Who should keep my website backups?

Backups are the safety net for every website problem: a failed update, a hack, an accidental deletion or a hosting failure. But website backups only help if they exist, are recent and can be reached when you need them. If only your developer can access them, you may find out too late that they are missing.

Here is who should keep backups, where to store them and how often to take them.

Three places website backups can live

The best answer is not one of these but a combination.

The 3-2-1 rule for website backups

• 3 copies of your site.
• 2 different storage types, for example the host and cloud storage.
• 1 copy off-site, away from your hosting company.

For a WordPress site, a plugin such as UpdraftPlus can send backups automatically to cloud storage in your own account.

How often to back up

1. Brochure sites that rarely change: weekly, plus before every update.
2. Active sites with a blog or forms: daily.
3. Online stores: daily at least, ideally more often, because orders change constantly.

Keep several versions, such as the last 14 or 30 days, so you can go back to a point before a problem started.

A backup is only useful if it restores

Write the answers down and store them with your other business records. Then test a restore every few months on a staging site. Many owners find out during an emergency that their website backups were incomplete, missing the database or stored in a format nobody can open.

Example: two businesses, one bad update

A plugin update broke two sites on the same afternoon. The first business had website backups at the host and in its own cloud account; the site was restored in fifteen minutes. The second relied on a developer who had left; the host’s backups had been switched off to save money. Rebuilding pages from memory took a week. The difference was not luck, it was where the backups were kept and who could reach them.

Who is responsible?

Responsibility can be shared, but it should be written down. A maintenance plan can take care of backups and restores, while you keep access to an off-site copy. Our backup glossary entry and website backup guide explain the options.

What to ask your host or developer

Ask three questions: how often are website backups taken, how long are they kept, and how quickly can a site be restored? Ask whether backups include files and the database, and whether they are stored outside the server. Finally, ask how you can download a copy yourself. Clear answers mean your website backups are in good shape and that a restore will be quick when you need it. Vague answers mean you should set up your own off-site copy straight away.