How to Back Up a WordPress Site (2026 Beginner Guide)
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The fastest way to learn why you need to back up WordPress regularly is to lose a site without one — a bad plugin update, a failed migration, or a hack can wipe out months of work in seconds, and without a recent backup there is often no way to get it back. Setting up automatic backups takes about ten minutes and is one of the highest-value tasks a beginner site owner can do.
How to Back Up WordPress the Right Way
A real WordPress backup needs two parts: the database (your posts, pages, comments, and settings) and the files (your theme, plugins, uploads, and media library) — a backup that only covers one half will not fully restore your site. The simplest path for most beginners is a plugin like UpdraftPlus, which backs up both the database and files on a schedule you set, then stores the copy somewhere other than your own server — Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3 are the most common free destinations.
Storing backups off-server matters because if your hosting account itself is compromised or suspended, a backup sitting in the same account can be lost along with everything else. Set the schedule to daily if you publish or get comments often, or weekly if the site is mostly static, and keep at least two to four historical backups so you can roll back further than just the most recent broken version. Many hosts also offer backups as a built-in feature — Hostinger’s WordPress plans include automatic daily backups and one-click restore points, which is a solid safety net even if you also run a plugin-based backup for extra redundancy.
Choosing a Backup Schedule and Restore Plan
How often you need to back up WordPress depends on how often the site changes. A blog that publishes daily or takes regular comments needs daily backups so a rollback never costs more than a day of content; a brochure-style business site that changes once a month can safely run on weekly backups. Beyond frequency, test the restore process at least once before you actually need it — create a staging copy or a local test install and run through a full restore, because discovering that a backup file is corrupted or incomplete during an actual emergency is far worse than finding out ahead of time. Keep backups in more than one location when possible: a host-level backup plus a plugin backup stored on Google Drive covers you even if one system fails. Finally, always take a manual backup immediately before any major change — a theme switch, a plugin update, or a WordPress core update — since those are the moments most likely to break a site, and a five-minute manual backup can save hours of recovery work afterward.
Hosting Pilot’s UpdraftPlus plugin page is a good place to start, and it pairs well with Hostinger’s WordPress plans, which include automatic daily backups and one-click restores built into every plan.
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Hostinger’s WordPress hosting includes free daily backups and one-click restores — no extra plugin required.
If you only remember one habit from this guide, make it this: back up WordPress before you touch anything risky, and back up WordPress on a fixed schedule the rest of the time. Beginners who back up WordPress consistently rarely lose more than a few hours of work; beginners who skip it sometimes lose everything.
Recap: Back Up WordPress
To back up WordPress properly, cover both the database and the files, store the copy off-server (Google Drive, Dropbox, S3, or your host’s built-in backup), and schedule it daily or weekly based on how often the site changes. Test your restore process before you need it, keep a few historical versions, and always take a manual backup before major changes like theme or plugin updates. For the rest of your WordPress setup, from installing the software to choosing plugins and a theme, see our full WordPress for beginners guide and our best WordPress plugins roundup next.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I back up my WordPress site? Daily if you publish content or receive comments regularly; weekly is enough for a mostly static brochure site. Always take an extra manual backup before major updates.
Where should I store WordPress backups? Somewhere other than your own hosting account — Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3 are common free options, and many hosts, including Hostinger, also include built-in off-server backup storage.
Do I need a backup plugin if my host already backs up my site? It’s not required, but running both a host-level backup and a plugin-based backup gives you redundancy — if one system fails or your account is affected, the other still has a copy.
What’s the difference between backing up files and the database? The database holds your posts, pages, comments, and settings; the files include your theme, plugins, and media uploads. A complete WordPress backup needs both, since restoring only one half leaves the site broken.
