We don’t want to think about what would happen to your WordPress site if all your data were wiped out. Horrifying! Like your worst nightmare, right?! Don’t worry, everything has a solution to it. Here, using WordPress backup plugins is one of the clever things you can do to ensure the safety of your site.
In this technology era, anything online can get hacked or you can accidentally lose your password. You’ll save yourself the massive trouble of loading everything with the help of a backup plugin.
But the question is which WordPress backup plugin should you use? You have got options. In this post, I have mentioned (reviewed) the top five popular WordPress backup plugins to help you figure out which one fits your needs.
Let’s start with it.
Top Recommended WordPress Backup Plugins
Factors to look at to find the best WordPress Backup Plugins
1. UpdraftPlus
UpdraftPlus has been synonymous with WordPress backups for quite some time now. If you are looking for free WordPress backup plugins, look no further than UpdraftPlus. It makes your site backups and restoration hassle-free. Besides, it has over three million active installations and is a good backup option if you are on a tight budget.
It backup your files and database into the cloud and can restore with one click. Plus, it integrates with various cloud storage options right of the bat, which is suitable. You can link your UpdraftPlus account to cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, etc.
The WordPress backup plugin also comes with a premium version you can upgrade to with a lot more potential and features. In a nutshell, UpdraftPlus is a cloud-based plugin that ensures you’ve your data in case of server crashes, cyberattacks, or anything that would bring your site down. With UpdraftPlus, you can simply “set and forget”, scheduling in automatic backups to save you time, work and hassle.
Best features of UpdraftPlus
- Automatic and manual backup schedules
- Backup to many cloud options
- Restores your site
- Incremental backup (in premium version)
- Migrate/clone websites (premium version)
- Basic Email Reporting
2. BackWPup
BackWPup is also one of the popular WordPress backup plugins in the market. Although not as highly rated as some of the other plugins, it is still worth considering while looking for free WordPress backup plugins. Besides, it is used by 700,000+ WordPress users.
It allows you to create a complete database backup and store it in a cloud service (like Dropbox, FTP, or Amazon S3), email, or to your web space. Further, it provides multisite support in the free version. In the BackWPup, you can complete automatic restore backup archives from the local server folder, cloud storage, and even easily restore manually uploaded backup archives. Though restore options are part of the premium version.
The plugin also gives you the ability to optimize, check, and repair a database. That’s a feature you don’t see much marketed by other plugins. You get the backup feature in the free version however, they also have premium plans that you can check out.
Best features of BackWPup
- Integration with cloud services
- Complete Auto Restore
- Schedule automatic backups
- Multisite support
- Encrypt backup files
- Offsite backups with standalone restore app
3. Jetpack
Jetpack is developed to make WP sites safer and faster. It is a strong prospect for a reliable WordPress backup plugin that guards your site so you can run it safely. With Jetpack, you can restore your site easily with one click, even restore from anywhere with the Jetpack mobile app even if your site is offline.
It saves hours of time developing & maintaining sites by restoring any point. Allows you full, incremental, and differential backups in real-time. It provides backups of all files and WooCommerce table backups. Plus, it offers you many security features, too.
Apart from all of these, Jetpack is also a WordPress migration plugin. You can transfer your entire database, plugin, themes, and images. Jetpack offers a limited free plan that includes basic site protection, downtime monitoring, lazy loading images, social media tools, SEO tools, and themes.
In premium versions, it offers you a 14-day money-back guarantee (so if you don’t like the plugin, you can end your subscription). You can check out in detail Jetpack features on the WordPress site or from their website.
Best features of Jetpack
- Automatically perform malware scans & security scans
- Auto-backup in real-time & restore with one-click
- Migration of your site
- Image optimization
- WooCommerce Backup
4. BlogVault
BlogVault is the most reliable incremental WordPress backup plugin with free cloud storage. Plus, you get a free staging environment. It is trusted by 400,000+ sites, including businesses like Astra and Cloudways. It can easily handle large site backups and provides 100% successful restores.
They go as far as providing 90 days archive to recover from any site mistake. Blogvault backups everything in your WordPress site from WP core files, and blog posts, to themes, images, plugin files, and even user details. Moreover, the plugin provides real-time backups for WooCommerce stores.
You’ll find that BlogVault’s backups are automatic and scheduled daily. It is one of the robust & complete backup plugins and also most recommended. You can definitely take advantage of their 7-day free trial, Otherwise, take a look at their affordable pricing tiers.
Best features of BlogVault
- Automatic & scheduled backups & full restoration
- Provides a centralized dashboard where you can manage multiple sites
- Integrated Free Staging Site
- Uptime monitoring
- Flawless Site Migrations
5. Duplicator
Duplicator is another popular WordPress backup plugin, similar to UpdraftPlus. Its main functionality and best used is to clone and migrate WordPress sites between domains or hosts with zero downtime. But it can be used to take backups.
You get both free and premium versions of the plugin. In the free version, you get basic features like backup files & database and migration sites. However, in a premium version, it offers scheduled backups, partial backups, many cloud storage options, larger site support, and more features.
Duplicator (or Duplicator pro) is a good working plugin, that is trusted by millions of users to date. Though it is not so beginner friendly plugin, it requires some technical knowledge to go with. Besides, restore options aren’t a big part of the plugin, you get the option of reverting to the previous version with Duplicator Pro. However, manually you can restore the backups
Best features of Duplicator
- Scheduled Backups
- Complete & Partial Backups
- Cloud support backups
- Migration functionality
- Multisite
Bonus – InstaWP
When it comes to WordPress websites, we also recommend using a testing site or staging site as a backup to your live site. Because as we know, anything can happen to your site, especially if you are using your live site as a test site.
Don’t worry, we have the perfect tool to recommend to you – InstaWP. You might have heard of or seen this name if you were looking for a staging site tool. InstaWP is a service that helps you to launch your WordPress sites in seconds, and further use it to test your themes or anything on the site.
InstaWP has a lot to offer you in terms of features. Besides, it is designed to fit into a variety of use cases & accelerate the speed by at least 2×. It is not only a good option to choose for building a website for your clients. But is a perfect tool for developers. As it has tools like Database Editor, Git Integration, Code Editor, and SSH access with WP-CLI.
Apart from this, a tool that doesn’t require setup goes a long way with students learning WordPress. Thousands of clients have got their hands on this tool and tried it. You get both a limited free plan and paid versions.
Best features of InstaWP
- Automatic Domain
- Free SSL Certs
- PHP & WP Version
- In-built Tools
- Git Integration
- Save as template sites
- Clone Sites
Factors to look at to find the best WordPress Backup Plugins
Here I have mentioned four common factors to look at before choosing the best WordPress backup plugins. Not to say which plugins are good or bad, but these criteria will help you to select the perfect one for you.
1. Complete Restore
Suppose you are desperately trying to get back your site back up and running and restore it back to how it was before. You will be grateful for the restoring option you can upload the original site within minutes. Unsurprisingly, many WordPress backup plugins don’t have restore options, and they fail to restore backups.
It’s painfully obvious, but any backup that doesn’t successfully restore your site is worse than anything you’ve as a backup. Always test restores, before trusting a backup plugin. This way, you know you will have a good WordPress backup plugin, that helps you save your rankings on search engines, and have a possible plan if things go south.
2. Full Backups
Another factor to consider when you are looking for the best WordPress backup plugin is to ensure that it backup ‘everything.’ From backing up your core files, and folders, to images, texts, themes, and the whole database.
If your site goes down, a partial backup will be less helpful. Many WordPress backup plugins recommend partial backups because of – storage. Full backups are worth any extra cost and unlimited storage are also important. Anything fewer increases the risk of failed restoration.
3. Cloud / Off-site Storage
The storage consideration brings me to another desirable factor and that is cloud storage (or off-site storage) in a backup plugin. Off-site backups are vital for two reasons – 1) if anything goes wrong with your server, your backups will be affected if they are stored on your site (which technically will be)
2) backups on your site server take up too much space, which eventually reduces site performance.
With cloud storage or any off-site storage, you can store your site information safely with a backup provider. You’ll always have access to your data which helps you minimize storage.
4. Partial Backup (Prevent Overload Configuration)
Full backup each time overloads your site and slows it down. However, to prevent overload configuration, many good plugins use incremental/partial backups. It allows for interval backups, configured so that your site doesn’t suffer slow loading.
It breaks your website into small pieces and creates a copy of your website without affecting the server. As we all probably know, loading time is a crucial SEO factor that search engines take seriously to decide where to place your page in SERPs. The fewer resources your backup plugin takes, the better your chance of ranking on search engines.
Wrapping Up
One of the best ways to protect your site while you are sleeping soundly at night is to have a reliable and trustworthy WordPress backup plugin. In a scenario where you lose everything on your site, you’ll need a hand to bring all of it back. That’s where backup plugins come in.
Depending upon your website, the best WordPress backup plugins may differ. However, the primary factors such as restoration, backups, storage, and security remain crucial. Hence, if you are looking for popular WordPress backup plugins or choosing one from the above then you know which factors to keep in mind before downloading/purchasing the plugin.
We hope this list has helped you make an informed choice!
