If your WordPress site disappeared tonight, how long would it take you to get it back online? For most small business owners the honest answer is “I have no idea”, and that is usually because nobody ever explained how to back up a WordPress website in plain language.
This guide compares the four realistic options: a backup plugin, your hosting company’s built-in backups, a manual export, and cloud storage. For each one you get the real cost, how fast you can restore, and how technical you need to be. At the end you will find a simple schedule to follow and, most importantly, a short walkthrough for testing that your backup actually restores, which is the step almost everyone skips.
The short answer
For most small business sites, the best setup is a backup plugin sending copies to cloud storage you control (Google Drive, Dropbox or Amazon S3), plus whatever automatic backups your host already provides. That gives you two independent copies in two different places, and you can restore from inside your WordPress dashboard without calling anyone.
Everything below explains why, and what to do if your situation is different.
What “a WordPress backup” actually includes
A WordPress site is made of two separate things, and a backup is only complete when it contains both:
- The files: your theme, plugins, uploaded images and PDFs, plus the WordPress core files and your
wp-config.php. These live in your hosting account, mostly inside/public_html/and/wp-content/. - The database: every page, post, product, order, comment, user account and setting. This is a MySQL database, and it is exported as a
.sqlfile.
Back up only the files and you get an empty shell with no content. Back up only the database and you get all your text with no images and no theme. The standard order recommended in the official WordPress documentation is to export the database first, then the files.
What you do NOT need to back up every day
WordPress core files and plugin files can be re-downloaded for free at any time. The irreplaceable parts are your database and your /wp-content/uploads/ folder. If storage space or speed is a problem, prioritise those two.
The 4 methods compared at a glance
| Method | Typical cost | Restore speed | Skill needed | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Backup plugin | Free to around 100 USD/year | 5 to 20 minutes, one click | Beginner | Almost every small business site |
| 2. Host backups | Often included, sometimes 2 to 5 USD/month | Minutes, but depends on support hours | Beginner | A safety net, never your only copy |
| 3. Manual (cPanel + phpMyAdmin) | Free | 30 to 90 minutes, manual steps | Intermediate | One-off snapshots before big changes |
| 4. Cloud / offsite storage | 0 to 10 USD/month for storage | Depends on the tool pushing files there | Beginner to intermediate | The destination, combined with method 1 or 3 |
Important distinction: methods 1, 2 and 3 are ways of creating a backup. Method 4 is mainly about where you store it. The strongest setups combine a plugin with cloud storage.
Method 1: Back up WordPress with a plugin (recommended for most)
A backup plugin runs inside WordPress, packages your files and database on a schedule, sends the archive to a remote location, and lets you restore with a button. This is the option that wins on the thing that matters most: restore speed when you are panicking.
Popular options
- UpdraftPlus: the classic free choice, excellent cloud destination support, paid version adds one-click migration and incremental backups.
- Jetpack VaultPress Backup: real-time backups, ideal for WooCommerce stores where every order matters. Paid only.
- Solid Backups (formerly BackupBuddy), BlogVault, Duplicator: all solid, with Duplicator especially handy for migrations.
- All-in-One WP Migration: simple, but free version has file size limits that larger sites hit quickly.
Step by step with UpdraftPlus
- In your dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New, search for the plugin, install and activate it.
- Go to Settings > UpdraftPlus Backups.
- Open the Settings tab and choose your schedule: for example files weekly and database daily.
- Set how many copies to retain. Keeping 4 to 8 is a sensible balance between safety and storage.
- Choose a remote storage destination: Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2 or an FTP server. Authorise the connection when prompted.
- Tick all components: database, plugins, themes, uploads and others.
- Save changes, then click Backup Now and watch the first run finish.
- Open your cloud folder and confirm the files are really there. If they are not, the backup does not exist.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| One-click restore from the dashboard Automatic schedules Sends copies offsite No technical knowledge required |
Uses server resources during the backup Useless if WordPress itself will not load Free versions often limit incremental backups |
Watch out: a plugin backup stored only on the same server as your site is not a backup. If the server fails or gets hacked, both copies go together. Always configure remote storage.
Method 2: Use your hosting company’s backups
Most hosts (SiteGround, Kinsta, WP Engine, Hostinger, Bluehost, GoDaddy, OVH, Cloudways and others) take daily automatic snapshots of your account and keep them for somewhere between 7 and 30 days.
How to use it
- Log in to your hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, or the host’s own dashboard).
- Look for a section called Backups, Backup Manager or Restore.
- Select the site and the date you want.
- Choose whether to restore the full account, only files, or only the database.
- Confirm, and download a copy to your own computer while you are there.
Three questions to ask your host today
- How many days of backups do you keep? Seven days is often too short to catch a problem that started quietly.
- Can I restore myself, or do I have to open a support ticket? This changes your downtime from 10 minutes to possibly several hours.
- Where are the backups stored? If they sit on the same machine as your site, their value drops sharply.
Host backups are genuinely useful and cost you nothing extra in most plans. The problem is dependency: if you ever leave that host, get suspended for non-payment, or the account is compromised, you may lose access to your backups at exactly the moment you need them. Treat host backups as layer two, never layer one.
Method 3: Back up WordPress manually (no plugin)
The manual route is free, works on any host, and is the only method that gives you a complete understanding of what a WordPress site is made of. It takes longer and there is room for mistakes, but it is worth doing at least once, for example right before a major theme change or a PHP version upgrade.
Part A: Download the files
- Open File Manager in cPanel, or connect with an FTP/SFTP client such as FileZilla.
- Navigate to your site’s root folder, usually
public_html. - Select everything, including hidden files like
.htaccess. - In cPanel, right click and choose Compress to create a single ZIP, then download it. Over FTP, simply drag the folder to your computer (slower, but fine).
- Store the ZIP in a dated folder, for example
backup-2026-10-11.
Part B: Export the database
- In cPanel, open phpMyAdmin.
- In the left column, click the database used by your site. If you are not sure which one it is, open
wp-config.phpand look for theDB_NAMEvalue. - Click the Export tab.
- Choose the Quick method and the SQL format. If you want a compressed file, use Custom and set compression to gzip.
- Click Export and save the
.sqlfile next to your ZIP.
Part C: Store it somewhere that is not your computer
Copy both files to Google Drive, Dropbox, an external hard drive, or all three. A backup sitting only on the laptop you carry around every day is one coffee spill away from being gone.
Manual restore, in short
- Upload and extract the files back into
public_html. - In phpMyAdmin, create an empty database (or drop the existing tables), then use Import to load the
.sqlfile. - Update
wp-config.phpwith the correct database name, user and password. - If the domain changed, run a search and replace on the URLs using a tool such as WP-CLI or the Better Search Replace plugin.
Realistically, this takes 30 to 90 minutes if nothing goes wrong. That is the honest trade-off for a free method. There is more on it in Download a backup of your site.
Method 4: Cloud and offsite storage
Cloud storage is where your backups should live. It is the difference between a backup strategy and a false sense of security.
Common destinations
| Destination | Free tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Google Drive | 15 GB shared with Gmail | Easiest for non-technical owners, supported by every major plugin |
| Dropbox | 2 GB | Fine for small sites, fills up fast with media libraries |
| Amazon S3 | No, pay as you go | Cheap at scale, supports versioning and lifecycle rules |
| Backblaze B2 | 10 GB free | Very low cost per GB, popular with agencies |
| OneDrive | 5 GB | Convenient if you already pay for Microsoft 365 |
The 3-2-1 rule, translated for small businesses
- 3 copies of your site: the live site, plus two backups.
- 2 different types of storage: for example your host’s system and a cloud drive.
- 1 copy offsite: somewhere that is not on the same server, ideally not in the same account either.
A practical version for a typical site: UpdraftPlus sends a daily database backup and a weekly full backup to Google Drive, your host keeps 14 daily snapshots, and once a month you download a copy to an external drive. Total extra cost: often zero. There is a detailed walkthrough elsewhere.
Which method should you choose?
| Your situation | Recommended setup |
|---|---|
| Brochure site, a few pages, updated monthly | Free plugin, weekly full backup to Google Drive, plus host backups |
| Blog publishing 2 to 5 posts per week | Daily database backup, weekly file backup, 8 copies retained |
| WooCommerce store taking orders daily | Real-time or hourly backups (Jetpack VaultPress, BlogVault), plus host snapshots |
| Membership or booking site | Hourly database backups, daily files, 30 day retention |
| About to redesign or change hosts | Manual full backup downloaded locally before you touch anything |
Setting a realistic backup schedule
The right frequency is simple to work out. Ask yourself: how much work am I willing to redo? If losing a week of content would be annoying but survivable, weekly is fine. If losing an hour of orders would cost real money, you need hourly.
| How often the site changes | Database backup | Files backup | Keep copies for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rarely | Weekly | Monthly | 60 days |
| A few times a month | Daily | Weekly | 30 days |
| Daily content or leads | Daily or twice daily | Daily | 30 days |
| Transactions all day | Hourly or real-time | Daily | 30 to 90 days |
Always take an extra backup before
- Updating WordPress core, a theme, or several plugins at once
- Installing a new plugin you have never used
- Editing theme files,
functions.phpor.htaccess - Changing PHP versions or moving hosts
- Running a database cleanup or optimisation tool
How to test that your backup actually restores
This is the section most articles leave out, and it is the one that saves businesses. An untested backup is a guess. Plenty of owners discover their archives were 0 KB, missing the uploads folder, or silently failing for eight months.
Plan one restore test every three months. It takes around 30 minutes.
Option A: Restore to a staging site (easiest)
- Check whether your host offers one-click staging. Many managed WordPress plans do.
- Create a fresh staging site, empty or cloned.
- Install your backup plugin on it, upload your latest backup archive, and run the restore.
- Open the staging URL and check the list below.
- Delete the staging site when you are done.
Option B: Restore locally with LocalWP (free)
- Download and install LocalWP on your computer.
- Create a new blank local site.
- Install your backup plugin there, upload the backup files, and restore.
- Browse the local copy in your browser.
Your restore test checklist
- The homepage loads with the correct theme and layout
- Images appear (open the Media Library and confirm thumbnails are not broken)
- You can log in to the admin area with your usual credentials
- The most recent post, page or product you created is present
- Menus, widgets and contact forms are intact
- For stores: recent orders and customer accounts exist
- Plugin settings are preserved, not reset to defaults
Write down how long the whole restore took. That number is your real recovery time, and it is what you will quote to yourself the next time something breaks at 9pm.
Common WordPress backup mistakes
- Storing backups on the same server as the site. One server failure takes both.
- Never checking the backup log. Set your plugin to email you on failure, and actually read those emails.
- Keeping only one copy. If the site was hacked three weeks ago, yesterday’s backup contains the hack.
- Forgetting the database. Files alone give you an empty website.
- Relying entirely on the host. Fine as a second layer, risky as the only one.
- Letting storage fill up. When Google Drive hits its limit, backups quietly stop uploading.
- Running two backup plugins at once. They can clash, time out, and crash the site during the job.
FAQ
How do I back up my entire WordPress site?
Back up both parts: the database and the files. The fastest way is a plugin such as UpdraftPlus, where you select database, plugins, themes, uploads and other directories, choose a cloud destination, and click Backup Now. Manually, you compress the public_html folder and export the database as a .sql file from phpMyAdmin, then store both together.
How do I export an entire WordPress site?
The built-in Tools > Export feature only exports content (posts, pages, media references, comments) as an XML file. It does not include your theme, plugins, settings or actual image files, so it is not a full backup. For a true export, use a migration plugin such as Duplicator or All-in-One WP Migration, which packages files and database into one importable archive.
What is the best WordPress backup solution?
There is no single winner for every site. UpdraftPlus is the best free all-rounder for small business sites. Jetpack VaultPress Backup is the strongest choice for WooCommerce because it captures changes in real time. BlogVault and Solid Backups suit people managing several sites. The best solution is simply the one that runs automatically, stores copies offsite, and that you have tested.
How do I save a WordPress site offline?
To keep a working offline copy, download a full backup (files plus database) and restore it inside LocalWP or XAMPP on your computer. If you only want a static readable version for archiving, a site downloader like HTTrack saves the public HTML pages, but you will not be able to edit it in WordPress.
Can I back up WordPress for free?
Yes. The free version of UpdraftPlus plus a free Google Drive account covers most small sites at zero cost. Manual cPanel and phpMyAdmin backups are also completely free. You start paying when you need real-time backups, long retention, or large amounts of storage.
How long should I keep WordPress backups?
Keep at least 30 days for an active site. Malware and content problems often go unnoticed for a couple of weeks, and a 7 day retention window may not reach back far enough to a clean version. Keeping one monthly archive for a year is cheap insurance. A comparable breakdown sits on hostinger.com.
Do backups slow down my website?
A full backup uses CPU and memory while it runs, which can briefly slow a small shared hosting plan. Schedule it during your quietest hours (check Google Analytics for your lowest traffic window) and use incremental backups if your plugin supports them.
Your next 20 minutes
Knowing how to back up a WordPress website is only useful once it is switched on. Do these four things today:
- Install a backup plugin and connect a cloud destination.
- Set a schedule that matches how often your site changes.
- Log in to your host and confirm how many days of backups they keep and who can restore them.
- Put a recurring reminder in your calendar: test a restore, every three months.
Ten minutes of setup now is the difference between a bad afternoon and a lost business.