I'm locked out — I can't access the admin
Maintenance mode only blocks the front end. The WordPress admin at /wp-admin is always accessible regardless of maintenance mode status. Log in there to disable it.
My caching plugin is showing the live site to visitors
Clear your cache after enabling maintenance mode. Most caching plugins (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, LiteSpeed) have a "Clear All Cache" button in the admin bar.
Search engines are not seeing the 503
Confirm in your browser's developer tools (Network tab) that the maintenance page returns HTTP 503. If a CDN or caching layer is active, it may be serving cached 200 responses — clear CDN cache as well.
Specific users need to bypass maintenance mode
In the free version, any logged-in user with the Editor or Administrator role bypasses the splash page. Pro users can also bypass by IP address for clients who do not have WordPress accounts.
Will activating maintenance mode affect my WooCommerce store?
Yes — maintenance mode blocks all front-end pages including your shop. Only use it when your store is intentionally offline for maintenance.
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