Hey people, Ruben here! Even if it’s unexpectedly chilly around here today ,
I’ve learned that in life you always gotta be ready for anything and everything
Expect the unexpected, you know? Good thing I packed an extra jacket and hat with me.
...And speaking of being prepared, that brings me to today’s very important topic., that
every site owner needs to be aware of: how to successfully backup your WordPress website.
Now, before you think "oh that’s no big deal, I already backup my website a couple of times
a year"… Hang on a second. Here's what I can tell you according to our backup usage stats.
60% of backups are incomplete - and, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. What’s even more worrisome
is that 50% of backup restores fail altogether. Why does this matter?
20% of all small businesses get hacked at least once a year, and every 5 years 20% of small to
medium-sized businesses suffer major disasters that result in the loss of critical data.
But, don’t worry. It doesn't have to be that way. I’m going to tell you what you should be paying
attention to when choosing backup solutions to avoid being a part of the above statistics.
I’m gonna recommend the 5 best options for backup solutions, and give you tips on how to
effectively backup your data. Because I know you love your data as much as Scrat loves his acorn.
And before we get started, make sure to let me know in the comments below what
backup solution or plugin you're using currently!
So, before going through the best options here , let’s review what you should be looking for
in a WordPress backup plugin or solution.
Let’s start with the simplest one. Functionality. Well,
not so simple when you consider the statistics I mentioned earlier. Let me refresh your memory:
60% of backups are incomplete... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
What’s even more worrisome is that 50% of backup restores fail all together.
What makes a backup incomplete? It may have exported a post, but not the attachments or
options. Or you may be left unable to import the options to another site. Or the internal
links could be lost when importing, and so on. So, first thing’s first:
we need a backup solution that actually delivers on its promises.
A backup service must be affordable--or even better yet, free,
with no hidden fees that’ll end up surprising you later.
Here’s what I think about manually performing backups on a regular basis:
There’s a better way, and that way's automation. So a good backup solution will give you the option
of setting up a backup schedule with lots of customizability, giving you peace of mind.
Sometimes you just need to store one backup restore point , and
other times you need more . A good backup solution
should've able to give you enough space so you can have at least 10 backup restore points.
Other than storage space, you should also be looking into storage options a service uses.
The perfect solution when it comes to backing up WordPress
is one that lets you store data on Google Drive, Amazon Glacier,
Dropbox, etc. Why? Because storing data on cloud is the safest option nowadays.
Another factor to look for is customizability. The service should
provide you lots of options when it comes to backups, because one size rarely fits all.
What do I mean by this? Well, you may want to just backup the database, or just the files. Or
you might want to download a backup in different formats. Or set a specific time for your backup?
Why settle? Find a backup solution that’s built with customizability in mind.
Taking into account the PHP version, hosting settings, and configurations, example: REST
API being open or not, combined with security plugins, some solutions do not work on shared
hostings or other types of hostings. Because they are just not compatible.
So for your backup solution to actually work, make sure it’s compatible in the first place.
Imagine setting up automatic backups, only to later discover that it failed. pretty
disappointing, right? So the basic standard you should have for your backup solution is that it
always works smoothly. Regardless of a website’s load or how much data needs to be backed up,
your backup solution needs to deliver always, regardless, so that you can rely on it.
Here I’m going to say everybody knows already: no one likes to wait. Your backup service should make
the process as fast and efficient as possible . And, you also want to make sure the solution you
go with doesn’t affect the speed of your WordPress website! With all the fantastic
solutions available--which I will get to shortly, you do not need to compromise on this, I promise.
Should something go wrong, who are you gonna call? Well,
you should be able to get help immediately, which is why a reliable and responsive
support team is an integral component of a good WordPress backup service.
Backups are very important--but they’re not
rocket science, and a service’s interface shouldn’t make you feel like it is.
A service should make sure their backup system is easily understood,
and all features are easy to navigate and implement.
All right, we’ve gone over what to look for in a backup solution...now let’s go over where to look.
Honestly, one thing that so many don’t quite get is you could do everything
right when it comes to backups. You could schedule them frequently,
keep multiple restore points, delete unneeded copies, etcetera.
But even with that dedication and hard work, your backups only work as well as your hosting does.
Unfortunately, sometimes your own WordPress hosting can be your biggest enemy.
What people fail to realize is that so much depends on your hosting provider.
Mainly, whether the backup itself will be hosting compatible, because it’s difficult
to make a backup work well when you’re on, for example, a slow shared hosting provider.
So what’s the ideal option? Looking beyond a backup plugin or service,
and going for a hosting and backup integrated solution.
While I will include some well-known plugin-only options in this list,
you've heard it loud and clear - hosting level backup is way
better than plugin level backup. It’s like the holy grail option
First up is of course the 10Web Backup Service. As you know,
10Web is an automated all-in-one WordPress platform, and its backup service has
all the features you could hope for. Let’s get right to them.
I want to make sure to highlight that 10Web
automatically backs up your website every day. This backup is stored for 10 days.
In addition to that, we offer the more advanced Backup Service,
which is part of the 10Web platform. 10Web goes beyond making the service just affordable and
has it available completely free when you sign up for the premium plan--which is so much more than
just a backup service as it’s a fully automated platform for your website.
So, we’re already off to a great start as you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck.
When it comes to customization, 10Web gives you the freedom to choose whether you want
to perform a full backup, or backup the database and files separately.
You can also schedule backups hourly, every 6 hours, every 12 hours, daily,
weekly, or monthly--all automatically. And the customization doesn’t end there.
You can even select the specific days and times you would like your backups to take place!
And 10Web takes speed very seriously. In case you didn’t know
we guarantee a 90+ PageSpeed score for all hosted websites,
and this extends to backups as well. Both the backup and restoration
processes are swift, meaning you can get back to what matters in no time!
10Web’s Backup Service also offers Differential Backups, which allow you to backup only the
changes that have been made since your last full backup. This is storage- and time-saver,
a real win-win situation for busy people with a lot on their plates.
10Web also has got you covered on storage space. We provide free cloud storage in Amazon S3.
You can also choose the format of your backed up files: Zip, Tar, Tar GZip or Tar BZip2.
Should you need to restore any files, 10Web makes it effortless so you can restore
a backed up version of your website with a click!
and you can download detailed logs of all your backups. For that you can choose
your own Backup Limitation. You can set a minimum of 100 backups, all the way up to 1000 backups.
With 10Web, backups don’t come at the expense of your SSD storage! The 10GB or SSD included
in your plan is just for your site itself...to that you get an additional 20GB for backups!
And because 10Web is a platform that offers its own signature backup service,
once you migrate or host your site on the platform,
you can rest assured that the backup is 100% compatible with the hosting.
This applies to speed as well: the service won’t slow down your 90+ PageSpeed Score,
as the backup is already optimized to perform in conjunction with the platform. It’s really
a perfectly integrated solution, with everything you need just a click away.
And If you have questions, run into any issues, or just need a little reassurance
before backing up or restoring, 10Web’s customer support is there for you--24/7,
all year round! Just check out some of these reviews
And setting this service up is so easy. In fact,
since seeing is believing, let me quickly show you.
To get started and set up Backup Services, log into your 10Web Dashboard.
Don’t have an account? 10Web’s got you covered with a 14-day free trial--no
credit card necessary! I Linked it down below. Once you’ve logged in,
click Manage on the website for which you want to set this service up for.
Next, on the left-side menu, click Backups.
Here you’ll see the option to enable backup service. Click that. And that’s it!
Before initiating a backup, let’s customize. Head over to the settings tab at the top
and select what you would like to backup: files or database, or both.
In the same settings tab, you can delete previous backups,
and you can set limits on your backups: a minimum of 100, up to a maximum of 1000. You can also
click on the scheduling tab to choose your preferences for backup frequency,
as well as select the day and time you would like it to take place.
Now that you’ve customized your settings, let’s go ahead and run a backup.
Click the backup now button in the calendar.
Depending on the size of your website, this process can take up to a few minutes.
Once it’s done, you can find all data concerning your backups in the backup tab.
From here you can review backup time and size, restore backed up files
and/or databases, and download backed up files.
And that’s it! Not only is it super easy to navigate, this is all free
with 10Web’s premium plan! Try it out for yourself today with the 14-day free trial.
And when you’re ready, pay as little as $10 for hosting and backup--combined. This really is a
no-brainer, especially as we are about to look at the pricing of the other backup services.
Secondly we have UpdraftPlus,
a popular, general-purpose plugin for backing up WordPress websites.
This one comes in two options: free and premium.
Both options include manual or scheduled backups of all your WordPress files,
backup schedules every 4, 8, or 12 hours, as well as daily fortnightly, and monthly,
and the option to restore your backups directly from your WordPress control panel.
The premium version includes many more features, and the costs depend on the plan you choose.
The packages begin at a $70 flat fee + $42/yearly, going up to $399.00 a year.
The features in the premium versions include incremental backups,
fast customer support, advanced backup time and scheduling options, and the
ability to run optimization commands directly on command-line with detailed on-screen output.
Next up is the WordPress backup plugin BackupBuddy. BackupBuddy really prides itself on
how easy it makes the backing up process--which you can do from your WordPress dashboard.
BackupBuddy backs up your entire WordPress installation and makes it available as a
downloadable zip file. It offers the option to set up scheduled and automatic backups
hourly, twice daily, daily, every other day, bi-weekly, weekly, monthly, and more.
It also allows you to send and store your backup files off-site in a secure location,
and the backup restoration is done easy and fast with their tool ImportBuddy.
BackupBuddy does not have any free options, and their plans begin at $80/year to backup one site,
to $199/year. It is important to note that BackupBuddy doesn’t support WordPress multisite.
VaultPress VaultPress is a subscription-based
protection, security, and backup service for WordPress that comes as part of Jetpack.
It offers automated backups stored in an offsite digital vault, a quick and easy restore process,
and security scans to automatically detect and eliminate security vulnerabilities.
Since it is offered as part of Jetpack, you do need a plan to access the features. They
have special discounted introductory prices for the plans but they will go
back to full price once renewed. They begin at $/58 year and up to $580/year
BackWPup
And finally on our list: BackWPup. BackWPup is a plugin that comes in a free and pro version.
As they say themselves: the free version offers you some features for backups of your site,
while the pro version offers a lot more.
Both options include file and database backup, multisite support, and more.
An important difference between both options is that only the pro version
offers premium support and automatic updates.
In terms of pricing, plans begin at $69/year for one site, up to 349.00 a year.
While the renewals are cheaper than the initial payment, it’s still on the pricier side.
New: Backup tips
All right, now that we’ve gone through what you should look for in a backup solution and the top
5 picks, let me give you some insider info on the best backup practices!
First up, make sure not to backup your backups! Don’t keep your backups as
a file in the WordPress folder or in the database, because that would lead to your
backup sizes growing exponentially...Yikes! Instead, keep the backups on cloud storage,
such as on Amazon S3 like 10Web does, or on a separate disk.
When it comes to the question of how often you should be backing up your data,
it really depends on your site. If, for example, you have an eCommerce site,
you may need to back it up in real time, every hour. On the other hand, if you have a website
where the data doesn’t change frequently, you can opt for daily, weekly, or once a month backups.
And while automated backups are always ideal, there is also a time and place for
manual backups. Whenever you’re planning on making a big change to your website,
before doing so you can manually back it up so you have a working
version of your website in the case that something goes wrong after the change.
You can do this every time that your website goes from staging to live on the 10Web platform.
And finally, you can use your website’s backup as a convenient migration tool! 10Web
can manually migrate your entire website to our platform using your backup--pretty neat, right?
So you may have a few questions in your mind at this point.
We want you to leave this video armed with all there is to know about backups, so I’ve
collected the most commonly asked questions on the topic and will answer them for you right now:
How many previous backups should I keep? There’s a little rule when it comes to backups,
commonly referred to as “the backup rule of three”. The strategy is all about
diversifying your backup strategy to keep all your bases covered.
You should always have at least 3 copies of your data--including your live site. So at any given
moment, there should be 2 copies of your site available in case anything goes wrong. Feel
free to have more of course, 10 data restore points is more than enough to feel safe!
Use 2 different media types for your backups. So if you have a copy on cloud, make sure to have
another one on your hard drive, for example. Should you ever lose not just the live data
but also the hard drive carrying the backup, at least there’s another way to restore your data.
And finally, make sure to keep one of the copies offsite. In the off chance
some disaster--you know, like the ice age , destroys all your onsite copies,
you will be happy to have a copy of your website safely tucked online in cloud!
What are the 3 types of backups? Great question! The three main types
of backups are as follows: full, incremental, and differential backups. A full backup is...you
guessed it: when you backup all your website data. A differential backup is when a backup creates
copies of only the files changed since the last full backup. Incremental backups store all the
changes made since the last backup, no matter if it was full, differential or incremental.
All right everyone, thanks a lot for joining me for this video.
As always, if you have any other questions, don't forget to comment them down below.
I'll answer all of them. And please don't forget to like and subscribe for more content like this.
Now, wish me luck! Gotta face the weather. It's gotta be cold.