UpdraftPlus Review

In this UpdraftPlus review, I will be taking an in-depth look at one of the most popular free backup plugins available for WordPress. I’m pretty sure that you’ve heard of UpdraftPlus plugin before. Because it’s one of the most downloaded WordPress backup plugins available with over 1 million active installations.

Backing up your WordPress blog or website is essential.

No matter what kind of security strategies you have in place, there is always a risk of losing your data or messing up your site by mistake.

Also, there is always a risk of your site going down.

To minimize this risk, a solid backup strategy must be in place for all WordPress users. If you are well prepared, you will not lose data and you will be able to restore the site as it was before, even if your site crashes or the host goes down.

That’s why a backup plugin is a must-have for any WordPress installation.

Of course, you can do it manually by downloading your data (database, themes, plugins, etc.) and saving them on your computer. But, it is time-consuming. And, when you have a huge website… it is a nightmare.

So, using a backup plugin that automatically does all this for you is the way to go.

Updraftplus is one of those plugins.

It can make your life easier, and the site you care about safer, by backing up your entire installation. And, it does so automatically.

In this article, we will review UpdraftPlus and show you why it is one of the best backup plugins for WordPress sites out there.

Let’s dive right in…

Product nameUpdraftplus
Mainly Used forWordPress backup
PricingFree + Premium plans available from $42/year
Good forAnyone who wants to backup WordPress sites free
Overall rating4.7/5
Top AlternativesBlogVault or WPvivid
Download linkClick here to download FREE

UpdraftPlus – A Comprehensive Backup Solution

UpdraftPlus Home

UpdraftPlus is one of the highest-rated backup plugins for WordPress.

The UpdraftPlus plugin has over 3 million active installations and a score of 4.9/5 from over 5,000 users. It is also one of the most frequently updated plugins, with 10+ releases in the last 12 months alone.

While there are other backup plugins for WordPress out there, UpdraftPlus is one of the most popular free backup plugins in the WordPress repository.

Why?

Because it does what you need, and it does it well.

It offers a comprehensive set of features for creating, storing, and restoring backups of your WordPress site.

It supports both automated backups and manual backup options.

It allows you to transfer your backup files to another location, in case you want to back up your site on a different host or use online storage solutions like Dropbox, Amazon S3, or Google Drive.

The plugin also provides configuration options for advanced users and allows you to send notifications (emails) after backups are created.

The plugin also has paid add-on services with additional features.

As far as free backup plugins for WordPress go, you cannot ask for anything more.

Is it perfect? It is not. And, there are some things that could be improved. Well, you can see all of this in this UpdraftPlus review only.

Why Is Backup So Important?

Backup is so important because it gives you peace of mind. If something goes wrong with your website, you can always go back to a previous version and continue working as usual. Without backups, you will have to spend a lot of time and energy trying to fix things. So, it’s important to have a good backup strategy.

As already mentioned, backing up your WordPress site is essential. But, it might still not be obvious why this is “so important“.

So, let’s take a moment to reflect on this for a minute.

You have probably spent countless hours writing all kinds of content for your site. Maybe months.

You have probably spent weeks and months working on your website design and layout. And, you have probably spent a lot of money testing and purchasing various premium WordPress themes and plugins.

All of this is to make your site as good as it can be.

And, we can even say that your site is pretty good and you are happy with the results. Visitors love it and the conversion rate is pretty good.

So, what would happen if your site went down right now?

Or, worse… got hacked?

You will probably lose months of hard work.

And, you will have to start everything from scratch.

Instead of focusing on bringing in traffic, improving your articles, and making more money… you will have to spend your time fixing the website.

And, things can get even worse than this example.

What if your host goes down?

Or, what if you lose your hosting account due to not paying for it?

You can lose all your content and have no way of accessing it.

This is not a joke, and it has happened to many people. Just do some Google searching and you will find many examples.

The good news is that this kind of stuff can be prevented by automating your backup process and storing it somewhere else.

You just need to install one of the best backup plugins, preferably UpdraftPlus (if you are looking for a free solution), schedule regular backups, and keep the files somewhere safe (in the cloud).

That way, even if something goes wrong, you can always go back in time and restore your website.

There are many different backup solutions for WordPress that you can use to back up your site. UpdraftPlus is one of them and it does its job pretty well.

But, let’s take a closer look at this plugin and see what it can do.


Read – BlogVault Backup Plugin Review


UpdraftPlus Review: Key Features & Pros/Cons

If you are looking for a way to automate your WordPress backup process, UpdraftPlus is one of the best solutions out there. It has a lot of features and it supports multiple locations for storing backups.

But, not all of these features are equally useful.

And, some features are not that important for everyone. In this section, you will see a short description of what UpdraftPlus can do and also some pros/cons to help you make your decision on whether to use it or not.

One of the best things about UpdraftPlus is that it has a lot of features.

In fact, you can see almost everything that a backup plugin should offer just by looking at its features list.

Here is a quick summary of the main UpdraftPlus features:

  • UpdraftPlus supports both manual and automated backups. You can start a backup on-demand or schedule regular backups to be created automatically.
  • Regular backups can be stored locally (on your hosting account) or in the cloud (using Amazon S3, Google Drive, etc.). You can also use an external FTP server or manage all your backups using UpdraftCentral.
  • UpdraftPlus also lets you send backup files to an e-mail address. This is useful in some cases, but not that important for most people.
  • The plugin has a very nice dashboard where you can see all kinds of information about your backups, including things like backup size, last backup time, etc.
  • It is multi-site (i.e. WPMU/WordPress Network) compatible.
  • You can configure your preferred location for backups, exclude things you don’t want to backup (like large files that are not important), compress backups, etc.
  • It supports any website that runs on WordPress.
  • UpdraftPlus doesn’t limit your backup capability based on backup size. You can backup websites of 100GB; file size is only limited by Web host.
  • There is no limit on how many non-WordPress files and external databases you can backup or restore.
  • You’ll be able to have incremental backups that can be set to the hourly schedule if you wish (but it takes more time to restore).
  • The plugin allows you to backup files with specific dates/times
  • It backs up automatically when WordPress plugins or themes are updated, as well as before WordPress core updates are applied.
  • The backups are encrypted for security reasons and even the transfer to cloud storage is encrypted.
  • You can debug your backups if you are having any issues with them.
  • Prompt support via ticket and web forum.
  • A free version is available, which provides all the necessary features for most users. The paid version has some advanced features.
  • And, a lot more…

As you can see, UpdraftPlus has a lot of features that are useful for beginners and advanced users alike.

If you are looking for a free backup plugin for WordPress, you should give it a try.

The only thing I would add is that the user interface of this plugin is very good. It’s easy to use, even for people with no technical knowledge.


Read – 11 Top WordPress Backup Plugins


UpdraftPlus Pros

Here are some pros that make UpdraftPlus a very good plugin:

  • It is extremely easy to use.
  • It has a nice interface and the dashboard page offers all the necessary information about your backups.
  • It is very fast and doesn’t affect your website speed.
  • It works with all hosting providers and comes with a free version.
  • It automatically backs up your website before updates are applied.
  • It lets you manually create backups when you need them.
  • It is compatible with most WordPress hosting providers.
  • It can backup files with specific times/dates.
  • It can send backups anywhere using e-mail.
  • It works with Amazon S3 and Google Drive.

UpdraftPlus Cons

Here are some cons that you should think about before using UpdraftPlus:

  • Updraftplus has a free version which is pretty awesome. But if you want to go for the premium version for advanced features, you’ll have to shell out $70 which can be expensive for many people.
  • It doesn’t come with any scanning features for malware.

Also, there is no 24/7 support offered.

So if you get stuck somewhere, you will need to wait for a response (which could be anywhere between a few hours to a day).

To be honest, it’s not possible to find any more cons for this plugin. It really is an awesome plugin and I can’t think of any reason why not to give it a try.


Read – WPvivid Backup Plugin Review


UpdraftPlus Pricing

UpdraftPlus comes with two different licensing options:

  • The free version
  • The premium version

The free version contains all the necessary features for most people. UpdraftCentral is also included, which lets you manage your backups.

The premium version has some extra features like the ability to connect your site with additional cloud accounts, including Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Drive, and Microsoft Azure (which is pretty amazing).

For $70, you can get the premium version.

There are two ways you can pay for the premium version:

  • The subscription method
  • The manual method

The subscription method is the recommended method. This makes it easier for you to pay your bills every year without any further work.

There are 4 different subscription options:

  • Personal – $70 for up to 2 websites
  • Business – $95 for up to 10 websites
  • Agency – $145 for up to 35 websites
  • Enterprise – $195 for unlimited websites

If you upgrade to the premium version, you’ll get access to all add-ons, a year of free support and upgrades, and 1GB of free storage for the UpdraftVault.

You also get free tokens for UpdraftClone which allows you to create a cloned test site instantly.

If you choose the subscription method, then you’ll be billed annually. Depending on the plan that you choose, the price of your billing may vary. You’ll also be able to get a  40% off annual UpdraftPlus renewals.

If you don’t want to pay for a subscription, you can go for the manual payment method. You’ll need to pay a one-time fee of $70 (for the personal plan) and the price may vary depending on which plan you choose.

UpdraftPlus Support

The extensive documentation and video tutorials provided by UpdraftPlus make it very easy to use. They have a huge community that you can interact with and get your questions answered.

Unfortunately, I haven’t found any way to contact UpdraftPlus directly as they don’t provide a phone number or e-mail address. You can contact them through their support system if you have any questions.

Well, I should tell you that they have a forum where you can get most of your common questions answered quickly.

In most cases, you wouldn’t need to contact their support team.

But if you get stuck someplace, then you can ask your question on the forum and usually get a response within a day or two.

UpdraftPlus Workflow

When you install UpdraftPlus on your WordPress website and configure its settings, it will automatically create a backup of all the content on your site. It will also show the most recent backup date and time.

To configure UpdraftPlus:

  • Click Settings in the UpdraftPlus WordPress plugin menu.
  • Select where you’d like to store your backups.
  • Enter the number of backups that you want UpdraftPlus to keep.

Once you have configured these options, scroll down and click ‘Save Changes’.

You can also choose how often you want your backups to be created. By default, it’s set to manual backups. Once you’ve configured remote storage, you can set it to automatically create backups after regular intervals.

To take a manual backup of your website:

Click Backup Now in the UpdraftPlus WordPress plugin menu. The next time you want to take a manual backup, click Backup Now again.

You can configure regular backups from the settings page, as already discussed.

While taking a backup, UpdraftPlus automatically compresses and sends your backup file and database to your preferred cloud location.

UpdraftPlus Alternatives

So, what are some alternatives to UpdraftPlus?

Well, this question is easy to answer. Because there are many unique backup tools available in the market. So, I’ll try to give you a few options that you can try depending on your needs. You should also know that not all backup plugins work the same way. So, different plugins are ideal for different users.

So, let’s get started.

The top 3 best alternatives to UpdraftPlus are:

All of these alternatives offer various features and come with their own pros and cons. So, depending on your needs and requirements, you can choose the plugin that best suits you.

Overall, UpdraftPlus is one of the best backup plugins for WordPress websites. It’s simple to use, offers great features, and can be easily configured.

The free version is enough for most users.

Final Verdict: Is UpdraftPlus worth it?

I think it is a must-have plugin for everyone who uses WordPress as their content management system. It is quite affordable, comes with a free version, and offers features that can be helpful for every type of user.

UpdraftPlus is a very safe backup plugin that does conflict with other plugins. So, if you want to keep things simple and easy for yourself, then I would recommend this plugin to everyone.

The plugin doesn’t also compromise on the speed, which is a big plus for me.

UpdraftPlus also has a great support team that responds to your queries quickly and helps you resolve issues in a timely manner. So, if you’re not sure about it already, then I would recommend that you try out the free version of UpdraftPlus. If you like it, then go ahead and upgrade to the premium version.

That’s it for this UpdraftPlus WP plugin review.

I hope you found it helpful and if you did, then please share the article and leave a comment below with your thoughts.

Tamal Kr. Chandra

I am Tamal, a passionate blogger and the creative mind behind Digital Millions. From blogging and affiliate marketing to e-commerce and SEO, I write easy-to-follow guides and give honest advice about the best tools to build a business online and get financially free.