It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the massive choice of WordPress backup plugins that are available on the current market. And if you’re wondering which is the best choice for your needs, don’t worry – you’re not alone.
Sometimes you need a little help to discover what solution is best suited to you and that’s why we’re here. In this article, we’ll compare the best and most popular current WordPress backup plugins and help you choose the one that’s right for you. Let’s get into it.
Choosing a WordPress Backup Plugin
Irrespective of your business size and type, investing in the correct WordPress backup plugin is a must. As we are told time and time again, the most expensive backup is the one you never did!
Seeing as there are so many WordPress backup plugins available today, it’s easy to get a bit confused when deciding on the right one for your needs. So, to help you out, here are a few things you should look for in a WordPress backup plugin:
Backup methods:
- Database backup: Some plugins will only allow you to backup your WordPress database.
- Complete backup: Some plugins allow you to backup your entire website, including your database and all WordPress files. A more thorough and safe option.
- Scheduled backup: This option allows you to schedule a backup to run automatically, giving you even more peace of mind and security.
Backup location:
Previously, most WordPress backup plugins allowed you to store your backup files just on your own server. However, these days, to help improve security, good WordPress backup plugins send your backup files to remote locations such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or Amazon S3. Making it even easier to restore your files, even if hackers attack your entire website.
So, those are a few things to think about when contemplating a new backup plugin. Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty and have a look at the top 9 WordPress backup plugins available today:
1. UpdraftPlus
This is one of the top WordPress backup plugins available. It has over a million active installs and has been rated as the most popular backup solution for WordPress. Those kinds of achievements speak for themselves.
Even the free version of the plugin will allow you to easily set up full, manual, or scheduled backups of your entire website and files including your database, themes, and plugins. File restoration is simple and can be done with minimal technical knowledge.
One of the best features of this plugin is the wide range of cloud storage options it supports, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Amazon S3.
The free version works great and is packed with all the features you would expect in a top-class backup plugin but if you really want to get the most out of this plugin, check out the premium version of UpdraftPlus and unlock the true power of this plugin.
Some of the great features the premium version includes are:
- Cloning and migration
- Incremental backups
- Ad-free operation
- Run from WP-CLI
- Fast, personal support
Have a look at UpdraftPlus today.
2. BackupBuddy
BackupBuddy is a popular plugin that has been protecting people all over the globe since early 2010. and approximately half a million WordPress websites use this plugin.
It’s simple to operate and in just a few clicks from your WordPress dashboard, you’ll be able to back up your entire website. This plugin allows you to schedule automatic backups, send your backup files to a remote, secure location, and to quickly restore your files when needed.
One of the great and unique features of BackupBuddy is its ability to repair and optimize your database. Another feature we like is Stash Live, which will continuously backup database changes such as new or modified posts. This allows you to relax in the knowledge that your information is safe at all times and saves you the headache of rewriting content. Every BackupBuddy purchase comes with 1 GB of free Stash Live storage space.
Have a look at BackupBuddy today.
3. VaultPress (with Jetpack)
VaultPress is a powerful backup and security plugin for WordPress created by Automattic, the team that brought you WordPress.com.
With the help of VaultPress, keep an up-to-date backup of your website using daily or real-time syncing. It also conducts security scans on a regular basis, making it easier to identify potential threats and fix them before they can do real damage. If the plugin detects malware or viruses, you can get rid of them with just a single click of the mouse.
VaultPress is part of Jetpack, so to get it working, you’ll need to make sure you have Jetpack installed on your site, you are connected to WordPress.com, and that you select (at a minimum) the personal plan to get started.
4. BackWPUp
Here we have another backup plugin designed to backup your entire WordPress installation and save your information to the remote location of your choice such as Dropbox or Amazon S3.
With the premium version, you can also store backup files to Google Drive and Amazon Glacier.
Some of the other great features of the premium version are:
The ability to backup information to multiple destinations per job.
You can synchronize files on remote backup locations such as Google Drive and Dropbox.
Allows you to backup the specific file path of your site as per your needs.
Have a look at BackWPUp today.
5. BackUpWordPress
BackUpWordPress is a simple and intuitive WordPress backup plugin that doesn’t require any setup configurations on your end. Upon activation, it will back up your files straight away. Easy as that!
Backup files are stored in the /wp-content/backups location of your website as the default setting but it’s easy to change the path to something else if you wish. Seeing that all files, including non-WordPress files, are backed up in your site root, we strongly recommended that you change the path to make sure that your information is secure.
BackUpWordPress works on both Linux and Windows servers and also gives you the option to exclude the files that you don’t want backed up.
6. Duplicator
Back up all your WordPress files in zip format with the easy-to-use Duplicator plugin. Saving to zip allows you to download them offline and migrate across the same or different servers.
One of the things we like the most about Duplicator is that it gives you the option to clone your pre-configured sites, rather than having to manually configure themes and plugins. This means that you can configure one single site and bundle it up, allowing you to migrate your WordPress sites to other locations without the needing to rework your files.
As well as this great feature, Duplicator also lets you send files to cloud storage, schedule backup times, and send yourself reminders through email notifications.
Have a look at Duplicator today.
7. WP Time Capsule
If you only want to backup your recent files, not an entire website, WP Time Capsule is a great option to consider. WP Time Capsule allows you to backup to popular cloud storage sites such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Amazon S3.
The thing we like most about this option is that it uses a great deal less server resources as it is not compressing your backup files.
If you are interested in using WP Time Capsule on your site, you can install the free plugin by registering an account on the WP Time Capsule site and then connecting your preferred cloud storage with your plugin, allowing you to send your files across. Once you have completed a full backup, you’ll be able to schedule times to backup recently changed files on your site.
8. WP-DB-Backup
WP-DB-Backup is designed to back up your WordPress database and then email it to a specified address. As you might have gathered from the name, it will only backup your WordPress database, so you’ll still have to manually backup your media files.
So who is this plugin designed for? We’d say it is aimed at people who don’t regularly update their WordPress websites or perhaps don’t want or need to backup images. This is also a bit of a technical plugin to use, so you should be fairly tech-savvy if you decide to head down this path. It’s not a plugin designed for novice use, as you’ll need to backup and restore your database yourself.
If you aren’t up to this task, this isn’t the right plugin for you.
9. WP Database Backup
Another great free option if you are looking to backup your WordPress database.
WP Database Backup allows you to create and restore backup files with a simple click of the mouse. It is fairly similar to WP-DB-Backup, although it does come with a few more features.
Some of the key features of this plugin are:
- Simple configuration.
- Remote storage.
- Multiple storage destinations supported.
- Extensive documentation provided to help make the process easy.
Which WordPress Backup Plugin Is the Best For You?
Although we like all the options on this list, one stands out as the clear winner in our minds. And that winner is UpdraftPlus. It really is the complete backup option and features a ton of great features. As mentioned, there is a free and a premium version available, so you’ll need to have a look through the feature comparisons of each version to find which one is right for you. In saying that, even the free version of UpdraftPlus is feature-heavy compared to some other premium backup plugins.
With that in mind, UpdraftPlus is not the plugin for everyone. If you want live backup whenever your files are changed, BackupBuddy is right up your alley. This plugin also scans and repairs common issues, saving you a lot of time and headaches. It’s another great premium plugin. The Stash Live feature also gets a big tick from us.
We hope that you found this article useful and it helped you to decide on the type of backup plugin that is best suited to your needs. If you don’t have the budget for a premium WordPress plugin you can take a look at Total GPL for discounted WordPress Plugins. Backing up your WordPress database is so important for any business and we’re glad to see you’ve already taken a step in the right direction.