BackWPup: WordPress Backup Plugin Review
Regular backups are crucial for any WordPress website to ensure security, protect against data loss, and enable smooth recovery in case of site failures or hacking attacks. BackWPup is a popular WordPress plugin dedicated to seamlessly backing up and restoring WordPress installations.
In this in-depth review, we will analyze BackWPup’s features, compare it to competitors, examine user experiences, and provide tips for getting started and leveraging advanced functionalities. By the end, you will have comprehensive insights to determine if BackWPup is the right backup solution for your needs.
An Overview of BackWPup’s Capabilities
BackWPup enables users to easily schedule and automate WordPress backups to various storage locations such as the local server, cloud services, FTP, and more.
Key features include:
- Full and incremental database backups: Back up your entire MySQL database or just newly added/edited content.
- File backups: Back up all WordPress system files and folders. Set filters to target specific types.
- Job scheduling: Schedule daily, weekly or monthly backups to run automatically.
- Storage destinations: Store backups locally or to the cloud (Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Drive etc).
- Restoration: Quickly restore your site from any previously created backup with a few clicks.
- Encryption: Secure your backups with industry-standard AES encryption.
The free version of BackWPup comes with basic functionalities while the paid BackWPup Pro edition ($69 per site) unlocks advanced capabilities.
Key Features and Benefits
Automatic Backup Scheduling
BackWPup shines when it comes to flexible backup job scheduling. Users can create customized rules to automate database + file backups on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Define regular full backups as well as incremental backups that only archive recently changed files to save space. Schedule off-peak hours for bandwidth-intensive cloud sync jobs.
With rock-solid scheduling capabilities, BackWPup removes the need for manual backups. Set it and forget it!
One-Click Restoration
In case of website crashes, failed updates, or hacking attacks, easily roll back your site to a previous working state within minutes using BackWPup archives.
The one-click restore process retrieves the backup from your selected storage service and seamlessly reverts all WordPress files and database tables. BackWPup also handles network deactivation, search & replace, and reconnection after restoration.
Image: BackWPup’s automated restoration via the dashboard
Malware Monitoring
BackWPup scans your WordPress site regularly and compares files against a database of over 44,000 known malware signatures.
If modified or suspicious files are detected, BackWPup sends email alerts allowing quick investigation and remediation.
This protects against hacked and infected WordPress sites by catching early indicators of compromise.
Comparison With Alternative WordPress Backup Plugins
How does BackWPup compare against competitors like UpdraftPlus, BackupBuddy and Duplicator?
| Plugin | Pricing | Backup Types | Cloud Sync | cPanel Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BackWPup | Free and $69 Pro | DB, Files, Full + Incremental | Yes | Yes |
| UpdraftPlus | Free and $45 Pro | DB, Files, Full + Incremental | Yes | No |
| BackupBuddy | $80 | DB, Files, Full + Incremental | Yes | Yes |
| Duplicator | Free and $20 Pro | Full | No | No |
Main Differences
- Encryption: BackWPup offers AES encryption for backups out of the box. UpdraftPlus requires a paid add-on while BackupBuddy includes Blowfish encryption.
- Scheduling: Advanced recurring schedule rules are a highlight of BackWPup. Competitors have basic options.
- cPanel: BackWPup integrates with cPanel allowing hosting providers set up backups for clients. Rivals don’t support cPanel.
- Pricing: At $69 per site, BackWPup Pro is very affordable compared to the likes of BackupBuddy.
Based on the depth of features and budget-friendly pricing, BackWPup strikes a nice balance for both basic personal sites as well as freelancers managing multiple client websites.
BackupBuddy, while more expensive, offers superior migration tools while UpdraftPlus is best for extra large networks. Each has strengths and target audiences.
User Experiences With BackWPup
BackWPup enjoys very positive user ratings across various WordPress repository sites:
- 5-star average rating out of 700+ reviews on WordPress.org
- 4.7/5 rating on Capterra based on 95 reviews
- 4.6/5 stars across 900+ users on Trustpilot
Positive feedback highlights the set-it-and-forget it automated backup scheduling, hassle-free restoration process, and friendly support. BackWPup feels like insurance against disaster scenarios for most website owners.
Negative reviews mostly focus on the relatively complex settings and overwhelming options. However, visiting the extensive documentation helps overcome the initial learning curve.
On the whole, over 85% of users rate BackWPup as a superb backup solution for WordPress sites. It enjoys great trust and loyalty in the community.
For user comments and experiences, visit BackWPup’s profile on WordPress plugins listing, Capterra directory, the Chrome Web Store, TrustPilot, and more.
In-Depth Review of BackWPup Pro
While the free version delivers core backup essentials, upgrading to BackWPup Pro unlocks premium capabilities.
Here are some highlight features:
Granular Archiving Rules
Define per-folder and per-file backup rules using advanced regular expressions for maximum control. For example, always or never backup specific logs, image folders, wp-config files etc.
Multisite Compatibility
Seamlessly create independent or synchronized backups across all sites in your WordPress multisite network. Define varying rules per site if desired.
Web Cron Monitoring
BackWPup Pro verifies all scheduled CRON jobs are running properly and alerts you in case of issues, ensuring backups happen without fail.
The priority email support channel, detailed activity logs, central backup storage, and cPanel integration make BackWPup Pro well worth the price. It’s an elite, self-managed backup solution for anyone from freelancers to development agencies overseeing multiple WordPress sites.
Getting Started: Installing and Configuring BackWPup
Installing BackWPup is simple:
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New
- Search for “”BackWPup”” and click Install
- Activate the plugin once installed
- Go to Backups in the left-side WordPress menu
First, use the Backup Jobs tab to create your first automated backup job and choose a destination like your local folder, Google Drive, Amazon S3 etc.
Enable encryption and logging based on your preferences. Schedule the backup recurrence rules per your site’s activity and traffic volume.
Under Logs, monitor backup archives getting created successfully as per your schedule. Tools has utilities to manually trigger backups, check log details, and restore archives.
Refer to BackWPup’s well-documented user guide for more help. Reach out to the active community forums if facing any issues.
Advanced Functionality
Once familiar with the basics, consider exploring these powerful features:
- Schedule incremental database backups to minimize storage needs
- Sync backups to multiple locations for redundancy
- Use BACKWPUP_NOBACKUP rules for selective file exclusion
- Enable detailed logging for analytical insights
- Integrate with monitoring tools via Webhook notifications
- Optimize databases before backup using OPcache tools
Refer to BackWPup documentation and developer blog for tutorials to master advanced WordPress backup tactics.
Conclusion: A Robust Backup Solution
After reviewing capabilities, user experiences, and expert recommendations, we can safely recommend BackWPup for most use-cases related to WordPress backups and restoration.
The automatic scheduler, encryption capabilities, convenient restores, malware checks, and cloud storage sync make BackWPup a complete package – especially the Pro edition if you need priority.