Backing up your store
How to back up your WooCommerce store — why it matters, what needs to be backed up, and how to verify your backups are working.
- Difficulty
- Beginner
Backups are your safety net. If something goes wrong — a bad plugin update, a hack, an accidental deletion — a backup lets you restore your store to a working state. This guide explains what needs backing up and how to make sure it's happening.
Quick summary
A full WooCommerce backup includes both your files (WordPress, plugins, themes) and your database (orders, products, customers, settings). WooCommerce itself has no built-in backup: its own guidance is to ask your host or use a backup plugin. Many managed WordPress hosts (Kinsta, WP Engine, Flywheel) run automatic daily backups. If yours doesn't, install a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus and store copies off-site. Test your backups regularly.
What a WooCommerce backup includes
A complete backup has two parts:
Files
- WordPress core files
- Your theme files
- All plugin files
- Uploaded images and media These rarely change unless you install or update something.
Database
- All orders and order details
- Customer accounts and data
- Products and pricing
- WooCommerce settings
- WordPress settings This changes with every order — so frequent backups matter.
Database backups are critical for stores
For a WooCommerce store, the database is where all your orders live. If you lose the database and have no backup, you lose every order, customer record, and product. Back up the database at least daily.
How your backups are likely handled
If we manage your site, your backup setup is one of:
| Setup | How backups work |
|---|---|
| Managed WordPress host (Kinsta, WP Engine, Flywheel) | Automatic daily backups, restored from the hosting dashboard. How long each host keeps them varies by host and plan — check your host's own documentation. |
| UpdraftPlus plugin | Scheduled backups of files and database. Copies sent to cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, and others). |
| Jetpack VaultPress Backup | A daily full backup plus real-time backups as changes happen. WooCommerce orders and products are backed up in real time. Needs a Jetpack plan that includes backups — see jetpack.com/pricing for current options. |
Ask us which backup solution your store uses and how to access it.
Checking that backups are running
Don't assume backups are happening — verify:
Log in to your hosting dashboard (Kinsta, WP Engine, Flywheel, etc.).
Look for a "Backups" section. Check that there are recent backups — ideally from the last 24 hours.
If you use UpdraftPlus: open its settings screen in the WordPress admin and check the list of existing backups for recent entries covering both the database and the files.
Testing a restore
Knowing backups exist is good. Knowing they work is better. We recommend testing a restore on a staging site once a quarter — more often than most people expect, and the cadence we run for care plan clients. See verifying your backups are working.
We can test backups for you
Restoring a WooCommerce backup correctly involves several steps and should be done carefully — especially with order data involved. Ask us to run a test restore to confirm everything is working.
How long to keep backups
These are our recommendations, not a WooCommerce or hosting standard:
| Backup type | Recommended retention |
|---|---|
| Daily backups | At least 30 days |
| Weekly backups | 3 months |
| Monthly backups | 1 year |
Retaining longer backups matters because some problems (like slow-growing malware infections) aren't noticed immediately. Having a 30-day history gives you options. Your host may keep them for a shorter or longer window than this, which is worth checking before you rely on it.
Off-site storage
Your backup should not only live on the same server as your site. If the server has a problem, the backup is also gone. Cloud storage options that UpdraftPlus can send backups to include:
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- Amazon S3 (and S3-compatible storage)
Check each provider's own pricing page for current storage costs. Your hosting provider's built-in backups are stored separately from your site — that counts as off-site.
Common questions
How long does a restore take?
It depends on the size of your store, where the backup is stored, and your host. A one-click restore from a managed host is usually the quickest route; restoring a large store from downloaded files takes considerably longer. See Restoring from a backup. Contact us if you need an emergency restore and we'll give you a realistic timeframe for your setup.
Do backups include my WooCommerce orders placed today?
Daily backups capture everything up to the last backup time. If orders come in after the backup ran and before a problem occurs, those orders won't be in the most recent backup. Jetpack VaultPress Backup captures WooCommerce orders and products in real time, which reduces that gap.
Can I download my own backup?
Yes. With UpdraftPlus, you can download backup files directly from the WordPress admin. Managed hosts also let you download backups from their dashboards. Ask us for instructions for your specific setup.
Related guides
- Keeping your store secure
- WooCommerce extensions explained
- Troubleshooting order problems
- How WordPress backups work
- Restoring your site from a backup
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