UpdraftPlus Review | What It Does, Pricing, Alternatives, My Verdict
WORDPRESS PLUGINS · TOOL REVIEW

UpdraftPlus

★★★★★★

The plugin nobody appreciates until the day they need it. Install it before that day arrives.

CATEGORY
Backup plugin
PRICE
Free / Paid
MY RATING
4.5 / 5
LINK TYPE
Affiliate
BEST FOR
Off-site WordPress backups you can restore yourself

What it is

UpdraftPlus is the most widely used WordPress backup plugin. It backs up files and database on a schedule and sends them to storage you own: Google Drive, Dropbox, S3 or elsewhere.

The critical word is off-site. A backup sitting on the same server as the site it protects is not a backup, and that is what many hosts' included backups amount to.

It is unglamorous software that has saved several sites I look after, which is the only review that matters.

What it does

Scheduled backups of files and database, with configurable retention, sent to your own cloud storage automatically.

Restore from within WordPress, which is the feature that separates a real backup from a folder of zip files you do not know how to use.

Selective restore lets you recover just the database or just the uploads, which is often what you actually need after a bad update.

Premium adds migration, incremental backups and more storage destinations. The free version does the essential job completely.

Who it's for

01Every WordPress site owner without host-level restorable backups.
02Sites where a bad plugin update could cost a day's work.
03Anyone whose host charges extra for backups.
04Owners who want backups in storage they control.
05Agencies needing a consistent backup approach across clients.

Features

Scheduled backups
Files and database on your chosen schedule.
Off-site storage
Google Drive, Dropbox, S3, OneDrive and more.
In-dashboard restore
Restore without touching FTP or the database.
Selective restore
Recover just the database, plugins or uploads.
Retention control
Keep as many versions as you have space for.
Migration on Premium
Clone or move a site to a new host.

Pros and cons

PROS
Free version does the essential job properly.
Sends backups to storage you own.
Restore works from inside WordPress.
Selective restore is genuinely useful.
Enormous install base, so problems are well documented.
CONS
Interface is functional rather than pleasant.
Migration and incremental backups are paid.
Large sites can time out on shared hosting.
Storage costs are yours to manage.
Manual pre-update backups still need discipline.

Pricing

PLAN WHAT YOU GET WORTH IT FOR
Free Scheduled backups, off-site storage, restore. Most sites. This tier is sufficient.
Premium Migration, incremental backups, more destinations, support. Agencies and large sites.
Vault storage Their own hosted storage as an add-on. Optional; your own Drive is cheaper.
Multi-site licences Several sites on one licence. Agencies.

The free version covers scheduled off-site backups and restore, which is the whole requirement. Premium is for migration and convenience.

MY RECOMMENDED PLAN

The free version with daily database backups, weekly full backups, sent to your own Google Drive or Dropbox. Then test a restore once, on a staging site.

Alternatives

Your host's backups
If they are daily, retained thirty days and self-restorable, use those instead.
BlogVault
Paid, off-site, excellent restore and staging. Better if you will pay.
Duplicator
Stronger for migration, weaker for scheduled backups.
WP Rocket's database cleanup
Not a backup. Do not confuse them.

My verdict

UpdraftPlus is on almost every site I look after, and the free version is all most people need. Scheduled backups to storage you own, restorable from inside WordPress, at no cost.

The step everybody skips is testing a restore. An untested backup is a belief, not a plan, and I have watched somebody discover their nightly backup had silently failed for five months on the day it mattered. Restore to a staging site once, this month.

If your host provides daily, thirty-day, self-service restorable backups, use theirs and skip this. Most cheap hosts do not.

Try UpdraftPlus →

Who should use it

01Every site without restorable host-level backups.
02Owners whose host charges extra for backups.
03Anyone who wants backups in their own storage.
04Agencies standardising backups across clients.

Who should avoid it

01Sites on hosts with genuinely good self-service backups.
02Very large sites on shared hosting, where timeouts are likely.
03Anyone who will never test a restore, since they may as well have nothing.
04People needing frequent migrations, who should buy Premium or BlogVault.

Affiliate disclosure

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and it never changes the price you pay. It also does not decide what appears on this page: I recommend tools with no affiliate programme just as readily, and leave off tools with generous ones when they do not deserve the space.

All recommended tools Last reviewed September 2026