The best thing you can do for your WordPress website security is to create backups. Backups provide peace of mind and can save you in situations such as your site getting hacked or you accidentally lock yourself out.
There are many paid and free WordPress backup plugins and most of them are easy to use.
While many WordPress hosting providers offer limited backup service, we recommend not to solely rely on them. At the end of the day, have a habit of keeping regular backups of your website.
If you are not already backing up your website, then we suggest you choose one of these WordPress backup plugins and start using it right away.
WordPress Backup Plugins
1. VaultPress (Jetpack Backup)
Jetpack Backups is a backup plugin by Automattic, the company that was created by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg.
This plugin was originally launched under the name VaultPress, but was redesigned and rebranded as Jetpack Backups. Jetpack backup plugin offers automated and real-time daily cloud backup solutions without slowing your site.
You can set up Jetpack backups easily and restore them within a few clicks. The higher plans of Jetpack also offer security scans and several other powerful features.
But there are a few downsides of using Jetpack backups for beginners.
- First, is a recurring expense that adds up if you have multiple WordPress sites.
- Second, the purchase flow is quite complicated, and you need to install the Jetpack plugin to purchase a subscription. The good news is that you can manually disable all the unnecessary features of Jetpack except for backups, so they don’t slow down your site.
- Lastly, backups are stored for only 30-days on the lower plans. If you want an unlimited backup archive, then you would have to pay $49.95 per month per website which is significantly more expensive for beginners when compared to other solutions listed here.
WPBeginner website is still using VaultPress (older version of Jetpack) because we got grandfathered in at their older pricing which was a lot more favorable.
However even at the higher price, Jetpack backup is completely worth it due to the stellar reputation of Automattic. This is why we pay for higher-priced real-time backup plans for our new sites like All In One SEO because it’s an eCommerce store, and we want maximum protection.
Pricing: From $9.95 per month for Daily backups plan or $49.95 per month for real-time backup plan.
2. UpdraftPlus
UpdraftPlus is the most popular and free WordPress backup plugin available and is used by more than 2 million websites.
With UpdraftPlus you can create a complete backup of your WordPress site and download to your computer or store it on the cloud.
The plugin supports scheduled as well as on-demand backups. You can also choose which files you want to backup.
It can automatically upload your backups to Google Drive, Dropbox, Rackspace, FTP, email, and several other cloud storage services.
Besides backing up, you can easily restore backups directly from your WordPress admin panel from UpdraftPlus.
It also has a premium version with add-ons like migrate or clone websites, multisite support, database search and replace, and several other features. The premium version also gets you access to priority support.
Pricing: Free (UpdraftPremium Personal for $70)
3. BlogVault
BlogVault is another popular WordPress backup service for WordPress. It’s a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution rather than just a WordPress plugin. It creates offsite backups independently on BlogVault servers, so there will be a zero load on your server.
BlogVault creates an automatic backup of your website on a daily basis and also allows you to manually create unlimited on-demand backups. It features smart incremental backups that sync only incremental changes for minimal server load. This ensures optimal performance for your site.
Besides backups, it helps you to recover your website easily. You can store a 90 days backup archive on lower plans, and 365 day backup archive on a higher plan, so you can recover your site from any mishap.
It also has a built-in staging site feature to let you test your website easily. Plus, they provide an easy option to migrate your website to another host.
BlogVault features are very promising for small businesses, and their real-time backup plan is quite affordable when compared to Jetpack backups (half the price). However if you compare it to self-hosted plugins like Updraft or BackupBuddy, then the cost per site is more expensive.
Pricing: $89 per year for Personal Plan 1 Site License for daily backups. $249 per year for real-time backups.
4. BackupBuddy
BackupBuddy is one of the most popular premium WordPress backup plugins used by over half a million WordPress sites. It allows you to easily schedule daily, weekly, and monthly backups.
With BackupBuddy, you can automatically store your backups in cloud storage services like Amazon S3, Dropbox, FTP, Stash (their cloud service), Rackspace Cloud, and even email it to yourself.
If you use their Stash service, then you also have the ability to do real-time backups.
The biggest advantage of using BackupBuddy is that it is not a subscription-based service, so there is no monthly fee. You can use the plugin on the number of websites mentioned in your plan.
You also get access to premium support forums, regular updates, and 1GB of BackupBuddy Stash storage to store your backups. In addition, their iThemes Sync feature lets you manage up to 10 WordPress sites from a single dashboard.
You can even use BackupBuddy to duplicate, migrate and restore websites.
Pricing: $80 for Blogger Plan (1 Site License)
5. Duplicator
As the name suggests, Duplicator is a popular WordPress plugin used to migrate WordPress sites. However, it also has backup features.
It does not allow you to create automated scheduled backups which makes it less than ideal primary WordPress backup solution for a regularly maintained site.
Pricing: Free
6. BackWPup
BackWPup is a free plugin that allows you to create complete WordPress backups for free and store them on the cloud (Dropbox, Amazon S3, Rackspace, etc), FTP, email, or on your computer.
It is extremely easy to use and allows you to schedule automatic backups according to your site’s update frequency.
Restoring a WordPress site from backup is also very simple. The BackWPup Pro version comes with priority support, the ability to store backups on Google Drive, and some other cool features.
Pricing: Free (Premium plan is also available)
7. BoldGrid Backup
BoldGrid Backup is an automated WordPress backup solution by BoldGrid, which is a website builder powered by WordPress.
It allows you to easily create your website backups, restore your site after it crashes, and you can even use it to move your site when switching hosts. You can set up automated backups or manually create backups with one click.
BoldGrid Backup comes with an automated fault protection feature that automatically creates a backup of your site before it updates. If an update fails, it automatically rolls back your WordPress site to the last backup. It’s a great feature that protects you against update errors.
With BoldGrid Backup, you can store up to 10 backup archives on your dashboard and more in remote storage locations like Amazon S3, FTP or SFTP.
Pricing: $60 per year (Includes all of BoldGrid Premium tools & Services)
Conclusion
Each WordPress backup plugin in the list has its pros and cons, but they offer complete file backup as well as full database backup features. So we recommend doing your own research and also see which backup plugin suits your website.
So make sure to take backups of your website on regular intervals so that you don’t have to start your digital marketing strategies from zero when you plan to upgrade or migrate your website.
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