About this plugin
Site Backup & Migration is a lightweight, free WordPress backup and restore plugin for backing up your site and moving it to a new host or domain. Large backup files can be imported without paid add-ons.
Most hosts limit uploads to 2–64 MB, which blocks importing a large backup. This plugin uploads archives in small adaptive chunks, so a 500 MB or 2 GB backup imports even when the host only allows 2 MB uploads. htaccess, or buy an “unlimited” extension.
Why choose Site Backup & Migration?
- No upload size limit – adaptive chunked upload bypasses upload_max_filesize, post_max_size and web server body limits (nginx client_max_body_size, ModSecurity). The chunk size shrinks automatically on HTTP 413 or timeouts and grows on fast connections.
- No timeout failures – backups, restores and uploads run step by step, so slow shared hosting doesn’t hit max_execution_time.
- Safe restore – the database is restored into temporary tables first, so a failed restore leaves your live site untouched.
- Automatic URL replacement – migrate to a new domain, from localhost to live, or from staging to production. Site URLs are replaced automatically, including in serialized data.
- Google Drive & Dropbox backup – send every backup off-site automatically with resumable chunked uploads, and optionally delete the local copy afterwards.
- Scheduled automatic backups – twice daily, daily, weekly or monthly, with automatic cleanup that keeps only the last N scheduled backups.
- Content backup or full backup – back up only the database and media library, or everything including plugins and themes.
- Import from a URL – pull a backup straight from another server, with resumable chunked downloads.
- Works on any host – uses PHP ZipArchive when available and falls back to WordPress’s built-in PclZip.
- Lightweight and free – no frameworks or external libraries, no account, no upsells for basic features.
Use cases
- Backup WordPress before updates, theme changes or plugin installs.
- Migrate WordPress to a new host or domain.
- Clone a site for staging, testing or a client copy.
- Move localhost to live (Local, Laragon, XAMPP, MAMP) and back.
- Ship demo content – export a content package for a theme or client site.
- Restore a site after a broken update, hack or mistake.
Features
- Content backup – database + uploads, a portable demo/content package.
- Full backup – database + uploads + plugins + themes.
- Cloud storage – Google Drive and Dropbox (your own app, tokens stay on your site), with cloud retention and one-click restore from the cloud.
- Backup scheduler – automatic backups at a chosen time, with retention (keep last N) and run status.
- One-click restore – restores the database (with site-URL replacement) and files from any archive made by this plugin.
- Download backups – download archives to your computer for safe keeping.
- Upload / import backups – adaptive chunked upload with automatic retry and resume.
- Import from URL – resumable chunked transfer from a remote server.
- Resumable engine – background (loopback) processing. If loopback is blocked, the admin page keeps the process moving.
- Protected storage – backups are stored in a folder protected by index.php and.htaccess.
Requirements
- PHP 7.0+ (64-bit recommended for archives over 2 GB).
- PHP ZipArchive (preferred) or zlib for the PclZip fallback.
- HTTP loopback recommended. Without it, keep the admin page open during an operation.
External services
This plugin connects to external services only when you connect a cloud destination in Site Backup → Cloud storage. Nothing is sent before you connect an account.
Google Drive (Google LLC) – used to store copies of your backup archives in your own Google Drive.
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com. The plugin also reads your account email to show which account is connected, and creates a backup folder.
* When you open the cloud backup list, or retention is enabled, the plugin lists the files in that folder and deletes old archives of this site. com.
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) – used to store copies of your backup archives in your own Dropbox.
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Notes
- A full restore of plugins and themes needs filesystem write access. On hosts without direct access, set FS_METHOD / FTP_* in wp-config.php. Content restores (database + uploads) don’t need this.
- Uninstalling removes the plugin’s options but keeps your backup archives.