Maintenance mode and suspending a site
Two ways to take a site off the air, and they are not interchangeable. Here is which one to reach for.
On this page
Sometimes you need a site to stop being public without deleting it. There are two options and they are not interchangeable.
Maintenance mode#
Visitors see a maintenance notice instead of the site. You can still log into WordPress and work on it. Use this while you are making changes you do not want seen half-finished.
Suspending#
The site stops being served entirely. Use this when you want it off the air for longer and are not actively working on it. Resuming puts it back exactly as it was.
Open the site#
Go to the site from your dashboard.
Choose maintenance or suspend#
Both are on the site page. Pick the one that matches how long you need it and whether you will be working on it.
Your content, backups and history all survive both. So does the address.