BackWPup vs UpdraftPlus

BackWPup and UpdraftPlus both schedule WordPress backups and push them somewhere other than your own server, but they part ways on how far that "somewhere" extends. BackWPup, developed by WP Media (the company also behind WP Rocket and Imagify), covers a compact set of destinations — Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, FTP/SFTP, and Amazon S3 — with one identical feature set across every paid tier. UpdraftPlus, from Team Updraft, supports well over a dozen destinations including Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Rackspace, MEGA, OpenStack Swift, and WebDAV/SCP, and layers incremental backups, staging, and multisite migration on top.

The practical difference shows up the moment you outgrow "back up to Dropbox once a week." UpdraftPlus can back up only the files that changed since the last run, restore individual components (just the database, just a theme) instead of the whole archive, and clone a live site into a staging copy through its UpdraftClone add-on. BackWPup's premium tiers add encryption and a standalone restore app that works even if wp-admin is unreachable, but they don't add new destinations or backup logic — upgrading mainly buys you more licensed domains, not more capability.

Quick verdict: Choose BackWPup if you want a straightforward, no-frills scheduled backup to a common cloud destination and don't need incremental backups or staging. Choose UpdraftPlus if you back up large or frequently changing sites, need a wider range of storage destinations, or want built-in staging and migration tools alongside your backups.

BackWPup vs UpdraftPlus at a glance

The figures in the block above are StatWP's own estimates, modeled from WordPress.org's rounded install-count bands rather than pulled as an exact figure the directory itself publishes, and they refresh automatically instead of representing a fixed, one-time snapshot.

What does BackWPup actually do?

BackWPup positions itself, in its own marketing, as “the easiest way to protect your website,” and its feature list backs up that framing with a fairly compact toolset rather than a sprawling one. Here's what the plugin covers according to its own homepage.

• Complete WordPress backups covering the database, files, posts, pages, plugins, themes, and comments in a single scheduled job.

• Automatic scheduling on daily, weekly, or monthly timelines with customizable exclusion rules for specific files or database tables.

• Backup storage to Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon S3, or a generic FTP/SFTP server, with built-in encryption on every option.

• A standalone Restore App (paid tiers) that can recover a site without going through wp-admin, including cases where the site is hacked or offline.

• One-click restoration and basic site migration support for moving a site to a new host or domain.

None of that requires touching code, which is very much the point BackWPup is making — it's a plugin built for people who want backups running and then want to forget about them.

What does UpdraftPlus actually do?

UpdraftPlus calls itself “the world's #1 backup plugin” in its own marketing, and the feature list on its homepage reads more like a backup-and-migration suite than a single-purpose scheduler. The highlights below come from the vendor's own site.

• Backups to more than a dozen remote destinations, including Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, OneDrive, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Rackspace Cloud Files, MEGA, OpenStack Swift, and WebDAV/SCP.

• Incremental backups that, in the vendor's words, “only back up modified files to save server resources” instead of re-uploading everything each run.

• Automatic backups triggered before WordPress core, plugin, or theme updates, plus premium custom scheduling and retention rules.

• Granular restore and migration: individual database tables, one-click site-to-site migration, selective component migration, and the ability to restore backups created by other plugins.

• Built-in staging through the UpdraftClone add-on, WP-CLI support, and (on premium) WordPress Multisite network backups.

That breadth is the whole pitch for UpdraftPlus — it wants to be the tool you reach for whether you're taking a nightly backup or moving a site to a new host entirely.

What features does each one have that the other doesn't?

BackWPup's standalone Restore App is its clearest point of differentiation: because it operates outside of wp-admin, it can pull a site back from situations where the WordPress dashboard itself is compromised or unreachable, something UpdraftPlus's restore flow generally assumes admin access to reach. BackWPup also keeps its feature set flat across every paid tier — Starter, Advanced, and Pro all include the same capabilities, so there's no risk of discovering a needed feature is gated behind a higher plan.

UpdraftPlus's incremental backup engine and UpdraftClone staging add-on have no BackWPup equivalent, and its destination list covers several enterprise-oriented services — Azure, Google Cloud, OpenStack Swift — that BackWPup doesn't offer at all. Its WP-CLI support and per-table restore also make it the more workable option for anyone managing backups outside the WordPress admin screen entirely, such as through a script or a hosting control panel.

Feature and starting price at a glance

A detail worth noticing: BackWPup's three paid tiers unlock the identical feature set and differ only by how many domains the license covers, while UpdraftPlus's tiers each add new capability — staging, storage volume, and eventually UpdraftCentral management — meaning an UpdraftPlus upgrade buys functionality, not just seat count.

Which should you actually use?

If your job is "take a backup on a schedule and put it somewhere safe," and you'd rather not think about the plugin again once it's configured, BackWPup does that job without asking you to learn a bigger system. It's a reasonable fit for a single small-to-medium site where a weekly full backup to Dropbox or S3 is enough protection, and its offline restore app is a genuine safety net if a site ever gets locked down or compromised.

If you're managing a larger, frequently updated site, or you need to move a site between hosts, spin up a staging copy, or manage backups through WP-CLI, UpdraftPlus is built for that job in a way BackWPup simply isn't trying to be. Its incremental backups also matter more than they might sound: on a site with a large media library, backing up only what changed can be the difference between a nightly job that finishes quietly and one that times out.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between BackWPup and UpdraftPlus?

BackWPup is a straightforward scheduled-backup plugin covering a handful of common storage destinations with one flat feature set across its paid tiers. UpdraftPlus supports a much wider range of remote destinations, adds incremental backups, staging, and granular migration tools, and gates some of those extras behind higher-priced plans.

Is UpdraftPlus better than BackWPup?

UpdraftPlus is the more capable option for anyone who needs incremental backups, staging, WP-CLI support, or migration between hosts, and its broader destination list gives it more flexibility for larger or more complex setups. BackWPup can still be the better fit for a smaller site where a simple scheduled backup is all that's needed and the offline restore app is appealing.

Can I use BackWPup or UpdraftPlus to migrate a site to a new host?

Both offer migration support, but UpdraftPlus's tools go further, with one-click site-to-site migration and selective migration of individual components. BackWPup's migration support is more basic and mainly covers moving a full backup to a new host or domain.

Do either of these plugins support incremental backups?

UpdraftPlus does, backing up only files that changed since the previous run to reduce server load on large sites. BackWPup does not offer this and instead runs a full backup on every scheduled job.

Which plugin has more remote storage destinations?

UpdraftPlus supports well over a dozen destinations, including several — Azure, Google Cloud, OpenStack Swift, MEGA — that BackWPup does not offer at all. BackWPup covers the more common options: Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, S3, and FTP/SFTP.

Do BackWPup and UpdraftPlus offer free versions?

Yes, both are available as free plugins on WordPress.org with paid upgrades for extra destinations, support, and features. BackWPup's paid tiers start at $49/year for two domains, while UpdraftPlus's start at $70/year for two sites.

For the full picture, including installs, ratings, and support metrics that update automatically, see StatWP's BackWPup page and StatWP's UpdraftPlus page. You can also build your own side-by-side comparison with any other plugin using StatWP's compare tool.