A client hit a publishing error across an entire website running Gutenberg with the Kadence theme and got the nasty “Publishing failed. The post could not be updated in the database.”

Lost a whole lot of edits = OUCH… 😫

When they tried to save edits to a page, nothing saved.

I went through the usual suspects:

• Checked REST API access
• Looked at PHP/Apache limits
• Reviewed ModSecurity rules
• Scanned debug logs (just cache entries, no real errors)
• Repaired and optimised the wp_posts and wp_postmeta tables

Nothing obvious was wrong.

The clue came from the browser task manager.

The Contact Us page editor was using 637 MB of memory, compared to under 100 MB for other screens.

That meant Gutenberg + Kadence was loading a huge REST API request before edits even began. On a busy site, that kind of overhead can push server or database limits and cause save failures or page freezes.

How to fix it if it happens to you:

• Update everything – make sure Kadence, Gutenberg, and WordPress core are up to date.
• Reduce editor load – disable Kadence blocks you don’t use (Kadence Blocks > Block Controls). Each block adds metadata.
• Disable/delete unnecessary plugins – in this case, six Kadence plugins were removed.
• Clean postmeta – use a tool like WP-Optimize to clear old revisions and unused metadata. Kadence can accumulate bloat.
• Increase server-side limits if needed – raise max_allowed_packet (MySQL) and max_input_vars (PHP) for more breathing room.

If your site is throwing “Publishing failed” or other errors, we can dig in and fix it.

Get in touch with us below or hit the Live Chat button to get help now.