WordPress.com automatically backs up your website, with no plugins to install or schedules to configure. This guide explains how to view your WordPress site’s backups.
This feature is available on sites with the WordPress.com Business and Commerce plans. If you have a Business plan, make sure to activate it. For free sites and sites on the Personal and Premium plans, upgrade your plan to access this feature.
WordPress.com automatically backs up your site with our Jetpack VaultPress Backup service. Once you activate your plan, backups start automatically—no manual setup or extra plugins needed.
Backups run at least once every 24 hours, and run more often when your site changes frequently. As long as your site has an eligible plan, you can restore from any backup taken in the past six months. If your plan is removed, backups are retained for 30 days.
The following data is backed up:
- Pages, posts, media files, followers, and other content in your
wp-contentfolder. - Installed themes and plugins.
- Root-level WordPress files.
- WordPress database tables that start with your WordPress table prefix and have a unique or primary key.
The following data is not backed up:
- WordPress core files, which WordPress.com manages for you.
- Files outside the folders listed above.
- Database tables that do not have a unique identifier.
- Cache and backup directories.
- Additional WordPress installs inside subdirectories.
To open the list of your site’s backups, follow these steps:
- Go to your site dashboard.
- In the left menu, navigate to Jetpack → Backup. You’ll see the most recent backup or the next scheduled backup.
- Use the date selector to browse backups from the past six months:
- Select a day to view the exact timestamp and a summary of what changed on your site at that point:
You can then restore your site to how it was on the date and time the backup was captured.
Restoring a backup rolls your WordPress site back to a previous version. This is the recommended way to recover from an accidental change, a broken plugin update, or unwanted edits.
For step-by-step instructions, see our guide to restoring your website from a backup. To restore specific files or database tables instead of the entire site, see our guide to restoring selected items from a backup.
You can download a complete backup of your WordPress.com site as a zip archive—for example, to keep a copy on your computer or to move your site to another host. For instructions, see Download a backup of your site.
Automated backups are not available on the Free, Personal, or Premium plan. To keep a copy of a site on one of these plans, you can:
- Export your site’s content as a WordPress XML file. The export includes your posts, pages, comments, and other content, and can be imported into another WordPress.com site, a self-hosted WordPress site, or any platform that supports XML imports.
- Export your media library to download a copy of your images, videos, and other uploads.
For automated backups, upgrade to the Business plan or Commerce plan.
Do I need a plugin to back up my WordPress.com site?
Backups are built into sites on eligible plans. Jetpack VaultPress Backup runs automatically—you do not need to install a plugin.
Where are my WordPress.com backups stored?
WordPress.com backups are stored on our encrypted cloud infrastructure with copies across multiple data centers. Backups are kept separate from your site, so a problem with your site never affects your ability to restore. You don’t need to connect Google Drive, Dropbox, or any other external storage.
Do backups count against my site’s storage limit?
No, backups are stored on Automattic’s cloud infrastructure and do not use any of your site’s storage allocation.
How far back can I restore?
You can restore from any backup taken in the past six months while your plan is active. If your plan is removed, backups are retained for 30 days.
Can I roll my site back to an earlier version?
Yes, you can restore your site to any backup taken in the past six months while your plan is active. Restoring is the recommended way to recover from an accidental change, a broken plugin update, or unwanted edits. You can also choose to restore only specific files or database tables instead of the entire site.
What happens to my backups if my plan expires?
Your backups are kept for 30 days after your plan is removed. Within those 30 days, you can still restore your site if you reactivate an eligible plan. After 30 days, the backups are no longer available.
How do I keep a copy of my content if I’m not on a Business or Commerce plan?
Export your content. Automated backups require the Business or Commerce plan, but on any plan you can export your content as a WordPress XML file and export your media library to keep your own copy. You can import that file into another WordPress.com site or a self-hosted WordPress site.
