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A backup you configured once and never think about is the single highest value/effort ratio in WordPress maintenance. UpdraftPlus is the most-installed way to get there. Here's the setup that actually protects you. Shot on UpdraftPlus under WordPress 7.0, August 2026.
- Configure at Settings → UpdraftPlus Backups → Settings tab.
- Schedule database and files separately (database more often).
- Pick a remote storage destination — local-only backups die with the server.
- Keep 3–7 recent backups; verify one restore before you trust the system.
On the Settings tab, two dropdown pairs control everything: files backup schedule + retained copies, and database schedule + retained copies.
A solid default: files weekly keep 3, database daily keep 7. The database is where posts, orders, and comments live — it changes fastest and costs least to back up.
The storage grid on the same screen connects Google Drive, Dropbox, S3-compatible services, FTP and more. Click one, follow its authentication flow, save. From then on every backup ships offsite automatically — which is the entire point: a backup on the dying server is a diary in a burning house.
Click Backup Now on the Backup/Restore tab. When it finishes, the backup appears in the "Existing backups" list as five components — database, plugins, themes, uploads, others:
An untested backup is a hope, not a plan. On a staging or sandbox copy of the site, run one real restore (we walk through it in the companion restore tutorial). Do this once now, calmly — not for the first time during an outage.
Host backups get deleted with terminated accounts, retained briefly, and restored on the host's schedule, not yours. Treat them as a bonus layer — never the only one. More on this philosophy: why your WordPress backup might be useless.
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