Maintenance Page Generator
Prepare a professional maintenance page before your next upgrade. The generator writes a complete HTML page with your message, the expected return time, a link to a status page and a contact email – and, just as important, server configuration for Apache (.htaccess) and nginx that serves it with HTTP 503 Service Unavailable and a Retry-After header, switched on by creating a maintenance.enable file and bypassed for your own IP address.
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
- Free to use
How to use Maintenance Page Generator
- Write the heading and message.
- Set the expected return time and contact.
- Copy the page and the server configuration.
- Create maintenance.enable to switch it on.
Maintenance Page Generator features
Complete page
One self-contained HTML file with inline CSS.
HTTP 503 setup
Apache and nginx with Retry-After.
Admin bypass
Your IP still sees the real site.
Return time
Shown in the visitor’s words.
Live preview
See the result in a sandboxed frame as you type.
Safe output
Your text is escaped; javascript: and data: links are rejected.
When to use Maintenance Page Generator
- Planned upgrades and migrations.
- Database maintenance windows.
- Shop re-launches.
- Emergency downtime.
Maintenance Page Generator FAQ
Why status 503?
It tells search engines the outage is temporary, so they keep your pages indexed and come back later. A 200 maintenance page can replace your content in search results.
How long can a site be in maintenance?
A few hours to a day is fine. Long 503 periods (several days) can lead to pages being dropped.
What does Retry-After do?
It tells crawlers how many seconds to wait before trying again.
Downtime without damage
Announce maintenance in advance, keep it short, and test the switch on a staging server first.
How it works: you fill in plain text fields and lists, and the generator writes clean, indented HTML and CSS in your browser. Everything you type is escaped before it is placed in the markup, links are checked so that javascript: and data: URLs cannot slip in, and the preview runs in a sandboxed frame without scripts. Nothing is uploaded or stored.
The code has no framework or build step: copy the HTML into a page, template or page-builder HTML block, and the CSS into your stylesheet. Class names use a prefix you choose (BEM style), so they do not clash with your theme, and colours come from your accent colour with automatic contrast checks.
Accessibility is built in: semantic landmarks and headings, real labels on form fields, visible focus outlines, enough colour contrast and layouts that reflow on small screens without horizontal scrolling. The notes under the output explain the decisions and what you still need to do on your side.
Use the presets to start from a typical example, then adapt the text. Related generators on this site cover the other parts of a website – navigation, footer, buttons, cards, forms, FAQ and call-to-action sections – so you can assemble a complete page from consistent pieces.