---
title: Put WordPress in Maintenance Mode
description: "To put WordPress in maintenance mode temporarily when you undergo a major update or change, you can try the following: ## Plugin We won't go into depth here - it's pretty self-explanatory. Simply choose [one of the many maintenance mode…"
url: "https://know.cynderhost.com/docs/put-wordpress-in-maintenance-mode/"
updated: "2020-12-28"
category: WordPress
---

# Put WordPress in Maintenance Mode

To put WordPress in maintenance mode temporarily when you undergo a major update or change, you can try the following:

## Plugin

We won't go into depth here - it's pretty self-explanatory. Simply choose [one of the many maintenance mode plugins](https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/maintenance/) and activate it and configure it as you'd like.

## .Maintenance File

For a temporary, short term solution, you can create a file in the root directory of the WordPress install named ".maintenance" and put the following contents in it:

```
<?php $upgrading = time();
 ?>
```

Save the file, and if you access your WordPress site, it will display a maintenance message. To deactivate it, simply delete the file.