The best WordPress maintenance mode plugins for 2022 make it possible for a website owner to perform updates, maintenance, and development by showing users a customized “Coming Soon” or “Under Maintenance” message while the backend work is being done.
In this comprehensive guide, we cover why you need a WordPress maintenance mode plugin. Then, we’ll dive into the best WordPress maintenance mode plugins for 2022, so you can find the perfect plugin that suits your needs.
Let’s dive in.
What is a WordPress Maintenance Mode Plugin?
A WordPress maintenance mode plugin prevents website visitors from entering your website and instead displays a temporary page or message so they know to come back later.Website downtime can greatly impact visitor experience, so a WordPress maintenance mode plugin allows you to inform users while website maintenance, updates, and development are taking place.
A WordPress maintenance mode message is usually something like:
- Under Construction
- Coming Soon
- Down for Planned Maintenance
- New Site Coming
A WordPress maintenance mode plugin allows your WordPress site to stay online and your visitors to understand what’s currently happening. This helps ensure they continue to enjoy a friendly user experience.
Many WordPress maintenance mode plugins also display actions users can take to reach you during scheduled maintenance periods (or before a new site launch), such as sending an email, following on social media, etc.
When Do I Need a WordPress Maintenance Mode Plugin In 2022?
A WordPress maintenance mode plugin is useful for situations when you are making updates or edits to your website that would otherwise take your site offline or greatly diminish the functionality of pages on your website.
Examples of times when you may need a WordPress maintenance mode plugin include:
- When you’re switching plugins that handle important functionality (like switching ecommerce plugins, for example). This process can often include the migration of data for your store, products or customers that may result in downtime
- Temporarily, while a website redesign is taking place
- While you’re building a new website on a new domain
- If you’re changing themes and need to test how everything looks
- While you fix broken pages or errors after a failed theme or plugin update
- If you’re rolling out a new homepage
- You’re hoping to build buzz about a new product launch
- If you are in the midst of a process to move a WordPress website to a new web host or server
- While you move a WordPress website to a new domain
How WordPress Maintenance Mode Plugins Work
The best WordPress maintenance mode plugins are simple to implement, which means you don’t have to be proficient in web code to benefit from the feature.
Instead, you simply use a built-in feature to set “maintenance mode” for your website. With a maintenance mode plugin, “maintenance mode” will automatically go into effect while the site is under construction and can then be disabled once the maintenance is complete.
Most WordPress maintenance mode plugins double up as coming soon pages, which we’ll explore in more detail further on in this guide.
Many maintenance mode plugins also enable you to customize your maintenance page, including the background, theme color, text color, and headings. This allows site users to enjoy a great looking page while your site is offline.
In addition, many plugins offer premium features for greater customization of your page.
Just like WordPress caching, WordPress backups, and WordPress security, WordPress maintenance mode plugins are something you’d want to look into regardless of what your WordPress site does.
What to Look for in a WordPress Maintenance Mode Plugins
When it comes to selecting the best WordPress maintenance mode plugin, you’ll want to look for the following plugin features:
- Role-based access
- Subscription signup
- SEO considerations
- Customization
Role-Based Access
Any good WordPress maintenance mode plugin will allow you to define role-based user access which works with the standard WordPress user role system.
This means that, for instance, a subscriber role may just see the maintenance mode page you’ve created.
And yet an editor role or above may be able to see the website as if the maintenance mode plugin wasn’t even activated.
Without such functionality, it can be hard to collaborate with others as you don’t want to give everyone admin access so that they can check what the website looks like.
Subscription Signup
WordPress maintenance mode plugins often can double up as a coming-soon plugin, allowing you to build up hype for your new website or product.
But what use is building hype if you can’t capitalize on the interest once your website is live?
That’s where subscription forms come into play. They allow visitors to signup for your newsletter list so you can then update your subscribers on updates and progress (and even send them an initial launch offer to convert them into a paid subscriber).
If you don’t have a subscription form setup, your visitors are going nowhere and may never return.
Don’t miss out on potential future revenue.
SEO Considerations
While using a WordPress maintenance mode plugin won’t help you rank any higher in the Google search results, it can help keep your current SEO rankings intact.
There are two aspects to SEO when using a maintenance mode plugin:
- Minimizing 404 pages – If you have an existing website and suddenly make changes and redirect visitors to non-existent pages as you’re working on them, and don’t have a maintenance mode plugin activated, then you could impact your SEO rankings. Using a WordPress maintenance mode plugin will ensure that the correct HTTP status code is set so that search engines know the page is under maintenance and will be live again soon.
- Indexing a new site – On the other hand, if you’re using the maintenance mode plugin as more of a “Coming Soon” plugin, this can allow Google to index your site and get it to appear in search engines before you go live.
Customization
Most WordPress maintenance mode plugins let you easily customize your coming soon and maintenance mode pages with colors, background images, typography, and more.
Some even integrate directly with page builders and the block editor allowing you to build truly customized pages that can have any content you want.
It’s important to ensure that the maintenance mode plugin you pick works with your page builder. For example, it’s no good picking one that works with Elementor if you use Beaver Builder.
Analytics
Various WordPress maintenance mode plugins also include analytics, such as Google Analytics, that enable users to track their visitors’ activities on their site, including traffic, which can then be used to further improve pages.
Social Media
Allowing your visitors to connect with you via your social media page during website maintenance is a great way to spread the word about the launch of your new site (or to ensure visitors continue to interact with your business).
Check to see if the WordPress maintenance mode plugin you choose allows you to enable social connections as part of their features.
Best WordPress Maintenance Mode Plugins of 2022
Without further delay, here are a few of the best WordPress maintenance mode plugins.
1. Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode, and Landing Pages by SeedProd
Yeah, it’s a long-winded name. But the Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode, and Landing Pages plugin is properly known as SeedProd. The long name is likely geared toward better keyword ranking on WordPress.org.
SeedProd was originally founded by John Turner and had more than 800,000+ active installs when John applied for the AwesomeMotive accelerator fund. After discussions with Syed, a full acquisition was decided upon, and in 2018, SeedProd became a part of the AwesomeMotive family.
In case the name sounds familiar, AwesomeMotive is the company behind popular WordPress plugins such as WPForms, OptinMonster, and more.
Today, SeedProd has well more than 1 million+ active installs and thousands of 5-star ratings.
Pros of the Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode & Landing Pages Plugin by SeedProd
One of the main pros of SeedProd is that it’s incredibly feature-rich. It isn’t simply a coming soon page plugin, nor is it just a maintenance mode plugin; it can even be used to create landing pages.
While this brings a certain degree of complexity, it does save you from installing three plugins to do the same thing when one plugin can do them all.
SeedProd released an update that made it a full-blown page builder with the following blocks in the free version:
- Headline Block
- Text Block
- List Block
- Button Block
- Image Block
- Video Block
- Divider Block
- Spacer Block
- Column Block
- Giveaway Block
- Contact Form Block
And that means that SeedProd can be used to build any type of page you want, including:
- Landing Pages
- Sales Pages
- Opt-In Pages
- Lead Pages
- Squeeze Pages
- Coming Soon Pages
- Maintenance Mode Pages
- Webinar Pages
- Thank You Pages
- 404 Pages
And this is all done with an easy-to-use drag and drop builder.
SeedProd supports any WordPress theme and works great on WordPress multisite installs too.
The Coming Soon Landing Page and Maintenance Mode WordPress plugin also allows you to direct visitors to your social media page, which helps ensure your visitors stay in the know concerning your page and the exciting updates to expect.
It also allows you to choose your own background color or image of your own, as well as the icons’ color and background color, and it includes your option of two countdown layouts for added customization.
Some other features include:
- Includes over 7 social media icons
- Superior email subscription plans
- Mobile responsive ready
- Translation ready
Some pro features include Google Map Integration, Footer credits, video and slider options, and more.
Cons of the Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode & Landing Pages Plugin by SeedProd
There are no major cons to SeedProd. The only minor downside (which can also be considered an upside) is that there’s too much functionality you simply may not need.
As SeedProd moves more into the page builder market, you may prefer to keep to more specific coming soon and maintenance mode plugins that only do what you need, without all the extra stuff.
The only other downside is that newsletter integration only comes with the premium version of the plugin and not the free version.
Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode & Landing Pages by SeedProd Pricing
There’s the free version of SeedProd available on WordPress.org, and then there’s the premium version of SeedPro available via their website.
For the premium version, there are 4 tiers which consist of:
Basic ($39.50) — A single site license with plugin updates and support for one year
Plus ($99.50) — A three-site license with plugin updates and support for one year
Pro ($199.50) — A five-site license with plugin updates and support for one year
Elite ($239.60) — An unlimited site license with plugin updates and support for one year
Unlike most AwesomeMotive plugins, the plans include mostly the same feature set with the expectation of domain mapping, which is restricted to the Pro and Elite licenses.
And like most AwesomeMotive plugins, you can often find a good discount of at least 30% off.
At the time of writing this article, SeedProd is running a 50% off sale, making it a great value proposition (especially for agencies with unlimited licenses).
Our Opinion on Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode & Landing Pages by SeedProd
SeedProd is a great plugin and has always been WordPress’s best maintenance mode plugin.
With the advent of more WordPress page builder functionality, SeedProd definitely brings more to the table than its competition.
SeedProd is one of our favorite coming soon and maintenance mode plugins for WordPress.
2. WP Maintenance Mode
The WP Maintenance Mode plugin was developed by DesignModo and has long been one of the most popular maintenance mode plugins for WordPress.
It’s always been a fan favorite due to its free nature and expanding feature set, making it the perfect maintenance mode/coming soon page plugin. (Technically, it’s a maintenance mode plugin, although it works equally as well as a coming soon plugin.)
It boasts more than 700,000+ active installs and hundreds of 5-star ratings on WordPress.org.
Pros of the WP Maintenance Mode Plugin
With the WP Maintenance Mode plugin, you can display a Coming Soon page alerting visitors to your fresh, new website or simply add a Maintenance Mode page to let them know that your site is being serviced.
And it works well with all WordPress themes.
The main positive of the WP Maintenance Mode plugin is that it has everything you need in a maintenance mode plugin and doesn’t cost anything.
For example, this plugin has the following functionality:
- Fully customizable (change colors, texts, and backgrounds)
- Subscription form (export emails to .csv file)
- Countdown timer (remaining time)
- Contact form (receive emails from visitors)
- Coming soon page
- Landing page templates
- WordPress multisite Support
- Responsive design
- Social media icons
- Works with any WordPress theme
- SEO options
- Exclude URLs from maintenance
- Bot functionality to collect the emails in a friendly and efficient way
- GDPR Ready
There’s no premium version. And you don’t really need it because everything you need is here.
The team is also receptive to feedback and regularly responds to support tickets in the WordPress.org forums, which is rare for a free plugin with no premium version.
Cons of the WP Maintenance Mode Plugin
There aren’t any substantial cons to the WP Maintenance Mode plugin. If we were going to be picky, it’s a shame that the subscription form doesn’t integrate with email service providers, meaning that you have to manually export the emails and then import them into your ESP.
However, that’s a small price to pay when the price of the plugin is zero.
Our Opinion on WP Maintenance Mode
WP Maintenance Mode is a feature-rich WordPress maintenance mode plugin that offers everything you need and nothing you don’t.
As it’s entirely free, if you’re on a budget, it makes sense to give it a spin. Even if you aren’t on a budget, it still is a great plugin that works well and should be on your list.
3. Maintenance
About the Maintenance Plugin
The Maintenance plugin is a simple WordPress plugin to enable a maintenance mode on your WordPress website created by WebFactory.
And with WebFactory you know you’re in good hands, they have some of the most popular plugins on the WordPress.org repository and have more than 21 plugins in total.
At the time of writing, Maintenance has more than 500,000+ active installs and over 440 5-star ratings.
Pros of the Maintenance Plugin
The Maintenance plugin is a “back to basics” plugin that only includes the maintenance portion. There’s no ability to create a coming soon page or landing pages.
This plugin simply sets the correct 503 status code when you enable maintenance mode, telling search engines that the website is undergoing temporary maintenance and will be available again soon.
Apart from that, the Maintenance plugin includes the following functionality:
- Retina ready HTML/CSS layout
- Full-screen background (Backstretch)
- Blur background effect
- Upload your own logo
- Configurable colors: fonts, icons, background
- Customize title, headline, text
- User login on the frontend
- Admin bar status
- 503 error on/off
- Google analytics support
- Exclude selected pages from Maintenance mode
- Support for all popular caching plugins
Cons of the Maintenance Plugin
Because of its relatively simple nature, there’s no advanced functionality like contact forms or email subscription support.
And as we mentioned, there’s no coming soon page support. However, if you want a two-in-one solution, then WebFactory has a separate plugin called Minimal Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode – Coming Soon Page, which offers both solutions in one.
Maintenance Plugin Pricing
While some WebFactory plugins do have a premium version available, the standard Maintenance plugin doesn’t have a premium version and as such, is entirely free, making it a great option for those on a budget.
Our Opinion on the Maintenance Plugin
Maintenance is a great, easy-to-use plugin that, while light on features, does exactly what it sets out to do. If you are on a budget and don’t need anything fancy, the Maintenance Plugin is worth a look.
Want something more advanced? Then both SeedProd and WP Maintenance Mode are great alternatives.
Additional WordPress Maintenance Mode Plugins
Here are a few additional WordPress maintenance mode plugins we thought we should mention.
1. Fancy Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode
The Fancy Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode plugin allows users to easily switch their site to maintenance mode, using one of three beautiful themes that are also responsive, MailChimp compatible, and include various social media buttons.
Some other features include:
- Quick and easy to set up
- Works with any WordPress theme
- Includes custom background and custom logo
- Includes countdown timer custom logo, custom background
- Email buttons
2. Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode by Colorlib
Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode by Colorlib includes over 13 eye-catching templates to display your maintenance mode or coming soon message, along with social media buttons, including Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, and a subscription form for visitor interaction, and it also works with all modern WordPress themes.
Some other features include:
- Mobile ready design
- Custom CSS area
- Timer countdown option
- Opening date
- MailChimp Integration
3. Rocket Maintenance Mode & Coming Soon Page
The Rocket Maintenance Mode & Coming Soon Page is a simple to use interface that enables both techies and the non tech alike to create stunning Maintenance Mode and Coming Soon pages on their site, and it also includes a list of social icons as well as favicons to choose from.
Some other features include:
- Search engine optimized
- Countdown timer and progress bar to let visitors track your website launch
- Change content using a visual editor
- Upload your own logo
- Your choice of background and text colors
- Hundreds of fonts to choose from
4. Minimal Coming Soon and Maintenance Mode
The Minimal Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode – Coming Soon Page plugin enables both novice and experienced users to easily set up a Landing page for their site, which can be used to gather visitor information, as well as a Maintenance Mode page and Coming Soon page that can be modified in almost every aspect to suit your needs, and it also includes both SEO preview and analysis tools in the pro version to track your progress once you’re done.
Some other features include:
- Compatible with any WordPress theme
- Fully responsive
- 26 Instagram filters
- Gathers email using MailChimp
- Preview maintenance page or coming soon page before it launching it
- Over 800 fonts available
- Add custom CSS or HTML
The Minimal Coming Soon and Maintenance Mode plugin also includes a pro version with various exciting features, including more than 100 themes, over 40 content animations for Coming Soon pages, more than 100,000 premium images, and more.
5. Coming Soon by Supsystic
This Coming Soon by Supsystic plugin offers a completely customizable Coming Soon page, including fonts, background logo, and launch page, using Drag & Drop Builder, to let your visitors know in the most professional manner that your site is under construction, along with Google Analytics tracking to examine your responses. It also includes a subscription option and easily enables you to add your own CSS and HTML code.
Some other features include:
- Coming Soon live preview
- Responsive design
- Countdown timer
- Works with any WordPress theme
- Multisite support
6. Under Construction
This free Under Construction plugin enables users to construct a Coming Soon or Under Construction page is most commonly used when you expect your site to be in maintenance mode for a while.
With this Under Construction mode, not only do you get to select from a wide selection of professional-looking templates to display your Maintenance Mode page, but you can also write a few lines explaining why your page is offline, or use a video or picture instead, which also helps your SEO rankings.
It also includes over 15 social media buttons, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Skype, and WhatsApp, as well as MailChimp integration, for staying connected with your visitors while your site is down.
Some other features include:
- Page description for SEO
- If you want, you can allow specific users access to the regular site, which means they won’t be affected by the maintenance page that you are creating. Instead, they will be able to work with the site as usual, according to their Whitelist user role.
- You can also add icons to display your contact information, such as telephone numbers, email addresses, etc.
- You can also use custom CSS to adjust any part of your page as needed
- Google Analytics Tracking ID to enable tracking using Google Analytics
- When you are done with the maintenance page, you can disable it with a single button
- You can also select an end date and time using the auto function, and it will automatically disable the mode on the set date
Meanwhile, the pro version includes over 50 features and options, including advanced access control, for even greater customization and convenience.
7. Elementor Page Builder
Although Elementor is widely known as a WordPress page builder, Elementor’s WordPress Maintenance Mode has a feature that counts as being a WordPress maintenance mode plugin because it is packed with features, including drag and drop design functionality to create your page.
Some other features include:
- Compatible with most WordPress themes
- Responsive
- Assign roles that will be able to access the site during the maintenance
- Templates make processing quick and easy
- Allows you to display additional information via your coming soon or maintenance page
- Maintenance mode tells search engines that your site is temporarily down
- Includes many pre-made widgets
This plugin also includes a pro version for more advanced features.
8. Smart Maintenance Mode
Smart Maintenance Mode is a free WordPress plugin that enables users to easily display a Coming Soon page during site maintenance, while the Smart Maintenance Mode enables you to define and create ranges and IP ranges that allow developers to see the actual site.
It also enables you to add a countdown to your page, so visitors can time the launch of your site.
Some other features include:
- Add custom HTML content
- Add custom messages for Maintenance mode page
- Add custom images for Maintenance mode page
- Enable/disable maintenance mode
- Allow user roles to access site when in maintenance mode
9. Slim Maintenance Mode
With the Slim Maintenance Mode plugin, only administrators can see the website once the mode is active, and no additional settings are needed to perform the maintenance. Then, once the work is completed, simply deactivate the mode to display your upgraded website.
Some other features include:
- Works with any theme
- Alert message in the backend, when the plugin is active
- Sends HTTP response status code 503 Service Unavailable
- Supports Super Cache, WP Rocket, Cachify, WP Fastest Cache and W3 Total Cache
Choosing the Best WordPress Maintenance Mode Plugin of 2022
When choosing the best WordPress maintenance mode page for you, simply think about the goal for your page.
For instance, during your site maintenance, is it important that you still maintain visitor interaction? Or are you looking to simply capture potential customers to purchase your services or products once your site is restored or online?
Considering the goals for your maintenance page beforehand will assist you in knowing what features to look for in the plugin you choose.
Each week, the team at iThemes team publishes new WordPress tutorials and resources, including the Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report. Since 2008, iThemes has been dedicated to helping you build, maintain, and secure WordPress sites for yourself or for clients. Our mission? Make People’s Lives Awesome.
