WordPress backup plugins are among the most important plugins available in the industry. If you host your WordPress site on a shared host or a host that doesn’t handle backups for you, you must implement your own solution.
Sure, your shared host may offer daily backups, and they may even offer to store them for up to 30 days. Unfortunately, every host is susceptible to hackers and server interruptions, and it never hurts to have your own backup in place.
In this post, we’re going to take a look at seven of the best WordPress backup plugins available for the CMS.
The 7 Best WordPress Backup Plugins in 2020
01. UpdraftPlus – Free-$70+
At over 2 million active installations in WordPress, UpdraftPlus is one of the most widely used backup plugins available for the CMS.
It’s available in a free version that comes with key features, but premium add-ons and plans are available as well. The developer also offers related products.
Key Features
- Back up your files, content and database and save it to a downloadable file or off-site storage, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Amazon S3.
- Scheduled backups.
- Restore backups from the WordPress admin.
- Incremental backups that decrease server load by only backing up changes.
- Site migrations.
Pros
- All premium plans include every add-on available for UpdraftPlus.
- Premium plans purchased as subscriptions renew at 40% discounts.
- Pre-update backups create new backups automatically before you attempt to update WordPress core, themes, and plugins.
- Importer tool allows you to restore backups from other backup plugins.
- Supports WordPress multisite.
Cons
- Although you should receive a reply within 24 hours, support is only available during set hours. This is disappointing from a backup solution as issues, however rare, with these kinds of plugins can occur sitewide, making the site unusable, or even inaccessible.
Price: Free (pro version: $70)
02. BlogVault
BlogVault is a premium backup and migration plugin available for WordPress. It’s used by over 400,000 sites and is the official migration partner of WP Engine, Flywheel, Cloudways, and more.
Its primary feature is backups, but it also offers a collection of features to help you maintain your site and keep it free of malware.
Key Features
- Back up WordPress content, files and database.
- Restore backups to WordPress in one click.
- Scheduled backups available.
- Incremental backups included.
- Backups are stored on BlogVault’s own encrypted Amazon S3 servers, but you can also download upload them to Dropbox and Google Drive.
Pros
- Backups available for up to 90 days.
- Free, one-click staging site for testing. Automatic merging from staging environment to your live site available as well.
- Flexible migrations that support over 5,000 web hosts.
- Included WordPress management solution allows you to maintain several sites from a single dashboard. The white labeling options make this a great feature for professional developers.
- Supports WooCommerce and multisite.
Cons
- The plugin is available in the WordPress plugin repository, but there’s no mention of it being an exclusively premium product on the plugin page.
- The only plan that supports additional team members for the website management feature is the most expensive one, and it only supports one additional user, which could be a problem for larger agencies.
Price: $7.5 / month
03. BackupBuddy
BackupBuddy was developed by iThemes in 2010. iThemes offers a collection of themes and plugins that’ll help you build and maintain your website. They even offer web hosting.
Their backup plugin protects over 500,000 sites.
Key Features
- Back up your content, files and database.
- Scheduled backups included.
- Store backups on BackupBuddy’s servers with BackupBuddy Stash, or use Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, and more.
- ImportBuddy tool allows you to restore your site from a backup.
- Includes a migration tool that helps you move your site to a new host.
Pros
- ImportBuddy includes a tool that allows you to roll back the WordPress database in case you accidentally delete a post, page, comment, etc.
- Clone your site using an existing backup.
- Includes a deployment tool that allows you to move your site to a staging area, make changes and push it to the live version.
- Flexible scheduling options, starting with hourly.
Cons
- Your first 1GB with BackupBuddy is free, but additional storage costs at least $35/year.
- Support only available during normal business hours (Central time in the United States).
- Does not support multisite.
Price: $80
04. Duplicator
At over 1 million active installs on WordPress, Duplicator is one of the most popular backup and migration plugins available for WordPress.
Its free version offers an easy way to back up your site manually and download your backup in a file type that’s easy to migrate to a new installation. The premium version expands on these features.
Key Features
- Back up your content, files and database.
- Includes scheduled backups.
- Store backups in Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, and more.
Pros
- Overwrite existing live sites with a backup in one click.
- Choose which directories, files, database tables and more get backed up.
- Limit the number of backups you store to keep yourself from going over your cloud storage service limits.
- Priority support available on higher plans.
- Supports multisite.
Cons
- No site staging.
Price: Free (pro version: $59)
05. BackWPup
BackWPup is another popular backup plugin that has over 600,000 active installs in WordPress. It was developed by Inpsyde GmbH, the company that founded the WordPress Germany community. They’re also an official WordPress VIP partner and WooCommerce Gold Expert.
Similar to other plugins on this list, you can use BackWPup quite well in its free version but extend it by upgrading to premium.
Key Features
- Back up files, content and database.
- Scheduled backups.
- Optimize database, and repair issues when found.
- Store backups in your site’s directory, Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, and more.
- Restore backups from WordPress.
Pros
- Export WordPress XML files.
- Generate a backup of installed plugins.
- Logs and backups can be sent to you via email.
- Backup archives can be encrypted and restored from an encrypted state.
- Supports multisite.
Cons
- No site staging.
- Storing backups in Google Drive is a premium feature.
- Support only available during set hours Monday through Friday.
Price: Free (pro version: $59)
06. WP Database Backup
WP Database Backup, which is known as “WP All Backup” in its premium version, is a WordPress backup plugin that backs up different parts of your WordPress installation depending on which version of the plugin you have.
The free version is named as such because it only handles your database. However, you can back it up on a schedule, store the backup offsite, and restore your database from a backup.
Key Features
- Back up your database (free version) or your entire site (premium).
- Scheduled backups available.
- Restore your database (free) or your entire site (premium) from a backup.
- Site cloning available.
- Migrating site with a backup available.
Pros
- Exclude specific tables from backups.
- Choose backup type in premium version, such as database only, files only, etc.
- Store to Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, and more.
- Run system checks to ensure folder permissions, execution times and related are configured to appropriate settings.
- Supports multisite.
Cons
- No site staging.
Price: Free (pro version: $22)
07. Jetpack Backups (formerly VaultPress)
Once upon a time, Automattic, the developers of WordPress, operated an official backup plugin for WordPress.org called VaultPress. However, the company merged the plugin’s features with Jetpack in 2016 and made the backup solution a premium feature of the multifaceted plugin.
Like Jetpack’s other services, you don’t need to use any of the plugin’s additional modules to use its backup service. You can gain access to the backup module by paying $3.50/month or $39 annually.
Key Features
- Back up your files, content and database.
- Scheduled backups.
- Backups are stored for at least 30 days.
- Site restore from a backup available.
Pros
- Scheduled backups are made daily with the Personal and Premium plans, but real-time backups are available in the Professional plan.
- An unlimited number of backups can be stored with the Professional plan.
- Security and performance monitoring functionalities included with Jetpack.
Cons
- While you can turn its other modules off, you can’t use this backup service without using Jetpack, a plugin that has over 35 functionalities, many of which don’t even relate to one another. This is in contrast to the other solutions on this list whose developers are focused on providing one primary functionality.
- You can download backups manually, but you can’t send them to Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, or related places automatically.
Price: $3.50 / month
How to Choose the Best WordPress Backup Plugin for Your Needs
Choosing the best WordPress backup plugin is about determining which plugin has the features you want or need at a price that matches your business’ budget.
If you don’t want to go through the trouble of logging into WordPress regularly and clicking a button to perform a backup, choose a plugin that offers scheduled backups such as BackupBuddy or Updraft Plus.
Furthermore, if you don’t want to download and upload that backup to a third-party cloud storage service manually, choose a plugin that’ll upload your backups to these services automatically such as JetPack or Blogvault.
The ability to restore your site from a backup, especially in one click, is important as well as protecting your site from harmful and/or unintended changes is the whole reason why you’re backing it up in the first place.
Other features you may want to look into include incremental backups to improve performance, site staging so you can test changes and updates in a safe environment, and the ability to choose which parts of your site get backed up.
Related: 9 Best WordPress Mailing List Plugins for List Building