The Problem: Your WordPress Site Needs a Reliable Backup — But Which Plugin Actually Delivers?
Every website owner knows they should back up their WordPress site. But when you actually start shopping for a backup plugin, you hit a wall of choices — free plugins with millions of installs, premium services with cloud dashboards, and legacy names that no longer exist under their original brand. And the price range? Zero dollars to nearly $500 a year.
We reviewed the public product documentation, current plugin positioning, restore workflow, and operational fit for two widely used WordPress backup options: Solid Backups (formerly BackupBuddy, now owned by SolidWP/StellarWP) and UpdraftPlus (the 3M+ install freemium leader). We compared features, pricing, storage options, and real-world restore speed — so you can pick the right one for your site, your budget, and your comfort level with managing backups yourself.
Quick Answer: Which Backup Plugin Should You Choose?
Here’s the short version:
- Choose Solid Backups if you manage multiple client sites and want hands-off, cloud-managed backups with one-click restore. You pay a premium ($99+/yr per site) for convenience and a centralized dashboard. Best for agencies and site builders.
- Choose UpdraftPlus if you want maximum flexibility and value — the free version is genuinely excellent for a single site, and Premium ($84/yr for 2 sites) adds incremental backups and 15+ storage destinations. Best for budget-conscious site owners and anyone who wants to use their own cloud storage.
- Consider neither if you specifically need a built-in staging environment — neither plugin offers this natively in their current versions. set up a proper staging environment instead.
Solid Backups — NextGen: Cloud-First Managed Backups
Solid Backups — NextGen is the successor to BackupBuddy, a plugin that was acquired and rebranded by SolidWP (formerly iThemes, now part of Liquid Web’s StellarWP family). It was removed from the WordPress.org plugin directory and now exists exclusively as a premium cloud service.
How It Works
Unlike traditional backup plugins that run on your hosting server, Solid Backups processes backups on SolidWP’s cloud infrastructure. Your site’s data is pulled to their cloud, processed, and stored — consuming no CPU or memory on your hosting account. The trade-off is that you’re locked into their storage ecosystem.
Key Features
- Cloud-first architecture — backups run on SolidWP’s servers, not yours. Zero impact on site performance.
- Daily incremental backups — initial full backup, then only changed files. Efficient storage use.
- One-click restore — from the Solid Central dashboard, restore an entire site with a single click.
- Centralized management — monitor and restore all your client sites from one dashboard.
- Solid Suite bundle — available with Solid Security Pro and Solid Central Pro at a discount.
Pricing
| Plan | Annual Price | Cloud Storage | Sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Site | $99/yr | 20 GB | 1 |
| 5 Sites | $199/yr | 125 GB | 5 |
| 10 Sites | $299/yr | 300 GB | 10 |
| 25 Sites | $399/yr | 1,000 GB | 25 |
| Solid Suite (1 Site) | $199/yr | 20 GB + Security + Central | 1 |
Pros
- True one-click cloud restore — fastest recovery path available
- Zero server resource consumption during backups
- Centralized multisite management ideal for agencies
- Integrated with Solid Security and Solid Central ecosystem
Cons
- No free version — $99/yr minimum entry point
- Removed from WordPress.org directory (harder to discover and evaluate)
- Limited remote storage options — relies entirely on SolidWP cloud
- Some legacy BackupBuddy features (staging, advanced scheduling, third-party storage) were dropped in NextGen
System Requirements
- PHP 7.4+ (PHP 8.x compatible)
- 256 MB WordPress memory limit recommended
- WordPress 5.0+
- No significant server-side requirements (cloud-run backups)
UpdraftPlus: The Freemium Champion of WordPress Backups
UpdraftPlus is the most installed WordPress backup plugin on the market, with over 3 million active installations and a 4.8-star rating from 8,400+ reviews. Developed by David Anderson and Team Updraft, it’s been actively maintained since 2012 and remains in active development (current version 1.26.3, released April 23, 2026).
How It Works
UpdraftPlus runs scheduled backups directly on your WordPress server — consuming your hosting resources during backup windows. It sends completed backups to your choice of remote storage destination. The free version covers the essentials; Premium unlocks incremental backups, more storage destinations, and WP-CLI support.
Key Features
- Scheduled automated backups — from every 2 hours to monthly (free). Specific time scheduling (Premium).
- 15+ storage destinations — free: Dropbox, Google Drive, S3, FTP, email. Premium adds OneDrive, Azure, Google Cloud, Backblaze B2, SFTP, pCloud, WebDAV, UpdraftVault.
- Incremental backups (Premium) — only changed files after the initial full backup.
- Auto-backups before plugin/theme updates (Premium) — automatically backs up before WordPress updates.
- Component-level restore — restore just the database, just plugins, just themes, or just uploads independently.
- Migration engine with built-in search-and-replace for URL migration.
- Database encryption and data anonymization (Premium/Gold) — essential for privacy review/internal policy-compliant testing.
- WP-CLI support (Premium) — script and automate backups from the command line.
Pricing
| Plan | Annual Price | Sites | Key Premium Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Unlimited | Full backup/restore, 4 storage destinations, scheduled backups |
| Personal | $84/yr | 2 | Incremental, pre-update backups, 1 GB UpdraftVault, WP-CLI, DB encryption |
| Business | $114/yr | 10 | All Personal + multisite, non-WP table backup |
| Agency | $174/yr | 35 | All Business |
| Enterprise | $234/yr | Unlimited | All Agency |
| Gold | $478.80/yr | Unlimited | Enterprise + privacy anonymization, settings lock |
Pros
- Excellent free version — full backup, restore, and migration at zero cost
- Most remote storage destinations of any WP backup plugin (15+)
- Massive community — 3M+ active installs, tested across millions of server configurations
- Component-level restore gives granular recovery control
- Regular updates and active development (v1.26.3, April 2026)
Cons
- Free version lacks incremental backups and pre-update auto-backups
- Backups consume hosting server resources (CPU/memory during backup window)
- Interface can feel dated compared to newer competitors
- Can time out on severely resource-constrained shared hosting
- Staging requires separate paid add-on (UpdraftClone)
System Requirements
- PHP 7.0+ (PHP 8.0+ recommended)
- 128 MB WP memory limit minimum (256 MB+ for larger sites)
- WordPress 4.5+
- ZIP extension required, cURL recommended
Feature Comparison: Side by Side
| Feature | Solid Backups | UpdraftPlus Free | UpdraftPlus Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $99/yr (1 site) | $0 | $84/yr (2 sites) |
| Backup location | Cloud (SolidWP servers) | Your server ? storage | Your server ? storage |
| Server load during backup | None (cloud-run) | Yes | Yes |
| Incremental backups | ? Yes | ? No | ? Yes |
| One-click restore | ? Yes | ? Manual | ? Manual |
| Component-level restore | ? Yes | ? Yes | ? Yes |
| Storage destinations | SolidWP cloud only | 4 (Dropbox, Drive, S3, FTP) | 15+ including Backblaze, OneDrive, Azure |
| Pre-update auto-backup | ? No | ? No | ? Yes |
| Scheduled backups | Daily (fixed) | 2hr to monthly | Any interval + specific time |
| WP-CLI support | ? No | ? No | ? Yes |
| Multisite support | ? Yes | ? No | ? Yes (Business+) |
| Migration engine | ? No | ? Yes | ? Yes (with search/replace) |
| Database encryption | ? No | ? No | ? Yes (Personal+) |
| Centralized dashboard | ? Solid Central | ? No | ? UpdraftCentral (separate plugin) |
| Free version available | ? No | ? Yes | N/A |
Ops Note: A Backup Plugin Is Not a Recovery Plan
The plugin matters, but the restore procedure matters more. In hosting operations, a backup is only useful after someone has restored it under pressure, confirmed the database comes back cleanly, and documented where credentials and off-site copies live. Treat any WordPress backup plugin as one layer in a recovery plan, not the entire plan.
Decision Guide: Which Plugin Fits Your Scenario?
| Your Scenario | Choose This | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Single personal blog, tight budget | UpdraftPlus Free | Full backup/restore at zero cost. Use Google Drive or Dropbox for free storage. |
| Small business site, want peace of mind | UpdraftPlus Personal ($84/yr) | Incremental backups save time, auto-backups before updates prevent disasters, 1 GB UpdraftVault included. |
| Managing 5-25 client sites | Solid Backups ($199-$399/yr) | Centralized dashboard, one-click restore, zero server load. The agency workflow is built for this. |
| Don’t want to manage backup infrastructure | Solid Backups | Cloud-run backups mean nothing to configure on the server. No ZIP timeouts, no cron issues. |
| Want to use your own cloud storage | UpdraftPlus | 15+ storage destinations including Backblaze B2 ($0.006/GB/mo), S3, and Google Cloud. |
| Need automated WP-CLI backups | UpdraftPlus Premium ($84+/yr) | Script backups into deployment pipelines with WP-CLI. Perfect for DevOps workflows. |
| Agency with existing SolidWP ecosystem | Solid Backups (Solid Suite) | If you already use Solid Security and Solid Central, add backups at a discount. Unified ecosystem. |
| Already on CWH Managed WordPress | UpdraftPlus Free or Premium | Managed WordPress includes daily server-level backups from CWH. Use UpdraftPlus for independent off-site copies to your own storage. |
Hosting Requirements: What You Need to Run Each Plugin
| Requirement | Solid Backups | UpdraftPlus Free | UpdraftPlus Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum PHP | 7.4 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Recommended PHP | 8.0+ | 8.0+ | 8.0+ |
| WP memory limit | 256 MB | 128 MB (256 MB for large sites) | 128 MB (256 MB for large sites) |
| Server CPU/RAM impact | None (cloud-run) | Moderate during backup | Moderate during backup |
| Required PHP extensions | Standard | ZIP, cURL | ZIP, cURL |
| Recommended hosting | Any (shared to dedicated) | Shared hosting with sufficient resources | Shared or VPS (for larger sites) |
| Best CWH product | Managed WordPress or Shared Hosting | Shared Hosting | Cloud VPS (3 GB+ RAM recommended for large sites) |
Our Recommendation
For most Canadian small business owners, we recommend starting with UpdraftPlus Free and upgrading to the Personal plan ($84/yr) when you’re ready for incremental backups and pre-update protection. The free version alone gives you full backup, restore, and migration capabilities — it’s genuinely one of the best free plugins in the WordPress ecosystem. And by using your own cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, or Backblaze B2 through the Premium tier), you keep full control of your backup data.
If you manage multiple client sites as an agency, Solid Backups becomes the better value despite the higher per-site price. The centralized dashboard and one-click cloud restore save hours of troubleshooting per client. The Solid Suite bundle ($199/yr for 1 site including Solid Security Pro) is worth considering if you’re already in the SolidWP ecosystem.
All of these plugins run well on CWH Shared Hosting for small sites. For larger sites (1 GB+ database, frequent WooCommerce backups), we recommend CWH Cloud VPS plans — the extra CPU and memory give UpdraftPlus room to complete backups without timing out, and the full root access lets you fine-tune PHP-FPM and cron scheduling for reliable backup windows.
Sources and Product Notes
This comparison was refreshed in May 2026 against current SolidWP and UpdraftPlus documentation. Pricing, storage integrations, and feature names can change, so use the vendor pages as the final source before choosing a plugin. For business sites, verify both backup creation and restore on a staging copy before trusting a schedule.
- Solid Backups product documentation
- UpdraftPlus documentation and FAQs
- UpdraftPlus WordPress.org plugin page
- WordPress backup guidance
Conclusion: The Bottom Line on WordPress Backups in 2026
The BackupBuddy you might remember from five years ago no longer exists — it’s been fully rebranded as Solid Backups, and the product is fundamentally different (cloud-first, no free tier, limited storage options). UpdraftPlus has only gotten better, with 3 million sites relying on it and active development continuing in 2026.
Here’s our honest bottom line: if you have a single site, start with UpdraftPlus Free. It handles full backups to Google Drive or Dropbox at no cost. If you outgrow it, the $84/yr Personal plan is a fair upgrade for incremental backups and pre-update protection. Save Solid Backups for the day you’re managing a dozen client sites and need a centralized dashboard — at $99/yr per site, it’s expensive for a single blog but a bargain for agency workflows.
Need help setting up your WordPress backup strategy? CWH Managed Support can configure UpdraftPlus or Solid Backups on your hosting account, set up off-site storage destinations, and validate your restore process. Our Shared Hosting plans include daily server-level backups too — so even if your plugin backup fails, we have your data. For more ways to protect your WordPress site, see our WordPress security hardening guide, or read our complete WordPress Backup and Disaster Recovery Guide for a full end-to-end strategy.
Be First to Comment