Maintenance mode displays an “under construction” page to your site visitors while you work on updates or changes behind the scenes. Your WordPress admin remains fully accessible — only the public-facing site is affected.
When to Use Maintenance Mode
- Making major design or layout changes
- Running large content migrations
- Performing plugin or theme updates that may temporarily break the frontend
- Setting up a new site before its official launch
Enabling Maintenance Mode
- Navigate to your site’s dashboard and click the Site Actions tab
- Find the Maintenance Mode card
- Click the toggle switch to enable maintenance mode
- A warning notice will confirm that maintenance mode is active
While enabled, visitors will see a maintenance page instead of your site content.
Disabling Maintenance Mode
- Return to the Site Actions tab
- Click the toggle switch to disable maintenance mode
- Your site will be immediately accessible to visitors again
Tip: Don’t forget to disable maintenance mode when you’re done! Your site will remain hidden from visitors until you turn it off.
Important Notes
- Admin access is unaffected — you and your team can still log into WordPress and work on the site normally
- Search engines — if maintenance mode is left on for an extended period, search engines may notice the site is unavailable and temporarily adjust rankings
- Caching — if you have edge cache enabled, you may need to purge it after disabling maintenance mode to ensure visitors see the live site
Need More Help?
If you have questions about maintenance mode or need help with site visibility settings, contact MightyPress support.