Regularly backing up your membership site is the best thing you can do for your website's overall security because when it comes to your membership website or any other website you may have, it's not a question of if you'll experience data loss, but when. Backups give you peace of mind and can save you in catastrophic situations such as when networks don't have 100% uptime, data gets corrupted, hackers attack your membership site, or your hard drive goes out.
This is especially important if you're running a WordPress membership plugin like MemberPress, as 99% of your most important data is stored in your database. If that data gets corrupted or lost and you have no backups, you could spend weeks drudging through emails, gateway sales reports, etc. to recover it all. Not to mention all of the angry emails you'll be receiving from clients in the meantime who cannot access the site or the content they've paid for. Most likely they'll be wanting refunds or free upgrades. That's enough to break anyone's spirit, and probably bank account too.
Many web hosting companies offer free or very cheap automated backup solutions, but it is always wise to regularly backup your website yourself, in addition to the backups from your membership website's hosting company.
But which WordPress backup plugin should your membership business' website use? Here are seven excellent choices to pick from!
The first backup plugin on our list is BlogVault!! This plugin is first on our list for a number of reasons.
BlogVault is easily a one-stop solution that prevents crashes and security issues. With all of these amazing features, it seems like this tool would be difficult to use, but that's far from the truth! It works seamlessly and easily, without much stress on your end!
BlogVault offers free offsite storage ensures, a 90-day archive of your website, automatic URL rewrites, and so much more! No wonder BlogVault says, It’s Not Just a “plugin”, It’s a Service!
Ready to work with BlogVault on your membership site? Personal plans, which cover just one site, start at $89 per year.
VaultPress is actually a part of JetPack, another WordPress Plugin. In order to use VaultPress, you have to have a JetPack subscription.
VaultPress has a ton of great features, like automated backups, real-time protection, you can even instantly download your backups if something happens to your site! And the great thing about it being included with JetPack is that you'll have access to a ton of other great services that JetPack has to offer at the same time!
Interested in VaultPress? A personal subscription from JetPack is $39 per year. If you are looking to protect your business or just need more advanced protection, business plans start at $99 per year.
UpdraftPlus is another excellent and highly popular backup plugin that is a great option for your membership site.
UpdraftPlus gives you the chance to create a backup of your membership website and store it in the plugin, Google Drive, your email, or even in a download directly to your computer. These backups can be scheduled or manual and you can even choose which files you back up if you don't want to save the entire site.
UpdraftPlus also allows you to restore your website backups without any hassle – you can do it right from the plugin!
This plugin has both a free and premium version. The free version is great, but if you want more add-ons or the ability to have multisite support, website migration, and more, you'll want the premium version, which is $70 per year for up to two websites.
The third WordPress backup plugin we recommend for your membership site is BackupBuddy! BackupBuddy has a lot of great features that will help keep your site backed up without any stress!
This plugin allows you to do things like schedule your backups, automatically store them in any of your favorite cloud storage services, duplicate sites, and more!
Mind you, BackupBuddy does not have a free plan, but it is also not subscription-based. You can use the plugin on the number of websites mentioned in your plan. You simply pick your plan and purchase – that's it!
Although plans are just premium, BackupBuddy's rates are affordable for a new membership website owner. In their Blogger Plan, which covers one website, the rate is only $80!
If you are looking for a backup plugin that will allow you to back up your most recent files on your membership site, look no further than WP Time Capsule!
Using this plugin, you can still do a full backup of your membership website, but after that, you will only backup your most recent files. That way you aren't constantly working on backing up your entire site each time!
With WP Time Capsule, you can back your website up to any of your favorite cloud storage sites with ease.
Another neat thing about this plugin is that you can test changes to your membership site in a staging site before it goes live on your website!
To start using WP Time Capsule, all you have to do is create an account, chose your plan, install the plugin, connect your cloud storage app, and get started!
WP Time Capsule has a yearly fee, or you can make a one-time payment on any of their three plans. Not convinced? This plugin also allows a 30-day, zero-risk free trial!
>> Try WP Time Capsule Today!!
Duplicator is another WordPress backup plugin that gets the job done without any extra fluff. This plugin makes backing up your WordPress files a breeze and lets you download them to your computer, email, or your favorite cloud storage app.
Duplicator makes it easy to back up all your WordPress files in zip format, so you can download them offline, migrating across the same or different servers.
Another neat thing about this plugin is that it allows you to create pre-configured sites. Rather than manually reworking the same themes and plugins over and over again, all you have to do is configure one website, bundle it, and then migrate it to as many locations as you want! Simple as that! So much time saved!
Duplicator has four pricing tiers that are all affordable. The lowest tier that covers one website starts at $59 per year!
When backing up your membership website data, don't be so afraid of making the wrong decision that you end up not making any decision at all. Choose a backup solution that fits your budget and is capable of backing up both your membership website files & your database.
All of the backup plugins listed above are excellent options to get started protecting your membership website the right way.
To learn more about securing your membership site, you might also want to check out our post about the best security plugins and additional plugins that will help keep your website maintained.
Did your favorite backup plugin make the list? If not, what plugin do you recommend?
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Great info, thanks! I’ve been using All-In-One WP Migration for site backups. Do you know if an acceptable solution for Memberpress sites with active subscriptions?
Getting ready to migrate to a different webhost, thinking I would use that but I’m a little nervous.
All-In-One WP Migration plugin page: https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-migration/