BackupRidge vs UpdraftPlus
UpdraftPlus is the incumbent — 3 million installs and a decade of history. BackupRidge is what a backup plugin looks like when it is engineered a decade later: backups that reliably finish on the hosting you actually have, a free snapshot with one-click rollback before every update, and a status report that never calls a failed upload a success. Here is the line-by-line comparison — including the places UpdraftPlus still wins.
Comparison data verified from wordpress.org and updraftplus.com on August 9, 2026. BackupRidge is not affiliated with UpdraftPlus.
Two good plugins, two different bets
Choose BackupRidge if…
- Your site lives on shared or budget hosting where big backups stall, time out, or die at 80%
- You want a snapshot before every update, with one-click rollback — free (Premium-only in UpdraftPlus)
- You want unlimited simultaneous destinations free — local + SFTP + S3/R2 on one schedule
- You want to know per destination whether the upload actually succeeded
- You prefer one clean workflow over a settings page with forty options
Stay with UpdraftPlus if…
- Google Drive or Dropbox for free is non-negotiable — UpdraftPlus includes them in its free tier; BackupRidge puts them in Pro
- You manage a fleet through UpdraftCentral or want their hosted UpdraftVault storage
- You need WordPress multisite support today (Premium there; on our roadmap)
- A 15-year track record is your deciding factor — fair; we measure ours in restore-tested releases rather than years
Built for the hosting you actually have
Read the one-star reviews of any big backup plugin and one story repeats: “stuck at 80%”, “timed out”, “restore failed on my large site”. BackupRidge’s engine is engineered specifically against that failure mode.
Resumable by design
Every backup phase — database, files, archive, upload — is checkpointed. When your host’s PHP time limit approaches, BackupRidge pauses and schedules its own continuation instead of dying mid-archive. A backup that takes forty short slices still finishes.
Tuned to your server, automatically
UpdraftPlus offers static “expert settings” you tune by hand. BackupRidge measures your host’s real throughput and time limits, then sizes upload parts and work batches to what the server can actually sustain — and remembers it between runs.
Honest status, per destination
A backup that reached your SFTP server but failed to reach S3 is not a success. BackupRidge reports each destination separately, so “backup complete” means exactly that — everywhere you asked it to go.
Free tier vs free tier
The tier most of 3 million sites actually run. Where a feature is paid, we say so — on both sides.
| Feature | BackupRidge Free | UpdraftPlus Free |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled automatic backups | ✓ Free | ✓ Free |
| One-click restore | ✓ Free | ✓ Free |
| Backup retention (auto-prune old backups) | ✓ Free · tiered GFS in Pro | ✓ Free · extended rules in Premium |
| Snapshot before plugin/theme/core updates, with one-click rollback | ✓ Free, on by default | Premium |
| Disaster recovery: reconnect storage on a fresh install and adopt existing backups | ✓ Free — even backups from a different domain | Same site free · different site needs Premium (Migrator) |
| Standard ZIP archives, readable without the plugin | ✓ Free | ✓ Free |
| Google Drive & Dropbox | Pro — why? | ✓ Free — their strongest line |
| Amazon S3 | ✓ Free | ✓ Free |
| Cloudflare R2 / S3-compatible endpoints | ✓ Free | Premium |
| SFTP | ✓ Free | Premium |
| Several destinations for one backup | ✓ Unlimited, free | Premium (free = one remote destination) |
| Site migration | ✓ Receive free · push is Pro | Premium (Migrator) |
| Resumes across strict PHP time limits, auto-tuned to measured host performance | ✓ Free, automatic | Manual “expert settings” |
| Per-destination success/failure reporting | ✓ Free | — |
| Automated backup verification | Pro | — Not offered |
| Incremental backups | Pro | Premium |
| Encrypted archives | Pro | Premium (database only) |
UpdraftPlus feature placement verified from updraftplus.com on August 9, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
Where UpdraftPlus genuinely wins
A comparison page you can trust has to name the other side’s real strengths, so here they are. Free Google Drive and Dropbox is UpdraftPlus’s best card, and if that is your whole requirement, it is a fair reason to pick them. Our answer: Cloudflare R2 and Amazon S3 are free in BackupRidge (R2 has its own generous free tier), and OAuth clouds come with Pro — priced below their Premium.
Track record and ecosystem. Three million installs, 8,000+ reviews, UpdraftCentral for fleet management, hosted UpdraftVault storage, and WordPress multisite support in Premium. That is real, and if it is what you are optimizing for, UpdraftPlus is a rational choice.
But be clear about what the incumbency actually buys you — and what it costs. UpdraftPlus’s biggest wins are distribution and history; BackupRidge’s are engineering. An engine designed after a decade of watching where backup plugins fail: resumable everything, tuning measured from your actual server, per-destination truth in reporting, a free pre-update snapshot with one-click rollback that UpdraftPlus charges for, and disaster recovery that adopts your backups onto a fresh install even from another domain. Every release documents its changes in a public changelog and has its restore path tested before it ships. And your dashboard stays free of ads and cross-sell banners, permanently.
Paid tiers, side by side
At the top end the prices converge — the real difference is how much never needs a license at all, and what the entry tier covers.
| BackupRidge | UpdraftPlus | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Scheduled backups, restore, pre-update rollback, migration-receive, unlimited destinations (S3, R2, FTP, SFTP, local) | Scheduled backups, restore, one remote destination (incl. Drive/Dropbox/S3) |
| Entry tier | $49/yr — 3 sites | $70/yr — 2 sites |
| Mid tier | $99/yr — 10 sites | $95/yr — 10 sites |
| Unlimited sites | $199/yr | $195/yr |
| Hosted storage bundle | — Bring your own storage; your data never touches our servers | Gold $399/yr incl. 50GB UpdraftVault |
BackupRidge Pro tiers scale by both site count and feature set — see the full comparison. Founder lifetime pricing is available while it lasts, and all paid plans carry a 14-day money-back guarantee.
How to switch safely
Nothing gets deleted until you hold a verified backup. Run both plugins side by side — this takes about fifteen minutes of attention.
Install BackupRidge alongside UpdraftPlus
Install and activate from the WordPress plugin directory — see Getting Started. Leave UpdraftPlus active and scheduled for now; they coexist cleanly. Pre-update snapshots switch on automatically, so from this moment your plugin updates are already covered by a rollback point.
Recreate your schedule and destinations
Match your UpdraftPlus schedule, then add destinations. Using Google Drive or Dropbox today? Either connect them via Pro, or take the chance to move to a free destination — Cloudflare R2 or S3 — and add a second destination free, which UpdraftPlus never let you do.
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 with your database dump and files right there. Best practice: restore it on a staging site once, so your first real restore is not your first restore ever.
Deactivate UpdraftPlus
Once a verified BackupRidge backup exists at your destination, deactivate UpdraftPlus so two schedulers are not competing, and remove it when you are comfortable.
Keep your old UpdraftPlus archives
Do not delete them. They are standard ZIP files and stay readable without the plugin — keep them at their destination until BackupRidge retention has cycled enough new backups to cover your recovery window.
Questions people ask before switching
Is BackupRidge really free?
Yes. The free plugin includes scheduled automatic backups, one-click restore, pre-update snapshots with rollback, site-migration receive, and unlimited simultaneous storage destinations — local folder, FTP, SFTP, Amazon S3, and Cloudflare R2 — with no backup size caps. Pro adds Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Backblaze B2, incremental backups, encryption, verification, and advanced scheduling.
Why is Google Drive free in UpdraftPlus but Pro in BackupRidge?
OAuth cloud connections (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive) require us to run authentication relay infrastructure, which costs money per active site. Rather than fund it with dashboard ads or upsell banners, we keep it in Pro and make S3-compatible storage — including Cloudflare R2, which has a generous free tier of its own — completely free instead.
Can BackupRidge restore my existing UpdraftPlus backups?
No — there is no direct importer. The safe path is to run both plugins side by side: set up BackupRidge, take and verify a fresh backup, then deactivate UpdraftPlus. Keep your old UpdraftPlus archives at their destination until your BackupRidge retention has cycled enough backups to cover your recovery window; they are standard ZIP files and stay readable without the plugin.
Is it safe to run BackupRidge and UpdraftPlus at the same time?
Yes, and it is exactly what we recommend while switching. They store backups in separate directories and use separate schedules. Just avoid running two large manual backups at the same moment on a small server.
Does BackupRidge back up my site before plugin updates?
Yes — free, and on by default. BackupRidge takes a snapshot before plugin, theme, and WordPress core updates (including automatic background updates), and a restore-points widget on your dashboard rolls the update back with one click if it breaks something. In UpdraftPlus, backup-before-update is a Premium feature.
What if my site is completely gone — server wiped, no wp-admin?
Install a fresh WordPress, install BackupRidge free, reconnect the same storage destination, and BackupRidge finds your existing backups and offers to adopt them — then restore. This works even when the backups came from a different domain, which is where UpdraftPlus free stops: restoring to a different site requires their Premium Migrator.
Who is behind BackupRidge, and is it actively maintained?
BackupRidge is built by Stava Tech and released under GPL v2. Every release is documented in a public changelog, and the plugin ships frequent, incremental updates rather than big-bang rewrites.
The comparison that matters is on your own site
Install BackupRidge next to UpdraftPlus, run one backup on your real hosting, and open the ZIP. That fifteen-minute test beats any table on the internet — including this one.
UpdraftPlus is a trademark of its respective owner. BackupRidge is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by UpdraftPlus. Feature and pricing information verified from public sources on August 9, 2026 and may have changed since — report an inaccuracy.