How to Fix ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS (Step-by-Step for Every Cause)

What ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS Means

When your browser shows ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS (Chrome) or "The page isn't redirecting properly" (Firefox), it means your site is caught in a redirect loop. The browser requests a URL, gets redirected to another URL, which redirects back to the first URL (or through a chain that eventually loops), and after about 20 cycles the browser gives up.

This is not a vague error. It has a specific, fixable cause every time. The challenge is identifying which redirect rule is creating the loop.

Quick Diagnostic Steps

Before diving into specific causes, run through these checks to narrow down the problem:

Cause 1: SSL/HTTPS Redirect Loops

This is the most common cause. It happens when your server redirects HTTP to HTTPS, but something in your stack is terminating SSL and sending the request back as HTTP internally. The server sees HTTP, redirects to HTTPS, the SSL termination converts it back to HTTP, and the loop begins.

When This Happens

• You just enabled "Force HTTPS" in your CMS or CDN
• You are using a reverse proxy or load balancer that terminates SSL
• You have both server-level and application-level HTTPS redirects active
• Your CDN is set to "Flexible SSL" while your origin server also forces HTTPS

How to Fix It

If using Cloudflare:

Cloudflare's "Flexible SSL" mode connects to your origin over HTTP even when the visitor uses HTTPS. If your origin also redirects HTTP to HTTPS, you get a loop.

1. Log into Cloudflare dashboard
2. Go to SSL/TLS settings
3. Change the mode from "Flexible" to "Full" or "Full (Strict)"
4. Wait 5 minutes for the change to propagate

If using a load balancer or reverse proxy:

Your application needs to check the X-Forwarded-Proto header instead of the direct connection protocol. The load balancer terminates SSL and forwards the request over HTTP, but includes X-Forwarded-Proto: https to indicate the original protocol.

For Nginx behind a load balancer, check that your redirect rule uses:

if ($http_x_forwarded_proto = "http") {
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

Instead of:

if ($scheme = "http") {
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

If using WordPress:

1. Check wp-config.php for hardcoded WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL values
2. Ensure both use https:// if you are forcing HTTPS
3. If behind a proxy, add this to wp-config.php before the "That's all" line:

if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO']) && $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] === 'https') {
    $_SERVER['HTTPS'] = 'on';
}

Cause 2: CMS Configuration Conflicts

Content management systems like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla have their own URL and redirect settings. When these conflict with server-level rules, loops happen.

WordPress Specific

Site URL mismatch:

If Settings > General > WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) do not match your actual configuration, WordPress can create redirect loops.

1. If you cannot access the admin panel, edit wp-config.php directly:

define('WP_HOME', 'https://yourdomain.com');
define('WP_SITEURL', 'https://yourdomain.com');

2. Check the database: wp_options table, rows siteurl and home. These must match the actual URL visitors use.

Permalink flush:

Sometimes WordPress permalink rules become corrupted. If you can access the admin panel:

1. Go to Settings > Permalinks
2. Click "Save Changes" without changing anything
3. This regenerates the .htaccess rewrite rules

Cause 3: CDN Configuration Issues

CDNs sit between your visitors and your origin server. Misconfigured CDN settings are a frequent source of redirect loops, especially around SSL and caching.

Common CDN Problems

Caching a redirect response:

If your CDN caches a 301 or 302 response, it will serve that redirect to all visitors even after you fix the origin. Purge the CDN cache after making any redirect-related changes.

Mixed CDN and origin redirects:

If both your CDN and your origin server redirect www to non-www (or vice versa), you can get a loop when they disagree. Choose one location to handle the canonical redirect and disable it everywhere else.

CDN page rules conflicting with origin:

CDN-level redirect rules (like Cloudflare Page Rules) can conflict with your server configuration. Audit all CDN redirect rules and compare them with your server configuration.

How to Fix

1. List all redirect rules in your CDN configuration
2. List all redirect rules on your origin server
3. Look for conflicts: same URL being redirected to different destinations, or circular redirects between layers
4. Consolidate redirects to one layer (preferably the CDN for performance)
5. Purge CDN cache after making changes

Cause 4: .htaccess Rule Conflicts (Apache)

Apache servers use .htaccess files for URL rewriting and redirects. Multiple .htaccess files, plugin-generated rules, and hand-written rules can easily conflict.

Common .htaccess Problems

Multiple HTTPS redirect rules:

If two different rules both try to redirect to HTTPS, they can interact in unexpected ways.

Conflicting www/non-www rules:

Having both a "redirect to www" and "redirect to non-www" rule in different locations creates an instant loop.

Plugin-generated rules:

WordPress plugins, especially SEO and security plugins, often add their own .htaccess rules. These can conflict with each other or with manually added rules.

How to Fix

1. Back up your current .htaccess file
2. Replace it with the minimal default for your CMS
3. If the error stops, the problem is in your custom rules
4. Add rules back one at a time until the error returns
5. The last rule you added is the culprit

For WordPress, the minimal .htaccess is:

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

Cause 5: Plugin or Extension Conflicts

CMS plugins are the wild card. Security plugins, caching plugins, SEO plugins, and redirect plugins can all create redirect rules that conflict with each other.

How to Identify the Culprit

Common Offenders

• Security plugins that force HTTPS (conflicting with server-level HTTPS redirect)
• Caching plugins that serve cached redirect responses
• SEO plugins that enforce canonical URLs with redirect rules
• SSL plugins that add their own HTTPS redirect logic
• Redirect manager plugins with misconfigured rules

Cause 6: Server-Level Redirect Conflicts

When you have redirects configured at multiple levels (DNS, CDN, web server, application), they can conflict.

The fix is always the same: audit every layer, identify where redirect rules conflict, and consolidate them to a single layer.

Cause 7: Cookie or Session-Based Loops

Some redirect loops are caused by cookies. The application checks for a cookie, redirects to set it, checks again, and repeats because the cookie is not being set correctly.

Common Scenarios

• Cookie domain mismatch (www.example.com cookie not readable on example.com)
• Secure cookie flag set but site accessed over HTTP
• Cookie path restriction preventing the redirect target from reading the cookie
• Browser blocking third-party cookies that the application depends on

How to Fix

1. Clear cookies for the domain
2. Check your application's cookie configuration (domain, path, secure flag, SameSite attribute)
3. Ensure the cookie domain covers all subdomains if your redirect crosses subdomain boundaries

How Monitoring Catches Redirect Loops

Redirect loops are especially damaging because they affect every visitor immediately. Unlike a slow performance degradation that builds over time, a redirect loop is a complete outage for affected URLs.

Prevention Checklist

After fixing a redirect loop, take these steps to prevent it from happening again:

1. Document all redirect rules across every layer (DNS, CDN, server, application, plugins)
2. Consolidate redirects to as few layers as possible
3. Test redirect changes in staging before applying to production
4. Monitor redirect behavior continuously with automated tools
5. Use "Full" or "Full (Strict)" SSL when using a CDN with an SSL-enabled origin
6. Review plugin changes before activating any plugin that handles URLs, SSL, or redirects
7. Keep a rollback plan for any redirect-related change

Every redirect loop has a specific, identifiable cause. The error is not random and it is not mysterious. Trace the redirect chain, find where it circles back, and fix the rule that creates the loop.