Launch a stunning coming soon countdown or a proper HTTP 503 maintenance page — with subscriber capture, custom backgrounds, bypass for logged-in admins, and REST API — all without touching a single theme file.
The plugin operates in two separate modes. Switch between them any time from the Settings panel — no deactivation required.
A beautiful holding page with a live countdown timer and subscriber capture form. Returns a standard 200 HTTP status — suitable for pre-launch pages visible to the public.
A proper maintenance page that returns HTTP 503 Service Unavailable with a Retry-After header — tells search engines not to de-index your site during maintenance.
After activation the plugin is off by default — your site remains fully accessible until you deliberately enable Coming Soon or Maintenance Mode from the Settings panel.
Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin. Select wp-coming-soon-maintenance.zip and click Install Now.
Click Activate Plugin. A Coming Soon menu item appears in the WordPress admin sidebar. Your site remains live — nothing changes until you enable a mode.
Go to Coming Soon → Settings. Upload a background image or enter a video URL. Add your headline, sub-message, and logo. Choose a colour scheme from the palette picker.
Enter your Launch Date and Time in the date picker. The countdown timer is generated automatically in JavaScript — no server dependency.
Flip the toggle to Coming Soon or Maintenance Mode. Logged-in Administrators are automatically bypassed and see the normal site. All other visitors see your page.
Enable the subscriber capture form in Settings. Emails are stored in the wp_wpcm_subscribers database table. Export as CSV from the Subscribers admin page.
JavaScript countdown to your exact launch date and time. Updates every second. Shows days, hours, minutes, seconds.
Any user with the manage_options capability always sees the live site. Test your page by logging out.
Maintenance Mode sends the correct headers. Google, Bing, and other crawlers know to revisit — not de-index.
AJAX email form. Duplicate email detection. Stored locally in wp_wpcm_subscribers. CSV export from admin.
Upload an image, enter a video URL (MP4/YouTube), or choose a solid or gradient colour. All set from the Settings panel.
Add GitHub, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and a custom URL. Links render as icon buttons on the coming soon page.
Optional completion percentage bar. Set manually (e.g. 65%) to give visitors a sense of how close launch is.
GET subscriber count and plugin status. POST to add a subscriber programmatically from an external app.
Exclude specific page slugs or URL patterns from the coming soon mode — e.g. your sitemap, RSS feed, or API endpoints.
All strings wrapped in __() with the wp-coming-soon text domain. Fully translatable via .pot file.
All configuration is done from Coming Soon → Settings. There are no shortcodes needed to activate the plugin — it intercepts requests at the WordPress template_redirect hook.
ModeHeadlineSub-messageLaunch DateRetry-AfterBackground TypeSubscriber FormProgress %Whitelist URLsLogoThe plugin hooks into template_redirect at priority 1. Bypass conditions are checked in this exact order:
// Bypass order (first match wins, site loads normally) 1. current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) → always bypass 2. is_admin() → wp-admin always accessible 3. is_user_logged_in() + bypass role set → optional role bypass 4. current URL matches whitelist slug → specific pages bypass 5. REST API requests → always bypass else → serve Coming Soon / Maintenance page
The subscriber capture form is rendered on the coming soon page automatically when enabled. It submits via AJAX using wp_ajax_nopriv_wpcm_subscribe.
/* Form submits to: admin-ajax.php */ action: "wpcm_subscribe" fields: email (required), nonce /* Response */ { success: true, message: "Thank you! We'll notify you at launch." } { success: false, message: "You're already on the list!" }
| Method | Endpoint | Auth | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
GET | /wp-json/wpcm/v1/status | Public | Returns current mode, subscriber count, and launch date. |
GET | /wp-json/wpcm/v1/subscribers | Admin | List subscribers with email and signup timestamp. |
POST | /wp-json/wpcm/v1/subscribe | Public | Add subscriber programmatically. Body: { "email": "…" }. |
DELETE | /wp-json/wpcm/v1/subscribers/{email} | Admin | Remove a subscriber by email address. |
# Enable coming soon mode from the command line wp wpcm enable --mode=coming-soon # Enable maintenance mode wp wpcm enable --mode=maintenance # Disable and restore normal site wp wpcm disable # Export subscribers to CSV wp wpcm export-subscribers --file=subscribers.csv