Divi Maintenance Mode Complete Setup Guide with Plugin Options

by Tim Strifler | Aug 18, 2026 | Divi Tutorials | 0 comments

If you’re hunting through Theme Options for a maintenance mode toggle, you can stop – Divi doesn’t have one. When you see the plain ‘Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance’ message, that’s WordPress itself talking, not Divi.

WordPress creates a temporary .maintenance file during updates and serves a barebones 503 page until the process finishes. It does a job of sorts, but a true maintenance or ‘Coming Soon’ page is different – that’s a branded, on‑purpose screen you control with a plugin or custom setup. And these can have a marked impression on visitors, potentially boosting site performance once maintenance or the ‘Coming Soon’ hype is over.

We’re going to detail multiple ways to add maintenance mode to a Divi site – from plugin-based options to code-driven approaches – all working with both Divi 4 and Divi 5. Get comfortable with the options available, and you’ll discover the best method for your own workflows.

5 key takeaways

Maintenance mode is less about a ‘Coming Soon’ screen and more about controlling who sees unfinished work, failed updates, or launch prep.
Understanding the difference between WordPress’s automatic .maintenance behavior and branded maintenance pages prevents a huge amount of confusion and bad fixes.
The riskiest maintenance mistakes are long-running ‘temporary’ pages and caching issues, not the brief downtime during updates.
Code and server-level methods are powerful safety valves, but they belong in the hands of people comfortable with high-level development work.
Pairing a Divi Builder layout with the free Divi Coming Soon plugin gives you a practical, maintenance page solution that’s integrated with your existing setup.

What maintenance mode means for WordPress sites

WordPress maintenance mode is a temporary state where your site goes offline during core, theme, or plugin updates. During this process, WordPress creates a .maintenance file on your server, which triggers the ‘Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance’ message and returns a 503 status code, signalling that downtime is intentional and temporary.

The appearance of a 503 will differ, depending on the hosting provider, browser, or whether the page has been specifically designed. But they’ll generally contain the following info:

WordPress 503 maintenance page

Maintenance mode applies to existing sites, while ‘Coming Soon’ pages are pre‑launch screens used to collect leads or show basic information before a site goes live. Technically, both rely on redirects or conditional logic to control what visitors see. For SEO, short maintenance windows are safe – WordPress’s 503 response tells search engines to pause indexing and try again later.

As an alternative method, our own free Divi Coming Soon plugin uses 302 redirects, which are also safe for short-term use. Problems only arise when a maintenance or ‘Coming Soon’ page remains active for weeks or months. Search engines can start treating that page as the real site, so long-term downtime should use proper 503 handling or be coordinated with Google Search Console. We’ll take a closer look at this option in our next section.

Set up maintenance mode with Divi Coming Soon

Divi Coming Soon plugin

Divi Coming Soon is Divi Life’s free maintenance and coming soon plugin built specifically for Divi users who want to stay inside the Divi Builder. Instead of learning a new interface, you create your maintenance or ‘Coming Soon’ page as a standard Divi layout, using the same sections, rows, and modules you already use.

Coming Soon download link

1. To get started, click on the ‘Get it free’ button link, then fill in your details.

Coming Soon download order

2. You’ll receive an email link to download the plugin in the form of a ZIP file. Select this download the ZIP, then install and activate via Plugins > Add New Plugin > Upload Plugin.

3. Next, create a new page in WordPress, design it with the Divi Builder, and publish it as your maintenance or coming soon layout. Here’s a sample page below:

Coming Soon page example

4. Go to Divi > Divi Coming Soon in your WordPress dashboard, choose the page you’ve just created as the active Coming Soon/Maintenance page, and Save Changes.

Coming Soon configuration

“Once enabled, the plugin sends all logged-out visitors through a 302 temporary redirect to your chosen page, while logged-in admins and editors continue to browse and build the site normally. This behavior keeps your work‑in‑progress private without blocking you or your team from previewing real pages.”

– Jennifer Rodriguez, Lead Designer at Divi Life

Remember – because Divi Coming Soon uses 302 redirects rather than permanent 301s, it does not harm SEO when used for short maintenance or pre‑launch windows. The plugin also works with current Divi versions, including Divi 4, and fits naturally into Divi 5’s backward‑compatible builder environment.

The one limitation to keep in mind is that it applies a global redirect – you cannot keep some pages public while only hiding others.

Other Divi-specific maintenance extensions

Other Divi-specific maintenance extensions live inside larger Divi enhancement toolkits rather than as standalone plugins. These tools may not include all of the features and functions used by Divi Coming Soon, but they can make sense for current subscribers or specific workflows.

Divi Hacks maintenance mode extension

Divi Hacks is a premium Divi add-on suite that includes a maintenance mode feature alongside hundreds of other features and tools for enhancing Divi. Licenses start at $39/year or $139/lifetime, with different plans depending on how many sites you need it for.

Setup is straightforward. First, create a new page for your maintenance layout, either from scratch or using a Divi layout. Then go to Appearance > Customizer > Divi Hacks > Maintenance Mode and choose that page as your active maintenance screen.

A key advantage is the built-in ‘Show Login Link’ toggle, which will automatically add a discreet login link at the bottom left of the screen.

Choosing between Divi Hacks and Divi Coming Soon

Divi Hacks focuses on configuration convenience. Its native ‘show login link’ features has a simple but helpful advantage. Divi Hacks obviously includes hundreds of other options as well, in addition to the maintenance mode feature, however it comes with an added cost.

Divi Coming Soon, by contrast, is a free, Divi-native plugin focused on doing one job well – redirecting visitors to a Divi-designed maintenance or coming soon page without paying for a larger toolkit.

Free WordPress maintenance plugins as alternatives

Universal maintenance plugins give you a theme-agnostic safety net, which helps if you manage non-Divi sites or are unsure about sticking with Divi long-term. They run independently of the Divi Builder, so you can keep the same maintenance workflow across every WordPress project.

CMP plugin homepage

CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode is a popular free plugin that ships with countdown timers, subscription forms, three built-in themes, and a solid set of styling options. It’s a strong choice if you want a free, flexible solution that works with any theme without locking into a specific builder.

Lightstart homepage

WP Maintenance Mode (LightStart) focuses on stability and simplicity, with hundreds of thousands of active installs and a minimal interface that covers the basics without design overload. It suits users who want reliable maintenance behavior, simple customization, and zero extra visual complexity.

Use pre-designed maintenance templates from Divi Life

Pre-designed maintenance templates are the fastest way to get a professional maintenance or ‘Coming Soon’ page live without starting from a blank canvas. Divi Life’s Coming Soon Layouts for Divi includes five premium layouts designed specifically for coming soon, under construction, and maintenance mode pages.

Divi Life Coming Soon Layouts homepage

Each template already includes common elements such as countdown timers and email subscription forms, so you only need to swap in your branding, copy, and integrations. The pack is priced at $35 with lifetime usage, which means you can reuse the layouts across unlimited client projects.

Divi Coming Soon Layout examples

You can import the layouts in two main ways:

Option one: Create a new page, launch the Divi Builder, click the portability icon, and import a single layout file directly into that page. Here’s a full-page example below:

Divi Coming Soon Layout example

Option two: Go to Divi > Divi Library > Import/Export, upload the pack file, and import all five layouts into your library at once for reuse.

These layouts are page designs only – the Divi Coming Soon plugin itself handles the redirect logic that sends visitors to the layout while you work on the real site.

For another alternative, Elegant Themes offers a Simple Maintenance Mode Page layout and other free ‘Coming Soon’ layouts that you can import via the Divi Library.

Elegant Themes free maintenance page

A further option is to skip templates entirely and design a custom maintenance page from scratch in the Divi Builder – using sections, rows, and modules you already know – then pair it with Divi Coming Soon to control who sees it and when.

Enable maintenance mode with code (no plugins required)

It is possible to put a Divi site into maintenance mode without a plugin, but this approach suits developers or teams comfortable with SFTP and server access. Code-based methods are useful on high-traffic sites where every extra plugin or redirect matters, or in emergencies where you need blunt, reliable control.

However, they come with risk. Editing files in the wrong place or with syntax errors can take your entire site offline instantly. Treat this method as an advanced option, not a general recommendation for casual users or clients.

Create maintenance mode files

WordPress treats a .maintenance file in your site’s root directory as a signal to enter maintenance mode, showing a temporary message and returning a 503 status code.

Creating this file manually via SFTP or using PHP code immediately switches the site into maintenance mode until the file is removed. The basic contents look like this:

/*
<?php $upgrading = time();
*/

Optionally, you can add a custom wp-content/maintenance.php file to control the output visitors see while .maintenance is active, using minimal HTML and CSS:

/*
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>Site Under Maintenance</title>
    <meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow">
    <style>
        body { font-family: sans-serif; text-align: center; padding: 5rem 1rem; }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>We're doing some work</h1>
    <p>The site is temporarily unavailable. Please try again shortly.</p>
</body>
</html>
*/

You should always keep a secure admin bypass and remove the .maintenance file (or related snippet) as soon as maintenance is finished.

This approach only affects the site while maintenance mode is active and does not fix already-stuck maintenance states by itself. It also requires comfort with HTML and CSS to present a clean message, so it mainly suits developers who want precise control over activation and messaging without relying on plugins.

Use a custom function for forced maintenance mode

A custom maintenance function lets you force a maintenance message for all non‑logged‑in users before a Divi page ever loads. It belongs in a child theme’s functions.php file (never the parent), or in a small must‑use plugin so it survives theme changes.

The basic pattern looks like this:

/*
function my_simple_maintenance_mode() {
    // Allow logged-in admins.
    if ( current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) return;

    status_header( 503 );
    header( 'Retry-After: 3600' );
    ?>
    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
        <meta charset="utf-8">
        <title>Maintenance</title>
    </head>
    <body style="font-family:sans-serif;text-align:center;padding:5rem 1rem;">
        <h1>Site Under Maintenance</h1>
        <p>Please try again soon.</p>
    </body>
    </html>
    <?php
    exit;
}
add_action( 'template_redirect', 'my_simple_maintenance_mode' );
*/

This checks whether the user has the manage_options capability (admins), then sends everyone else a 503 response and a simple HTML message.

To disable maintenance mode, you comment out or remove the function and hook. Styling means editing HTML/CSS right in the snippet, so this method suits developers who want programmatic control without extra plugins.

Redirect using your site’s .htaccess

An .htaccess redirect rule lets you enable maintenance mode at the server level, before WordPress or Divi runs. First, create a static maintenance.html file in your site root with your message and basic styling. Then edit .htaccess (in the same root folder) and add a block above the default WordPress rules:

/*
# Maintenance mode
RewriteEngine On

# Allow your IP to bypass maintenance (replace with your IP)
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !^123\.45\.67\.89$

# Don't redirect the maintenance page itself
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/maintenance\.html$

# Send everyone else to maintenance.html
RewriteRule ^.*$ /maintenance.html [R=302,L]
*/

Replace 123\.45\.67\.89 with your own IP so you can work on the site normally while visitors see maintenance.html. Saving .htaccess activates maintenance mode immediately, while removing this block turns it off. This approach is great when WordPress is broken or you need a fast, server‑level kill switch.

Fix sites stuck showing the maintenance message

A WordPress site stuck in maintenance mode usually means that the automatic cleanup after an update failed, and the .maintenance file never got removed.

The fastest fix is to connect via SFTP or your hosting file manager. Open the site root (the same folder that contains wp-config.php), and delete the .maintenance file. Reload the site in a private browser window. If the file was the only issue, the maintenance message should disappear immediately.

If you still see the notice, caching is usually the culprit. Clear any caching plugin on the site, purge your host’s server cache from the control panel, and clear any CDN layer, such as Cloudflare. Then hard‑refresh the site or test in an incognito window.

If the problem persists, check for custom maintenance code. Open your child theme’s functions.php, any mu‑plugins, and .htaccess. Look for any maintenance-related code like maintenance snippets, redirects, or forced 503 logic, and remove it with care.

Stuck maintenance states usually trace back to plugin conflicts, server timeouts that interrupt the update process, users navigating away mid‑update, or PHP errors that halt execution before WordPress can delete .maintenance. Once the site loads again, review recent updates and error logs before retrying.

Take control of your Divi site’s visibility

Maintenance mode stops being scary once you understand how much control you actually have over who sees what and when. When WordPress gets stuck in maintenance mode, you now know how to delete the .maintenance file and clear caches methodically instead of guessing.

From there, it’s about choosing the right approach: Divi Coming Soon for a free, Divi‑native workflow, Divi Flash or DiviPixel for existing subscribers, or code-based methods when you want zero-plugin, programmatic control.

Divi Life homepage

With Divi Coming Soon, you can flip maintenance mode on or off while still designing freely in the Divi Builder, using layouts that feel like any other Divi page. Pre-made Coming Soon Layouts for Divi give you instant, professional designs so you’re not staring at a blank canvas when you just need something live fast.

Your site’s visibility is totally in your hands, so don’t sweat it! Whether you’re hiding a work-in-progress, running updates, or simply building hype for a new site, download our free solution today for an easy solution with all the functions you’ll need.