The best way to guard against attacks on your website is to back up your data. I always recommend that you perform your own backups to make sure you have a copy of your website on hand. And while you should never rely solely on your web hosting company to back up your files, that doesn’t mean they can’t provide added protection by offering their own backup services. In fact, backup is one of the features you should consider when choosing your web hosting. By providing backup and restore services, your web host can be a safety net just in case you don’t have the most current backup or you need to roll back several iterations of your site.
Since it’s been a while since we’ve looked at what web hosting companies are providing as far as website backup, here is an updated comparison on what type of backup and restore you get with each web host. For this study, we looked at the frequency your website is backed up, how many backup versions are available, and any cost to restore your data. Keep in mind that we are only listing what is included with these web hosting plans—we’re not including optional backup services where you have to pay an additional fee.
SiteGround
$5.95 mo.
Automated Backups: Daily
Copies Available: Last 30 Days
Restore: Free
SiteGround has always included one of the best backup and restore services available. You get automated daily backups and you can select from the last 30 days of backup versions of your data. There is no charge to restore your data.
Also, SiteGround has implemented their in-house created new backup and restore system. Now, in the rare event that an entire server needs to be restored, their new system allows the data to be restored much faster with less downtime for websites.
A2 Hosting
$4.90 mo.
Automated Backups: Daily
Copies Available: Last 30 Days
Restore: Free
A2 Hosting also provides automated daily backups, keeping the last 30 days of data. And, there is no charge to restore your data.
GreenGeeks
$3.95 mo.
Automated Backups: Nightly
Copies Available: Retained for 48 Hours
Restore: Free once per month. $25 for additional restores.
GreenGeeks runs nightly automated backups and they are kept for 48 hours. They will restore your data for free once a month.
InMotion Hosting
$3.49 mo.
Automated Backups: Every 24-36 Hours
Copies Available: Latest Backup
Restore: Free once every four months. $49 for additional restores.
InMotion Hosting runs backups every 24 to 36 hours. The backups do get overwritten, so you can restore from the latest version only most of the time—though in the past, they have attempted to locate a prior version for me. They will restore your data for free once every four months.
Bluehost
$3.95 mo.
Automated Backups: At their discretion
Copies Available: Last 30 Days
Restore: Site Restore Tool
Bluehost does run automated backups. However they are done at their discretion, so you can’t be sure exactly when they are done. You need to use their Site Restore Tool and you can select from the last 30 days.
Arvixe
$4.00 mo.
Automated Backups: Daily
Copies Available: 4 (Last 2 Days and Last 2 Weeks)
Restore: Free
Arvixe performs daily backups. You can restore from 4 available copies—one each from the last two days and one each from the last 2 two weeks. And, there is no fee to restore the data.
IX Web Hosting
$3.95 mo.
Automated Backups: 4 Times per Week
Copies Available: Last 3 Backups
Restore: Free
IX Web Hosting backs up your data four times a week. You have the option to restore from the last three backup versions, and there is no charge to restore your data.
Namecheap
$0.83 mo.
Automated Backups: Twice per Week
Copies Available: Latest Backup
Restore: Free
Namecheap runs backups twice a week. You can have your data restored for free from the latest backup version.
InterServer
$5.00 mo.
Automated Backups: Weekly
Copies Available: Latest Backup
Restore: Free
InterServer performs weekly backups. They will restore your data for free from the latest backup.
DreamHost
$7.95 mo.
Automated Backups: At their discretion
Copies Available: 3 (1 Hour to 1 Day, 1 Day to 2 Weeks, 2 Weeks Old or More)
Restore: Free
DreamHost runs backups at their discretion. You can restore from three copies which fall somewhere in the timeframes listed above. There is no fee to restore the data.
Lunarpages
$22.95 mo.
Automated Backups: Nightly
Copies Available: Last Several Days
Restore: Free
Lunarpages performs nightly automated backups and they will restore your data for free. You can choose a backup version from the last several days. The issue with Lunarpages is the higher cost of the hosting plan itself.
MyHosting.com
$4.95 mo.
Automated Backups: Daily
Copies Available: Latest Backup
Restore: $50
MyHosting.com runs automated daily backups. However, you can only restore from the latest version and they charge you $50.
Web Hosting Pad
$1.99 mo.
Automated Backups: Weekly
Copies Available: Up to 1GB Website Files Only
Restore: $39.95
Web Hosting Pad performs weekly automated updates. However, they only back up a max of 1GB of your website files, and they charge $39.95 to perform a restore.
The following web hosts do not provide automated backups:
iPage
$1.99 mo.
Automated Backups: No
Need to backup and restore manually.
GoDaddy
$3.99 mo.
Automated Backups: No
Need to pay for optional backup service.
HostGator
$3.95 mo.
Automated Backups: No
Need to backup and restore manually.