7 Top Premium and Freemium WordPress Backup Plugins Reviewed

Backing up your WordPress site is essential. Without it, you run the risk of losing all of your hard work if something goes wrong. If your hosting provider loses your data, your site is hacked or you simply want to roll back to an earlier version of your site, keeping regular backups will save you a lot of work – and a lot of stress.

Since Snapshot was launched we’ve added sooo much new stuff! Head over to the project page to check out all the new features. Check out Snapshot

But backing up isn’t something you’re going to want to keep on doing manually. Keeping backups only works if it’s automated, with regular snapshots being taken of your site so that you have constant access to a recent backup you can restore if things go wrong. Which is where backup plugins come in.

In this post I’ll review seven of the top backup plugins for WordPress. All of these are premium or freemium (meaning there’s a free version and a paid for version), because when I was researching this post I found that if you want a backup plugin that’ll make the process of backing up and restoring your site quick and easy, you generally have to pay for it. And this is something that’s worth paying for – imagine what it would cost you if you had to take time out to recreate your site from scratch or even worse, your clients’ sites?

Disclaimer: I’m sure there are many readers who use plugins not on this list, including free ones, and are perfectly happy with them. As with all reviews, there is going to be an element of subjectivity in this post and my reviews will reflect my experience of researching or testing these plugins.

What Makes a Great Backup Plugin?

In this post I’ve focused on plugins which make the process of backing up, migrating and restoring your site easy, reliable and hassle-free. The plugins I’ll rate most highly will have the following features:

• Automated backup scheduling, with the flexibility for you to choose what you back up and how often.
• A choice of locations to store your backups, including third party services such as Dropbox and Amazon S3.
• Backups stored for as long as you need with no time limit.
• Straightforward migration or restoring via the WordPress admin screens or the provider’s website.
• Quality one to one support.
• Detailed documentation on the provider’s website.
• Flexible billing plans (where appropriate), with monthly or annual options and different prices for different needs.
• Support for WordPress Multisite without having to pay extra for each site in your network.

Not all of the plugins I’ve reviewed here meet all of those criteria, but what I’ve listed above is what the ideal plugin will boast. So let’s take a look at some plugins.

Snapshot

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VaultPress

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ManageWP

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BackupBuddy

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BlogVault

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BackWPUp

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BackUpWordPress

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Overall – Backup Plugins Compared

Summary

Of all the plugins I’ve reviewed here, Snapshot is the one which comes the closest to meeting all of my criteria – in fact, it meets all of the criteria except for price, as it is expensive if you don’t want access to all of WPMU DEV’s other plugins and themes. However, I believe that secure, reliable and user-friendly backups are worth every penny you spend on them so I think that it’s worth the money.

If your budget is tight, however, and you decide to go for the free version of a freemium plugin, I would certainly recommend the BackUpWordPress plugin. Like all free plugins it requires you to restore or migrate your site manually, but it’s far more reliable than the BackWPUp and has better documentation.

It’s worth considering which plugins will work best for different WordPress setups:

• If you’re running Multisite, Snapshot is the only plugin which will include all of the sites in your network for no extra fee and let you make one-click restores.
• If you’re running a single site installation and prefer not to set up backups yourself but have it all done for you, then VaultPress will meet your needs.
• If you’re running single site and want your data stored where you want it but prefer using the plugin’s website to manage your backups, then ManageWP could be for you.
• If you want to manage your single site backups from the WordPress admin and have easy options for restoring your site, then I’d recommend Snapshot.
• If you don’t want to spend any money and are comfortable restoring your site manually, then I’d recommend BackUpWordPress, which gives you the option to start out with the free version and upgrade if you want more flexibility later.

What do you use to backup your WordPress website? Let us know your favorite backup solution in the comments below.

Tags:

• backup
• premium plugins