WordPress Maintenance Mode: How to Enable, Disable, Fix & More

Maintenance mode comes handy when it’s about temporarily restricting visitors’ access to your site. You will need to enable this mode to perform major updates or changes that can break your site.

If visitors face a broken or incomplete site, chances are they will leave and may never return. And when you set maintenance mode, visitors will see a brief explanation of the ongoing work instead of a broken site.

However, how to enable WordPress maintenance mode, what is the best approach, and how to make it user-friendly? Continue reading this guide to know everything about WordPress maintenance mode.

When to Put Your WordPress Site in Maintenance Mode?

You may want to put your WordPress site on maintenance mode for whatever reason, do you know the right times to use it? Here are some of the key situations when you must consider this mode:

• Updating website
• Structural or design changes
• Server upgrades or migration
• Database maintenance
• Security maintenance
• Fixing critical bugs and more.

These are some of the backend tasks that can affect your site’s functionality and cause site errors or display issues.

How to Put WordPress Website in Maintenance Mode?

You can put your site in maintenance mode in two different ways: manually and using a plugin. We will guide you through both methods so that you can choose the one that best suits your needs.

Method 1: Put Site in Maintenance Mode Manually (For Developers)

If you are comfortable with editing your site’s theme file and manual coding, then this method is for you. Here are the steps you need to follow:

Step 1: Navigate to Appearance > Theme File Editor from your WordPress dashboard

Step 2: Click on “functions.php” and then copy and paste the following code snippet:

function custom_maintenance_mode() {
    if (!current_user_can('edit_themes') || !is_user_logged_in()) {
        wp_die('<h1>Under Maintenance</h1><p>We’re making some updates. Please check back soon!</p>', 'Maintenance Mode');
    }
}
add_action('get_header', 'custom_maintenance_mode');

Step 3: Click on “Update File” and you are done.

This method will show a simple maintenance message to all visitors who are not logged in. Something like:

If your maintenance-related work will only take a few hours, then this simple approach is good to go. But if it’s going to take longer, or if you want to display a custom design then using a plugin will be a better option.

Note: Editing theme files can cause unexpected issues to your site. Therefore, it’s advisable to always back up your site before making any changes.

Method 2: Put Site in Maintenance Mode with a Plugin (Beginner-Friendly)

The benefit of using a plugin is you won’t have to write code and do everything with a few clicks. You can use any of your preferred plugins and we are going to use the Maintenance plugin from WebFactory.

Here is how to do it:

Step 1: Go to your WordPress dashboard > Plugins > Add New

Step 2: Search for “Maintenance” and install and activate the plugin.

Step 3: Next, from the dashboard’s left-side menu, click on “Maintenance”

Step 4: Now make content, design, and other customizations according to your needs.

Step 5: Once you are done, click “Preview” to see how the page looks.

Step 6: If you are happy with the design “Save Changes” to activate maintenance mode.

As you can see, the process is super simple and doesn’t require any technical expertise or dealing with code. 

Note: You don’t have to stick with the Maintenance plugin. Feel free to use any WordPress maintenance mode plugin that suits your needs.

Method 3: How to Put Divi Site in Maintenance Mode with a Plugin

If you use the Divi theme and want a branded maintenance mode page, you can use plugins like DiviFlash. This plugin’s “Maintenance Mode” extension lets you enable the mode and design a custom page using Divi Builder.

Here is how:

Step 1: First get DiviFlash and then install and activate it like any other premium plugin.

Step 2: Then navigate to Pages from the dashboard and create a new page for maintenance mode with your prefeed design element.

Note: You can also use DiviFlash’s maintenance mode templates that are completely free.

Step 3: Navigate to DiviFlash > Settings.

Step 4: Find out “Maintenance Mode” and enable it.

Step 5: Next choose your created page from the “Choose Maintenance Mode Page” dropdown menu.

That’s it. Your Divi site will now display your custom maintenance page to visitors. Something like this:

How to Disable Maintenance Page on WordPress Site?

If your maintenance-related tasks are complete, disable it to make your site fully accessible to visitors.

Here is how you can do it:

• If Maintenance Mode Was Enabled Manually:

Navigate to WordPress dashboard > Appearance > Theme File Editor > Function.php file. Then, remove the code snippet you previously added and click “Update File.” Your site should then be live again for all visitors.

• If Maintenance Mode Was Enabled via a Plugin:

If you have used a plugin like “Maintenance” to put your site in the maintenance mode, simply deactivate the plugin. Log in to your site, navigate to Plugins, and deactivate the maintenance mode plugin you were using.

• If Maintenance Mode Was Enabled on Divi Website:

If you used DiviFlash to enable maintenance mode to your Divi site, follow these steps to disable the mode:

• Login to your website and navigate to DiviFlash > Setting
• Scroll down to find out “Maintenance mode” and disable it.

How to Fix Common Maintenance Mode Issues?

Sometimes WordPress maintenance mode may not not work properly or won’t turn off. These are common issues, and their fixes are usually simple if you know where to look:

1. Stuck in Maintenance Mode

After disabling, your site may remain in maintenance mode and show a “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance” message. This can happen when the .maintenance file in your WordPress root directory isn’t automatically deleted.

Here is how to fix it:

• Access your website files via FTP or your hosting file manager.
• Navigate to the root directory of your WordPress installation (where wp-config.php is located).
• Look for a file named .maintenance and delete it.
• Next, refresh your website and your site should now be accessible again.

2. Maintenance Mode Page Not Displaying

Sometimes cache issues cause maintenance mode page not displaying related issues. Here is how to fix it:

• Clear browser cache: Clear your browser’s history and cached images/files.
• Clear WordPress cache: If using a caching plugin (like WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache), clear its cache. Look for a “Clear Cache” button.
• Temporarily disable caching: If clearing doesn’t help, try temporarily disabling your caching plugin to see if that resolves the issue.

3. SEO and Indexing Problems

When your site is in maintenance mode, search engines may still try to crawl it. This can cause a temporary drop in rankings and many more issues. Here is how to fix it:

• Use a 503 Service Unavailable status code: This tells search engines your site is temporarily down and they should come back later.
• Avoid using other status codes like 4xx or 200: These can confuse search engines, which can lead to de-indexing or incorrect indexing.
• Keep maintenance duration short: Search engines may deindex pages if maintenance lasts too long.

These are some of the most common maintenance mode related issues. Besides them, you may also face issues like incompatible plugins causing conflicts or errors during maintenance.

Best Practices for Using WordPress Maintenance Mode

Before wrapping up, let’s quickly look at some best practices for using WordPress maintenance mode:

• Inform Users in Advance: If possible, try to inform users about scheduled maintenance beforehand, so they know when to expect downtime. You can do it with email notifications, social media updates, or a banner on your site.
• Clear Message: Display a clear message like “Site under maintenance, back shortly.” It will be better if you add contact info, support links, or social media, so users can reach you if needed.
• Use a Professional Design: If you are using a plugin, then design the maintenance mode page the way that will reflect your brand. You can do it by adding your logo, color, and more.
• Keep Maintenance Periods Short: Try to finish your maintenance-related tasks as fast as possible. You can do it by planning tasks in advance and testing changes on a staging site before going live.
• Test Everything Before Disabling: Always test if your site’s functionality, links, and design work properly before disabling maintenance mode.

Closing Thoughts

By now,  you might have a good understanding of WordPress Maintenance Mode. Throughout this guide, we discussed what it is, how to enable and disable it. We also covered best practices of using maintenance mode as well.

More than that, we included some common maintenance mode issues and their solutions. As a result, you can get everything from our guide. But if you still have any query, feel free to comment.

FAQs about WordPress Maintenance Mode

• Are Maintenance Mode and Coming Soon the Same?

No, both are not the same. Maintenance mode is for temporary site downtime, while Coming Soon is used for launching a new site or page. Check out our guide for detailed information.

• Does maintenance mode affect SEO?

No, maintenance mode doesn’t negatively affect SEO if set up correctly. Always use a 503 status code to let search engines know the downtime is temporary. Most plugins handle this automatically, but you can also manually configure a 503 status with server-side code.