Best Free WordPress Backup Plugins Compared | UpdraftPlus vs BackUpWordPress vs BackWPup

What are best free WordPress backup plugins? I am sure many WordPress users had searched that term. Maintaining your own website or blog takes time and effort and doing backups of your beloved site should be number one priority side by side with its security.

Ensuring that your WordPress blog or site stays safe is no easy task. There are various reasons to do regular site backups. You could get hacked, face server errors or even accidentally cause an irreversible problem. A real problem to be sure.

But it’s one that can be easily prevented. There are various backup plugins available that make keeping a copy of your site’s data on hand very simple.

When it comes to WordPress, there are two common backup methods relied on by most site owners:

  1. A WordPress plugin.
  2. Server backups provided by a host or cPanel.

 

 UpdraftPlus vs BackUpWordPress vs BackWPup

  • Name
  • Free version
  • Paid version
    With additional upgrades and addons
  • Full site backup
    Is it possible to backup entire site with all files
  • Database backups
    Is it possible to backup only database
  • Backups to Dropbox
    Is it possible to save backup files to Dropbox
  • Backups to Amazon S3
    Is it possible to save backup files to Amazon S3
  • Backups to Google Drive
    Is it possible to save backup files to Google Drive
  • Backups to FTP
    Is it possible to save backup files to FTP
  • Backups to Rackspace
    Is it possible to save backup files to Rackspace
  • Email notification
    Email notification when backup is created
  • Changes only backups
    In order to reduce server resources and save space only new changes are added to backup
  • Scheduled Backups
  • Realtime backups
    Backups files are created whenever you make changes on your site
  • Migrate site
    Copy site or move it to a new host
  • Individual file restore
    Restore individual files/file from backup instead of whole thing
  • Restore backup from interface
  • Security and Malware scan
    Options to serach for viruses and other infections
  • Database repair and optimization
    Options to optimize wordpress database
  • Multisite support
  • Price for paid version
    With all addons and features (cheapest plan for 1-2 sites)
  • BackWPup
    It has also premium/paid version with additional addons and upgrades
  • Only in paid version
  • 75$
    For standard plan
  • BackUpWordPress
    It has also premium/paid version with additional addons and upgrades
  • Only available with paid addon which price is around 24$
  • Only available with paid addon which price is around 24$
  • Only available with paid addon which price is around 24$
  • Only available with paid addon which price is around 24$
  • Only available with paid addon which price is around 24$
  • 60$
    For personal plan
  • UpdraftPlus
    It has also premium/paid version with additional addons and upgrades
  • Only available with paid addon which price is around 15$
  • Paid addon
    Only available with paid addon which price is around 30$
  • Paid addon
    Only available with paid addon which price is around 25$
  • 99$ (unlimited number of sites)
    For developer plan with all addons and for unlimited number of sites

 

Free WordPress Backup Plugins

Some people prefer to do manual backups. They can be very useful because you have direct control over what’s backed up and what isn’t. Many plugins let you toggle on and off the backing up of specific files or directories but the manual approach gives you total control.

It’s also a good way to absolutely ensure your backup solution is working. It’s never a bad idea to do a manual backup every once in a while and compare it to your most recent automated backup. The WordPress Codex offers in-depth instructions for how to back up your site manual.

No matter what kind of backup solution you use, there are a few rules you should follow:

  • Always backup your site’s database before you install a new upgrade.
  • Adjust your backup schedule based on your site update and blogging frequency.
  • As with backing up any data, keep three backups in three different forms and/or places.
  • Only backup those plugins that contain value for your site. Spam filter and stat plugins add major bloat to your database and can enlarge the size of your backup files significantly.
  • Perform a manual backup on occasion to act as a failsafe for any automated backup solution you’re using.

Following these rules will help ensure your backups are successful and that you never have to worry about losing your info again. There are a huge number of backup WordPress plugins to help you effectively backup your website and prepare for any future problems.

The only thing is, there’s so many of these plug-ins, it’s hard to know where to begin and which one to pick. There are numerous free and paid WordPress backup plugins, so in order to help you choose I have picked three free, by my opinion best, and compared them so that you can easily choose.

 

Why Should I Do Backups?

What happens if you lose all or part of your content? Having a good WordPress backup plugin is must have if you don’t want to re-do content or scrape the Wayback Machine for indexed page records.

Even after that there is no guarantee that you can retrieve all files. About 15% of all system failures occur to hardware problems. The main part (85%) is based on software errors and usage faults.

And the damages, which may occur, can become very expensive. Backups are one of the best defense against any sort of security threat toward your site. Regular backups are one thing that every blogger/webmaster should have.

 

Best Free WordPress Backup Plugins

The free backup plugins picked for comparison are:

 

1. UpdraftPlus Backup and Restoration for WordPress

This plugin is very straightforward and doesn’t overwhelm you with a bunch of unnecessary features. It supports backups to Rackspace, Amazon Web Services, Dropbox, FTP, and email, but it also works with Google Drive, OpenStack, and several other storage solutions.

Beyond these features, it also offers database encryption for an added level of security. Plus, you can split very large sites into several archives to make backups quicker.

And should you ever need to restore from a backup, this split archive method makes that process go faster as well.

UpdraftPlus is also available as a premium plugin, which includes all the features I already mentioned plus several add-on features like automatic backups, a site migrator, reporting, no advertisements, support for additional backup locations and more.

You also get a year of support and a year of updates. You can expect to pay between $60 and $125 for UpdraftPlus Premium.

 

2. BackUpWordPress

This is another very popular plugin that lets you back up your WordPress site automatically. It includes scheduling so you can create a different schedule for your files and your database. It’s easy to set up and user-friendly.

However, if you want to store your backups any place other than your hard drive or email, you’ll need to purchase an extension. BackUpWordPress offers extensions for individual cloud storage services including Google Drive and Dropbox.

 

3. BackWPup

BackWPup makes it pretty straightforward to back up your WordPress site. It can back up to your hard drive, FTP or email but it also works with cloud storage like Dropbox and Rackspace.

You can schedule automatic backups, restore from backups, and you can even upgrade to BackWPup Pro if you wish to get further support, Google Drive support and a few other additional features.

 

Other Free WordPress Backup & Restore Plugins

Here are other backup plugin alternatives that you can use:

 

1. Duplicator

The Duplicator plugin serves as a simple backup utility. It supports both serialized and base64 serialized string replacement. If you need to move or backup your site, this free WordPress backup plugin can help simplify the process.

However, Duplicator does require some technical knowledge. If you are new to WordPress or have a limited technical background, you should not attempt to use this plugin.

 

2. All-in-One WP Migration

The plugin allows you to migrate all the important files, folders, media files, plugins and themes with efficiency – in just few clicks.

 

3. Backup WordPress Site by WPvivid

Backup WordPress Site by WPvivid is an amazing plugin that makes it easier for you to keep your data safe and secure. It automatically stores all of your work onto its cloud storage, and allows you to restore all or any of it easily.

You can store backups to Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Microsoft OneDrive, etc. You have the option of performing the backup yourself or scheduling plugin to do it for you. For more info check WPvivid review.

 

4. iThemes BackupBuddy

BackupBuddy offers a comprehensive set of features that you will need from your WordPress backup plugin. It has a very polished user interface, with on screen help available whenever needed. The user experience is sleek and even beginners would find it quite easy to use.

The plugin code is reliable and has one of the best minds in WordPress community behind it. It is highly trusted and very reliable. For more info you can check BackupBuddy review.

 

5. Backup Migration

Backup Migration plugin is neatly designed and provides straightforward manual, automatic backups and website migration.

Backup Migration plugin can conduct partial backups and migration, e.g. database only or media library folder, but it also has several thoughtfully created exclusion rules, so you can leave unwanted stuff out of the backup.

Additional features are being added with each plugin update, and support is available to both free and (prioritized) premium users.

 

Best Free Backup Plugins For WordPress Summary

Backing up your site regularly is important. Actually, backing up all of your data is important. Hopefully, you’re already doing all of that.

Each WordPress backup plugin has it’s Pros and Cons and with the right WordPress backup plugin to handle the job for you automatically, you can manage your WordPress site without worries.

Hope this free WordPress backup plugins comparison helped. I hope this helped you pick the best WordPress backup plugin for your site. Make regular backups a habit and save yourself from a lot of trouble.


DISCLOSURE: Posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, I might get a small commission, without any extra cost to you. Read more about it here.

4 thoughts on “Best Free WordPress Backup Plugins Compared | UpdraftPlus vs BackUpWordPress vs BackWPup”

  1. NICE collection of plugin list but one of my favorite is missing here Backup & Restore Dropbox it’s free and worth using

    1. Nice plugin but as the name says it only allows backups to Dropbox. I prefer plugins with more options where to store my backups.

      I would rather choose Google Drive that Dropbox because it provides more storage than Dropbox if we take into consideration free plan.

  2. Looked at a lot of backup solutions over the years. Finally settled on Updraft. Very reliable – simple to backup over ftp. Support is good.

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