Maintenance pages and 503
type: TechArticle
description: When the site is intentionally offline, return HTTP 503 with a Retry-After header and a page that tells users what is happening and when to come back.
language: en
is part of: Web Specification Studio
author: Web Specification Studio
publisher: Web Specification Studio
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date modified: 2026-06-08T20:15:00.000Z
citation: RFC 9110 — HTTP Semantics: 503 Service Unavailable
  type: CreativeWork
  publisher: IETF
citation: RFC 9110 — HTTP Semantics: Retry-After
  type: CreativeWork
  publisher: IETF
citation: RFC 6585 — Additional HTTP Status Codes: 429 Too Many Requests
  type: CreativeWork
  publisher: IETF
citation: Google Search Central — How to deal with planned site downtime
  type: CreativeWork
  publisher: Google Search Central

Web Specification Studio
type: WebSite

Web Specification Studio
type: Organization

breadcrumb
type: BreadcrumbList
item list element: Home
  type: ListItem
  position: 1
  item: https://webspecification.com/
item list element: Spec
  type: ListItem
  position: 2
  item: https://webspecification.com/spec/
item list element: Resilience
  type: ListItem
  position: 3
  item: https://webspecification.com/spec/resilience/
item list element: Maintenance pages and 503
  type: ListItem
  position: 4
  item: https://webspecification.com/spec/resilience/maintenance-pages/