By BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin

July 23, 2024

BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin Plugin

Create a complete WordPress backup easily. Schedule automatic backups, store securely, and restore effortlessly with the best WordPress backup plugin!

The Best WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin

🆕 The restore option is now included in the free version!

BackWPup is the most comprehensive backup & restore plugin for WordPress.

Easily create a complete WordPress backup, store it on external services (such as Dropbox, S3, FTP, and more) and restore your backup directly from your WordPress admin, in just a few clicks.

BackWPup is designed for ease of use. Even beginners can create a reliable backup of their WordPress sites with just a few clicks. With BackWPup, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing your data is safe and secure. Whether you are a small business owner or a large enterprise, BackWPup is the tool you need to protect your WordPress site.

Schedule and Manage Backups Easily

With BackWPup, you have full control over your backup process. You can back up your entire WordPress site, including files and database, save them to multiple locations, and easily restore your site from a backup if anything goes wrong.

You can choose what to back up, how often to perform backups, and where to store them:
* Backup your entire WordPress installation, including the /wp-content/ folder and your database.
* Schedule automatic backups to run daily, weekly, or monthly, ensuring that your data is always up-to-date and secure.
* Store your backup in different locations: Dropbox, S3, FTP, Google Drive, OneDrive, and more, ensuring your data is always secure and accessible.

This flexibility makes BackWPup the best choice for WordPress backup.

Easily Restore Your WordPress Site

The restore option is now included in the free version. Easily restore your site from a backup with just a few clicks.
To restore a backup, go to the BackWPup plugin dashboard in your WordPress admin area. Navigate to the ‘Backups’ tab to see a list of your saved backups. Select the backup you wish to restore and click the ‘Restore’ button. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the restoration process.
This feature ensures that even in the event of data loss or site issues, you can quickly and efficiently restore your site to its previous state.

Improve Your Site’s Reliability and Performance

Did you know that regular backups and database maintenance can improve the performance and reliability of your WordPress site? With BackWPup, you can ensure that your data is always protected and that your site is always running smoothly.
By scheduling regular backups and database maintenance, you can avoid data loss and downtime. BackWPup makes it easy to protect your data and keep your site running at its best.
Even Google recommends regular backups and database maintenance to ensure the reliability and performance of your site. With BackWPup, you can follow best practices and keep your site secure and reliable.

What Do Our Users Think Of BackWPup?

Here’s what our users have to say about us after using BackWPup:

“Thanks to the developers for a very handy plugin! I’ve been using it for many years and it has never let me down! Thank you!” — alexeytrusovru >
”Must have for backup. So easy to use and so much feature. You can choose what to backup : files, db, plugin, theme… Then you can choose where to backup like upload to your dropbox.”— zuriiwest>
“Using this for 2 years for 30 sites without any issue, worked perfectly for me!” — hoathuy>
“My favorite backup plugin – use it on many sites. I manage many sites, and this has been my favorite backup plugin for years. It has a number of features that are not available in the free versions of other backup plugins (or at least, not all in the same plugin)
” — syzygist>

Is BackWPup Free?

You can use BackWPup for free with all its basic features. The free version includes complete backup, scheduling, support for external storage services (like Dropbox, S3, FTP, and more) and restore.

The pro version offers many additional features including more settings, destinations and of course access to our premium support. Check out our premium plans: https://backwpup.com/#buy

Who Are We?

We are WP Media, the company behind WP Rocket, the best caching plugin for WordPress.

Our mission is to improve the web. We are making it faster with WP Rocket, lighter with Imagify and safer with BackWPup.

Get In Touch!

Website: backwpup.com
Contact Us: https://backwpup.com/contact/

Related Plugins

WP Rocket: The best performance plugin to speed up your WordPress website.
Imagify: The best image optimization plugin to speed up your website with lighter images.
Lazy Load: The best Lazy Load script to reduce the number of HTTP requests and improve the website’s loading time.
Heartbeat Control by WP Rocket: Heartbeat Control by WP Rocket: The best plugin to control the WordPress Heartbeat API and reduce CPU usage.
RocketCDN: The best CDN plugin for WordPress to propel your content at the speed of light – no matter where your users are located in the world.
Increase Max upload file size: The best plugin to increase the upload file size limit to any value with one click.

License: GPLv2 or later

License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Installation

WordPress Admin Method

Go to you administration area in WordPress Plugins > Add
Look for BackWPup (use search form)
Click on Install and activate the plugin

FTP Method

Upload the complete backwpup folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

Pro Version

[You can find a detailed tutorial in the BackWPup documentation]. (https://backwpup.com/docs/install-backwpup-pro-activate-licence/)

Screenshots

FAQ

How do I restore a backup?

Restoring backups made with BackWPup can be done multiple ways. Please take a look at our documentation here to learn more.

My backup jobs don’t seem to run as scheduled.

BackWPup uses WordPress’ own cron job system (WP Cron) to execute scheduled backup jobs. In order for WordPress to “know” when to execute a job, its “inner clock” needs to be set regularly. That happens whenever someone (including yourself) visits your site.
If your site happens to not being visited for a period of time, WordPress’ inner clock gets sort of slow. In that case it takes an extra server-side cron job to regularly call http://your-site.tld/wp-cron.php and tell WordPress what time it is.

A simple way to find out whether WP Cron works as it should on your site is to create a new post and set its publishing date to some point in the future, i.e. 10 minutes from now. Then leave your site (that’s important), come back after 11 minutes and check whether your scheduled post has been published. If not, you’re very likely to have an issue with WP Cron.

Yuk! It says: “ERROR: No destination correctly defined for backup!”

That means a backup job has started, but BackWPup doesn’t know where to store the backup files. Please cancel the running job and re-edit its configuration. There should be a Tab “To: …” in your backup job’s configuration. Have you set a backup target correctly?

A backup job has started, but nothing seems to be happening—not even when I restart it manually.

Solution #1

Open BackWPup->Settings
Go to the Informations tab.
Find Server self connect: in the left column.
If it says something like (401) Authorisation required in the right column, go to the Network tab and set the username and password for server-side authentication.
Try again starting the backup job.

Solution #2

Open wp-config.php and find the line where it says if ( !defined('ABSPATH') ).
Somewhere before that line add this: define( 'ALTERNATE_WP_CRON', true );

Solution #3

Not really a solution, but a way to identify the real problem: see remarks on WP Cron at the top.

I get this error message: `The HTTP response test get a error “Connection time-out”`

BackWPup performs a simple HTTP request to the server itself every time you click run now or whenever a backup job starts automatically. The HTTP response test message could mean:
* Your host does not allow loop back connections. (If you know what WP_ALTERNATE_CRON is, try it.)
* Your WordPress root directory or backup directory requires authentication. Set username and password in Settings->Network.
* The Server can’t resolve its own hostname.
* A plugin or theme is blocking the request.
* Other issues related to your individual server and/or WordPress configuration.

I get a fatal error: `Can not create folder: […]/wp-content/backwpup-[…]-logs in […]/wp-content/plugins/backwpup/inc/class-job.php …`

Please set CHMOD 775 on the /wp-content/ directory and refresh the BackWPup dashboard. If that doesn’t help, try CHMOD 777. You can revert it to 755 once BackWPup has created its folder.

When I edit a job the Files tab loads forever.

Go to Settings->General and disable “Display folder sizes on files tab if job edited”. Calculating folder sizes can take a while on sites with many folders.

I generated a list of my installed plugins, but it’s hard to read.

Try opening the text file in an editor software like Notepad++ (Windows) or TextMate (Mac) to preserve line-breaks.

My web host notified me BackWPup was causing an inacceptable server load!

Go to Settings->Jobs and try a different option for “Reduce server load”.

Can I cancel a running backup job via FTP?

Yes. Go to your BackWPup temp directory and find a file named backwpup-xyz-working.json where “xyz” is a random string of numbers and characters. Delete that file to cancel the currently running backup job.

Can I move the temp directory to a different location?

Yes. You need to have writing access to the wp-config.php file (usually residing in the root directory of your WordPress installation).

Open wp-config.php and find the line where it says if ( !defined('ABSPATH') ).
Somewhere before that line add this: define( 'WP_TEMP_DIR', '/absolute/path/to/wp/your/temp-dir' );
Replace /absolute/path/to/wp/ with the absolute path of your WordPress installation and your/temp-dir with the path to your new temp directory.
Save the file.

What do those placeholders in file names stand for?

%d = Two digit day of the month, with leading zeros
%j = Day of the month, without leading zeros
%m = Day of the month, with leading zeros
%n = Representation of the month (without leading zeros)
%Y = Four digit representation for the year
%y = Two digit representation of the year
%a = Lowercase ante meridiem (am) and post meridiem (pm)
%A = Uppercase ante meridiem (AM) and post meridiem (PM)
%B = Swatch Internet Time
%g = Hour in 12-hour format, without leading zeros
%G = Hour in 24-hour format, without leading zeros
%h = Hour in 12-hour format, with leading zeros
%H = Hour in 24-hour format, with leading zeros
%i = Two digit representation of the minute
%s = Two digit representation of the second

Changelog

4.1.4

Release date: jul 22, 2024

Ehanced: Store the review notice dismiss as an option
Fixed: Hide the evaluate notice using css
Removed: Remove the “Compression” option in Settings > Logs
** Disabled by default, can be enabled with a filter (backwpup_gz_logs)
Fixed: Check if the third parties constants are defined before using them

4.1.3

Release date: Jul 05, 2024

Changed: Upgraded minimum version to PHP 7.4
Fixed: Evaluate notice doesn’t dismiss
Removed: General tab on settings page
** Admin bar: enabled by default, can be disabled with a filter (backwpup_is_in_admin_bar)
** Folder sizes: disabled by default, can be enabled with a filter (backwpup_show_folder_size)
** Protect folders: we protect your folders by default can be disabled with a filter (backwpup_protect_folders)
** Plugin data: we delete all plugin data after its delation by default
Fixed: Fix S3 uploads over 5 Gb

4.1.2

Release date: Jun 27, 2024

Fixed: Open_basedir restriction on some servers
Added: Notice to ask users their experience with BackWpUp

4.1.1

Release date: Jun 18, 2024

Changed: AutoExclude the cache plugin folders from the backup
Fixed: Problems with the sql dump of the database
Fixed: Update phpseclib library to fix issues in Windows environment.

4.1.0

Release date: Jun 4, 2024

Changed: Add Restore to the free version
Fixed: Improved checking of encrypted archives
Added (pro): decryption and encryption with WP-CLI of archives
Fixed (pro): Problems with Asymmetric encryption on restarts

4.0.5

Release date: May 21, 2024

Fixed (pro): Gdrive oAuth authentication flow

4.0.4

Release date: March 12, 2024

Fixed: Changed directory structure of BackWPup temporary files to prevent unauthorized access of database backup.

4.0.3

Release date: February 22, 2024

Fixed: Security issue where FTP passwords were stored in the database in plaintext.

4.0.2

Release date: November 22, 2023

Fixed: Disallow backups or logs directories from being outside of wp-content directory for security purposes

4.0.1

Release date: October 18, 2023

Changed (pro): Clarified instructions in the “Path to mysqldump file” field
Changed: Upgraded minimum version to PHP 7.2.5
Fixed (pro): Restoring a compressed database backup resulted in a “Could not get size of SQL file” error
Fixed (pro): 500 error in Restore app, due to missing dependencies
Fixed (pro): Escaped previously unescaped SQL query
Fixed (pro): Security issue regarding location of restore files
Fixed (pro): PHP warning when configuring a wizard with the glacier destination
Fixed: Missing nonce validation on certain AJAX endpoints
Fixed: Escaping for values on log output
Fixed: Escaping of sendmail command
Fixed: Corrected an invalid URL in the documentation link found in the plugin overview
Fixed: Various deprecation notices on PHP 8.0+
Fixed: Issue where webp thumbnail images were not excluded despite enabling the “Don’t backup thumbnails from the site’s uploads folder” option
Fixed: Ensure validation of logfile parameter during job run

4.0.0

Release Date: November 16, 2022

Added: Support for additional S3 storage classes
Added: Support for Glacier Instant Retrieval
Added: Created backwpup_ftp_use_passive_address filter for when FTP is behind NAT
Added: Support for object lock in S3 by adding Content-MD5 header
Added (pro): Include unique IV when encrypting archives
Added (pro): Default character set fetched from alternative database credentials
Changed: Upgraded minimum version to PHP 7.2
Changed (pro): Upgraded Google Drive SDK to V3
Fixed: Better support for PHP 8
Fixed: PHP warning when backing up to S3 destination
Fixed: Unable to download from S3 when using predefined region
Fixed: Unable to download from SugarSync
Fixed: Backups downloaded twice from MS Azure
Fixed: wp-config.php backed up twice when parent folder is included in backup
Fixed: Text fields too long on SugarSync destination settings
Fixed: Dropbox runs out of memory when more than 50 files in folder
Fixed (pro): Authentication of OneDrive when HTTP_REFERER not set.
Fixed (pro): Displayed creation date of OneDrive backups was incorrect
Fixed (pro): Disabled mysqldump radio button when binary cannot be found
Fixed (pro): HiDrive does not detect when refresh token expires
Removed: Unnecessary AWS and Google library files to save on package size.

Version 3.10.0

Release Date: September 1, 2021

Added: Support for Dropbox short-lived access tokens
Fixed (pro): Prevent out of memory error on HiDrive backups
Fixed (pro): Small files uploaded twice to HiDrive
Fixed (pro): Fatal error on plugin update if $transient is null
Fixed (pro): Restore of stored functions, procedures, and triggers
Fixed: Export of stored functions, procedures, and triggers including delimiters
Fixed: Support emojis and other 4-byte characters in database dump
Fixed: PHP 8 deprecation notice in XML export

Version 3.9.0

Release Date: June 14, 2021

Added (pro): Migrate website to another URL
Added (pro): Validation for database credentials on restore
Added: PHP notice for outdated PHP versions less than 7.2
Fixed (pro): License deactivated on settings save
Fixed (pro): Corrupted path name in Google Drive destination
Fixed (pro): Unable to download backup from Google Drive
Fixed: Unable to connect to custom S3 endpoints
Fixed: Intermittent error selecting restore strategy
Fixed: Memory leaks when uploading to S3
Fixed: PHP 7.4 Deprecation notices
Fixed: PHP 8 compatibility issues
Fixed: Remove BackWPup user roles on uninstall in multisite
Fixed: Correctly handle relative upload paths
Fixed: Display welcome page even after consent dialog clicked
Fixed: Exclude non backup files from the backups page
Fixed: Format dates as ISO-formatted dates instead of binary hex in MySQL backup
Fixed: Don’t pre-fill database credentials when backing up non-WordPress database
Fixed: Description of replacement patterns for archive name
Fixed: Added missing destinations to destination list in about page
Fixed: Made BackWPup banner local
Removed: Phone home client
Removed: Remote admin notices

Version 3.8.0

Release Date: September 21, 2020

Added: OneDrive destination for Pro version
Added: HiDrive destination for Pro version
Added: WordPress 5.5 compatibility
Added: PHP 7.4 compatibility
Added: Option to keep BackWPUp data after plugin uninstall
Added: More default excluded folders and files for BackWPUp
Fixed: Custom S3 destination return error after Amazon library update
Fixed: PHP Notice: Undefined index: dbdumpdbcharset
Fixed: Cannot use variables for the xml file name
Fixed: Deprecated: Non-static method BackWPup_Admin::admin_css() should not be called statically
Fixed: Prevent click on overlay disable backup download process
Fixed: BackWPUp redirects even in the CLI environment

Version 3.7.1

Release Date: March 30, 2020

Fixed: Error Notices CSS is loaded on all pages and overwrite the color of other plugins notices
Updated: (Pro) License system update for premium version

Version 3.7.0

Release Date: Nov 27, 2019

Updated: Raise the minimum PHP version required by BWU to 5.6
Updated: Microsoft Azure Storage Blob PHP Client Library
Fixed: S3 custom url not used for bucket selection
Fixed: S3 malformed error message when authentication credentials are wrong
Fixed: S3 selecting an invalid service raise no error
Fixed: Rackspace uses old cacert.pem file
Fixed: Log page not correcty sorted
Added: Option to enable or disable the phone home client

Version 3.6.10

Release Date: Jul 8, 2019

Fixed: Azure Supports https on uploading
Fixed: Auto remove old backup files not working when archive file name have prefix “backwpup”
Added: Filter to extend list of S3 destinations
Removed: S3 multipart upload checkbox, now in destination definition
Updated: Amazon AWS SDK for S3 services, now PHP 5.5+ is needed
Added: Filter to extend list of Glacier destinations (Pro version)
Updated: Amazon AWS SDK for Glacier, now PHP 5.5+ is needed (Pro version)

Version 3.6.9

Release Date: May 7, 2019

Fixed: Google Drive destination automatically remove old backup files
Fixed: Do not expose destination data within the manifest file
Fixed: Update Dropbox Tokens
Fixed: Restore error: MIME returns html instead of event stream
Fixed: Log files name are predictable because of weak hash
Fixed: ZipArchive doesn’t fallback to PclZip in Restore
Fixed: Session already started could cause issues during ajax calls
Fixed: Wrong vendor include path for PEAR using MS Azure
Fixed: Decryption Key prompt when any error occur during the first step of a Restore
Fixed: Phone home client notice and php 5 issue with php short echo tag
Fixed: mime_content_type function may not exists prevent backup decryption
Improve: Restore Log and produce report for user feedback
Changed: License changed to GPLv2+

Version 3.6.8

Release Date: Feb 25, 2019

Fixed: Typos in settings job page
Fixed: Rest API admin note language doesn’t change when changing user language

Version 3.6.7

Release Date: Jan 22, 2019

Fixed: More margin to dashboard footer to avoid save button unclickable
Fixed: On folder sync destination folder is not created
Fixed: Encryption option should not be displayed for syncing job
Fixed: Restore stuck on file restore step because of file permission issue
Fixed: “Do not delete files while syncing to destination!” not working
Tweak: Increase PHP Version from 5.3.2 to 5.3.3
Tweak: Encryption Settings description and ui improvements
Tweak: On restore error, include restore.dat file along with the log when user download the restore log file
Tweak: Lock server to execute same task multiple time when one is already in progress

Version 3.6.6

Release Date: Nov 28, 2018

Fixed: Files could be excluded from the backup because of incorrect string comparison

Version 3.6.5

Release Date: Nov 23, 2018

Fixed: Admin notice won’t update correctly

Version 3.6.4

Release Date: Nov 22, 2018

Fixed: Encrypted backup must force users to download the encryption keys
Fixed: Warning mime type when a backup is going to be downloaded
Fixed: Admin Notice in free version is sometimes empty
Fixed: Random restore error about SQL syntax when restoring a database
Fixed: Exclude restore directories to be copied during a restore phase
Fixed: Standalone App has no encryption support
Fixed: Open basedir, backup dir is not within the allowed path
Fixed: Unable to download backup file because of mime_content_type function missing in some environment
Tweak: Encryption Settings UI
Tweak: Minor translations issues
Tweak: Remove languages files from the free version, the plugin will use translation.wordpress.org

Version 3.6.3

Release Date: Nov 5, 2018

Fixed: “Failed to restore file”: file restore progress stop working and jump directly to database restore step
Fixed: Restore progress stuck on “restoring database” with archive backup contains files only
Fixed: All config.php files are not in backup archive

Version 3.6.2

Release Date: Oct 17, 2018

Fixed: Not recognized file extensions get an additional underscore in the file name in zip file
Fixed: Backup archive file have dot folder contains all web root files
Fixed: Ftp destination downloader repetitively open a new handler for the source file causing corrupted backup

Version 3.6.1

Release Date: Sep 25, 2018

Fixed: Backup doesn’t handle special characters correctly
Fixed: Use of function that doesn’t exists prior to 4.9
Fixed: Class bryter/helpers/csrf/CSRF.php was not loaded
Fixed: Backup don’t override old database file in web root
Fixed: Restore Folder backup won’t download the backup file
Fixed: Function owns_backup_archive not exists, the one is is_backup_archive
Fixed: Some settings page and license api manager strings are missing translation
Fixed: Incompatibility with php 5.3 in destination folder downloader
Fixed: fatal error on Amazon Glacier because of an undefined function
Fixed: Ensure extra files are not overwritten
Fixed: Cannot delete woocommerce_downloadable_product_permissions table
Fixed: Incompatibility with php 5.3 in the restore process

Version 3.6.0

Release Date: June 14, 2018

Added: Pro Feature – Encrypt before sending backups to the cloud
Fixed: Handling of special Amazon S3 regions such as Google Storage
Fixed: Downloading of large files encountered PHP memory error
Improved: Delete pro-only scss files in free version
Fixed: Version constraints of composer dependencies
Fixed: Localized strings from restore
Fixed: Deleting FTP backup resulted in error
Fixed: openssl_encrypt compatibility with PHP 5.3

Version 3.5.1

Release Date: May 23, 2018

Fixed: call to a member function close() on null
Fixed: Cannot use object of type WP_Error as array
Fixed: Can’t use function return value in write context
Fixed: Compatibility with PHP 5.3
Fixed: Decreased size of plugin by purging unneeded files

Version 3.5.0

Release Date: May 16, 2018

Added: Restore for pro version
Fixed: stylesheet was being included on frontend