How to Back Up a WordPress Site Yourself (Two Ways)

Backing up a WordPress site yourself is genuinely easy, and it's the single best insurance your website can have. There's just one thing you have to get right: a real backup is two parts, your files and your database, and if you save only one, you can't actually restore your site. Get both, keep a copy somewhere other than your host, and you're protected. Below are the two simplest ways to do it, step by step.

Why does this matter so much? Because the day you need a backup, you really need it. A bad update, a hack, a hosting failure, a mistaken deletion. With a good backup, any of those is an afternoon of recovery. Without one, it can mean rebuilding your site from nothing. Ten minutes now saves you that.

The one thing to understand first

WordPress keeps your site in two separate places, and a backup has to capture both.

What you'll need

• Login access to your WordPress dashboard (yoursite.com/wp-admin).
• For method two, access to your hosting control panel.
• A place to store the copy off-site, like Google Drive, Dropbox, or your own computer.
• About ten to fifteen minutes.

Method one: a backup plugin (easiest)

This is the way most owners should go. A backup plugin handles both files and database, can send the copy straight to cloud storage, and can run on a schedule so you never have to remember. UpdraftPlus is the common free choice, and these steps apply to most similar plugins.

1. 1Install the plugin. In your dashboard, go to Plugins, Add New, search for UpdraftPlus, install it, and activate it.
2. 2Open its settings and pick a destination. Choose where backups should be stored, ideally an off-site option like Google Drive or Dropbox, not just your web server. Connect the account when prompted.
3. 3Run your first backup now. Click Backup Now. Make sure both the files and the database boxes are checked. Let it finish. You'll see the completed backup listed.
4. 4Set a schedule. Choose how often it runs. Weekly is fine for most small sites; more often if you post or take orders daily. Set it and forget it.
5. 5Download a copy to your own computer too. Belt and braces. Having one copy somewhere entirely separate from any online account is the safest position to be in.

Method two: your host's backup tool

Most hosting companies include a backup tool in their control panel. It's handy, but treat it as a second layer rather than your only one, because a backup that lives only on the same host as your site is vulnerable to the same host failing.

1. 1Log into your hosting control panel. This is your host's dashboard, separate from WordPress. If you're unsure who your host is, an old invoice or a lookup will tell you.
2. 2Find the backup or "backups" section. Many hosts label it clearly. Some managed WordPress hosts take automatic daily backups already, which you'll see listed here.
3. 3Create a full backup, or download an existing one. Look for a "full backup" or "download" option that includes both the site files and the database. Generate it if needed.
4. 4Download the file and store it off the server. This is the key step. Save that backup file to your own computer or cloud storage so a host outage can't take your backup down with your site.

How often, and where to keep them

A simple rule of thumb: back up as often as you'd hate to redo your work. A site you rarely change is fine weekly. A site you update daily, or a store taking orders, wants a daily backup. And always keep copies in more than one place, because a backup stored only on the same server as your website disappears with it if that server dies.

If you're doing your own backups as part of managing more of the site yourself, our guide on maintaining your own website without coding covers what else is safely in your hands.

When you'd rather not have to remember

DIY backups work right up until life gets busy and the schedule quietly stops running, which is exactly when trouble tends to strike. That's the gap a maintenance service closes. Our maintenance plans start at $99 a month and include off-site backups on a regular schedule, stored separately from your host and checked so they actually work when you need them.

We're a Seattle-area studio and we've kept backups running for small businesses since 2011, across the Puget Sound and around the country. If the idea of your site going down with no recent backup keeps you up at night, that's precisely the worry we take off your plate.