How to Make Automatic WordPress Backups on the Cloud

Backing up your site can be an effective way to keep your content safe. But unless you remember to take a manual backup consistently, and storing copies in a secure environment, you may be lulled into a false sense of security. 

The good news is that you can use a powerful tool, Jetpack VaultPress Backup, to easily set up automated backups and store a copy of your WordPress site on a secure cloud platform. 

In this post, we’ll discuss the importance of making off-site WordPress backups. We’ll also look at some cloud-based backup solutions for WordPress. Finally, we’ll show you how to automate things with one of the best WordPress backup plugins.

The importance of off-site WordPress backups

You’re probably already familiar with backups. These are copies of your site that are stored online or on a local device.

For example, you might use a WordPress backup plugin to download your content to your computer. Some hosting providers may also perform backups of your WordPress site and store them on their servers. 

There’s just one big problem with these solutions: if the server or computer gets hacked, you could lose your backups. 

Additionally, if your server malfunctions due to a host-based or user error, you may be unable to access your content. For instance, your host’s site might be down due to a problem with its server, and you won’t be able to log into your hosting account to restore a backup until the issue is resolved.

A cloud WordPress backup can offer more reassurance. That’s because you’ll be storing your content off-site, typically on a secure platform that’s independent of your host’s servers. 

This means you’ll be able to access your backups even if your site or server is down. Plus, if the server gets hacked or a user makes an unauthorized change, your content won’t be impacted. 

A closer look at cloud-based backup solutions for WordPress

Looking for the best WordPress backup plugin? There are several tools that you can use to create WordPress backups on the cloud. For example, UpdraftPlus enables you to store copies of your site on Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, and other platforms.

Another option is Duplicator, which lets you migrate, copy, or move a site from one location to another. Like UpdraftPlus, it offers cloud storage on Dropbox, Google Drive, and Amazon S3. But you’d need to purchase the premium version to access this feature.

However, site owners looking for the easiest, most reliable solution for WordPress can’t help but consider Jetpack VaultPress Backup. In fact, made by the expert team behind WordPress.com, millions of sites already have Jetpack tools installed. 

Jetpack.com - the best real-time WordPress backup plugin.

With this plugin, you’ll be able to save every change you make in real-time and store copies on your site on a highly secure cloud. This also means that you’ll be able to restore your WordPress site without any issues, even if your host server is down. 

Plus, copies of your site are saved on multiple servers across the world for added reliability. The backups are also encrypted to keep your content secure. 

And the best part is, the process is completely automated. Once installed, the plugin will create an automatic backup every time you make a new change on your site.

As you can see, VaultPress Backup is one of the most secure and reliable backup plugins on the market. You can get it as a standalone plugin, or part of the Jetpack Security bundle. Either way, it’s very easy to set it up. 

How to automate your cloud-based WordPress backups

Now, let’s look at how to automate your cloud-based WordPress backups with VaultPress Backup. To get started, you’ll need to purchase a Jetpack plan that includes the backup tool.

The standalone Jetpack VaultPress Backup plugin plan comes with 10GB of storage.

Or if you have the free Jetpack plugin installed on your site for its many other security and performance tools, you can upgrade to a premium plan, which starts with 1GB of storage.

Pricing tiers for off-site backups using Jetpack Vaultpress.

If you have a large site, you may want to subscribe to Jetpack Security, which gives you 10GB of storage space in addition to other premium security features.

How to install and activate the Jetpack VaultPress Backup plugin

Once you’ve purchased a plan, you can install and activate VaultPress Backup through your WordPress dashboard.

Install and activate Jetpack Vaultpress from the WordPress plugin repository.

Click on Install Now followed by Activate. You’ll then be prompted to purchase the plugin or sign in with an existing plan.

After activation, purchase the plugin or sign in with an existing plan.

Next, you’ll need to enter your license key to activate the plugin. If you’ve purchased a subscription, this will be sent to your inbox.

You’ll need to enter your license key to activate the plugin.

You may also need to connect VaultPress Backup to your WordPress.com account. Simply follow the prompts to complete the process.

Connect VaultPress Backup to your WordPress.com account.

If you don’t already have a WordPress.com account, you can create one for free. 

Once you’ve set up the plugin, you can access it by navigating to Jetpack → VaultPress Backup in your dashboard. As you can see, the plugin will automatically perform the first backup of your site.

Access Vaultpress by navigating to Jetpack, then Vaultpress Backup from the WordPress dashboard.

You won’t need to configure any settings or enable automated backups. Jetpack will automatically create a restore point with every edit you make. 

You can view the latest backup within your WordPress dashboard.

You can view the latest backup within your WordPress dashboard.

To access your site copies, simply click on See backups in the cloud. You’ll get an activity log that lets you see every change made to your site. This can be particularly useful if you have multiple users contributing to your blog. 

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Frequently asked questions

As we have seen, VaultPress Backup makes it super easy to make complete WordPress backups on the cloud, but you may still be wondering how it works. In this section, we’ll try to answer some of the most common questions about the best WordPress backup plugin. 

Is Jetpack VaultPress Backup easy to install and configure?

Yes, VaultPress Backup is very easy to set up. The only thing you’ll need to do is purchase a Jetpack plan that includes the tool.

Once that’s sorted, you can simply install and activate the plugin on your site, and it will generate the first backup for you. From then onwards, VaultPress Backup will automatically create a backup every time you update your site. This includes backups of your files as well as your databases. 

At what intervals are backups performed?

With VaultPress Backup, copies of your site are made in real-time every time you work on it — a much better solution than scheduled backups. For instance, if you create a new post today or customize your theme, the plugin will instantly make a backup to save those changes. 

This system is a lot more effective than weekly or monthly backups, as you don’t need to worry about potentially losing a day’s worth of work if something goes wrong within that time frame. 

Thanks to the real-time backup method, you can rest assured that every change you make on your site is stored in a secure location. 

Does VaultPress Backup offer secure backup storage?

VaultPress Backup makes redundant copies of your WordPress site on multiple servers across the globe. This way, should one server fail, you’ll still have access to your backups. 

Plus, it creates off-site backups, independent of your hosting server. That means there’s no load on your server, and you can still access your content if your site is down. 

It’s also worth noting that your backups are encrypted. This makes it even more difficult for malicious third parties to intercept your site and manipulate your content. 

How can I restore a backup? Is it easy to do so?

Yes, when you use VaultPress Backup, you can restore a copy of your site in just a few clicks. 

First, you’ll want to log into your Jetpack account and click on Activity Log. Here, you can use the filters to search for the backup by Date range or Activity type

Restore a backup from your Activity Log in your Jetpack account.

Then, select the Actions button and click on Restore to this point to open the Restore Site dialog box.

Select the Actions button and click on Restore to this point to open the Restore Site dialog box.

Next, you can use the provided list to deselect any items that you don’t want to restore, like plugins and themes. If you want to restore everything, leave all boxes checked and click on Confirm Restore.

Jetpack will then restore your site according to your selections. Once the process is complete, you’ll see a success message. That’s it! 

If you have a WooCommerce site, VaultPress Backup enables you to restore your WordPress site to any previous state without losing your most recent orders and products. You’ll also be able to create custom WooCommerce table backups. 

Note that you also have the option to download backups to your computer. You can then upload them to another storage device of your choice, like Google Drive. 

Make WordPress backups a breeze with VaultPress Backup

Performing backups can help ensure that you always have a copy of your site to restore should anything go wrong. But, if you’re storing these copies on your server or local device, you risk losing your content in the event of a cyberattack or hardware malfunction.

For extra peace of mind, you’ll want to save your backups off-site. With VaultPress Backup, you can make cloud backups in real time. The plugin will automatically generate a copy of your site every time you modify your content, and store it in a highly secure location. 

Are you ready to automate the backup process? Get started with VaultPress Backup today!

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Rob Pugh profile
Rob Pugh

Rob is the Marketing Lead for Jetpack. He has worked in marketing and product development for more than 15 years, primarily at Automattic, Mailchimp, and UPS. Since studying marketing at Penn State and Johns Hopkins University, he’s focused on delivering products that delight people and solve real problems.

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