How often should I back up my website?
By Ash, Founder, HosteazePublished 2 min read
The short answer
Back up as often as you'd be upset to lose the changes since the last copy. An online shop taking orders needs at least daily backups. A blog posting weekly can back up weekly. A brochure site that rarely changes needs monthly backups and one after every edit. Keep several weeks of copies, one away from your host.
Nobody thinks about backups until the morning they need one. Then the only question that matters is how much work disappeared since the last copy. That gap is what your backup schedule is really choosing: lose a day of orders, a week of blog posts, or nothing at all.
How often should each type of site be backed up?
| Type of site | How often it changes | Back up | Keep copies for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online shop or booking site | Orders and bookings every day | At least daily, ideally several times a day | 30 days or more |
| Blog or news site | New posts weekly | Weekly, plus before updates | 4 to 8 weeks |
| Brochure site | Edited a few times a year | Monthly, plus after every edit | 3 months |
| Membership or forum site | New sign-ups and posts constantly | Daily or more | 30 days or more |
Always take a backup before updating WordPress, changing themes or installing a big plugin, whatever your schedule. That's when things are most likely to break.
Why keep weeks of backups, not just the latest?
Because problems aren't always noticed straight away. A hacked site can carry hidden malware for weeks before anyone spots it. If your only backup is from last night, it's probably infected too. A range of older copies lets you roll back to before the problem started.
What should a backup include?
The WordPress documentation is clear that you need two parts: the database and the files. The database holds your pages, posts, orders and settings. The files hold your theme, plugins and uploaded images. One without the other won't restore a working site.
The NCSC also lists your website and your emails among the data a business should back up, so check whether mailboxes are covered if they're hosted with your site.
Where should backups be stored?
In more than one place. The NCSC suggests keeping two backups, using both online storage and a separate device, so one loss doesn't take everything. For a website, that typically means:
- Your host's automatic backups, for quick restores.
- A copy sent automatically to cloud storage you control, such as Google Drive or Dropbox, by a backup plugin.
- Two-step verification on that cloud account, which the NCSC specifically recommends for online backups.
Backups are included with Hosteaze hosting, but we'd still suggest keeping your own off-site copy as well. Our step-by-step guide on how to back up a WordPress site shows how to set one up. Backups are also a core part of protecting a website from hackers, and worth checking before you update WordPress.
Related guides: How much storage does my website need?.
Frequently asked questions
Are my host's backups enough?
They're a good first line, but they live with the same company as your site. If your hosting account is suspended, hacked or closed, you may lose both. Keep at least one recent copy somewhere you control.
Do I need to back up my email too?
If your email is hosted with your website, yes, because a website backup may not include mailboxes. If you use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, mail is stored separately and needs its own backup plan.
How do I know a backup actually works?
Restore it. Every few months, restore a backup to a staging site or a spare hosting account and click around. A backup you've never tested is a hope, not a plan.
