How to Create Daily Backups of WordPress Database (2026)

A daily backup of your WordPress database is the single most important safety net for a blog. The database holds every post, comment and setting, and you need a recent copy to restore after a crash, a hack or an urgent move to another host. Nobody remembers to export it by hand every day, so here is how to automate a daily backup of your WordPress database in 2026, and how we used ours in a real emergency.

Quick answer: Install UpdraftPlus, set the database backup schedule to Daily, keep 14 or more copies and send them to remote storage such as Google Drive, Dropbox or Amazon S3. Add your host’s daily backups as a second copy, and test a restore every few months.

Why daily database backups matter

Years ago we had to urgently move hosting while I was out of town, with no FTP access and no access to the office computer that held our weekly backups. The latest database copy was waiting in our email from the automatic daily backup, and we restored the blog on the new host without losing a post. That is the point of daily backups: a fresh copy you can reach from anywhere.

4 ways to set up a daily backup of your WordPress database

1. UpdraftPlus (recommended)

1. Install UpdraftPlus from Plugins > Add New.
2. Go to Settings > UpdraftPlus Backups > Settings.
3. Set Database backup schedule to Daily and retain at least 14 backups.
4. Pick remote storage: Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Amazon S3 or email.
5. Click Backup Now once to test, then check the file arrived.

2. Jetpack VaultPress Backup

Jetpack offers paid daily or real-time backups stored off-site, with one-click restores even if the site is down.

3. A cron job with WP-CLI

If your host has SSH and cron, add a daily job like this (adjust the paths):

0 3 * * * cd /home/user/public_html && wp db export ~/backups/db-$(date +\%F).sql --quiet

Then sync the backups folder to cloud storage and delete old files so the disk doesn’t fill up. Here is how to change cron time on a VPS or cPanel.

4. Your host’s automatic backups

Most hosts (Hostinger, SiteGround, cPanel hosts with JetBackup) keep daily backups. They are handy but stored with the same company, so treat them as a second copy. See how to back up websites on your hosting server or back up to Amazon S3.

Where to store database backups

• Cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, S3): reachable anywhere, survives a server crash. Best choice.
• Email: what we used for years. Fine for small databases, but large attachments get blocked, so reduce your database size by clearing spam first.
• Your computer: a good extra copy, but you may not be near it when disaster strikes.
• The same server: least useful; if the server dies, so do the backups.

Keep copies in at least two places.

Test your backups

A backup you can’t restore is useless. Every few months, open the .sql file (unzip .gz files first) in a text editor to check it isn’t empty or garbled, or better, restore it to a staging site. Here is the full guide to backup and restore WordPress database files.

FAQ

Is a daily backup enough?

For most blogs, yes. Busy shops or forums with constant orders and comments may need hourly or real-time backups.

Do database backups include images and plugins?

No. Back up the wp-content folder too, weekly or after big changes.

Will daily backups slow down my site?

Schedule them at night. On small and medium sites the load is minor.