Avoid WordPress maintenance mode: Secure updates with staging

Many website operators know the uneasy feeling when their website suddenly says “maintenance mode active”. At this moment, visitors are locked out, orders are lost and the user experience suffers.

So that you can carry out updates, plugin installations or design adjustments without your audience seeing an error message, we explain everything about WordPress maintenance mode here. We also show you an alternative with staging that allows you to completely avoid downtime.

Maintenance Mode vs. Coming Soon Page

Maintenance mode is often confused with a Coming Soon page. While maintenance mode takes an existing website offline for a short time, a coming soon page is used to announce an upcoming launch or relaunch. Maintenance mode is intended for temporary downtimes, while a Coming Soon page is used to promote a new project. A professional Coming Soon page can collect newsletter registrations and generate anticipation. It should therefore not be used as a substitute for the maintenance phase.

Why should you regularly maintain a WordPress website?

Many people think their website runs by itself. However, WordPress is a dynamic content management system that consists of many components. Themes and plugins are constantly being updated to close security gaps, add new functions or improve performance. An outdated installation offers attackers easy opportunities for attack. Only regular maintenance can protect against this.

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Why WordPress maintenance mode often causes problems

While you are updating a theme or installing a new plugin, the WordPress maintenance mode displays a simple message: “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.”

This is technically a 503 status code that signals that your WordPress site is offline. In practice, however, this often leads to problems:

• Visitors only see an empty maintenance mode page and leave your website because they have no access to content.
• Incomplete updates can lead to the message remaining permanently visible and your site appearing to “hang”.
• Online shops lose orders during this time. Every minute in WordPress maintenance mode can cost you sales.
• Search engines judge longer downtimes negatively, which can affect your visibility.
• Design breaks occur when the standard message does not match the corporate design and your website looks unprofessional.

Advantages of the WordPress maintenance mode

Despite all the criticism, maintenance mode has many advantages. It is immediately available and requires no plugin or technical expertise. The most important plus points:

• Prevents incorrect displays during updates: While WordPress is updating files, the 503 status and the maintenance page prevent visitors from seeing half-finished content. Instead of a broken page, they see a clear message. This minimises the risk of visitors placing orders or making entries during this phase.
• Protects against user actions during changes: As long as maintenance mode is active, users cannot perform any actions that would fail during an update. This reduces the risk of database corruption or plugin conflicts.
• Simple activation without additional tools: Maintenance mode is automatically generated by WordPress when you start updates via the dashboard. You don’t need an additional WordPress maintenance mode plugin for short maintenance. This is particularly practical if you don’t have any technical background knowledge.
• Suitable status message for search engines: WordPress uses a 503 status code that tells search engines that the maintenance is temporary. As long as the maintenance only lasts a few minutes, this will not have a negative effect on your ranking.

Disadvantages of maintenance mode

Despite its protective function, the maintenance mode also has weaknesses:

• No active website: While maintenance mode is active, visitors do not see any content, only a neutral message. This increases the risk that they will bounce or buy elsewhere. For WooCommerce shops, this means an immediate loss of sales.
• Potential SEO disadvantages with longer downtimes: If the website is offline for a longer period of time or the 503 status is not sent correctly, search engines can remove pages from the index. Regular downtime damages visibility.
• Susceptibility to errors: If the update fails, e.g. due to too many simultaneous updates or closing the browser tab, the page remains in maintenance mode. In this case, the .maintenance file must be deleted manually, which is often a hurdle for beginners.

Activate and deactivate WordPress maintenance mode

Maintenance mode is normally activated automatically as soon as you carry out updates in the WordPress dashboard. However, you can also activate it deliberately or create your own WordPress maintenance page. Here we present the most common methods.

With plugin “WP Maintenance Mode” (LightStart)

The LightStart plugin (formerly WP Maintenance Mode) is free and offers many customisation options. It allows you to create a professional maintenance or coming soon page. The site works on multisite installations and with any WordPress theme. There are also SEO options and the option to exclude individual URLs from maintenance mode. This allows you to keep the login page or the WooCommerce checkout page accessible, for example. Note: Caching plugins can disrupt the display, so you should deactivate the cache during maintenance.

Activate WordPress maintenance mode

How to activate WordPress maintenance mode with the LightStart plugin:

1. Open the Plugins → Install section in the dashboard.
2. Search for LightStart and click on Install now, then on Activate.
3. Go to Settings → LightStart.
4. Activate the maintenance mode there.
5. Choose the design of your maintenance page, adjust colours, texts and layout.

Deactivate WordPress maintenance mode

When the maintenance work is complete, you can simply switch the mode off again:

1. Open Settings → LightStart in the dashboard.
2. Switch off the maintenance mode.
3. Check whether your website is fully accessible again.
4. Optional: Deactivate or delete the plugin completely.
5. Empty the cache and check that all plugins and functions are running correctly.

Create a file called .maintenance in the WordPress root directory

For more technically savvy users, there is the option of activating maintenance mode without a plugin. To do this, create a file with the name .maintenance in the root directory of your WordPress installation. If you can’t find the file later, it may be hidden by default. In this case, you will need to show hidden files to make them visible.

The content can be a short PHP instruction that defines the maintenance mode. WordPress recognises this file and displays the maintenance page. However, this method is less convenient as you have to create and delete the file manually.

Deactivate WordPress maintenance mode

If your website hangs after an update or you have created the .maintenance file manually, you need to switch off WordPress maintenance mode so that the site is accessible again. There are several simple ways to do this:

1. Delete the .maintenance file: Connect to your server via FTP or SFTP and open the root directory of your WordPress installation. Delete the .maintenance file. WordPress creates this file to activate maintenance mode and removes it as soon as the update is complete. Deleting it will immediately bring your site back online.
2. Deactivate the plugin: If you are using LightStart or another maintenance mode plugin, deactivate the plugin in the dashboard or via FTP. Remove the plugins from the /wp-content/plugins/ folder or deactivate them in the wp-config.php file by switching off the autoload function.
3. Edit Wp-activate.php: In rare cases, the maintenance mode remains active despite the deleted file. Open the file wp-activate.php in the WordPress root directory via FTP and change the line define(‘WP_INSTALLING’, true) to define(‘WP_INSTALLING’, false). Then save the file and upload it again.
4. Temporarily deactivate plugins: If a plugin update is the cause, deactivate all plugins via FTP by renaming the plugins folder. Then activate each plugin individually to identify the culprit.

How to replace WordPress maintenance mode with staging

Maintenance mode is useful as an emergency solution, but it clearly has its limits. For professional websites and online shops, it is not enough to keep visitors waiting for hours for a message. Instead, you should test updates and changes risk-free in a staging environment.

What is a staging environment?

A staging environment is an exact copy of your live website that works in isolation. You test updates, new plugins and designs on this test site without visitors noticing anything. If everything works as desired, you transfer the changes to the live site at the touch of a button. If something doesn’t work, discard the tests. Your online presence remains unchanged.

With Raidboxes, each website automatically has its own staging environment. You can activate this at any time via the dashboard. There, plugins and themes are updated risk-free and new features are tested. After testing, you push the changes back to your running website with a click. The big advantage: no downtime, no loss of sales and no bad first impression.

Why staging is better than maintenance mode

The following table compares the most important features of the classic maintenance mode with the staging environment of Raidboxes:

Function	WordPress maintenance mode	Staging environment at Raidboxes
Accessibility	Visitors see a neutral maintenance page; the website is not usable	Visitors continue to see the live site; tests take place in the background
Freedom from risk	Updates run directly on the production side; errors take effect immediately	Updates and changes are tested in a separate environment; errors have no impact on the live website
Server resources	Utilisation of the same resources; large updates can impair performance	Staging and live site have their own resources, databases and file systems
Security	Inadequately designed maintenance pages can reveal security information	Isolated environment with own login, SFTP access and log files; security risks do not affect the live site
Loss of sales	There are no orders when maintenance is active	Shop remains accessible at all times; no downtime
SEO impact	Longer downtime can have a negative impact on rankings	No downtime; search engines register no interruption
Ease of use	Short maintenance can be carried out without a plugin	One click to activate, test and push; expert mode for selective pushing

Why Raidboxes is the better solution

At Raidboxes, we offer hosting solutions that are specially optimised for WordPress. In addition to the staging environment, you benefit from other advantages:

• Dedicated staging & new server infrastructure: Our servers offer up to four times faster loading times thanks to optimised caching mechanisms and twice as many resources (CPU & RAM) as usual. The staging environment is completely separated from the live site.
• Automatic backups & security: Your data is stored securely on European servers, protected by Security Shield with Web Application Firewall, DDoS defence and Exploit Detector. Daily backups and simple recovery provide additional security. SSL, login protection and IP blocking are included as standard.
• German support at eye level: Our support team consists of real WordPress experts who you can reach via live chat every day from 8 am to 10 pm. We speak German and English and usually respond within a few minutes.
• 99.99% uptime & sustainable hosting: Thanks to our high-performance infrastructure, your WordPress website remains virtually uninterrupted. Every hosted site also plants a tree and our data centres run on green electricity.
• Simple project management: For agencies and freelancers, we offer a clear dashboard for managing multiple websites in one account. With just a few clicks, you can activate new projects, manage SSL certificates, carry out updates and transfer sites to customers.

We therefore recommend that you do without maintenance mode and use the staging environment to safely test updates. The fast loading times, automatic backups and dedicated support are your all-round carefree package.

Conclusion: Staging instead of WordPress maintenance mode for worry-free updates

WordPress maintenance mode protects your website from errors and unexpected actions during updates. At the same time, it can deter visitors and lead to a noticeable loss of sales for shops. Regular security updates, backups and performance optimisations are essential to keep your content management system secure and fast. A maintenance contract or a professional maintenance package can save you a lot of work here.

However, the better solution is to have your own staging environment: you can test updates, plugins and themes risk-free, without downtime and without losing revenue. Thanks to our integrated staging, you have separate resources at your disposal that can be switched back live with a single click.

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Frequently asked questions about WordPress maintenance mode

Is the WordPress maintenance mode automatic?

Yes, WordPress maintenance mode is automatically activated when you start updates for your WordPress website or plugins. WordPress creates a small file that executes the PHP code for the maintenance page and informs website visitors that work is currently being carried out.

How long does the WordPress maintenance mode last?

WordPress maintenance mode usually only takes a few seconds, sometimes a few minutes – depending on the quantity and size of the updates. If the process takes longer or hangs, you should check whether the .maintenance file remains in the root directory.

Which maintenance mode plugin is best?

The Maintenance Mode plugin LightStart (WP Maintenance Mode) is one of the most popular tools. It allows you to create a customised maintenance mode page, build email lists and communicate the status of your WordPress site professionally.

Do I even need a maintenance mode with Raidboxes?

If you host with Raidboxes, you don’t need a classic maintenance mode in most cases. Each website has its own staging environment in which you can safely test updates, new functions or designs – without downtime, loss of revenue or poor user experience.

How can I manually activate or deactivate WordPress maintenance mode?

You can activate WordPress maintenance mode manually by creating a .maintenance file in the root directory of your WordPress website. To switch it off, simply delete it again. These instructions will help if your update gets stuck in WordPress maintenance mode.