AIO Thread about WordPress Backup&Migration Plugins

Ympker · September 2021

Hello everyone,
let's talk about our favourite backup&migration plugins here.

My favourites are probably very popular already but never let me down so far:

Backup: Updraft Plus (Free version)

Migration: AIO WP Migration (Unlimited Extension)
Just migrated a website of 9GB and 12000+ files without trouble today. From an old WP 5.6.x install.

Mr_Tom · September 2021

My brother uses the AIO WP Migration plugin for moving sites from dev domains to live, gives it good reviews.

I just do it manually lol.

Ympker · September 2021

@Mr_Tom said:
My brother uses the AIO WP Migration plugin for moving sites from dev domains to live, gives it good reviews.

I just do it manually lol.

AIO WP is just too comfortable to pass up haha Manual also works, ofc :P

Mr_Tom · September 2021

From shared hosting to shared hosting, I imagine it's useful. But rsync works well. Database dump and sed if domain is changing lol.

bikegremlin · September 2021

Since you explained the "trick" for AIO WP Migration free version, I've been using that mostly.
Especially for cloning websites - I still do migrations mostly manually.
And still have WP CLI on my to-learn list.

Here's the step-by-step tutorial on using the free AIO WP Migration to migrate even larger WP websites - thanks to your tips:

P.S.
Did you get this Unlimited Extension?
If yes, how does it work, i.e. are there any limits, or can I clone/migrate 10 sites each year without problems?

Ympker · September 2021

@Mr_Tom said:
From shared hosting to shared hosting, I imagine it's useful. But rsync works well. Database dump and sed if domain is changing lol.

I dumped basically all my vps in favour of Shared Hosting so that's probably why I prefer it this way :P

@bikegremlin said:
Since you explained the "trick" for AIO WP Migration free version, I've been using that mostly.
Especially for cloning websites - I still do migrations mostly manually.
And still have WP CLI on my to-learn list.

Here's the step-by-step tutorial on using the free AIO WP Migration to migrate even larger WP websites - thanks to your tips:

P.S.
Did you get this Unlimited Extension?
If yes, how does it work, i.e. are there any limits, or can I clone/migrate 10 sites each year without problems?

The "trick" stopped working at one specific version of aio wp iirc. Anyway, I have actually purchased the Unlimited Extension you linked. So far I have not encountered any limits. But then again I only had like 6-7 migrations the past year. For backups I use UpdraftUpdraft

Mr_Tom · September 2021

@Ympker said: I dumped basically all my vps in favour of Shared Hosting so that's probably why I prefer it this way :P

Makes sense. Something about having an easy life lol

vyas · September 2021

xml import / export,baby! :-)

on a serious note, I've been tinkering with cron + rclone + wp-cli. And finding it to be a much more robust option (for VPS of course). For Shared hosting - Updraft Plus > AIOWP for me (in that order)

Ympker · September 2021

@vyas said:
xml import / export,baby! :-)

on a serious note, I've been tinkering with cron + rclone + wp-cli. And finding it to be a much more robust option (for VPS of course). For Shared hosting - Updraft Plus > AIOWP for me (in that order)

I agree that even though I use the free version of Updraft Plus and the paid of AIO WP, I, too, consider Updraft tonbe the more solid solution. But the 6-7 migrations I have done with AIO WP the past year were straight forward and without any issues ocurring :P

bikegremlin · September 2021

@Ympker said:

@vyas said:
xml import / export,baby! :-)

on a serious note, I've been tinkering with cron + rclone + wp-cli. And finding it to be a much more robust option (for VPS of course). For Shared hosting - Updraft Plus > AIOWP for me (in that order)

I agree that even though I use the free version of Updraft Plus and the paid of AIO WP, I, too, consider Updraft tonbe the more solid solution. But the 6-7 migrations I have done with AIO WP the past year were straight forward and without any issues ocurring :P

AIO "trick" stopped working? Hmm - that plugin has been updated 2 weeks ago. Now I'm not 100% sure whether I've last used it with the latest, or with the previous version. Would have to double-check.

Does Updraft Plus free work for cloning (i.e. "migrating" with a domain change, like staging.example.com to www.example.com)?

Ympker · September 2021

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@vyas said:
xml import / export,baby! :-)

on a serious note, I've been tinkering with cron + rclone + wp-cli. And finding it to be a much more robust option (for VPS of course). For Shared hosting - Updraft Plus > AIOWP for me (in that order)

I agree that even though I use the free version of Updraft Plus and the paid of AIO WP, I, too, consider Updraft tonbe the more solid solution. But the 6-7 migrations I have done with AIO WP the past year were straight forward and without any issues ocurring :P

AIO "trick" stopped working? Hmm - that plugin has been updated 2 weeks ago. Now I'm not 100% sure whether I've last used it with the latest, or with the previous version. Would have to double-check.

Does Updraft Plus free work for cloning (i.e. "migrating" with a domain change, like staging.example.com to www.example.com)?

Updraft free doesn't work with a domain change afaik this is why I settled for AIO WP when it comes to that

johnk · September 2021

I'm a fan of WPVivid Backup and Restore.

Works great for Backup and Migration

Ympker · September 2021

@johnk said:
I'm a fan of WPVivid Backup and Restore.

Works great for Backup and Migration

They do have an appealing Lifetime deal, indeed. However, I feel like Updraft and AIO are just so established and have so many installs that the chance of something going wrong is even smaller. That was also why I skipped the BackupGuard lifetime deal back then.

sonic · September 2021

Updraft Free does it all for me.

vyas · September 2021

Title says "Plugins",

here is the non-plugin way: (not my posts!)

For shared hosting- cPanel

https://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/manual-wordpress-backup-without-plugin/

Making a backup + restore using ssh / cli

https://medium.com/@christoph.schmidl/how-to-manually-backup-wordpress-daa43e37a9bd

bikegremlin · September 2021

@vyas said:
Title says "Plugins",

here is the non-plugin way: (not my posts!)

For shared hosting- cPanel

https://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/manual-wordpress-backup-without-plugin/

Making a backup + restore using ssh / cli

https://medium.com/@christoph.schmidl/how-to-manually-backup-wordpress-daa43e37a9bd

A lot longer, more tedious, but with instructions needed for cloning, not just migration (i.e. domain change):

WordPress manual backup
WordPress manual migration/cloning

I've been using that for years, until @Ympker told me "the trick" for free AIO WP Migration.

Ympker · September 2021

@bikegremlin said:

@vyas said:
Title says "Plugins",

here is the non-plugin way: (not my posts!)

For shared hosting- cPanel

https://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/manual-wordpress-backup-without-plugin/

Making a backup + restore using ssh / cli

https://medium.com/@christoph.schmidl/how-to-manually-backup-wordpress-daa43e37a9bd

A lot longer, more tedious, but with instructions needed for cloning, not just migration (i.e. domain change):

WordPress manual backup
WordPress manual migration/cloning

I've been using that for years, until @Ympker told me "the trick" for free AIO WP Migration.

It's just, once you get used to AIO WP 1-click solution, you don't wanna go back
To be fair, I am kinda happy now that I have purchased the license as it gives something back to them but is no recurring fee for me either (this is what keeps me from Updraft Premium atm; free does everything I need minus domain change / migration).

bikegremlin · September 2021

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@vyas said:
Title says "Plugins",

here is the non-plugin way: (not my posts!)

For shared hosting- cPanel

https://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/manual-wordpress-backup-without-plugin/

Making a backup + restore using ssh / cli

https://medium.com/@christoph.schmidl/how-to-manually-backup-wordpress-daa43e37a9bd

A lot longer, more tedious, but with instructions needed for cloning, not just migration (i.e. domain change):

WordPress manual backup
WordPress manual migration/cloning

I've been using that for years, until @Ympker told me "the trick" for free AIO WP Migration.

It's just, once you get used to AIO WP 1-click solution, you don't wanna go back
To be fair, I am kinda happy now that I have purchased the license as it gives something back to them but is no recurring fee for me either (this is what keeps me from Updraft Premium atm; free does everything I need minus domain change / migration).

Ditto - thanks to your shared experience, I've finally decided to pay for the license.
The website-provided info was too unclear for me (colour me dumb ).

Ympker · September 2021

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@vyas said:
Title says "Plugins",

here is the non-plugin way: (not my posts!)

For shared hosting- cPanel

https://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/manual-wordpress-backup-without-plugin/

Making a backup + restore using ssh / cli

https://medium.com/@christoph.schmidl/how-to-manually-backup-wordpress-daa43e37a9bd

A lot longer, more tedious, but with instructions needed for cloning, not just migration (i.e. domain change):

WordPress manual backup
WordPress manual migration/cloning

I've been using that for years, until @Ympker told me "the trick" for free AIO WP Migration.

It's just, once you get used to AIO WP 1-click solution, you don't wanna go back
To be fair, I am kinda happy now that I have purchased the license as it gives something back to them but is no recurring fee for me either (this is what keeps me from Updraft Premium atm; free does everything I need minus domain change / migration).

Ditto - thanks to your shared experience, I've finally decided to pay for the license.
The website-provided info was too unclear for me (colour me dumb ).

Yeah, I was also not quite sure about the actual limit, but so far it seems to be "unlimited". You also never have to enter a license key, just upload the unlimited extension from the Download link they sent you and that's it :P

There we go: Moving another client site to my staging environment on a subdomain of mine. Two clicks (export and import) and here we go URL change etc is obviously taken care of during these clicks.
Thanks AIO WP

bikegremlin · September 2021

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@vyas said:
Title says "Plugins",

here is the non-plugin way: (not my posts!)

For shared hosting- cPanel

https://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/manual-wordpress-backup-without-plugin/

Making a backup + restore using ssh / cli

https://medium.com/@christoph.schmidl/how-to-manually-backup-wordpress-daa43e37a9bd

A lot longer, more tedious, but with instructions needed for cloning, not just migration (i.e. domain change):

WordPress manual backup
WordPress manual migration/cloning

I've been using that for years, until @Ympker told me "the trick" for free AIO WP Migration.

It's just, once you get used to AIO WP 1-click solution, you don't wanna go back
To be fair, I am kinda happy now that I have purchased the license as it gives something back to them but is no recurring fee for me either (this is what keeps me from Updraft Premium atm; free does everything I need minus domain change / migration).

Ditto - thanks to your shared experience, I've finally decided to pay for the license.
The website-provided info was too unclear for me (colour me dumb ).

Yeah, I was also not quite sure about the actual limit, but so far it seems to be "unlimited". You also never have to enter a license key, just upload the unlimited extension from the Download link they sent you and that's it :P

Yes - no email confirmation even. I've sent them the feedback with suggestions - not that I expect anyone to actually read it (but I'd be happy to get pleasantly surprised).

Ark · September 2021

Backup: backwpup
Never fails me backing up wp site even big ones as my biggest one was 8GB++

Migration: Migrate WordPress Website & Backups – Prime Move
working like a charm migrating multisite to single site (need trial to run multisite )

Ympker · September 2021

@Ark said:
Backup: backwpup
Never fails me backing up wp site even big ones as my biggest one was 8GB++

Migration: Migrate WordPress Website & Backups – Prime Move
working like a charm migrating multisite to single site (need trial to run multisite )

Backwpup is another solid name out there. You probably are referring to Prime Mover, right? :P https://wordpress.org/plugins/prime-mover/

1000 active installs is a bit too few numbers to convince me to rely on such a solution, but if it works for you that's great

bikegremlin · September 2021

I've used BackWPup with great results, but such plugins are resource hogs.
Besides, backup of WP is best done by the hosting server, not by WP backing itself up using a plugin.
That's less efficient and more likely to cause errors (in my opinion and experience at least).

Of course, that's just pointless drivel without offering an alternative solution.
I have one for cPanel and one for DirectAdmin.

The first one can work even on shared hosting (i.e. not reseller hosting) accounts.
The other one (DirectAdmin) will only work with reseller hosting (shared hosting requires you do it manually if using the DirectAdmin tool).

I used to use JetBackup (when provider provides it), but with their backup output changed for one only readable by JetBackup, I no longer consider it reliable/universal enough.

flips · September 2021

I'm working a lot with multisite WP installations. And plugins for migrating to/from multisite was way expensive when I checked. I ended up doing stuff manually. A bit tedious, but it all worked out so far ...

asaljeplak · September 2021

I just recently used Duplicator Pro to migrate WP multisite, is it faster (and or better) if i use AIOWP?

Ympker · September 2021

@asaljeplak said:
I just recently used Duplicator Pro to migrate WP multisite, is it faster (and or better) if i use AIOWP?

I never really used Duplicator but afaik, AIO WP is as fast as it gets when you are looking for a hassle-free WordPress migration plugin.
The process of migration using Duplicator described here sounds a bit longer : https://wpshout.com/quick-guides/move-a-wordpress-site-with-the-duplicator-plugin/

But if Duplicator works for you, it'll probably be as good.

asaljeplak · September 2021

@Ympker said:

@asaljeplak said:
I just recently used Duplicator Pro to migrate WP multisite, is it faster (and or better) if i use AIOWP?

I never really used Duplicator but afaik, AIO WP is as fast as it gets when you are looking for a hassle-free WordPress migration plugin.
The process of migration using Duplicator described here sounds a bit longer : https://wpshout.com/quick-guides/move-a-wordpress-site-with-the-duplicator-plugin/

But if Duplicator works for you, it'll probably be as good.

got it, will try aiowp for my next migration project, thanks!

vyas · October 2021

Mainwp
10Web
Managewp

Any users/ testers?

(10Web I have tried, have mixed feeling)

deank · October 2021

As mentioned, do it manually.

Tarball the entire folder while preserving permissions. Do a dump on mysql database.

Restore both on a new node, and done.

I can see the purpose of backup/restore plugin on shared hosting with no SSH access but, on VPS, manual method is just better.

chocolateshirt · October 2021

Or you can do rsync web folder and mysqldump to new VPS.

bikegremlin · October 2021

@deank said:
As mentioned, do it manually.

Tarball the entire folder while preserving permissions. Do a dump on mysql database.

Restore both on a new node, and done.

I can see the purpose of backup/restore plugin on shared hosting with no SSH access but, on VPS, manual method is just better.

Depending on what you are moving, and where to, doing it manually sometimes requires some concentration for a few search/replace commands (for the files and/or for the database).

But I agree. Even with shared hosting, it's nice when SSH is permitted (some providers allow that) - can make things faster, if not literally simpler.

AIO Thread about WordPress Backup&Migration Plugins

Comments