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Maintenance Mode

By helderk

Site Administration & Utilities / URL Redirects & 301 Management

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

Maintenance Mode Review - In-Depth Analysis

This plugin allows developers to set a maintenance mode message or HTML page for their site. It enables specific users to bypass maintenance mode for previews.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.63/10

User Rating

4.6/5 (based on 14+ reviews)

Active Installations

7,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

5 / 10 (Medium Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

This plugin lets you specify a maintenance mode message or HTML page for your site and configure settings to allow specific users to bypass the maintenance mode functionality in order to preview the site prior to public launch.

It also disables the WordPress REST API while maintenance mode is active, ensuring that site data remains inaccessible during maintenance.

Any logged in user with WordPress administrator privileges will be allowed to view the site regardless of the settings in the plugin. The exact privilege can be set using a filter hook.

The behaviour of this can be enabled or disabled at any time without losing any of settings configured in its settings pane. However, deactivating the plugin is recommended versus having it activated while disabled.

Functionality to exclude pages from maintenance mode, so only the selected pages will be visible. When redirect is enabled it can send 2 different header types. “200 OK” is best used for when the site is under development and “503 Service Temporarily Unavailable” is best for when the site is temporarily taken offline for small amendments.

A list of IP addresses can be set up to completely bypass maintenance mode. This option is useful when needing to allow a client’s entire office to access the site while in maintenance mode without needing to maintain individual access keys.

Access keys work by creating a key on the user’s computer that will be checked against when maintenance mode is active. When a new key is created, a link to create the access key cookie will be emailed to the email address provided.

This plugin allows four methods of notifying users that a site is undergoing maintenance: they can be presented with a message using WordPress’s wp_die() function, on a page created with the style of the current template, a custom HTML page, or redirected to a static page or external URL.

Comparing to Alternatives

Maintenance Mode by hkdev is a straightforward plugin for putting your site into maintenance mode, with several alternatives available offering similar functionality.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Simple and fast to set up and use
Includes IP whitelist feature for selective access
No aggressive upgrade prompts or distractions
Clean and effective maintenance page display
Works well as a development shield

Weaknesses

Has had security vulnerabilities in past versions
No pro version or advanced premium features
Some users report serious site-breaking issues
Limited customization options compared to some alternatives

User Sentiment Analysis

With a high rating of 4.6 out of 5 from 14 reviews, most users appreciate the plugin's simplicity and effectiveness, though a small minority report critical issues.

Positive highlights

"Straight to the point plugin, works great and the IP whitelist is a great feature." — eatmyhitzz
"Exactly what I need." — tombekistan
"One of the best free maintenance page plugins" — sharukhi
"Does what it purports to do with zero faff." — richardlampitt
"Also useful to make a private blog." — morrisjm

Common complaints

Plugin broke a user's site, causing loss of admin access and disappearing captcha

Weaknesses

Past versions had medium severity security vulnerabilities
No paid version means limited advanced features
Potential risk of site-breaking bugs for some users

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users seeking a lightweight, no-frills maintenance mode plugin with IP whitelist capabilities and no aggressive upselling.

Not ideal for

Users who require advanced customization, premium support, or who are concerned about past security issues and potential site stability risks.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers essential maintenance mode features including IP whitelisting and a clean maintenance page without distractions.

Final Verdict

Maintenance Mode by hkdev is a solid choice for users needing a straightforward and effective maintenance mode plugin without the clutter of upsells. Its IP whitelist feature and clean interface are well appreciated by the majority of users. However, the plugin has had notable security vulnerabilities in the past, which have been addressed in updates, and there is a risk of site-breaking issues as reported by some users.

Given the absence of a pro version and limited customization options, users with more advanced needs or concerns about security and stability might consider alternative plugins. Overall, it offers good value for simple maintenance mode needs but should be used with caution and proper backups.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Maintenance Mode plugin.

maintenance mode

site preview

developer tool

Screenshots

FAQ

There is a filter which allow you to programatically bypass the redirection block:

hkdev_matches

This allows you to run pretty much any test you like, although be aware that the whole redirection thing runs before the $post global is set up, so WordPress conditionals such as is_post() and is_tax() are not available.

This example looks in the $_SERVER global to see if any part of the URL contains “demo”

function my_hkdev_matches( $hkdev_matches ) {     if ( stristr( $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], 'demo' ) ) {         $hkdev_matches[] = "<!-- Demo -->";     }     return $hkdev_matches; } add_filter( "hkdev_matches", "my_hkdev_matches" );

Props to @brianhenryie for this!

By default, Maintenance Mode uses the manage_options cap, but that is normally only applied to administrators. As it stands, a user with a lesser permissions level, such as editor, is able to view the admin side of the site, but not the front end. You can change this using this filter:

hkdev_user_can

This filter is used to pass a different WordPress capability to check if the logged-in user has permission to view the site and thus bypass the redirection, such as edit_posts. Note that this is run before $post is set up, so WordPress conditionals such as is_post() and is_tax() are not available. However, it’s not really meant for programatically determining whether a user should have access, but rather just changing the default capability to be tested, so you don’t really need to do anything other than the example below.

function my_hkdev_user_can( $capability ) {     return "edit_posts"; } add_filter( "hkdev_user_can", "my_hkdev_user_can" );

Contributors and developers

“Maintenance Mode” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

helderk

jfinch3

Peter Hardy-vanDoorn

Free Version

WPS

6.63

Average

Ratings

4.6 out of 5 | 14

Version

3.2.1

Last updated

1 month ago

Active installations

7,000+

WordPress version

7.0.5 or higher

PHP version

7.4 or higher

Languages

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Maintenance Mode Review - In-Depth Analysis

Performance Overview

What It Does

Comparing to Alternatives

User Sentiment Analysis

Who Should Use This?

Pricing & Value

Final Verdict

Other Notable Features

Screenshots

FAQ

Contributors and developers

Ratings

Reviews (14)

Sort by:

Contributors & Developers

Interested in development?

Changelog

Security Status

Secure

No Unpatched Vulnerabilities

Known Vulnerabilities (2)

Previous Versions

WPS

6.63

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