BackupBuddy
The best way to back up
(and move) a WordPress site.
"I recommend BackupBuddy to every single person I talk to who runs a WordPress powered website. There is no comparable plugin that includes the amazing feature set of BackupBuddy. Knowing all of my sites are fully backed up on a schedule helps me sleep at night, and that peace of mind is priceless."
Brad Williams, WebDev StudiosEveryone with a website has the same question
Is my site and my content
safe and secure?
Sites get hacked every day. Our passwords are rarely as strong as we think. And sometimes it doesn't matter. Sometimes we (or our clients) delete the wrong file or make a change that breaks something. Ever trigger a fatal error from a bad plugin? Crashes happen. But with BackupBuddy, recovering from a problem is quick and easy.
Site owners and developers love all the options
BackupBuddy gives you for safe, offsite storage.
Watch how you can set up BackupBuddy and have an automated backup schedule on your site in just 1 minute.
Database or Full Backups
Run database backups for quick, small, frequent backups or run complete backups to get all your images, themes, plugins and everything else to a safe place.
Offsite Storage
Send your backups (individually or on a schedule) to offsite storage destinations like BackupBuddy Stash (our custom backup storage location), Amazon S3, Dropbox, Rackspace Cloud, FTP or email. If your site goes down, you don't want your backup stored on that same server.
Schedule Backups
Schedule backups so you don't need to remember to make backups every day, week or month. You can also set the schedule to send your backups to any of your offsite storage destinations automatically.
BackupBuddy Stash Storage
We built BackupBuddy Stash specifically for storing and managing your BackupBuddy backups so you can manage backups for all of your sites in one central location. BackupBuddy users get 1GB of Stash storage for free!
Exclude Files & Tables
Choose which files (or tables) to exclude from your backups. This is helpful if you have a folder with lots of high-res images or videos that you don't want to back up every time.
Backup Profiles
Create custom backup profiles for backups to use their own settings and file exclusions.
Restore your site quickly & easily.
Also pronounced "Saving your bacon"
The restore function in BackupBuddy is quick and simple. Upload the ImportBuddy file and your backup zip, and it walks you through the steps to restore your site: your themes, plugins, widgets and everything else.
In your WordPress dashboard, you can also restore individual files from a backup instead of having to replace everything together. This is great for replacing an old stylesheet or a couple templates that you want to revert back to.
Work locally. Deploy anywhere.
Busy developers rejoice!
BackupBuddy lets you move a WordPress site to another domain or host easily. If you build custom WordPress sites for clients, this plugin is for you! This is a very popular feature for WordPress developers who build a custom site for a client on a temporary domain or locally (like a sandbox or playground site) and then want to move the entire site with themes, plugins, content, styles, widgets all over to a live client domain.
"BackupBuddy is the first plugin I install on every WordPress site I do. Not only does it provide peace of mind and security for my clients as a reliable backup mechanism for their sites, but as a developer, it saves me time and cost with the ability to move sites from my local development environment to the client's live site in a snap. It's my top "must have" plugin for WordPress, hands down."
Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Author of WordPress For Dummies
"The @iThemes BackupBuddy migration tool just saved me like 5 hours of work (again)."
Adam McLane, Blogger, author and speakerMigrate right from WordPress
You can move a site to another server or domain directly from your dashboard. Just create your new database and enter those database credentials during the import process.
URL Replacement
BackupBuddy replaces all the URLs for you when you migrate a site to a new domain. BackupBuddy even has a tool for replacing other text in your database.
Serialized Data
Many backup plugins just skip over serialized data, because it's complicated to migrate properly. But BackupBuddy handles serialized data (and even serialized data stored inside other serialized data) like a champ.
And a few other little things to make your life easier.
Email Notifications
Know immediately when BackupBuddy finishes a backup, times out or needs attention.
Backup Storage Limits
Limit the number and size of your stored backups. So you don't fill up your Dropbox account with 34 old backups.
Individual File Restore
You don't have to wipe the whole slate clean to just replace your stylesheet from a a backup you made a few weeks ago.
Server Tools
Take a deep look at your server settings and capabilities. Our built-in server tools are super helpful to track down possible hosting problems that could prevent your backups from running.
Malware Scan
BackupBuddy does a free malware scan of your site to make sure your site and your online reputation are squeaky clean with all the major blacklist checks.
Interactive Site Directory Map
Visualize what takes up the most space on your site. It's really cool to dig through and view your files this way.
Database Mass Text Replacement
Update text throughout your database. Great for updating URLs, strings of text, replacing any mention of your ex's name, etc.
Database Scan & Repair
Automatically scans and repairs common issues with your database.
WordPress Cron Manager
View, delete, or manually run WordPress scheduled CRON jobs.
Some perks of joining the iThemes customer community.
Easy Offsite Storage with Stash
BackupBuddy users get 1GB of free BackupBuddy Stash storage. Send your backups to Stash and don't worry about the complications of other storage locations. You can even migrate a site directly from your Stash backup without manually downloading the file.
Make Backups Remotely with Sync
iThemes Sync is our new plugin that lets you manage updates for all your WordPress sites from one central location. Sync has some awesome features for BackupBuddy users - like the ability to make backups of any of your sites remotely through iThemes Sync. And iThemes customers can sync up to 10 sites for free!
Real People Here To Help
We try to make backing up and moving a WordPress site as easy as possible. But it can still be a complicated task. The support experts in our forum are here to help you. They understand BackupBuddy and wild server configurations like the back of their hand. If you have questions about how to do something or if you run into any issues, they're ready to help.
What people are saying about BackupBuddy
“You carry insurance on your car and on your home. Why not get the best insurance available for your web presence in BackupBuddy? Over at Headway Themes we recommend to all of our users to buy BackupBuddy. It simply works.”
— Grant Griffiths, Headway Themes
“I set it up last night, was super easy, really great software. Should be required for every serious blogger.”
— Leo Babauta, ZenHabits.net“Within the first month of owning BackupBuddy, we transferred 15 WordPress sites within minutes (and saved hours) and then caught and treated 2 severe malware infestations. Whenever we install a WordPress site, BackupBuddy is the first plugin uploaded.”
— Kris
“Every time I do an upgrade to WordPress or the many plugins I don't think twice, because I know that my fully automated BackupBuddy is on duty and doing its thing - saving my bacon!”
— Craig McCourt
“Bought @Backup_Buddy almost a year ago on a suggestion... After a near-website-death-experience, I could kiss them on the mouth right now.”
— Nicole Delger, Author
“Just used @Backup_Buddy for the first time. Wow! Never migrating a WP site any other way.”
— Aimee BucherBuy BackupBuddy
You'll be glad you did.
Or get all our plugins for one low price.
That's BackupBuddy, all our Exchange Add-Ons, iThemes Security Pro, our DisplayBuddy image plugins, and all our other plugins! It's an insanely good deal at only $247 for everything. Learn more about the Plugin Suite.
Get the Plugin Suite for $247Questions?
- Does it really back up everything?
- Yes. It backs up the SQL database, plugins, files, themes, scripts, posts, settings, widgets, plugins, and everything else in the WordPress database and directories. You can optionally include additional database tables or exclude directories.
- What are the server requirements?
- PHP 5.2+, mysql 5.x+, WordPress 3.7+ (Full Functionality)/ WordPress 3.6 (Reduced Functionality)/ WordPress pre-3.6 (Minimum Core Functionality) and command line zip runnable via exec() on Linux. Windows is only officially supported for local development, not production servers. Detailed server requirements.
- Can I migrate my site to a new host or URL?
- Yes! You may move to a new host with new file paths and/or new URLs with ease. The provided ImportBuddy script will take care of migrating URLs and file paths in posts, settings, and configuration files. Just follow the on-screen directions and we take care of all the behind-the-scenes work for you.
- Does BackupBuddy support Multisite?
- No. BackupBuddy Multisite support is experimental. It is not recommended for production sites and is not officially supported.
- Can I back up to Amazon S3, Dropbox or other remote servers?
- Yes. BackupBuddy supports backing up to your local server as well as remote locations such as the Amazon S3 cloud, Dropbox, Rackspace Cloud, FTP, FTPS, and email.
- Do I need to install WordPress on the destination server before importing?
- No. BackupBuddy's importer script, importbuddy.php, handles restoring your WordPress installation, files, database, and all settings to be identical to the site it backed up. It also handles migrating the URL and other settings if you changed hosts.
- Does it take care of all the path changes?
- Yes. It handles changing the URL (site address), domain, file paths, permalinks, etc. BackupBuddy does the heavy lifting.
- Can it handle split site / home URLs?
- Yes. Backups, restores, and migrations all respect differing site and home URL configurations (also known as "split URL"). You can even change these during migration.
- Is there a size limit?
- There is no set limit. However, server configurations determine how much can be backed up. Script timeout time, memory limits, CPU usage, and hard drive utilization all can have an influence on backup capabilities. BackupBuddy is meant to back up WordPress sites, not entire servers or vast amounts of data when used on shared hosting. Shared hosting usually allows for backing up sites 400-1500MB before server limitations prevent progression. This is simply a limitation of your shared hosting environment - like the name states, you are sharing resources with dozens, if not hundreds of other users on each server. If you have your own dedicated server you can adjust settings to increase its capabilities.
- Are there any hosts known to be incompatible?
- BackupBuddy includes a multitude of debugging and compatibility options to help work around any server issues. Most servers work flawlessly. However, some servers are overloaded or poorly configured and do not follow widely accepted ways of doing things. Workarounds are available in almost all cases but they may reduce functionality or involve manual intervention. See our Host List for more information on reported issues with some hosts. Almost all hosting environments can be adapted to in some way if a problem does occur. Our support team can assist you in work-arounds or how to talk to your host to get issues resolved.
- Are Windows servers supported?
- Yes. However, BackupBuddy will fall back to the slower compatibility mode as described in the question above when running on a Windows server unless you manually upload the zip.exe file to the root of your site. Some advanced features may not be available in Windows without this file. The Getting Started page of the plugin will provide Windows instructions if Windows is detected.
- What's included in my BackupBuddy purchase?
- Your BackupBuddy purchase includes a one-year membership subscription to updates and support. This membership includes immediate access to all new versions and features released for BackupBuddy during your subscription year, plus support from our BackupBuddy team on the iThemes Community Support Forum. The membership model is the best way we can provide top-tier support and maintain BackupBuddy as WordPress updates and to provide continued development for new versions and features for BackupBuddy. After the one-year mark, BackupBuddy is still yours to use and keep, but we recommend renewing your BackupBuddy subscription to have continued access to support, updates and new features. We offer a 25% off discount on your BackupBuddy renewal, so check out our Customer Loyalty Program to get your coupon.
- Where can I get support for BackupBuddy?
- Support for current BackupBuddy customers is available on the iThemes Community Support Forum. If you have questions or need help with BackupBuddy, please let us know. Our team of moderators actively respond to forum support requests (typically within one business day) during normal business hours, Monday - Friday, 8am - 5pm (CST).
Lifetime Updates
1 year of ticketed support
