In short: Onboarding is the short, guided journey from signing up to having your first site connected. You create an account, tell us about your business, choose a plan, complete checkout, and connect your site. Your full dashboard unlocks the moment your site is live.
What it is
Onboarding is the self-serve path that takes you from a blank sign-up form to a working Maintena account with your first site connected.
It is a simple, linear flow. Each step leads naturally to the next, and you can leave and come back at any time without losing your place. Once your first site connects, the flow is complete and your full dashboard opens up.
This page focuses on the account, plan and checkout journey. For the hands-on detail of getting monitoring running, see Getting Started, and for how the plugin works, see The WordPress Agent.
How it works
The journey has five steps, in order. Everything you enter is saved as you go, so refreshing the page, closing the tab, or picking things up tomorrow all work fine.
| Step | What happens | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Your details | We create your account and your first site in one go, then sign you in automatically. | Enter your business name, website address, name, email and a password. |
| 2. Choose a plan | We show you the available plans and what each includes. | Pick the plan that fits your needs. |
| 3. Checkout | You confirm your plan and complete payment securely. | Complete checkout. |
| 4. Connect your site | We give you a plugin ready to install on your WordPress site. | Download, upload and activate it. |
| 5. You're in | We detect the connection and open your dashboard. | Nothing: it happens automatically. |
Step 1: Your details
You start with one short form: your business name, your website address, your name, your email, and a password. As you type your password, a strength meter helps you pick a strong one.
When you submit, we create your account and set up your first site straight away, then sign you in. From here on, you are logged in and moving through your own account.
Step 2: Choose a plan
Next you see the available plans side by side, with the features of each laid out clearly. Pick the one that suits you. You can review the details before committing.
We do not list prices here. For current pricing, see your plan options in the app or the pricing pages. Billing, invoices and plan changes are covered in Billing and Subscriptions.
Step 3: Checkout
After you choose a plan, you move to secure checkout to confirm it and complete payment. Once payment is confirmed, we get your account ready: your first health scan runs so a score is waiting for you, and a welcome email is on its way.
Step 4: Connect your site
This is the one hands-on step, and it is designed to be quick. You download a WordPress plugin that we have already prepared for your specific site. It carries your unique connection key inside it, so you never have to copy or paste anything.
To connect:
- Click Download the Maintena Agent plugin on the connect screen.
- In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins, then Add New, then Upload Plugin.
- Upload the file you downloaded and click Activate.
That is it. If you prefer, a manual option is also on the page: you can copy your connection key and enter it into the plugin's settings by hand. Most people use the one-click download.
Step 5: You're in
While you are on the connect screen, Maintena keeps checking for your site in the background, roughly every few seconds. As soon as your site's plugin connects for the first time, the page notices and forwards you straight into your dashboard. No refresh, no waiting on a button.
From that point, onboarding is complete and your full dashboard stays open. A brief loss of connection later on will never send you back through this flow.
What you need to do
Your part is short. Here is the whole checklist:
- Create your account. Fill in the details form and choose a password.
- Choose a plan that fits your site.
- Complete checkout to activate your subscription.
- Install the plugin. Download the prepared plugin, then upload and activate it in your WordPress admin.
- Wait a moment. The connect screen detects your site automatically and opens your dashboard.
You do not need to find or type any connection keys, edit any settings files, or configure anything on the server. The plugin arrives pre-configured for your site.
Good to know
- Your dashboard unlocks when your site connects. Until your first site is live, Maintena keeps you on the connect step, so you never land on an empty product. This is intentional and applies only to self-serve sign-ups.
- You can leave and return. Because your progress is saved to your account, closing the tab at any step is safe. When you come back, you pick up where you left off.
- One site to start. Onboarding sets up your first site. You can add more sites later from your dashboard, subject to your plan.
- The plugin is pre-keyed for your site. The download is unique to you. Do not share it, as it carries your site's private connection key.
- Trouble connecting? If your site does not appear after installing the plugin, double-check that the plugin is activated and that your site is reachable from the internet. See The WordPress Agent and Connection Resilience for help, or open a support ticket.
On the roadmap
A few onboarding improvements are planned but not live yet:
- Reminders if you step away. Today, if you start onboarding and do not finish, we do not send a follow-up nudge. A gentle reminder to pick up where you left off is planned.
- Install progress signals. Right now the connect screen knows only whether your site is connected or not. Clearer feedback for cases like "downloaded but not yet activated" is designed for a future update.
- Adding multiple sites during sign-up. For now, onboarding connects one site and you add the rest from your dashboard. Multi-site setup during onboarding may come later.