Switching from BackWPup

BackWPup's version 5 rewrite (2024–2025) removed features and changed long-standing job workflows, and many users are now looking for a BackWPup alternative. If that is you, this guide maps your existing BackWPup setup onto BackupRidge and walks through a safe switch — alongside your current install, with nothing deleted until you have a verified backup in hand.

A few practical differences up front: BackupRidge includes restore in the free plugin (BackWPup was backup-only in free for many years), free scheduling, and as many simultaneous destinations as you want per job. Backups are standard ZIP archives you can open with any unzip tool.

Mapping Your BackWPup Setup

Jobs → scheduled backups. A BackWPup job (what to back up + where to send it + when) corresponds to a BackupRidge scheduled backup with a backup scope and one or more storage destinations. Database + files jobs map to a full backup; database-only jobs map to a database-only scope.

Destinations. BackupRidge free includes Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, FTP, SFTP, and local folder storage — and you can send one backup to several destinations at once, free. Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox are Pro providers in BackupRidge. To be fair on the comparison: BackWPup also gates Google Drive and OneDrive behind Pro, so for those two the line is the same — but BackWPup's free tier includes Dropbox, so if Dropbox is your only destination, that specific mapping needs BackupRidge Pro (or a switch to a free destination such as S3-compatible storage).

Schedules. WP-Cron-based scheduling is free, with the same interval options you had. Advanced scheduling (multiple independent schedules, system cron) is Pro — same tier split as BackWPup's Pro cron features.

Step-by-Step Migration

You do not need to remove BackWPup first. Run both side by side until you trust the new setup:

1. Install BackupRidge alongside BackWPup. Install and activate from the WordPress plugin directory — see Getting Started. Leave BackWPup active for now.

2. Recreate your schedule and destinations. Set the backup scope and schedule to match your most important BackWPup job, then add the equivalent destinations from the mapping above.

3. Run and verify a first full backup. Trigger a manual backup and let it finish. Then actually check it: download the archive and open it — it is a standard ZIP, so your database dump and files are right there. Pro adds automated backup verification, and the free plugin includes restore, so you can prove the round trip on a staging site before you rely on it.

4. Deactivate BackWPup. Once a verified BackupRidge backup exists at your destination, deactivate (and later remove) BackWPup.

Keep Your Old BackWPup Archives

Do not delete your existing BackWPup archives when you switch. They are standard ZIP or TAR archives and remain readable without the plugin, so keep them at their destination until your BackupRidge retention has cycled enough new backups to cover your recovery window.

What You Get on Cheap Hosting

BackupRidge's core design goal is that backups finish on cheap, slow shared hosting: work is resumable across PHP time limits, upload part sizes are auto-tuned to measured host throughput, and every destination reports success or failure separately — a backup that uploaded to one destination but failed on another says exactly that.

On stability: BackupRidge ships incremental, changelog-driven releases. Settings and jobs are migrated forward automatically on update, and we don't do big-bang rewrites of working workflows. Every release is documented in the changelog.

Still deciding whether to switch at all? The BackupRidge vs BackWPup comparison covers the decision side by side, including where BackWPup genuinely wins.

Also switching from All-in-One WP Migration? See the companion guide.