14 Ways to Take Backup of Your WordPress Blog

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Cloud storage illustrationWhether you're running your WordPress blog on a shared server or on a powerful dedicated server, backup is one of the important maintenance processes which can prove a lifesaver at the time of need. Unfortunately, good percentages of bloggers do not take it much seriously and pay the price by losing their design and content whenever their site is compromised. There are several ways to backup a WordPress blog which includes a simple click-and-go process through plugins and command line data cloning often done by power users. We'll look into the former option to see what are the popular options available for general WordPress bloggers to safely and easily take backups of their blogs and websites. All these backup plugins are either free or include a powerful free version which is good enough for a general blog. While testing and selecting one of the plugins from the list, I'll suggest looking for the one which doesn't consume much server resources while taking backups. Let's check out all these plugins.

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For very large websites, I'll recommend choosing a web host that gives you automatic backups in the plan. Taking backups of very big websites through these plugins is not recommended.

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Always keep multiple backups of your website. Relying on a single one can put you in trouble if the backup doesn't work correctly while restoring the website to its previous state. Let's get started!

UpdraftPlus plugin for taking backups UpdraftPlus - This is one of my preferred backup plugins for WordPress. It's a widely popular extension which allows you to take backups in different ways. I liked its easy and quick restoration option which is so vital and important for any good backup plugin. It also supports blog restoration from datasets created by other popular backup plugins which makes it quite popular among the user base. It also has the capability to split very huge backups into multiple parts for WordPress sites having a very large archive. Power users can also use backup logs created by the plugin for monitoring the entire process.

Backup plugin by Supsystic Backup by Supsystic - This is another backup plugin ideal for cloning your existing WordPress site in different ways. Either store your backup on a popular cloud storage service or transfer it to a different location through an FTP client. Apart from regular site restoration, you can also use it for migrating the entire site to a new location. All the backups created by this plugin are encrypted and are secure from easy penetration from hackers. Like every popular backup plugin, this plugin also creates extensive backup logs to inspect what's going on under the hood. Its interface and usage are quite user-friendly.

myRepono plugin for taking backups myRepono WordPress Backup - If you're a busy blogger and have no time to manually take backups of your WordPress blog, then this plugin is made just for you. This plugin takes complete site backups on an automated basis which can be customized and tweaked through different options to match with your exact requirements. One can also backup select folders or individual files through the dashboard. All the backups are stored in a compressed format to save the space. It is also fully compatible with multisite installations and works seamlessly in different server environments. It has a tab-based interface.

Akeeba Backup CORE for backing up WordPress Akeeba Backup CORE - This backup plugin has one of the fastest backup engines which are able to take huge backups without putting burden on the web server. After activation, the plugin automatically detects the available resources, tools, and options to optimize itself for best operation. You can choose between different backup formats which are compressed and secure from any tampering. While taking backups, bloggers can exclude select folders and files so that the engine does not save them in the compressed archive file. Power users often use this plugin for migrating sites between different servers.

CYAN backup plugin for Blogging CYAN Backup - You can schedule backups through this plugin to be taken in the form of zip files which can be saved via FTP and SFTP protocols. You can customize the backup time in different ways to ensure the information is not lost whenever new content is posted on the blog. Bloggers can also set the maximum number of backup copies to be kept at a given time. This essentially means that the old backups are automatically deleted by the plugin. Bloggers can also manually delete old backups from the dashboard. It has a simple interface and works like charm in shared server hosting environments.

WordPress plugin BackWPup Free BackWPup Free - Try this popular backup plugin on your blog to save your backups on various cloud storage services on an automated basis. It can also repair and optimize the database while taking backups. This can significantly reduce the overall size of the backup file. It is available in different popular languages. Bloggers can select the format of the compressed archive as per their preferences. One can also send both backups and log files to a remote location through regular email attachments. Network administrators of multisite WordPress installation can also use this powerful backup plugin.

Backup WordPress to Dropbox WordPress Backup to Dropbox - If Dropbox is your preferred cloud storage service, this plugin is an ideal solution for taking regular backups of your WordPress blog. Simply specify the time at which the backup operation should be triggered and this plugin will transfer the entire backup in the background without user intervention. One can also exclude selective files and directories from the backup. The Dropbox authorization process is also simple which should be completed after activating the plugin for the first time so that a communication channel is established for secure transfer of the backup files.

S3Bubble Amazon S3 Backup plugin for WordPress S3Bubble Amazon S3 Backup - As the name indicates, this plugin is best suited for storing backups on Amazon's S3 platform. You can schedule backups for automated transfer of files to Amazon's network in a secure manner. It also includes analytics data for all backup operations so that a blogger can keep an eye on the entire process. All the backup files are fully compressed and secure from unauthorized access. Bloggers get email notifications of all the backups done by the plugin. It works quietly in the background and is extremely lightweight which is one of the requirements of blogs running on busy shared servers.

mk Simple Backups plugin for WordPress mk Simple Backups - This interesting plugin allows you to choose all the major components you want in the backup. This way, you can create a custom backup operation which contains select site elements that need a backup. The plugin stores are the backup files within the content directory which can be easily copied from the back end to a different location. Later on, you can delete these backup files. This lightweight plugin is ideal for seasoned bloggers who're familiar with basic back-end operations. I've tested this plugin with a demo blog on a shared server and found the plugin's operation very smooth.

Schedule backups for WordPress Backup Scheduler - This versatile plugin is one of the best solutions for scheduling custom backups on a WordPress blog. The backup content can be customized to include select files, database, and plugins. You can save your backup files in different locations which can be specified at the time of creating a custom backup plan. It can also split a large zip file into multiple parts which can be later restored while completing the restoration process. It works seamlessly both on regular and multisite WordPress instances. This is one of the few backup plugins available in several popular languages out-of-the-box.

BackUpWordPress plugin for securing content BackUpWordPress - This is one of the simplest yet flexible backup plugins used by WordPress bloggers. It has a very small footprint and works seamlessly on shared servers too. You can create multiple custom backup schedules through this plugin with different backup plans. You can even schedule it to mail individual backup files directly to your inbox. It can work both on Linux and Windows servers without any issues. It has been translated into about a dozen popular languages to let users across the globe use it with ease. I liked its impressive user interface which is clear and very user-friendly.

WP Backitup for protecting WordPress content WP Backitup - This is yet another impressive solution to backup your WordPress blog in a simple and secure way. It works in all kinds of hosting environments and works like charm. Apart from the primary backup function, it also has a restore functionality to easily revert back your blog to a stable state. Once the backup files have been generated by the plugin, you can easily download them right from the dashboard with a simple click. Activating the debug mode allows you to access all the detailed log files created by the plugin. Its lightweight backup engine is quite fast and works quietly in the background.

Powerful VaultPress plugin for backup VaultPress - And, this is the plugin made by the core WordPress team which has impressive backup features. It is best suited for professional bloggers who really care about the content and security. It literally saves every action happening on your site which can be reversed on demand. Several popular high traffic blogs use this tool for safeguarding their content and design. It's a subscription-based plugin and provides killer features to backup all the vital information related to your blog. I'd recommend this plugin if you want complete peace of mind and assurance about your blog's security and content backup.

Duplicator plugin for backup Duplicator - This is a hugely popular back plugin I often recommend to my new clients who're looking for a simple yet powerful solution to safeguard their site's content. This plugin is best suited for professional developers who want to migrate and transfer entire sites from one location to another. If you're completely new to hosting, I'd ask you to skip this plugin as it may not be the right choice for you. For others, this is a powerful and complete solution to take reliable backups of a WordPress site. I often use this intuitive plugin to clone a local copy of WordPress site to install it on a live server for a client.