In this comprehensive blog post, I will share my experience on how to backup your WordPress website for free without any technical knowledge.
As a WordPress site owner, it’s important to regularly backup your site to prevent data loss and ensure a smooth recovery process in case of any unforeseen issues.
WordPress Backup & Restore Tutorial Video
In this video tutorial, I’ll show you three main things: how you can create quick manual backup, how you can schedule and automatically make this process so backups will be created depending on the frequency you set without any technical knowledge, and how you can use this backup to restore on a later day in case if you wish to restore from a backup.
Why Backing Up Your WordPress Site is Important
As a WordPress site owner, it is crucial to regularly backup your WordPress site. Having a reliable backup ensures that you have a complete copy of your website’s files, database, themes, plugins, and media files, which can be used to restore your WordPress site in case of any issues or accidents.
Without a proper backup strategy for WordPress, you risk losing all your hard work and valuable content if something goes wrong with your site. Don’t wait until it’s too late – secure your WordPress site today with a proper backup solution.
Common scenarios where you might need to restore WordPress from backup include:
- Hacking attempts and security breaches
- Server crashes and hosting issues
- Accidental deletions of important content
- Plugin or theme conflicts that break your site
- Failed WordPress updates
- Database corruption issues
- Compatibility issues with new software versions
That’s why having a reliable WordPress backup plugin is essential for every website owner. It gives you peace of mind knowing that you can quickly restore your WordPress website if needed, whether you’re dealing with a hacked site, a failed update, or any other issue.
Best Free WordPress Backup Plugin: Backup Migration
There are many great backup plugins for WordPress available, both free and premium. However, my personal favorite is the Backup Migration plugin, also known as Backup Bliss. This is undoubtedly one of the best WordPress backup plugins available in 2024.
Plugin URL: https://wordpress.org/plugins/backup-backup/
I love this plugin because it offers a wide range of features for backing up WordPress site manually and automatically, even with the free version. With the free version itself, you can do most of the work because the premium plugin right now only offers features for sites larger than 2GB file size.
For example, with the free version of the plugin, you have the limitation of 2GB or less, but most of the time, most websites will be below that limit. If you are running a small blog or business website, even some medium-size website also, most of the time it will have less than that amount of size. So most probably you won’t be needing premium.
Key Features of Backup Migration Plugin
This best WordPress backup solution includes:
- Quick and easy manual WordPress backups with just a few clicks
- Automatic scheduled backups (daily, weekly, or monthly)
- Simple WordPress backup and restore process
- 2GB backup file size limit (sufficient for most small to medium sites)
- Intuitive user interface that requires no technical knowledge
- Ability to backup WordPress database and files together
- Complete WordPress website backup including themes, plugins, and media
- Up to 20 backup retention limit
- Manual backup locking to prevent automatic deletion
While the premium version does offer some additional perks like cloud storage integration and larger backup file sizes, I find that the free version meets all my needs for backing up my WordPress site as a small business website owner.
How to Backup WordPress Site: Step-by-Step Guide
Now, let me walk you through how to backup a WordPress site using the Backup Migration plugin. This process is so easy that you won’t need any technical knowledge to backup your WordPress website. If you’re new to WordPress, you might want to check out my SEO Beginners Tutorial for Business Owners first.
I’ll show you three main processes:
- How to create a quick manual backup of your WordPress site
- How to schedule automatic backups for your WordPress website
- How to restore your WordPress site from a backup
Step 1: Download & Install Free WP Backup Plugin
First, you need to install and activate the WordPress backup plugin on your site. This is the foundation for learning how to backup WordPress effectively.
Here’s how to backup WordPress by installing the plugin:
- Log in to your WordPress dashboard
- Go to Plugins > Add New
- Search for “Backup Bliss” (even though if you try to search for backup migration, it will show a lot of different plugins. Directly to get to this plugin, just search for Backup Bliss)
- Click Install Now
- Once installed, click Activate
The plugin should now be active and ready to help you backup your WordPress website.
Step 2: Access the WordPress Backup Plugin Dashboard
To access the plugin’s settings and features for backing up WordPress site manually, go to your WordPress dashboard and click on Backup Migration in the left-hand menu. This is the interface of this particular plugin.
You may see a prompt asking if you want to send daily updates and non-sensitive data. This is up to you, but I don’t like it, so I’m going to click on skip. Feel free to skip this if you prefer.
Step 3: Backup Your WordPress Quickly (Manual Backup)
Creating a manual backup of WordPress site with this plugin is incredibly simple. If you want to create a backup of your WordPress site, it is really easy and shows you how to backup WordPress website in the fastest way possible.
Just follow these steps to backup WordPress manually:
- From the plugin’s main screen, click the large blue Create Backup Now button
- A final confirmation will appear showing the estimated backup size (for example, “16.19 MB of files will be creating. This backup size is going to be this particular size”)
- Click the Create Backup Now button again to start the backup process
- Once complete, you’ll see a “backup successful” message with options to Download Backup or close the window
That’s it! Your manual WordPress backup is now created and stored on your web server. That is how easy to create backup with this plugin.
If you go into Manage and Restore, this section will contain all the backups you created with this plugin. So you won’t lose any of these backups. You can see it shows the size, compressed size. It created a zip file out of our backup, and we can download it anytime we want.
When you click on the download button, it will automatically download WordPress backup for you, and you can keep this backup in your local computer, or even transfer to a cloud storage or anywhere as needed. This is perfect for those learning how to backup WordPress files and database together.
Step 4: Automatic Schedule WordPress Website Backups
In addition to manual backups, you can also set up the plugin to automatically backup WordPress site on a schedule. Let me show you how you can schedule these backups, like how you can automatically create these backups for you on a set frequency.
Here’s how to set up automatic WordPress backups:
- On the main plugin screen, click on the Automatic Backup button. Clicking on it will automatically turn on automatic backup creation
- Choose your desired backup frequency – whether you want monthly backups, weekly backups, or daily backup, depending on your need
- Choose the day you want to run the backup for your site and also set the time on which the backup should be running
- Set the number of backups to retain – this plugin has the limit of 20 backups maximum
Ideally, you should set a time which is very least popular on your site, so that way you can manage the load of your website. You can get that data from Google Analytics.
Important Automatic Backup Considerations
Here are crucial points about automatic WordPress backups:
- Server time dependency: When you set a time, it is not linked to your local computer time, it is linked to your server time. The plugin shows you the server time for reference
- Visitor trigger requirement: This plugin has a limitation where at least one visitor needs to come to the website to trigger a backup process. A person needs to come into the site to trigger the backup procedure. If not, it is not going to get triggered
- Storage space management: Be mindful of storage space when choosing the number of backups to keep. For example, if you’re keeping 20 backups and your website size is 10 MB, that means all the time when all the backups are created, you will be having 200 MB space using on your web hosting disk space
- Automatic deletion: What happens is when it creates the 11th backup (if you set limit to 10), it will automatically delete the earliest backup. So all the time it will only keep 10 different backup files
If your website is big, let’s say 1 GB, then it’s going to be using around 20 GB of file space on your web hosting. So depending on your use case and the disk quota available to you, you should set how many backups you want to create.
With automatic backups enabled, the plugin will create WordPress backups on your chosen schedule and automatically delete the oldest backup once it reaches your specified limit. Manual backups are locked to prevent automatic deletion, which means only you can delete them.
Step 5: Restore WordPress Site from a Backup
If you ever need to restore your WordPress site from a backup, the process is straightforward. You created the backup, now here’s how to restore this backup:
Method 1: Restore from Existing Backup on Server
If you’re keeping the backup on the local server within the website itself:
- Go to the Backup Migration plugin screen
- Under the Backups section, find the backup you want to restore
- Click the Restore button next to it
- The system will warn you that “any existing file is going to be replaced” because when you restore a backup, all the existing content will be lost
- Click Yes to confirm, then click Start Restoring to begin the restoration process
You can see how easy this process is for WordPress backup and restore operations.
Method 2: Upload and Restore from Local Backup File
If you’re not having the backup on the site, you downloaded that backup to your local computer, and you want to upload and restore it, that is also simple:
- Click the Upload Backup File button
- When you click on it, it will open a file explorer
- Select the backup file locally stored in your computer
- You will automatically upload the backup here
- Click on refresh, and the entry will be showing in the backup list
- Follow the same restore process as Method 1
After a brief wait, your site will be successfully restored from the chosen backup. You’ll see a “restore successful” message. That is how easy it is to restore WordPress backup with this plugin.
Advanced WordPress Backup Features
The Backup Migration plugin also offers some advanced options for how to backup WordPress website more efficiently:
File and Database Control Options
There are some more advanced options available with three tabs in the plugin interface. When you open up any of these, you can have:
- File control and file exclusions – Choose specific files to include or exclude from backups
- Database control and database exclusions – Manage which database tables to backup
- Storage control options – Configure where backups are stored
However, most of these features are available in the premium version, and some are marked as “coming soon” even for paid users. When you are watching this video in the future, some of these features might be available.
Cloud Storage Integration
While Google Drive integration is not available in the free version, it is available in the paid version along with other advanced backup storage options. This helps with how to backup WordPress to cloud storage for additional security.
Best Practices for WordPress Backup
Based on my experience with backing up WordPress sites, here are some essential best practices:
Backup Frequency Recommendations
- Daily backups: For websites with frequent content updates or e-commerce sites
- Weekly backups: For regular business websites and blogs
- Monthly backups: For static websites with infrequent updates
Backup Before Major Changes
Always backup WordPress before update or making major changes:
- Before WordPress core updates
- Before plugin installations or updates
- Before theme changes
- Before major content modifications
Storage and Retention Strategy
- Local storage: Keep recent backups on your server for quick access
- Off-site storage: Download important backups to your local computer or cloud storage
- Multiple locations: Store critical backups in multiple locations for redundancy
- Regular testing: Periodically test your backups to ensure they work properly
Troubleshooting Common WordPress Backup Issues
Backup Size Limitations
If your website exceeds the 2GB free limit for how to backup WordPress site:
- Consider upgrading to the premium version
- Use file exclusions to reduce backup size
- Backup different components separately
Server Resource Limitations
If backups fail due to server limitations:
- Schedule backups during low-traffic hours
- Contact your hosting provider about resource limits
- Consider using fewer simultaneous backup processes
Conclusion: Master WordPress Backup and Restore
And there you have it – my comprehensive step-by-step guide on how I easily backup my WordPress site for free using the Backup Migration plugin. This is how you use this backup migration plugin to manually back up your WordPress site, create automatic backups for that, and also to restore that backup within your WordPress site.
With this best WordPress backup plugin, you can:
- Quickly create manual backups of your complete WordPress website with just a few clicks
- Schedule automatic backups to run on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis
- Restore your WordPress site from a backup in case of any issues
- Backup WordPress database and files together in one comprehensive package
- Manage multiple backups with automatic retention policies
I highly recommend setting up a solid backup strategy for WordPress site, even if you don’t use the same plugin as me. It’s an essential part of being a responsible website owner, and this tutorial shows you the best way to backup a WordPress site for free.
Whether you’re learning how to backup WordPress manually or setting up automated solutions, having a reliable backup system gives you peace of mind knowing that you can quickly recover your site if needed. Don’t wait until it’s too late – secure your WordPress site today with proper backup procedures.
For more digital marketing tips for your business, check out my Digital Marketing For Small Business Owners Course.
If you have any other doubts or if you have any other questions about how to backup WordPress website, do let me know in the comment. Even if you are finding something difficult in this particular tutorial itself, do let me know. I will help you out.
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Thanks for reading, and happy backing up!