Backing up your WordPress website is one of the most important things you should do, because disaster can knock on your door anytime.
If you don’t have a backup, you may not get your site back to normalcy and running quickly again, or you may not get it back at all.
In the same breadth, knowing where to store your website backups is also critical, and this can be on your server, which isn’t a good idea as they can get hacked or crash altogether.
You can also store your backups on a cloud storage service like Google Drive, which is a better solution as it offers a remote location you can access from anywhere provided you have an internet connection.
The good news is that advances in technology have come with better and more effective ways of backing up your WordPress site to cloud storage by using a plugin for this purpose.
There are several free and paid plugins that can do the job of backing up your WordPress site. In this post, we’re going to show you the top five you can choose from to back up your site to Google Drive.
What Is Google Drive?
Google Drive is a free online storage service provided by Google to which you can store your files, whether they’re photos, videos, music, documents and much more.
You can also store your WordPress site’s backup folder on the platform so you can access it as and when you wish to.
By creating a regular backup of your WordPress website to Google Drive, you not only have free access anytime you want, but it also gives you peace of mind knowing your site is secure when disaster strikes.
However, the storage is only free for up to 15GB storage, after which you have to upgrade for about $1.99 per month for 100GB, or if you need a lot more space, you can get 1TB or 10TB for $9.99 and $99.99 per month respectively.
Most sites can make do with the free 15GB storage, but as your site grows, you can upgrade to a higher plan with more storage.
The five WordPress backup to Google Drive plugins we’ll look at all have the option to back up your site to Google Drive.
Other plugins may not have the direct link, but allow you to download the backup folder in form of a ZIP file, which you can then upload directly to Google Drive.
It’s a convenient option you can access through your Google or Gmail account and it doesn’t need multiple logins.
It also works with some backup plugins in the WordPress repository, though there are those you have to pay for an add-on to add Google Drive platform to your backup destinations list.
How Google Drive Works With WordPress Backup Plugins
This process requires you to be careful when following each of the plugins’ respective documentation for a smooth experience.
What you need to keep in mind is that the backup plugin will store a client ID and “secret” to your Google Drive account. This way, it can upload your WordPress website backups to the Drive.
If you have a small site, using Google Drive’s free 15GB storage may prove sufficient both in terms of space and economic benefits, especially when used together with a free backup plugin.
You also get to access your account without extra logins and from any location or time you want. The drawback with using cloud storage like Google Drive is when viewed from the perspective of security, control, and efficiency.
When you want to restore your backups from Google Drive, you can do so directly to your WordPress dashboard, though not all plugins allow for this.
Additionally, it’s also not easy to find and restore each file from the ZIP folder containing your site’s backup files if the plugin allows you to restore individual files.
Storing individual files also comes with drawbacks like more downtime especially if the site is large, or the hosting company may limit the time taken to restore each file so you have to restore the site manually.
This is burdensome if you’re running a business website, and is the reason why you need control over your site backups and restores.
In Google Drive, security becomes an issue when there’s only one credential to login for all accounts. When this is compromised, all accounts are compromised including Google Drive using the same logins.
Similarly, your backup plugin may be vulnerable as it stores the client ID and secret to your Google Drive account, which can lead hackers to your stored backups if the site is hacked.
Storage space is an issue when you don’t have any more left as the plugin makes regular backups, otherwise you won’t have backups to restore your site when it’s needed the most.
When using Google Drive as a backup storage service for your site’s backup, organize the backups using labels so you can find them easily in the future.
The last thing you want is disorganization and having to comb through hundreds of files backed up on the drive when your site is down.
Best WordPress To Google Drive Backup Plugins
With all these in mind, let’s look at the best plugins that can help you backup your WordPress site to Google Drive.
We’ll also show you a step-by-step process of how to use each plugin for the backup process to the drive.
1. UpdraftPlus
UpdraftPlus is one of the most popular backup plugins for connecting WordPress to your Google Drive account, especially because it includes Google Drive in the free edition plus remote backup to other storage services. UpdraftPlus is more powerful than some of its alternatives like BackupBuddy and Duplicator.
With this plugin, you can create full backups of your site and download to your computer or store on the cloud.
It provides support for scheduled and on-demand backups, plus you get to pick the individual files you want backed up to the drive.
The plugin will upload your backups automatically to storage such as Google Drive, and other services.
Plus, you can restore the backups easily and directly from your WordPress admin dashboard.
You can use the free version, or pay $70 for the premium version, which offers add-ons that you can use to clone or migrate your site, multisite support, database search and replace, among many other features. It’ll also get you priority support and other powerful backup features.
Pros
- Has a free version but paid version is also affordable
- Easy to use
- Good user interface
- Has more cloud storage options compared to other plugins
- Offers automatic scheduled backups
- Restores your site automatically besides backing it up
- Wide coverage for your website
- Wide compatibility
- Uses less memory
Cons
- Free version has limited features
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2. BackupBuddy
Backupbuddy is another good choice for a WordPress backup to Google Drive plugin. It sends your backup to the drive so you know the files are safely stored off-site in your G-Drive account.
The plugin has automatic backup schedules you can use to send the backup files automatically to the drive once each backup has been completed.
It’s a popular premium plugin used by many WordPress sites as it allows for easy scheduling of daily, weekly or monthly backups.
You can store these automatically not just to Google Drive, but to other cloud storage services including Amazon S3 and Dropbox among others, or email it to yourself if you prefer.
The plugin comes with the Stash Live service, a cloud service that allows you to do real-time backups.
Among the benefits of using this plugin is that it’s not subscription-based, so you won’t have to pay any monthly fee to use it.
You can use it on multiple websites too depending on the plan you choose.
BackupBuddy also comes with premium support forum access, 1GB of Stash storage for storing your backups, and regular updates.
Backupbuddy helps you take complete backup of your Wordpress site. It's quick and super easy to use. Restoring your data is equally simple. Try it now!
It also has an iThemes Sync feature so you can manage as many as ten sites from one dashboard.
If you want more than just backups, you can still use BackupBuddy to migrate, duplicate or restore your website. It’s a cost-effective, but Premium backup plugin for your WordPress site, and offers many features for backing up, restoring and moving your site.
The plugin backs up everything from your site’s pages, posts, comments, widgets, theme and plugin files, WordPress settings, database and core files, plus users, images, videos and much more.
All these are compressed into a downloadable ZIP file, and you can upload them to your cloud storage, or choose to send them automatically to various storage services including Google Drive, Dropbox and more.
BackupBuddy gives you instant email notifications when it finishes or when it needs your attention, plus the ImportBuddy tool that it provides lets you restore the site to a previous backup in case of any disaster.
Explore more alternatives to BackupBuddy here.
Pros
- Easy to use
- You can schedule backups anytime
- You can store your backups in the cloud and restore with ease
- Allows site migration
- Offers malware scanning feature
- Interface is easy to use for newbies and pros
- Provides full data backup including settings like plugins and themes
- Has multiple options for scheduling your backups
- Multiple cloud storage options available
- Easy to restore, roll back or migrate your site
- The Live Stash function also offers superb cloud storage
Cons
- Some features may still seem technical for newbies
- Pricing is annual and not one-off so you have to subscribe
- There’s no free trial or money-back guarantee
- It’s not compatible with some web hosts
Backupbuddy helps you take complete backup of your Wordpress site. It's quick and super easy to use. Restoring your data is equally simple. Try it now!
3. BackWPup
This is a free plugin for backing up your WordPress site. You can create complete backups free of charge and store it to cloud storage services, email and even on your computer.
It’s an easy to use backup plugin that offers automatic backup scheduling based on the frequency with which your site is updated, and you can simply restore back your site from the backup when you want.
If you want to store backups on Google Drive though, you have to upgrade to the Pro version.
This comes with extras like priority support, and other useful and powerful features like quick restoration from the backend using a standalone app. You also get tasks such as scan, optimize and repair for your database.
The process is easy. Just get a Google account if you don’t have one, and select Google Drive as the backup destination when you’re creating a backup order.
Connect Google Drive with BackWPup and follow the instructions to backup your WordPress to Google Drive with BackWPup. Your backups will land in your Google Drive account, where you need them the most.
Pros
- Free
- Tutorials available to learn about using the plugin
- Checks for corrupt files in your database and repairs them
- Generous backup destinations
Cons
- Its speeds aren’t as good as other backup plugins
- Dashboard may be confusing for newbies
- Pro version doesn’t have advanced features
4. BoldGrid Backup
This backup plugin for WordPress is designed to help you create website backups and restore your website in case of any damage of irreversible nature.
BoldGrid backup plugin lets you make backups – scheduled and unscheduled – of your site. Plus, you can use it to move and restore your site securely and easily.
The plugin is bundled with a page builder plugin, which you can still get from the WordPress Plugin Directory, and it’s made to work with other website creation plugins in the BoldGrid suite.
However, it can also work as a backup utility for your WordPress site when used on its own instead of as a suite. It’s free to use, but there’s a premium version in the form of an extension that comes with many other extras for backing up your files to Google Drive.
Besides backing up your site, it’s a good tool to protect your site as it comes with automated remote backups and other tools that you can use to restore your site, roll back failed updates automatically, and much more.
Among its powerful features include automated and manual backups including before major updates, site monitoring for any issues with email alerts sent to you, plus you can use it to migrate or clone your site.
When you want to store your backups on Google Drive, you can easily and safely do so remotely via Google Drive and other cloud storage services, or FTP/STP.
It provides safe and consistent backups, and has tools that help prevent your site from crashing in the first place.
With the premium BoldGrid backup version, which starts at $60 per year, you can get other tools and services that you’d not find with the free version.
If you want to automatically store your backups on Google Drive, you only need to go to the BoldGrid Backup settings and click Backup Storage and then click Authorize next to the Google Drive icon.
Once you sign into your Google account where the backups will be stored, give the necessary authorization, click update and then check the box next to Google Drive and save the changes.
You can also restore your backups by retrieving one of your remote backups where it is currently stored, usually the web server.
Pros
- Affordable
- Premium version bundled with powerful features
- Can set automated or manual backups with a single click
- Automated fault protection feature protects against site update errors
Cons
- Free version has limited backup features
5. Duplicator
This WordPress backup to Google Drive plugin does various tasks besides backing up your site. It can also clone, migrate, copy and move your website, with the migration aspect being its main highlight with zero downtime.
Specifically, Duplicator allows you to move your site between hosts and domains with zero downtime, convert it to localhost for background development, and even take a backup in bits or entirely. You can also use it to bundle up your site for transferring or distribution.
Duplicator plugin doesn’t come with scheduling or cloud storage options but you can send backups to cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox and Amazon S3 for safe keeping.
For scheduling, email backup notifications, cloud storage to more services, and extra support, you can go with the Duplicator Pro version, which is a paid service.
Duplicator Pro starts at $59 per year for the Personal plan that offers a maximum of three sites, but if you want an unlimited site license, you can go for the Business plan that costs $129 per year instead.
It offers four different plans: Personal, Freelancer ($79), Business and Gold plan ($359).
The Personal, Freelancer and Business plans offer 1 year of updates and 1 year of support, while the Gold Plan offers lifetime updates and lifetime support.
The multisite and number of licences also vary, with the Personal and Freelancer offering 3 and 15 licenses respectively, while the Business and Gold plans both offer unlimited site licenses.
You can also get Power Tools on all other plans except the Personal plan.
The premium version comes with more advanced features, unlike the free version that lets you backup your site or parts of it manually.
It also gives you instant and scheduled backups so you can back up the site with minimal effort and hassles.
With Duplicator Pro, you can also send your backups to cloud storage services directly and you can restrict the number of backups if you want to save on storage space, especially with Google Drive.
The plugin is simple to set up and configure, and supports WordPress multisite, plus offers customer support for users of its premium version.
Pros
- Makes it easy to do server/host migrations and offline backup manually
- It has a free version
- It isn’t complicated or messy
- Simple and reliable
- Regularly updated
- Sends email notifications
Cons
- Doesn’t offer automated scheduled backups
How To Choose A Wordpress Backup To Google Drive Plugin
Here’s what to consider when picking a WordPress backup plugin that can help you store your site’s backup to Google Drive:
Reliable: the plugin should be reliable enough so you can back up without worrying about anything. If the backup fails, then it’s all in vain so it should work when you need to use it.
Trial: the backup plugin should offer a trial option so you can test it and find out if it backs up your files or not, instead of waiting for it to fail first. It also helps you practice backup restoration so you’re prepared for any eventuality.
Ease of use: the plugin should be easy to use by anyone without complicating the process.
Integration with Google Drive: your backup plugin should be able to integrate with or be compatible with Google Drive if you intend to back up your site to the cloud storage service.
The backup location used to be on web servers, but for security, most plugins support sending your files to cloud storage or remote locations like Google Drive. This way, you can restore the whole website in case of anything.
Backup methods: Find out if the backup plugin you want to use offers different methods of backing up the site’s files. This can be database backup, complete backup for the entire website including files and database, or scheduled backup that runs automatically for peace of mind.
Quick restoration: You have no time to waste when your site is down due to a catastrophe so your plugin should allow for quick restoration processes so you don’t lose traffic or things get worse than they already are.
Frequent backups: A good backup plugin should let you choose how often to back up your site. It can be daily, weekly or monthly, or even real-time backup and give you that flexibility.
Secure storage offsite: The backup needs a safe storage independent of the web server so the plugin you choose should handle this, especially in encrypted form.
Other things to consider include customized backups for automatic scheduling or manual if you prefer, and the plugin shouldn’t load your site or overload your server.
Final Thoughts
Taking backups of your website is important because somewhere along the way, you may encounter some challenges like hacker attacks, or your webmaster could mess up some things badly.
By installing a WordPress backup plugin for your website, you can save your important files to a cloud storage like Google Drive or other secure location and have peace of mind knowing that you can always restore it in case something comes up.
