In this post I am going to show you the best WordPress Backup (and restore) plugins around in 2015.
Just a few weeks ago, a very nasty hacker kept trying to get into my website over and over again.
Although they did not manage to take my site down (because I have some security in place) there is always a chance.
So I thought to myself: what if hackers manage to get in and delete everything?
As a website owner, it is your worst nightmare!
Your website is gone, and…you don’t have a backup!
Maybe someone hacked your site and deleted it. (like my nightmare)
Or you accidentally deleted it, or just some pages, yourself.
Or perhaps your web hosting company made a mess, and your site does not work anymore!
So many things can go wrong with a website, and you need to be prepared.
Have You Got A Backup of Your Website?
Rather than think, or hope you have a backup in place it is far better to be completely sure.
There are many reasons your backup might not there (and we have all been guilty of some of them):
- You think your web hosting company is taking care of it
- You hope your web developer has taken care of it
- You have a backup but it is on your web hosting server
- You know you don’t have a backup and don’t know what to do
It doesn’t have to be so hard because WordPress is so awesome and so many great developers have made plugins to help you solve this problem.
Grab My FREE Best Plugins Checklist & Guide: Find out what plugins will get you going fast, and then take your website to the next level.
The Best WordPress Backup And Restore Plugins
Having a backup is great, but if you are not a web developer than getting from a backup to a fully functional WordPress website is not easy.
So what is even better is a Backup and Restore Plugin.
The following are the ones I recommend you take a look at:
Backup Buddy from iThemes (My Favorite)
Backup Buddy is one of the simplest plugins I have ever worked with. And given how important backup is, that rocks!
Not only is it easy to use, but it easily backs up your WordPress website (database and files) and makes restoring it a cinch too.
To summarize what this backup buddy can do for you:
- Backup everything (database, plugins, files, themes, scripts, posts, settings, widgets, plugins etc)
- Backup regularly (daily, weekly, monthly)
- Backup to another location (Amazon S3 cloud, Dropbox, Rackspace Cloud, FTP, FTPS, and email)
- 1 Gig of Stash backup storage (No Need for Dropbox etc anymore)
- Full site restore or individual files
- Site Migration (the plugin also helps with migrations)
- Security Scans (malware and database scans)
There are also a bunch of other plugins you can buy and extend this one with via iThemes such as syncing, remotely backing up clients websites and much more.
Backup Buddy Premium:
You can also extend your backup buddy features and support with a yearly fee to get such features as:
- Unlimited Sites with Backup
- Remotely manage your sites with Sync plugin
VaultPress from Automattic (Makers of WordPress)
VaultPress is the most premium backup service you can get for WordPress. But it comes with a price.
Unlike the one-time fee you pay with Backup Buddy, VaultPress is a minimum of $5 a month for backup and restore.
What can VaultPress do for you:
- Backup everything (database, plugins, files, themes, scripts, posts, settings, widgets, plugins etc)
- Backup daily with 30 daily copies kept
- Backup to another location (VaultPress has a location)
- Full site restore
If you want even more peace of mind, VaultPress offers more premium services such as:
- Backup all copies (no 30 day limit)
- Daily Security Scans
- Akismet Spam Protection
UpDraft
Updraft is one of the better free backup plugins you can find. It has everything from scheduled backups, offsite backups and amazingly a restore function.
The features include:
- Full Database and File Backup (so backs up everything)
- Off-site backups (Amazon S3, Dropbox, Rackspace Cloud Files, Google Drive, FTP and more)
- Restore Files and Database
- Scheduled Backups
Updraft Premium also offers further features you might like:
- Website cloning (copying)
- Premium support
Free Backup Plugins (No One Click Restore)
BackWPUp
This plugin makes a simple backup of your WordPress website (files and database) and allows you to export them to an offsite location for more secure backup.
This one is quite popular and is used by sites like WPBeginner and Huffington Post.
Features include:
- Full Database and File Backup (so backs up everything)
- Allows Off-site backups (Amazon S3, Google Storage)
- Supports WordPress Multisite (for multi-language sites etc)
Their Pro Version offers some further features such as:
- Backup to Google Drive, Dropbox, Rackspace
- Premium Support
WPBackUpToDropbox
This plugin does a very simple job of backing up your WordPress website to dropbox. It copies both the database and the files.
I have used it in the past, but the lack of control and restore function made me switch to Backup Buddy. For starting out it is ok though.
Duplicator (Backup and Migrate)
I love this plugin for migrating WordPress websites. It does a great job of simply copying the full site (database and files) and giving you a simple way to restore it on another site.
BUT, it is a little technical (it requires you to copy files to your server by hand) so if you want just a one click copy or restore then scroll back up and look at the more premium plugins. This one is great, but it requires a little tech skill.
Basically it does the following:
- Full Database and File Backup (so backs up everything)
- Gives you a php file to restore the site
- Restore manually via this php script on your target machine
So although this is not really intended as a simple backup plugin, it can be used as one. It is really great for migration though and has saved me on many occasions!
Grab My FREE Best Plugins Checklist & Guide: Find out what plugins will get you going fast, and then take your website to the next level.
Which One Is The Best?
Personally I use Backup Buddy because it is simple, secure, reliable and does everything I need (regular backups, lots of copies, copies everything, and offsite on Dropbox).
And most importantly, it can restore your website – very important if you are non-technical.
I used to use WPBackupToDropbox but it did not give me enough control, was a little complex to set up and did not do restores. So now that I take care of my own and my clients websites, I use Backup Buddy for them all.
Second Choice
If I was not using Backup Buddy, I would either consider VaultPress or UpDraft because they are both well reviewed, and offer all the features you need.
All of the others are ok for a website that is not that important or where you have a developer who can take care of it for you.
If you are a website owner and running your own website, I would go for Backup Buddy
