WordPress Maintenance Mode Updated on March 19, 2025 by Carrie Smaha 1 Minutes, 0 Seconds to Read Maintenance mode enabled in WordPress allows you to place a splash page up on your website while you are working on it. The basic splash page lets your visitors know that your website is undergoing maintenance. There’s a plugin in the WordPress plugin directory that makes this task easy. Let’s go over the basic steps to install and use the plugin to enable maintenance mode. How to enable WordPress Maintenance mode First, you’ll need to log into the WordPress Dashboard section of your website. Once you are logged into the admin area, look on the right menu pane for plugins, then add new: Now, in the search field type “Maintenance” and you’ll see the related plugins. Select the WP Maintenance Mode plugin and click “Install Now”. The prompt will ask if you if are sure you want to install this plugin. Click “Ok”. You’ll then see a screen verifying the plugin was installed correctly. Click “Activate Plugin”. Now, you will be directed to the plugin page. Select “settings”. Now, once you click the settings button, configure the settings to meet your needs. Now, when you visit the website you will see the splash page similar to the snapshot to the left. Share this Article Carrie Smaha Senior Manager Marketing Operations Carrie enjoys working on demand generation and product marketing projects that tap into multi-touch campaign design, technical SEO, content marketing, software design, and business operations. More Articles by Carrie Related Articles How to Install WordPress using Softaculous The Ultimate Guide to Optimizing WordPress Performance Complete Guide to WordPress Widgets: How to Add, Customize, and Manage The Ultimate Guide for Migrating WordPress Websites W3 Total Cache – Guide to WordPress Caching Cleaning Up Old Post Metadata in WordPress How to Log into Your WordPress Dashboard Getting Started Guide: WordPress How to Enable or Disable Automatic WordPress Updates How to Optimize your WordPress Database with WP-Optimize Settings