Back up your WordPress installation

You’ve secured your WordPress website, but you still need to protect yourself against data loss. If you’re hosting your own site, or your provider doesn’t provide automatic backups, you’ll need to take matters into your own hands.

A WordPress backup consists of two elements: All the files on your web server, of course, plus the underlying SQL database that powers your installation. You can back these up manually using a combination of FTP and phpMyAdmin, but a simpler – and more sensible – solution is to make use of a free plugin.

Most backup plugins come in free and paid-for versions – the free versions will back up everything to your own web space (so you’ll need to download this manually), but reserve some options, such as backing up to the cloud, for their paid-for licenses. One plugin that offers several free remote backup sources – including Dropbox, Amazon S3, FTP, and Google Drive – is UpdraftPlus.

Install it via “Plugins ≥ Add New,” then click “Activate,” and UpdraftPlus will guide you through taking your first back-up – be sure to click “Settings” when prompted to connect to your chosen backup destination, and set an automatic backup schedule for your files and database. Now you can sit back and relax – your WordPress site is being backed up on a regular basis.