server undergoing maintenance – websites may return a 503 response during scheduled downtime, preventing both regular users and scrapers from accessing content.
Server overloaded with requests – too many requests from a scraper in a short period can trigger rate limiting, leading to temporary IP bans or forced delays.
Unexpected technical issues – the target website may be experiencing server failures or resource exhaustion, unrelated to scraping.
Configuration errors – if the scraper is not handling retries properly, it may repeatedly request unavailable resources, exacerbating the issue.

# Request example 
curl -X PUT https://sandbox.oxylabs.io/ -H 'Accept: */*;q=0.8' -H 'Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate' -H 'User-Agent: Chrome/91.0.4472.124'

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Common fixes

Verify the legal restrictions in your jurisdiction to understand why the content is blocked.
Contact the website administrator to inquire about the specific legal restriction causing the error.
Use a VPN service to access the content from a different jurisdiction where it may not be restricted.
Seek an alternative source for the content that complies with your local laws.

# Response example 
HTTP/1.1 503 Service Unavailable
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 49

503 Service Unavailable

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Common scraping HTTP error codes

401 Unauthorized	403 Forbidden	404 Not found	405 Method not allowed	406 Not acceptable
407 Proxy authentication required	408 Request timeout	409 Conflict	410 Gone	411 Length required
412 Precondition failed	413 Payload too large	414 Uri too long	415 Unsupported media type	416 Range not satisfiable
417 Expectation failed	421 Misdirected request	422 Unprocessable entity	423 Locked	424 Failed dependency
426 Upgrade required	428 Precondition required	429 Too many requests	431 Request header fields too large	444 Connection: close
451 Unavailable for legal reasons	499 Client closed request	501 Not implemented	503 Service unavailable	505 Http version not supported
506 Variant also negotiates	507 Insufficient storage	508 Loop detected	510 Not extended	511 Network authentication required