How often should you back up WordPress?
Say how often your site changes and how much you can afford to lose. Get a recommended database and full backup schedule, how many copies to keep and a quiet time to run them.
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Quick answer: Back up the database as often as the amount of work you can afford to lose, and the full site (files and uploads) daily to monthly depending on how often it changes. Pick your site type, change rate and acceptable loss above for a schedule you can copy. Nothing leaves your browser.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I back up my WordPress site?
Match it to what you can afford to lose. A store that takes orders all day needs at least daily database backups; a blog can use daily or weekly; a rarely changing brochure site can use weekly.
What is the difference between database and full backups?
The database holds posts, pages, orders and settings, and changes the most. A full backup adds files, uploads, themes and plugins, which change less but are much larger.
How many backups should I keep?
Enough to reach back past the moment a problem started. A common approach is 7 daily, 4 weekly and 3 monthly. Old copies are deleted automatically by retention settings.
When should backups run?
At the quietest hour for your visitors, usually the middle of the night in your audience's time zone, and away from other scheduled jobs.
Does Backup Copilot support these schedules?
The Pro version schedules backups hourly, daily, weekly or monthly, supports several schedules at once and cleans up old backups automatically.
Is my data sent anywhere?
No. Your choices stay in your browser.
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