Best WordPress Backup Plugins 2017 for Databases & Files Backups

Website backups are a must nowadays. When you’re working on an online project, having backups made on a regular basis will provide you with a peace of mind and could save you in times of need when you have to restore your website from a previous working or developed (staged) state. We at WebHostFace provide full account backups made on a daily basis and stored for up to 30 days back. This automated backup system has saved the sites of hundreds of our customers especially when they are in development stage and changes are made daily. Sometimes it is faster and better to simply restore your website to a previously working version than debugging and spending hours finding ways to fix your work. This article is devoted to all WordPress users who wish to find a reliable and easy to use WordPress Backup Plugin. In this article, we will discuss and rank the best WordPress backup plugins available nowadays.

Although most hosting companies offer automated daily backs, or at least they should, having additional backups and customizing them for your particular needs is something to take in consideration. Extending the functionality of any WordPress installation is done by adding plugins and this also applies to making WordPress website backups as well.

We’ll go through the most-famous and widely used WordPress backup plugins and explain how they operate.

In general, the key benefits of having WP backup plugin for your WordPress are:

1) You can customize the backups just for your needs, like:

Customizing the Automatic process:

– Setting your backups to run at the exact time that you’d like. Some users may prefer to have their websites backed up once or twice per day while others could like to have one backup weekly.

Customizing the WordPress Backup process

– Selecting which part of your WordPress installation you’d like to be backed up. You can specify that you’d like to have just your website’s files backed up or just the database. The most secure way to go is to have a full backup including both – the files along with the database.

Having the option to run the backup at any time

– If you’re working on developing your website on different stages (staging) you can opt to have a previous version of the website backed up just in case you do not like the new one and want to revert.

Another important criterion to mention is that some of the plugins are premium and paid. Those have extended features and often provide more functionality than making backups alone. With that being said let’s take a look at the most commonly used WordPress backup plugins and how you can benefit from them:

Best WordPress Backup Plugins 2017 for Databases & Files Backups

– Duplicator
– BackWPUp
– UpdraftPlus
– BackUpWordPress
– VaultPress – Paid only
– Backup buddy – Paid only
– WP-DB-Backup – just for databases

As listed all of the backup plugins provide the archiving function for either your files, database, or both. They differ mostly from added functionalities and whether they come with a free version or are only premium ones.

 

The Duplicator

WordPress Backup Plugin

Active installs: 1+ Million

Updated: regularly

Works with latest WP version: Yes

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars from 1,265+ reviews

 

 

With more than one million active installations, the Duplicator WordPress backup plugin is considered one of the best in terms of functionality, performance, and ease of use. It has an outstanding reputation of 4.9 stars out of 5 from 1265+ reviews.

Some of the most impressive comments about the Duplication WordPress plugin are:

Having this large community and users can show us nothing else but that this plugin does its work perfectly fine and it can give you peace of mind that your WordPress website is in good hands.

With the Duplicator WordPress backup plugin, you can easily create a fully packed bundle of all your site`s plugins, themes, content, database and WordPress files. All this comes in a zip file called a package. With ease, you can migrate a WordPress site to any location you wish – including your local computer, a flash drive or external backup server. This powerful yet fast and convenient WordPress backup plugin will help you move the content of your site on the same server, across different servers and pretty much any location a WordPress site can be hosted. The best part is that you do not need the WordPress to be installed again as the package contains all the necessary site files.

If you wish to start a WordPress website and want to use the Duplicator WordPress Backup Plugin you can check our Shared Hosting Packages that offer a great bundle of high-end features at an extremely affordable price. Our support team can help you set up your backups so you can get the best possible results.

Features of the Duplicator Pro:

And yes, the Duplicator WordPress backup plugin is tested and it works fine on all our shared hosting solutions

 

Duplicator WordPress Backup plugin tutorials and screenshots

 

1. How to create a backup of your WordPress website by using the Duplicator Backup plugin (files & databases)

Once the plugin has been installed you simply need to follow the instructions. The backup creation is pretty straight forward and can be done with just few mouse clicks. The time for the back up depends on the site of your website and the hosting solution you are using. Please note that it can take some time for a relatively large website.

 

Make sure your hosting provider has all the necessary PHP extensions enabled. We are WebHostFace have tested and made sure that the Duplicator WordPress backup Plugin works just fine.

 

 

The Duplicator makes all necessary steps to scan your WordPress website and prepares the backup for you.

 

 

Once the backup is completed, you will get the Status report that has two major components – the Installer and the Archive. In the details below, we will show you how to use the Installer and the Archive to restore your entire WordPress website.

 

 

Additionally, you can use the Packages tab in the Duplicator WordPress backup Plugin to download the files at any given time.

 

 

2. How to restore a WordPress website by using the Duplicator WP Backup plugin

In order to restore an already created backup package using the Duplicator, you need to go to the plugin back-end, locate the installer file (installer.php) and the archive files (ending _archive.zip) and unload them to your public_html folder (normally this is where your website content is).

After the two files are downloaded, you need to type in your browser, yourdomain.com/installer.php and follow the Duplicator WordPress Backup restore steps.

 

Duplicator WordPress backup restore tips & tricks

 

If you restore a Duplicator WordPress backup using this plugin for the first time, you might experience some issues like the below mentioned. Here are the suggestions that the plugin developers offer to fix the issue and have your WordPress website restored.

 

 

INSTALL ERROR!
A wp-config.php already exists in this location. This error prevents users from accidentally overwriting the wrong directories contents. You have three options:

 

Just to be on the safe side, do not delete the wp-config.php but simply rename it and only after the restore is done and you are sure the site works fine, delete the wp-config.php file.

 

During the Duplicator WordPress backup restore you will be prompted to include the database name, database username and the password so the data can be restored to the right database. If you delete the wp-config.php file as stated in the previous screen, you might have issue finding the right information to include for database name, database username and the password.

 

Duplicator WordPress backup plugin suggestions and downsides:

 

The free version of this WordPress Backup Plugin is highly popular and used, although it has some downsides on the backup restore process. It involves much manual work and it might not be a very suitable option for a complete WordPress beginner. The backup restore involves downloading two files, then uploading them to your hosting account (or moving the backup itself to the public_html folder) and then restoring by typing yourdomainname.com/installer.php

You will need some specific information that might not be easy to obtain by the beginner WordPress user like the database name, database username and password for the database of your WordPress website.

From our previous Duplicator backup restore tips & tricks, you can use the renamed wp-config.php file to take this info easily. (login to your cPanel and navigate to the public_html folder and click edit on the renamed wp-config.php file to locate the /** The name of the database for WordPress */, /** MySQL database username */ and the /** MySQL database password */)

Additionally, some hosting providers might not have the ZipArchive extension for PHP enabled. This PHP extension is required for the Duplicator backup packages to be created and you might need to contact the host. We are WebHostFace have tested the Duplicator backup plugin and it works like a charm on our shared hosting solutions.

We at WebHostFace have tested this WordPress backup plugin numerous times and find it easy to use and we will recommend it to our hosting users, no matter if they are WordPress beginners or experts. You can rely on our professional help for the plugin setup and any backup creation and restore questions you might have and you can use the already implemented full web hosting account back up (for your files and databases) R1Soft Daily Backup that makes automatic backups of your hosting account for the past 30 days and saves them on a separate server.

 

BackWPup

WordPress Backup plugin

Active installs: 500,000+

Updated: regularly

Works with latest WP version: Yes

Average Rating: 4 out of 5 stars from 388+ reviews

 

 

BackWPUp is one of the most used WordPress backup plugins and it is considered the best by more than 500k website owners. It has a free and paid version. The free version covers all functionalities needed for ensuring your websites’ safety like creating an archive for your entire website data and databases. The BackUPup WordPress back up plugin makes complete file bundle, including the /wp-content folder, where most of the high volume files reside by default. With a single backup archive, you are able to restore a WordPress installation and use a tool like phpMyAdmin to restore your database backup files.

The paid version has additional functionalities added which are most often used by developers rather than the regular blogger.

The main features include:

Download database backup with 1 click

Create jobs which can make the following:

Those jobs can be executed on a specified time span and you can edit the file names created by them. You also have the option to select where the backup files go once done, for example to a folder within your cPanel on your hosting account or sent to your Dropbox. Any time a job is executed you can choose to get reports sent to your email address. You also get a tab with all backups made by the plugin and there are several settings that will allow you to further customize how you use the plugin.

To summarize we’d like to mention that BackWPUp is the baseline backup plugin which will provide you with all the needed functionalities on its free version.

 

BackWPup WordPress Backup Tutorials

1. How to create a backup of your WordPress website by using the BackWPup Backup plugin (files & databases)

In order to create your first backup, you need to add a job and select the type of the job (depending on whether you need the files backed up, the databases backed up or both you need to tick the options.) After this simply follow the steps and your back up will appear in the Backups section in the BackWPup WordPress plugin.

 

 

You can schedule the WordPress backups and this can give you a peace of mind that the jobs will be performed without any further actions needed from on your side.

 

 

2. How to restore a WordPress website by using the BackWPup WordPress Backup plugin

 

The backup creation was the easy part, but we need to be sure what to do when the issue is on hand and you need to restore either your database or your website files or in the general case, restore your full website including the files and the databases.

This plugin has an intuitive and easy to use backend that allows you to download the backups to your local computer. Once this is done you need to upload the files you wish to restore to your hosting account using the cpanel inbuilt upload interface or use an FTP program to upload the WordPress backup files created by the BackWPup.

If you wish to make a complete WordPress website restore, simply extract the files in the folder where your website was (normally in the public_htm folder).

As for the WordPress database restore, you will need to do this manually again, using the PHP My admin. Here we have created a nice tutorial on how to restore your database using the phpMyAdmin.

https://www.webhostface.com/kb/knowledgebase/backup-export-import-mysql-database/

Please note that by default the database backup created using the BackWPup will be called database.sql and it will be part of the archive you need to download the WordPress backup plugin.

The BackWPup WordPress backup plugin has been tested and works great on our shared hosting solutions.

UpdraftPlus

WordPress Backup plugin

Active installs: 1+ million

Updated: regularly

Works with latest WP version: Yes

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars from 2,592+ reviews

 

One of the main advantages of UpdraftPlus is how it’s setup to make its backups. Unlike other plugins, it will create separate files containing different partitions of your WordPress installation. This is most convenient for bigger websites as backups ran by UpdraftPlus will consume considerably fewer resources.

Once the plugin is installed you can access it by going to your WordPress backend –> Setting –> UpdraftPlus

 

UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Tutorials

 

1. How to create a backup of your WordPress website by using the UpdraftPlus Backup plugin (files & databases)

The plugin has a very intuitive and easy to follow backup creation process. You simply need to follow the steps listed below.

 

Once the back up is created you have the freedom to manually download the backups and to save them locally or simply click the restore button to restore with just few mouse clicks.

 

The UpdraftPlus gives you the ability to backup your entire WordPress website, including the files and the databases and the restore option, allows you to do the restore without any further actions. In the above-mentioned WordPress backup plugins, you had to manually download the files and the databases and to restore them using cPanel and phpMyAdmin. The ultimate benefit of the UpdraftPlus is that makes the backups in small increments (you will not notice this but it will make a huge difference to the server you are using for hosting) and the one click full WordPress website backup restore.

 

2. How to restore a backup of your WordPress website by using the UpdraftPlus Backup plugin (files & databases)

 

 

 

The plugin will allow you to specify the time intervals between Files and Database backups and how many of them to keep. By default, the backups made by UpdraftPlus are stored in your cPanel account. You can select to have them sent over to other locations as well, like Google Drive for example. By having their premium version purchased you can also have the backups stored on their servers as well.

 

 

Another feature of this plugin will allow you to select which folders you’d like to include

You’ll also have the option to select whether you’d like to receive updates on every backup which will be sent to your administrative e-mail address. Another small and what seems like an unnoticeable feature
will provide you with a simple size counter which you can use to look at the disk space usage for your Plugins, Themes, Uploads folder and others.

While providing the core backup functionalities on its free version Updraft also has a premium paid one as well. There are actually several plans and you can choose which one will suit your needs in the best way and you can take a look at them at their website. You can also get storage to use for backups on their servers from there as well.

The final verdict is that the UpdraftPlus WordPress backup plugin is a must plugin for every website. No matter if small or large, popular or growing – it offers a peace of mind by making easy to download and restore with just 2 mouse clicks complete files and databases WordPress websites backups.

The UpdraftPlus WordPress backup plugin is fully tested and works like a charm on our shared hosting servers.

 

BackUpWordPress Backup plugin

 

Active installs: 200,000+

Updated: regularly

Works with latest WP version: Yes

Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars from 1005+ reviews

 

 

BackUpWordPress is a simple free backup plugin which you can install to your WP website. Upon making the installation you’ll be provided with an additional tab in your dashboard, under the Tools section, called Backups. Navigating to it you’ll open up a window which will allow you to manage the settings. It might be a little confusing where to find the right link in the beginning, but once you are used to it, it will not make any difference to you.

 

BackUpWordPress Backup Tutorials

 

1. How to create a backup of your WordPress website by using the BackUpWordPress Backup plugin (files & databases)

 

 

The plugin will allow you to select whether you’d like to have your Files, Database or both included in the backup. You will also be able to schedule the backups and how many of them you’d like to store. Additionally, you can also choose to have notifications about the backups sent over to your email.

 

 

The plugin also provides functionality for excluding certain folders from the created backups.

As simple and free plugin BackUpWordPress also has extensions which you can add and they all provide you with options to have your backups stored on a third-party service storage like Google Drive or Dropbox. Those extensions are premium extras and are paid for.

 

2. How to restore a backup of your WordPress website by using the BackUpWordPress Backup plugin (files & databases)

 

The main downside of the most backup plugins is the restore process. The same goes for this plugin as well. The restore requires a manual download of the backed up files and databases and restore using the cPanel and the phpMyAdmin.

When downloading the backup make sure you find the .sql file that is your database and to import it using the PHPMyAdmin tool from your hosting account`s cPanel. This process might not be so easy to a WordPress beginner so our support team can help you make the restore.

 

 

The BackUpWordPress plugin is one of the simplest and easy to use plugins which is its main advantage. You can just install it and setup your automatic backups within a minute or two. Being simplistic is also its main disadvantage as well.

 

The BackUpWordPress WordPress backup plugin is fully tested and works like a charm on our shared hosting accounts.

 

VaultPress WP Backup Plugin

Active installs: 60,000+

Updated: regularly

Works with latest WP version: Yes

Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars from 51+ reviews

 

 

VaultPress is a premium backup plugin and there is no free version for it. There are three versions and they differentiate by price and scalability. You can look at the exact pricing from their website. As this plugin is developed by Automattic you will also need a WordPress.com account.

The main features of VaultPress include:

You’ll have the option to setup the time interval on which the backup is made, additionally, you’ll be provided with a calendar in your dashboard which contains information about the backups made on specific dates.

When a backup is created you’ll be able to access it from the Calendar. Navigating to a backup you’ll see that it has two options – you can either download it, locally, on your computer or restore it. By opting for the restoration you can choose which portions of the backups to restore – Database, Themes, Plugins or Uploads.

VaultPress also provides a Security section which will look up your code and files. Additionally, you can also monitor the VaultPress activity in real time. The plugin also includes a scan which you can run to see if there are potential malicious files on your installation.

You’ll also have a section which will allow you to look up stats about your website and track its activities logged activities like synchronization processes.

Another thing to mention is that the backups are stored on VaultPress rather than your hosting account and they keep the backups for up to 30 days back.

They have customer support which will help out with the restoration of your website.

To summarize VaultPress is a premium plugin which provides a lot of functionalities in addition to its backups. It’s pricing is fair for what you get and if you opt for a premium plugin instead of a free one VaultPress will be a suitable choice.

For every service, the quality of the product and the way support requests are handled are the two most important success factors. Reading some of the latest VaultPress reviews and comments, make me feel that the quality of the service needs to be upgraded in order to keep up with the numerous and well working WordPress Backup plugins available out there.

 

BackUp Buddy WordPress Backup plugin

 

Active installs: unknown

Updated: regularly

Works with latest WP version: Yes

Average Rating: unknown

 

Backup Buddy is a premium backup plugin. It has only a paid version and differentiates on its plans. You can take a look at them from their website. They provide their clients with 1GB of disk space storage and depending on the plan from 1 up to unlimited WordPress websites backed up.

You’ll have the option to run the backup manually and also make Schedules for automating the process.

You can also customize the backup and select to include Files, Database or have them both in the backup. Any backup could be downloaded locally on your machine and you can have the backups sent over to remote destinations like Google Drive or Dropbox. As with many other backup plugins you can opt to have backup reports sent to your email address.

An additional feature of Backup Buddy is that you can use it for site migrations and change several settings like host or server, change the URL (if you’re having a new domain name for your website) and that will also make sure all links are working correctly with the new one. You can also clone your current WordPress and then have an exact same version of our old website hosted on another domain name with different URL. This feature could also be used for staging as it’s also included along with the plugin.

All in all Backup Buddy is one of the best backup plugins out there. This is why it’s also a premium plugin only and with it, you get what you pay for.

 

WP DB Backup

 

Active installs: 400,000+

Updated: 1 year ago

Works with latest WP version: No

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars from 60+ reviews

 

 

Another simple and easy to use the plugin is WP-DB-Backup. As reading from its name it’s a simplistic plugin which will allow you to create backups of your WordPress database. By default, the plugin is set to export all of the WordPress core database tables and you can choose any other tables added by other plugins to be included along with the default backup. You’ll also be able to have the backup downloaded to your computer locally or sent over to an email address, however, if the backup itself is big enough the email option may not function properly.

Additionally, you can setup a Schedule to automate the database process and the above-mentioned options are included here as well.

Although this WordPress Database Backup plugin seems to have more than 400k active installs and more than 61 reviews, it has not been updated for the last year. You all know that for one year WordPress has released several major releases and now the latest version 4.8 is completely untested by the author of this plugin.Having these facts in mind, it is not advisable to use this plugin on your production WordPress websites as there are many other free and paid alternatives that can do much more, like complete WordPress website back ups, files and databases backups, plugins backups and more.

 

Having a WordPress website can give you a lot of benefits in terms of the numerous plugins available out there. While choosing the best WordPress Backup Plugins 2017 for Databases & Files Backups you need to take several different factors into consideration:

 

  1. the active downloads is a pretty self-explanatory figure, you know that 1 million website owners cannot be wrong and use a bad plugin
  2. does the backup plugin fulfill your requirements for files and databases automated/ scheduled backups
  3. can the plugin restore the files, databases, plugins, themes and virtually all WordPress website parts easy (in the best case scenario with just a mouse click)
  4. is the plugin free or paid

 

In order to write this article and in order to offer a service that provides utmost WordPress website hosting care, we installed and tested all of the above WordPress backup plugins (we installed other as well, but we will not include them in this article will become huge and hard to follow) and we can give a final verdict that the UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup plugin is the winner this WordPress backup plugins challenge.

If you wish to have your backup plugin added or reviewed simply contact us and we will do our best to include it.

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