WordPress has plugins for everything, no doubt. However, people often underestimate the importance of backup plugins. I have heard stories when people backup only a portion of files thinking that they did everything. Later they decided to delete all files from website because they just took so much space… and by the way, who needs them on server when you have a perfect *cough* backup? I think you already know what happened next.

These stories were enough for me so I decided why not putting useful resources here so that people wouldn’t have to go through all that? I mean, who on earth would want to lose all their data, stay in front of computer till morning trying to do something about it, and then failing? Probably none of us.

This is a post about the best backup solutions you can get at the right moment. Although there are probably more plugins out there that operate in similar way, these 5 were among the most popular and most discussed I could find. Also, reviews were good and I even got to test few of them. They are arranged in descending order so that you can focus on which plugin is the most user-friendly and has a great feature set. Ok, enough talk, let’s get started!

1. BackupBuddy

The best way of dealing with problems is to avoid them altogether. This is where BackupBuddy comes in and all problems you can possibly think of can be avoided within few steps. It is absolutely the best at what it does and if you can get it, wou won’t regret it!

BackupBuddy is quite simple and allows you two options for backups - ”Database Only” or “Full Backup”.

As you can see, it offers restoring your whole website with an archive which is made either by backing up database or making a full backup. Migration is used less but when people really need to get website to another domain, this is a lifesaver.

So, once you have decided what you want to backup, all it takes is one click on either “Database Only” or “Full Backup”. It will instantly show the whole proccess, displaying status updates along the way. The Advanced Details is exactly what it means, therefore power users can read and evaluate every step BackupBuddy has made.

The status tab should show a message “Backup completed successfully” and if it doesn’t, don’t panic – BackupBuddy has made it really simple for casual users and will display information of what went wrong.

Upon successful creation of backup, BackupBuddy will store it as a .zip file in the destination of your choice. Easily access it from your FTP client or simply download to your PC – it’s really that simple. Also, you can manage your destinations and upload backups on Amazon S3, Dropbox, Rackspace Cloudfiles, and Email. And the best part is, you can schedule the backup uploading to these services! I mean, how cool is that?

As you can see, BackupBuddy has almost no competitors if any. It just provides so much functionality for reasonable price starting from $75. So, as I previously said, if you can get BackupBuddy, you will save countless time and thanks to the wide feature set, your website is invincible.

2. XCloner

XCloner is a professional backup plugin for WordPress and Joomla. A little bit more complicated than BackupBuddy, it still easily backups your website files and databases so that you can restore them anywhere, anytime. Automatization will also be useful when you want to upload backups to Amazon S3 on a speciffic time. Did I mention that XCloner is free?

3. WordPress Backup to Dropbox

With more and more people using Dropbox, there sure must be some kind of plugin that will upload backups. It’s called WordPress Backup to Dropbox and it’s a very simple and straightforward plugin which does just what you need – making backups and uploading them to your Dropbox. As you can see, there is probably nothing more easier than adjusting few settings.

Also, excluding certain folders or files might be handy for people who want to backup only a portion of their website.

4. ManageWP

I recently discovered ManageWP and this awesome service is a great way of managing your WordPress blog. Feel free to go and try it, however the downside is that you can test it only for 10 days, which was already expected for such a great service. Yes, if you want to manage up to 10 blogs, it will cost around $7 a month which doesn’t actually sound bad.

The feature you are probably looking for is making backups, and the good news is, it has one. Below you can see the very easy process of making them. Also, choosing external backup destinations is a neat feature for all backup solutions and it currently supports uploading to FTP, Amazon S3, Dropbox, and Email. To sum this up, ManageWP is just what the name says. If you can spare few dollars a month, it will definitely boost your productivity and save your time.

5. WP-DB-Backup and WordPress Backup

Two plugins can also be used freely to do backups when you need them most. WP-DB-Backup is used to backup database while WordPress Backup plugin performs regular backups of your uploads – images, current themes, plugin directories. These two plugins are used by many people who just want to get the job done without any fees. Together these plugins make up a good team. Although it may be a bit complicated for casual users (Actually it isn’t), there are many forums and information around to get you started.

Conclusions

So, this is it! Five.. six plugins used to create backups and avoid mistakes others have made – now your can finally relax and if anything happens, you can rest assured that your data is secure. Besides, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

My question is, what’s your favorite way of making backups?

backup solutions wordpress