How to Back Up WordPress in 2026: Easy Step-by-Step Guide

Learning how to back up WordPress is the single most important safety habit for any beginner site owner. A backup is a complete copy of your website — files, themes, plugins, images, and database — that you can restore if something goes wrong. And things do go wrong: a bad plugin update, a failed edit, a hacked login, or a hosting glitch can wipe out weeks of work in seconds. If you back up WordPress regularly, none of that is a disaster. You simply roll back to a working copy and carry on.

The good news is that a modern WordPress backup takes minutes to set up and then runs on autopilot. In this guide you’ll learn exactly what to copy, the easiest ways to back up WordPress automatically, where to store your copies, and how to test that a restore actually works. It’s written for beginners, so no coding is required.

What a complete WordPress backup includes

A WordPress site is made of two parts, and a real backup has to capture both. The first part is your files: the WordPress core software, your active theme, every plugin, and the wp-content folder that holds your uploaded images and media. The second part is your database, which stores your posts, pages, comments, users, and settings. If you only save one half, a restore will fail — the files won’t know what content to show, or the content will have no design to live in.

This is why copying files over FTP alone is not enough. A proper backup bundles the files and a database export together, ideally with a timestamp so you know how fresh the copy is. When you evaluate any method below, the test is simple: does it capture files and the database, and can it put them both back?

You should also decide how often to back up WordPress. A hobby blog that changes weekly is fine with weekly backups. A store or a busy site that publishes daily or takes orders needs daily — or even real-time — copies, because losing a single day could mean losing customers. Match the schedule to how much work you’d hate to redo.

The easiest ways to back up WordPress

There are three practical routes for beginners, and most people end up using a combination. The first and simplest is your host’s built-in backups. Quality hosts run automatic backups for you and give you a one-click restore button in the control panel. This requires zero setup and protects you even if you forget — which is exactly why it matters. On Hostinger, for example, weekly automatic backups are included on all plans and daily backups on higher tiers, and you can generate an on-demand copy before any risky change.

The second route is a backup plugin, which gives you more control and sends copies off-site. UpdraftPlus is the most popular free choice: you install it, pick a schedule, connect a remote storage location like Google Drive or Dropbox, and it handles the rest. Other strong options include Jetpack VaultPress Backup (real-time, great for stores) and Duplicator (excellent for migrations as well as backups). A plugin is the best way to keep copies somewhere separate from your host.

The third route is a manual backup, which is worth knowing even if you rarely use it. You download the site files with an FTP client such as FileZilla and export the database from phpMyAdmin in your hosting panel. It’s more fiddly, but it’s a good skill for a one-off snapshot before a big migration, and it teaches you what the automated tools are actually doing.

Backup methods compared

How to back up WordPress with a plugin, step by step

Here is the exact beginner path using UpdraftPlus, the method most new site owners should start with. First, from your dashboard go to Plugins → Add New, search for “UpdraftPlus,” install it, and click Activate. This follows the standard WordPress plugin process, so it takes under a minute.

Next, open Settings → UpdraftPlus Backups and click the Settings tab. Set a files schedule and a database schedule — weekly is a sensible default, daily if you post often — and choose how many copies to keep (five is plenty). Then pick a remote storage destination such as Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3 and follow the prompts to connect your account. Storing copies off your server is what protects you if the server itself fails.

Finally, click Backup Now to create your first copy immediately, and make sure both “files” and “database” are ticked. When it finishes you’ll see the backup listed with a timestamp and buttons to restore, download, or delete it. That’s it — you’ve automated your backups, and from now on WordPress will quietly protect itself on the schedule you set.

Store copies safely and test your restore

A backup you can’t restore is not a backup. The most common beginner mistake is saving copies only on the same server as the site, so a server failure takes the backups down with it. Follow the simple 3-2-1 idea: keep at least three copies, on two different types of storage, with one copy off-site. In practice that means host backups plus a plugin sending copies to cloud storage — you already have this if you followed the steps above.

Just as important, test a restore before you need one. Once or twice a year, use your plugin’s Restore button or your host’s restore tool on a staging copy and confirm the site comes back exactly as expected. Also make a fresh backup before every major change: a core update, a new theme, or a big plugin install. Those five extra seconds are the cheapest insurance in WordPress.

Recap: back up WordPress the easy way

To back up WordPress reliably, capture both your files and your database, run copies automatically on a schedule that matches how often your site changes, and always keep at least one copy off-site. Lean on your host’s built-in backups as a safety net, add a plugin like UpdraftPlus for off-site cloud copies, and test a restore now and then so you know it works. Set this up once and a broken update or a hosting glitch becomes a two-minute fix instead of a catastrophe.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I back up WordPress? Match the schedule to how often your content changes. A weekly backup suits most blogs, while stores and daily publishers should use daily or real-time backups so they never lose more than a day of work.

Where should I store my backups? Keep at least one copy off your web server — cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox is ideal. Relying only on same-server copies means a server failure could take your backups down with the site.

Is a free backup plugin enough? Yes, for most beginners. Free UpdraftPlus handles scheduled files-and-database backups to remote storage. You only need a paid plan for extras like incremental backups, one-click migration, or priority support.

Will backups slow down my site? Not noticeably. Good plugins and hosts run backups in the background, and you can schedule them for low-traffic hours. The tiny overhead is nothing compared to the time a backup saves you after a crash.

Written by

Emily Rodriguez

WordPress Specialist — Emily has spent 8 years helping beginners set up, speed up, and secure WordPress sites, and tests every plugin she recommends on real projects.

Related guides: WordPress for Beginners · How to Install WordPress · WordPress Security for Beginners · How to Speed Up WordPress · Best WordPress Plugins for Beginners