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During the development of a new WordPress website, I highly recommend using a coming soon WordPress plugin. Displaying a coming soon message is not only a great way to build up interest for your upcoming launch, it also prevents visitors from seeing your unfinished website.
Coming soon WordPress plugins can also be used to place an established website in maintenance mode. If you host your website with a managed WordPress hosting company, it is better to use website staging if you are updating your website; however there are valid reasons to place a website in maintenance mode. For example, if your website has been hacked.
Once your website is in coming soon mode or in maintenance mode, the WordPress admin bar will show that it has been activated. You will continue to see your website as normal, but visitors will see a landing page with your custom message.
In this article, I would like to show you what we at WinningWP consider to be the best coming soon and maintenance mode plugins available for WordPress. All of these plugins are free to download, however additional features can be unlocked in some plugins if you upgrade to the pro version.
1. Minimal Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode (FREE / $79)
Minimal Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode is a user-friendly maintenance mode WordPress plugin that lets you display a background image, logo, header, content, and a MailChimp subscription form. Alternatively, you can create a landing page from scratch with custom HTML.
Dozens of options are split into seven categories: Basic, SEO, themes, design, email, form, and advanced. The support tab links to the plugin support room on WordPress.org. From the settings area you can customise every aspect of your landing page.
Two themes are included in the free version. A further 40 themes are available if you upgrade to the pro version of the plugin; which retails at a one-off fee of $79 for a single license (or $6.99 per month). 60 more themes are included if you upgrade to the agency license at $199.
Upgrading also unlocks all pro features which are restricted in the free version. This includes IP whitelisting, double opt-in subscription forms, a form name field, and HTTPS enforcement.
Additional content is also made available for your landing page: Video, countdown, progress bar, social icons, and map.
Minimal Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode is easy to recommend as it is free to download, simple to use, and has many great options such as using your own custom HTML. The theme selection is limited, however the plugin allows you to change the background image, header, and content.
The pro version unlocks many great designs and a host of additional features. It is worth checking out if you have the budget for it.
2. Maintenance (FREE / $26)
One of the simplest maintenance mode WordPress plugins on WordPress.org is Maintenance. Active on over 400,000 WordPress websites, the plugin lets you customise your landing page through one settings page.
You can upload a background image and a logo and assign your own colours. Beyond that, you will need to customise the main content area yourself within the WordPress visual editor; which does open up possibilities such as embedding images and videos.
The plugin also has support for Google Analytics, a front-end login form, and lets you exclude specific posts and pages from being placed in maintenance mode.
Maintenance Pro is available on CodeCanyon for $26. It adds many advanced features such as three countdown timers, video backgrounds, email subscription forms, and social media profiles.
User permissions and a countdown timer are also made available in this version.
If you are looking for a basic coming soon or maintenance mode solution, Maintenance is a good choice.
I recommend checking out Maintenance Pro too as for only $26 it adds many additional features you will find useful.
3. WP Maintenance Mode (FREE)
Active on over 600,000 websites, WP Maintenance Mode is an interesting maintenance mode WordPress plugin that is 100% free to use. It gives you full control over who can see your admin area and the front-end of your website.
There is support for Google Analytics and the main content area can be edited using the WordPress visual editor. In addition to changing the background, you can display a countdown timer, subscription form, social media profiles, and a contact form.
WP Maintenance Mode has a built-in bot that asks visitors a series of questions that you define. The goal of the bot is to capture the visitor’s email address. All email addresses that are entered can be exported in CSV format.
The plugin is also GDPR compliant. There is an option to link to a privacy policy page in the footer and you can add your GDPR information to the contact form too.
WP Maintenance Mode is a great plugin for coming soon pages and maintenance modes.
From a design point of view, it is a little restrictive as you have no control over where content such as the countdown timer and social media icons are displayed on your landing page. Despite this, it is easy to recommend WP Maintenance Mode as it offers so many useful features free of charge.
4. Under Construction (FREE / $69+)
Developed by the same people behind Minimal Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode, Under Construction is a good looking maintenance mode WordPress plugin that comes with two simple landing page designs. It is active on over 300,000 websites.
The main content area can be modified using the WordPress visual editor, however you can also enable a login button, social media icons, and a custom footer.
A lot of useful features are available in the settings area. You can define an automatic end time for your maintenance message and you can whitelist specific WordPress user roles so that they always see your full website.
A single license for Under Construction Pro retails at $69. It offers MailChimp integration, an affiliates module, and over 100 additional landing page designs. The designs on offer look great.
The agency license costs $250. It offers all pro features, 60 additional landing page designs, advanced drag and drop builder modules, and Zapier integration.
Both licenses are sold as a one-off fee so you do not have to worry about yearly renewals.
The developers of Under Construction have limited the number of themes available in the free version; just like they did in their Minimal Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode plugin.
I do not believe this will be a deal-breaker as the two included designs are good and let you customise your message. You can, of course, upgrade to Under Construction Pro to unlock all features and landing page designs.
5. CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin (FREE)
CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin is a highly customisable coming soon and maintenance mode WordPress plugin that lets you display a landing page for your whole website, your homepage, or only to those that have been blacklisted. A redirection mode is also available.
The plugin lets you adjust your logo, content, background, countdown timer, subscription form, social media icons, and footer copyright. Each element has many options. For example, for your background you apply an image, video, graphical pattern, gradient, and more.
Colours and fonts can also be changed and there is an option to add custom CSS.
In addition to Google Analytics support, you can also define your SEO settings for your landing page. This is a nice addition that is not usually provided.
Three themes come packaged with CMP. A further 16 themes are available on the developer’s website. Two of these are free to download and the rest are reasonably priced at $10 each.
CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin is one of the best maintenance mode solutions available to WordPress users. There are many design options and the additional available themes are not only gorgeous; they’re fairly priced.
6. Coming Soon Booster (FREE / €29.99+ Per Year)
Coming Soon Booster is a stylish WordPress plugin that comes with one free design. Thankfully, the included theme looks great, with the design integrating a contact form and newsletter subscription pop-up.
Every aspect of your page can be changed, from the colours to the timer and forms. Animations can be displayed throughout the background too.
Coming Soon Booster Pro retails at €29.99 per year or a one-off fee of €69.99. It unlocks all the premium options that are restricted in the free version such as social media icon integration, subscribers, and contact form data.
Five additional landing page designs are made available when you upgrade too.
At first glance you may get the impression that the free version of Coming Soon Booster is limited due to the abundance of pro labels on options. Whilst many features are restricted to the premium version of the plugin, the free version has everything you need to produce a stylish coming soon page or maintenance page.
7. Coming Soon Viral Page by Growtheme (FREE)
Coming Soon Viral Page by Growtheme is a versatile coming soon and maintenance mode solution that is 100% free to use. It has support for five email marketing services for your newsletter form. Alternatively, you can use your own custom HTML for your newsletter.
From a design aspect, it is quite basic. You can change the logo, background, and colours; however you can only use text for your main content area as the WordPress visual editor is not supported.
A confirmation page can be configured if you use double opt-in to capture email addresses. You can define a thank you page too.
If a visitor does not enter their email address, you can display a pop-up with your newsletter sign up box when they exit your website (i.e. exit pop-up). This is quite an aggressive marketing technique, but it could help increase email sign ups.
I was also pleased to see that the plugin lets you export and import options. This is useful if you are transferring settings to another website.
Easy to use and free to download, Coming Soon Viral Page by Growtheme is one to check out if you are seeking a simple solution with good newsletter support.
8. IgniteUp (FREE)
Most free coming soon and maintenance mode plugins come with either one or two landing page designs or require you to create your page from scratch. IgniteUp bucks this trend by offering four quality themes. Five additional designs are available from between $3.99 and $5.99 each.
IgniteUp lets you allow specific WordPress user roles to bypass your maintenance mode and access your full webite. You can do this via IP whitelisting too or give access using a special URL.
Like Coming Soon Viral Page by Growtheme, you can customise colours and your logo and background, however rich media cannot be easily inserted as the WordPress visual editor is not available. Therefore, only text can be added.
New subscribers can be collected via a subscription form and be saved to your WordPress database, MailChimp, or MailPoet. You can also display social media icons and a contact form.
Whilst there is no premium version of IgniteUp, additional features such as animation effects, video backgrounds, and location maps, can be unlocked by purchasing one of the premium themes.
It may not be the most advanced solution, however there is a lot to love about IgniteUp with its gorgeous themes, affordable theme upgrades, and useful newsletter subscription options.
I recommend checking it out.
Honourable Mentions
There are dozens of coming soon and maintenance mode plugins on WordPress.org. In our drive to find the best solutions from our original list of over 40 WordPress plugins, a few who just missed the list are worth mentioning.
With over 900,000 installations, Coming Soon Page & Maintenance Mode is by far the most popular coming soon and maintenance mode WordPress plugin on the market. Whilst it is easy to use, it lacks many of the advanced filtering and design features found in other maintenance mode plugins.
There are no themes included in the free version either, therefore you need to create everything from scratch. The pro version, which is available from $29.60 per year, unlocks all features. This includes a real-time page builder, email captures, contact forms, social media integration, and more.
Another interesting solution is Launcher by MyThemeShop. It features a countdown timer, contact form, and a subscription form for multiple email marketing services. It also lets you display your latest Twitter tweets.
Whilst it isn’t a free solution, the Everest Coming Soon WordPress plugin, which costs a one-off fee of $15, is worth a close look. It features a large collection of gorgeous coming soon landing pages and has support for Google Maps.
Final Thoughts
If you are happy with a simple landing page for launching a new website or performing a quick website update, the solutions mentioned above will be more than enough for you. Should you want more control over your page design, or want a better selection of landing pages, you will need to open your wallet.
As always, it pays to do your research, so I recommend testing a few different coming soon and maintenance mode WordPress plugins to see which one fits your needs best.
Used/using any of these plugins? Do you have a maintenance mode or coming soon plugin that you swear by? Let us know in the comments!
