Every website should be backed up at regular intervals so that the data is not lost in case of an emergency. Since there are countless tools for this, I present you here some of the most popular WordPress backup plugins.
Which features should a backup plugin offer?
Actually, all tools for a WordPress backup offer pretty similar features. They backup the data of your website and allow you to restore it. But depending on the plugin, there are small differences that you should pay attention to when choosing one. Here is a brief overview of the main features of the WordPress backup plugins:
- Manual backups
This way you can also create a manual backup spontaneously, e.g. before WordPress updates. - Automated backups
Your website will be backed up in regular, scheduled intervals, without you having to take action. - Partial backups
With a partial backup you can for example backup only the database or certain data. This has the advantage that only the database or plugins can be restored. - Incremental backup
With this type of backup only the changes are added, so the amount of data is smaller. - Simple handling
A backup should be as simple as possible and possible with a few clicks. - Easy restoration
With most plugins, a backup is created with little effort. But what if a WordPress backup needs to be restored? Here, some backup plugins are not really user-friendly.
Popular WordPress backup plugins compared
For most websites, the free WordPress backup plugins are absolutely sufficient. If you need more features, you can find them in the pro versions of the tools, of course, as with most WP plugins.
Here you can find some of the most popular backup tools that I use myself or have already used.
UpdraftPlus
With over 3 million active installations, UpdraftPlus is one of the most popular WordPress backup plugins.
Even the free version offers everything you need to set up a reliable backup for your website. , I have explained how easy this works in my UpdraftPlus tutorial.
Here are the most important features:
- Manual or scheduled WordPress backup
- Backup to FTP, Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S4 and other providers
- Separate backup of database, plugins, themes possible
- Easy handling
- Easy restore of the backup
I have been using the backup plugin for a few years now and I’m very happy with it. Until now I could always rely on it and also restoring a WordPress backup has always worked quickly and easily.
UpdraftPlus Premium* has of course some additional features like:
- Incremental Backup (Only changes are added to the backup, which saves disk space).
- Website migration (clone the website and move to another server).
- Backup of other data (e.g. WordPress Core)
- Encryption of data
- Other storage options
- Automatic WordPress backup before updates
You can find a detailed overview of the features on the provider page and of course a comparison of UpdraftPlus Free vs. Pro*.
The price for UpdraftPlus Premium* starts at $70,- per year, whereas single features are also available from $25,-.
WPvivid
WPvivid backup plugin is not quite as well known yet, but it is rightly rated as very good. It offers some other interesting features besides backing up your website:
- Manual and scheduled backups
- Backup of WordPress data and database can be done separately
- Backup to FTP, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Amazon S3, …
- Simple backup
- Website migration to new domain
- Create database snapshots
- Creating a staging page
- Image cleaner (scans your website for unused images)
The only disadvantage: Unlike Updraft, for example, you can’t exclude directories with the free backup plugin.
This and other useful features are then available in WPvivid Pro*:
- Selection of data to be backed up
- Advanced schedules
- Rollback of WordPress core, themes and plugins
- Advanced remote storage
- Push-to-live for staging sites
The prices* are comparatively reasonable – the single license starts at $29,- per year and the lifetime license is €99,- for 2 domains.
WP Staging Pro
Actually WP Staging Pro* is a plugin to create a test environment (staging-site). But for some time now, the tool also offers the possibility to create a WordPress backup. Here you can find my test of the WP Staging Backup.
So if you need as well as such a staging environment, you get with this tool in addition still a very good backup solution delivered.
In my test, this backup plugin was by far the fastest. In 47 seconds the complete website was backed up! Most other backup plugins took an average of 3.5 minutes for the exact same page. For very large websites, this can play a decisive role.
Main features:
- Separate backup of media library, themes, plugins, database possible.
- Scheduled backup
- One-click backup
- Create a staging site
- Push to Live
- Website migration
- MultiSite support
Unfortunately, the backup feature is only included in WP Staging Pro*, which is available from €89,-. The purchase is therefore only worthwhile if you also need a staging environment.
Even the free version of WP Staging allows you to create backups without any file size limits. The Pro version adds features like uploading backups to external providers such as Google Drive, SFTP, Amazon S3, and more. It includes a standalone restore script and binaries for all major operating systems, enabling you to restore your website up to ten times faster than other methods. It also offers unlimited scheduled plans and many more useful features.
BlogVault
BlogVault is a very good backup tool, especially for larger websites and stores, which saves your data via cloud storage. It is very easy to use and restoring the data is also quick and easy. I especially like the test restore. This gives you a preview of how the restore will affect the website.
Additionally, BlogVault* also offers you the use of a staging page and easy website migration.
Key Features:
- Automated backup
- Incremental Backup
- Cloud storage
- 90 days archive
- Simple restore with test option
- Multi-site support
- Real-time backup for transactions in WooCommerce stores (e.g. orders)
- Staging site
- Website migration
Unfortunately, the plugin is only free to use for a trial period of 7 days. After that, you can buy BlogVault* starting from an annual price of $89.
BackWPup
BackWPup was my very first WordPress backup plugin, but I swapped it for UpdraftPlus pretty quickly. Why? Overall, I find the handling of this tool quite inconvenient, especially for WP beginners. Then there were frequent problems when backing up larger sites and the manual restore.
For this post, of course, I looked at BackWPUp again and tested it. But after the WordPress backup was still not complete after more than 15 minutes, I canceled the test.
What I really like, on the other hand, is the detailed selection of the data to be backed up. Even for the database backup, you can choose which tables to include. You can also select directories and plugins. Here are the main functionalities:
- Backup to FTP, Dropbox, Amazon S3
- Backup of database and/or data
- Selection of tables and data to be backed up
- Scheduling
Disadvantages: If you want to import a backup, you have to do it manually. You have to upload all data via FTP and know how to use PHPMyAdmin. For more comfort you can use the paid version.
Duplicator
Duplicator has been one of my favorite tools for a long time! It was developed for cloning and migrating complete websites. And of course you can also use the plugin to backup your website.
But with the free version you can only backup your complete website manually, i.e. create a clone. To use conventional backup functionalities, the Pro version of Duplicator is required. Here are the features:
- WordPress migration (even from large websites)
- Multisite support
- Scheduled backups
- Saving to Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon S3 and FTP/SFTP
- Setting of restore points
Duplicator Pro* is available from $69 for 3 websites, but is only worthwhile for power users.
Conclusion
For me personally UpdraftPlus is currently the best backup plugin for WordPress. It is free, easy to use and also a restoring of your data runs smoothly and reliably. In addition, I occasionally use Duplicator to create an exact copy of my website with little effort. This clone then serves as an emergency backup and for archiving.