7 Best WordPress Backup Plugins Compared (Pros and Cons)

Are you looking for the best WordPress backup plugin for your website?

Since we manage several different WordPress websites, we have had the opportunity to use and evaluate various WordPress backup plugins for our websites.

Through our hands-on experience with these plugins, we have gained a comprehensive understanding of their features, pros, and cons.

With this article, our goal is to help readers make informed decisions about choosing the right backup plugin for their WordPress website.

Important: While many WordPress hosting providers offer limited backup services, we always recommend that our users not rely solely on them. At the end of the day, it is your responsibility to keep regular backups of your website.

How We Test and Review Backup Plugins

Here’s how we reviewed different WordPress backup plugins:

1. Real-World Experience: Our team actively manages several WordPress websites, giving us firsthand experience with different backup plugins. We have used and tested these plugins extensively to ensure they meet our high standards of reliability, ease of use, and security.

2. Comprehensive Research: We conduct thorough research to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in WordPress backup technology. We regularly evaluate new plugins and update our recommendations accordingly to ensure readers have access to the best options available.

3. Reader Feedback: We value feedback from our readers who have used the plugins we recommend. We actively monitor comments, reviews, and discussions to gain insights into the real-world experiences of website owners using these plugins.

		Best For	Price	Free Version
🥇	Duplicator	Scheduled backup and migration	Starts at $49.50/yr	✅
🥈	UpdraftPlus	Popular freemium plugin	Starts at $70/yr	✅
🥉	Jetpack VaultPress Backup	Premium backups and security	$4.95 per MONTH	✅
4	Solid Backups	Original backup plugin (since 2010)	Starts at $99/yr	❌
5	BlogVault	Affordable real-time cloud backup	Starts at $149/yr	✅
6	BoldGrid Backup	Simple backups for BoldGrid users	$2.50 per MONTH	✅
7	BackWPup	Free cloud backup	Starts at $69	✅

1. Duplicator Pro

Duplicator Pro is a powerful and user-friendly WordPress backup plugin used by over 1.5 million website owners. It makes it easy to back up, migrate, and clone your WordPress site, even for beginners.

You can create manual or scheduled WordPress backups and safely store them on popular cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, FTP, OneDrive, and Amazon S3.

You can also view all of your backups right from your WordPress dashboard, which makes backup management simple.

When you need to restore a backup, the Duplicator Recovery Wizard will walk you through restoring your backup files, step by step.

Duplicator comes with all of the backup features you need, including complete WordPress files & database backups, recovery points, archive encryption for enhanced security, and more.

It also offers advanced site migration features such as an easy migration wizard, a streamlined installer, server-to-server imports, multisite network migrations, customizable pre-configured sites, large site support, and more.

At WPBeginner, we have used Duplicator for various website migrations, and it’s super reliable, especially for complex migrations.

Pricing: Starts at $49.50 per year for unlimited backups for up to 2 sites. There’s also a free version of Duplicator that you can use to get started.

Review: Duplicator Pro is a top-rated WordPress backup and migration plugin. It has over 1.5 million active installs and an average 4.9 out of 5 star rating. The free version has everything you need to get started. But we recommend upgrading to the premium version to access features like cloud storage, scheduled backups, and more.

2. UpdraftPlus

UpdraftPlus is the most popular free WordPress backup plugin available on the internet. It is used by more than 3 million websites.

UpdraftPlus allows you to create a complete backup of your WordPress site and store it on the cloud or download it to your computer.

The plugin supports scheduled backups as well as on-demand backups. You also have the option to choose which files you want to backup.

It can automatically upload your backups to Dropbox, Google Drive, S3, Rackspace, FTP, SFTP, email, and several other cloud storage services (see our step-by-step guide on how to backup & restore your WordPress site with UpdraftPlus).

Besides backing up each WordPress website, UpdraftPlus also allows you to easily restore backups directly from your WordPress admin panel.

UpdraftPlus also has a premium version with add-ons to migrate or clone websites, database search and replace, multisite support, and several other features. The premium version also gets you access to priority support.

Pricing: Free (UpdraftPremium Personal costs $70 per year).

Review: UpdraftPlus is one of the most loved WordPress backup plugins on the market. It has over 3 million active installs and an average 4.8 out of 5 star rating. While the free version has a lot of features, we recommend upgrading to UpdraftPlus premium to unlock all its powerful backup features.

3. Jetpack VaultPress Backup

Jetpack VaultPress Backup is a popular WordPress backup plugin by Automattic, the company created by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg.

This plugin was originally launched under the name VaultPress, which is what we use on WPBeginner, but now it’s been redesigned and rebranded as Jetpack Backups. We have started to switch several of our websites to the new Jetpack backup platform because it’s more up-to-date.

The Jetpack backup plugin offers automated daily and real-time cloud backup solutions without slowing down your site. You can easily set up Jetpack backups and restore from backups within a few clicks.

The higher plans of Jetpack also offer security scans and several other powerful features.

There are a few downsides to using Jetpack backups for beginners.

First, a recurring expense can add up with multiple WordPress sites because you pay per site.

Second, the purchase flow is quite complicated, and they force you 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, you will have to pay $4.95 per month per website, which is significantly more expensive for beginners when compared to other solutions listed here.

WPBeginner website still uses VaultPress (an older version of Jetpack) because we got grandfathered in at their older pricing, which was much more favorable.

However, even at the higher price, Jetpack backup is completely worth it due to Automattic’s stellar reputation. 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 $4.95 per month for a daily backup plan (billed annually).

Review: Jetpack VaultPress Backup is a premium backup service with a premium price point. If you are already using JetPack for other features like JetPack CDN for photos, social media promotion, and Elastic search, then it’s good value to purchase their Complete plan bundle. If you are just after real-time cloud backups for WordPress, then you can also look at BlogVault in our list because they offer more affordable pricing for beginners.

4. Solid Backups

Solid Backups is one of the most popular premium WordPress backup plugins used by over half a million WordPress sites. It allows you to schedule daily, weekly, and monthly backups easily.

With Solid Backups, you can automatically store your backups in cloud storage services like Dropbox, Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud, FTP, and Stash (their cloud service) and even email it to yourself.

If you use their Stash service, you can also do real-time backups.

The biggest advantage of using Solid Backups 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 Stash Live 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 Solid Backups to duplicate, migrate, and restore websites.

Pricing: $99 for Basic Plan (1 Site License).

Review: Solid Backups is a cost-effective premium WordPress backup solution for you. It has a full set of features you will need to back up, restore, and move a WordPress site. In a nutshell, it’s a powerful UpdraftPlus and VaultPress alternative that you can use. See our complete Solid Backups review for more details.

5. 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 zero load on your server.

BlogVault creates an automatic backup of your website daily 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 WordPress site.

Besides backups, it helps you to recover your website easily. You can store a 90-day backup archive on lower plans and a 365-day backup archive on the higher plan, so you can recover your site from any mishap. Additionally, in the event of a server failure, BlogVault backups are still available to restore a site quickly.

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. However, if you compare it to self-hosted plugins like Duplicator, Updraft, or Solid Backups, the cost per site is more expensive.

Pricing: $149 per year for the Plus Plan 1 Site License for daily automatic backups. $499 per year for high frequency daily backups.

Review: BlogVault is an easy-to-use WordPress backup solution. It creates offsite backups, so your website server will not be overloaded with your backups. The pricing is a bit higher than other solutions on this list, but it comes with powerful features for small businesses that want real-time backups. See our complete BlogVault review for more details.

6. BoldGrid Backup

BoldGrid Backup offers Total Upkeep, an automated WordPress backup solution by BoldGrid.

It allows you to easily create your website backups, restore your site after it crashes, and even use it to move your site when switching hosts. You can set up automated backups or manually create backups with one click.

Total Upkeep 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’s Total Upkeep, you can store backup archives on your dashboard and in remote storage locations like Amazon S3, FTP, or SFTP.

Pricing: $2.50 per month billed annually (Includes all of BoldGrid Premium tools and services).

Review: BoldGrid Total Upkeep Backup is a simple WordPress backup plugin you can use to create your website backups. If you want to take advantage of their bundle plan, including other powerful tools, then you will need to purchase the BoldGrid Premium Connect Key. This plan also includes the WordPress website builder, costing $60 per year.

7. 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 a backup is also very simple. The BackWPup Pro version comes with priority support, the ability to store backups on Google Drive, and other cool features.

Pricing: Free (Premium plan is also available).

Review: Used by over 600,000 websites, BackWPup is a great alternative to other backup plugins in the list. The premium version of the plugin adds more powerful features, including easy and quick website restoration from the backend with a standalone app.

Which Is the Best WordPress Backup Plugin?

Each WordPress backup plugin in our list has pros and cons, but all plugins offer complete WordPress file backup and full database backup features.

We use Jetpack Backups for two main reasons. It is extremely easy to use, and it offers real-time incremental backups.

This means that instead of backing up all of your files every day or every hour, it only creates a backup of what has been updated literally within minutes of the update. This is ideal for a large website like ours because it allows us to use our server resources efficiently.

However, if you run a small to medium size website and hate paying high monthly fees, we recommend the popular Duplicator plugin. It has powerful features like backup encryption, scheduled backups, and many cloud storage options.

Whichever WordPress backup plugin you choose, please do NOT store your backups on the same server as your website.

By doing that, you are putting all of your eggs in one basket. If your server’s hardware fails or you get hacked, you don’t have a backup. This defeats the purpose of setting up regular backups.

We recommend storing your backups on a third-party storage service like Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Drive, etc.

We hope this article has helped you pick the best WordPress backup plugin for your site. You may also want to check out our popular WordPress guides for your website.

Best WordPress Guides for Your Website

• Beginner’s Guide: How to Restore WordPress from Backup
• How to Make a WordPress Disaster Recovery Plan
• Ultimate WordPress SEO Guide for Beginners (Step by Step)
• The Ultimate WordPress Security Guide – Step by Step
• Best Email Marketing Services for Small Businesses
• Best Business Phone Services for Small Businesses
• WooCommerce Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Tutorial [+ Resources]
• How to Recover and Restore Deleted Pages in WordPress

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