3 Top WordPress Multisite Backup Solutions Tested and Reviewed
Is your Multisite install ready if – and when – disaster hits? Many aren’t, but there’s one thing you can do right now to minimize your network’s recovery time in the event of a natural – or unnatural – disaster (I’m looking at you, hackers!).
When you make regular backups, you can quickly replace any broken or hacked sites with a previous copy that’s unaffected. The trouble is, creating backups manually can be time-consuming and easily forgotten about and not all options available are necessarily network-ready.
We field a lot of questions in our forums and on the blog about backup solutions for Multisite, so to help you out I’ve reviewed the best premium options for you and laid out each of their strengths and points of improvement.
Let’s get started.
Comparing Multisite Backup Plugins
Deciding which backup plugin is right for you isn’t an easy task since there are many great options available, but each one has their particular strengths, which is why I have compared three top Multisite backup plugins in five categories: ease of use, speed and accuracy, backup quality, restoring power, and price.
In rating the plugin below, I’ve taken into consideration how easy they are to use out-of-the-box, whether backups and restores are produced at top speeds without missing or corrupting files, if full backups of files and database tables – including custom ones – are produced without errors, whether restoring options are available and can be successfully applied with ease, and if the price is reasonable for the number of features and the quality you get for your money.
These features are all important when considering an automated backup service, and a suitable restore option is no exception. Many people don’t realize that restoring is just as important as backing up, as Rachel McCollin pointed out on our blog in a recent post. Each plugin is activated as a super admin and can’t be accessed by individual sites. There are also varying degrees of backup features so it’s important to explore each feature thoroughly.
I have investigated these plugins and searched their nooks and crannies to help you best understand where these plugins excel. When you have identified which features are most important to you, check out the corresponding ratings for these plugins so you can pick the best solution for your network.
Snapshot Pro
Snapshot Pro
Ease of Use
Snapshot offers quite a few advanced settings. Fortunately, as a first-time Snapshot user, you’ll be guided through the setup settings, making this plugin easy to use right out-of-the-box. Larger sites and networks may want to go through all the settings fully before creating and saving their first backup.
There’s also a guide to backing up with Snapshot available to make the process that much easier.
Since Snapshot was launched we’ve added sooo much new stuff! Head over to the project page to check out all the new features.Speed and Accuracy
Backing up and restoring with Snapshot can take longer than the other plugins in this review because you are directed to a page that shows you what’s being backed up or restored in real-time. There’s also a Cancel button that appears beside each item as it’s being processed so you can choose to cancel an item when you realize after the fact that you don’t need it. Since the plugin gives you a few seconds to cancel items, this also means backing up and restoring takes a bit of extra time and it’s typical for the process to take a few minutes and possibly longer for larger networks.
You can backup and restore sites seamlessly in one click and an added feature of site migration has also been recently added, though you need to have the same plugins and themes installed and activated on the site where you want to apply a restore to finish the site migration process.
Since you can migrate sites for multiple different situations, you aren’t limited to only network-wide migrations, which is one of the major differences between this plugin and others on this list. This does mean there are additional settings to work with as a result, but we’ve got a handy guide, How to Backup Your WordPress Website (and Multisite) Using Snapshot, that shows you the ins and out of how to use it.
Backup Quality
Backing up with Snapshot is incredibly flexible. You can backup to your web server, email, Dropbox, Amazon S3, FTP, SFTP and Google Drive. You can choose to schedule backups multiple times a day as often as every five minutes for busier networks, which isn’t possible at all with the other plugins. Once you create your snapshot profiles for each of the sites in your network, you can set them all to back up whenever you want, although you can only set up one site to be backed up per snapshot profile. Even still, you can choose to backup everything or just select files and tables.
Snapshot also has the capability to adjust your php5.ini file and segment the backup to reduce server load and help eliminate timeouts. You can choose how many backups you want to keep at a time so older ones are deleted automatically in order to save on space. You won’t ever have to worry about being overrun with backups and running out of space in the cloud.
Restoring Power
You can restore a site in one click and cancel items as you would with backups. As long as you create a snapshot profile to backup an entire site in the network, it can be fully restored. It couldn’t be easier.
Price
With a WPMU DEV membership, you can backup and restore unlimited sites and you also get access to all other plugins and themes. Support and updates are also included. Check out Snapshot Pro for yourself with a no-risk membership free trial.
The Good
- Backups are incredibly flexible
- One-click restores available for each site in a network
- You can migrate sites with this plugin
The Bad
- Included plugins and themes must be installed and activated on the site before restoring
BackWPup Pro
BackWPup Pro
Ease of Use
The main page of the BackWPup Pro plugin offers quick suggestions on how to get started with the plugin, which makes it easier to set everything up. You can create a backup out-of-the-box, but your backup could be reduced in quality if you choose this option since the settings have options to reduce the load on your server. They also offer different backup locations and other important settings that, if missed, could cause you to create a backup without the specific files and tables you need, hor example.
Speed and Accuracy
Backups are incredibly fast, even with multiple sites and tables. You can backup your database only in one click, but this can also be an Achilles heal to less experienced users since only backing up your database isn’t enough. This can potentially cause accuracy issues and could result in a backup that doesn’t restore everything. This is why it’s important to go through the settings properly to avoid restoring issues.
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Backup Quality
All files and tables in a network, including all sites, can be selected for backup at once, which can speed up the process. As long as you select all the applicable files and tables, you can restore your site and network without issue, otherwise errors could be a result.
You also have the option to schedule and create differential backups as well as import settings that you have saved for BackWPup Pro.
Options to save your backups include to your web server, through email, FTP, Sugarsync, Rackspace, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, Google Drive and Amazon Glacier.
Restoring Power
BackWPup doesn’t have any automatic restoring options whatsoever. If being able to restore your sites quickly is an important feature for you, then this plugin isn’t for you as you can only restore manually.
Price
For one site, including updates and support, the subscription is $69 per year and $39 per year starting at the second year. For five sites, a subscription is $119 per year and $59 a year after that. For a subscription that includes ten sites, the cost is $199 per year and $99 per year thereafter. If you develop and maintain more than ten sites, you would need to purchase their “Supreme” or “Agency” plans.
The Good
- Backups are incredibly fast
- You can backup sites in your network right out-of-the-box
- There are many off-site integrated locations available to save your backups
The Bad
- Restore options aren't included at all
- No frills plugin without many enhanced capabilities compared to others
- Price is quite high when you consider other plugins have more features at a comparable price
UpdraftPlus Premium
UpdraftPlus Premium
Ease of Use
There are so many settings to go though that it can be difficult to wrap your head around all of them if you’re not prepared. While a lot of the settings are easy enough to understand, there are some worth reading up on in the documentation to make sure you get them right, if only to avoid unwanted errors. The settings are laid out well enough that it’s easy to navigate once you get a handle on how to understand them, but it’s way too easy to miss many important options.
Similar to other plugins in this list, backups can be completed out-of-the-box, but you really shouldn’t since you could include or miss unwanted files and data, not to mention other settings that could cause errors when restoring a site. For smaller Multisite installations, this may not be noticable, but larger networks could find errors or timeouts appear if the settings aren’t selected carefully.
Speed and Accuracy
UpdraftPlus Premium is lightning fast. Each site in your network typically takes only a few seconds to backup and missing files are commonly not an issue. Restoring your site is just as fast.
Backup Quality
You can use this plugin to backup everything in each site in your network including plugin, theme and custom files and tables. For older versions of WordPress, your mu-plugins folder is backed up separately to match how WordPress stores it independent from the uploads folder.
Backups can only be created for one site at a time, but you can backup your site in any time frame you choose, though, the settings are tucked away.
Restoring Power
Similar to creating backups, you can only restore a site in your network one at a time. You do have the option of creating a new site in your network and restoring a backup to it for basic site migration, although, other types of migrations aren’t possible.
Price
For two sites, you can get a subscription for $70 per year. For 10 sites, the subscription runs at $95 per year and for unlimited sites, the cost is $145 per year. Each subscription includes support and updates. It’s certainly the lowest cost option and includes most of the options that a typical super admin would need, but for larger networks, it just won’t cut it.
That being said, UpdraftPlus Premium has the most integrated locations available to save your backups including on your web server, through email, WebDAV, OneDrive, Copy.com, DFTP, FTPS, SCP, Dropbox, Rackspace, Amazon S3, Google Drive and 1GB of storage in their own cloud solution called UpdraftPlus Vault.
The Good
- You can backup everything, including plugin, theme and custom files, and tables
- The price point is the lowest of all plugins on the list
- Creating a new site in the network from a backup is possible
The Bad
- Can restore only one sub-site at a time
- Out-of-the-box, your backups could be affected in ways you don't want
- It can be difficult to navigate all the settings and find what you need
Conclusion
Choosing the right backup plugin for your site can be challenging on its own when there are so many options out there, but choosing a backup plugin that’s also compatible with Multisite can be even trickier. With the best options compared by feature-set, you should have enough information to pick what suits your network’s needs.
Which Multisite backup plugin is the best of the best? Well, that’s really a matter of opinion. Since each network has its own individual requirements, there isn’t one single plugin that offers a one-size-fits-all solution. One plugin may work great for you, but may not be as ideal for other site admins. That’s why it’s important to decide which features are most important to you, then pick a plugin that’s strong in those categories.
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Jenni McKinnon Jenni has spent over 15 years developing websites and almost as long for WordPress as a copywriter, copy editor, web developer, and course instructor. A self-described WordPress nerd, she enjoys watching The Simpsons and names her test sites after references from the show.