StifLi Backup Tools vs UpdraftPlus

StifLi Backup Tools is a professional WordPress backup plugin for creating full site backups, database backups, file backups, scheduled backups, staging sites, Fast Staging builds for developers, Local Developer Packages, and migration packages directly from your WordPress dashboard. The plugin is designed for everyday WordPress site owners, freelancers, agencies, and administrators who need a practical backup and restore workflow without depending on complex server tools. It uses background processing, resumable jobs, chunked ZIP creation, streaming database exports, and HTTP range downloads to help backups and restores complete even on shared hosting, slower servers, or environments where long requests may be interrupted. For agencies and development teams, StifLi Backup Tools also includes differentiated workflows for building lean staging environments and exporting Local Developer Packages, reducing the time spent cloning oversized production sites just to test changes, debug issues, or hand work over for local development. Use StifLi Backup Tools to back up WordPress before updates, keep scheduled backup copies, migrate a site to a new domain, create a staging copy, restore selected components, or send backup archives to remote storage such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3-compatible storage (including Cloudflare R2), FTP, or SFTP. Official documentation: StifLi Backup Tools Documentation. WordPress backup features Full WordPress backups including database, plugins, themes, uploads, and selected site files. Database-only backups for quick snapshots before plugin, theme, or content changes. Files-only backup options for plugins, themes, and uploads. Differential scheduled backups to save only changed files between full backups. Backup integrity checks before restore. Backup explorer for reviewing backup contents. Component restore for database, plugins, themes, or uploads. Selective restore for specific files or directories. Backup upload and local backup rescan tools. HTTP range downloads for large backup archives and interrupted downloads. Scheduled backups Create automatic WordPress backups on a schedule and control how many copies are kept locally and remotely. Daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, and custom scheduled backup workflows. Choose backup components: database, plugins, themes, uploads, or full site. Choose local storage, remote storage, or remote-only backups. Full or differential backup strategy. Separate retention rules for local backups, remote backups, and differential backups. Email notifications for backup results. Optional webhook notifications for external monitoring or automation. Remote backup storage StifLi Backup Tools can send backup archives to remote destinations only after you explicitly configure and enable them. Supported destinations include: Google Drive Dropbox Amazon S3 S3-compatible storage such as Backblaze B2, Wasabi, MinIO, DigitalOcean Spaces, and Cloudflare R2 FTP SFTP Remote storage is optional. The plugin does not contact external storage services unless you enable and configure the corresponding destination. WordPress restore and recovery Restore your WordPress site from a backup with a guided process and live progress updates. Restore database and files. Restore only selected components. Restore uploaded backup ZIP files. Restore local or remote backup archives. Merge differential backups with their parent full backup when required. Streaming restore progress designed to avoid browser and hosting timeouts. Semaphore locking to help prevent overlapping backup and restore operations. WordPress migration tools Move a WordPress site to another server or domain using migration packages and URL remapping. Create migration packages from the WordPress dashboard. Import migration packages on the destination site. Remap URLs when moving to a new domain. Optional site-to-site Push/Pull migration using a shared secret between two WordPress sites you control. Standalone installer for migration scenarios where WordPress is not yet installed on the destination server. Staging sites Create a staging copy of your WordPress site for safe testing before making changes on production. Create full staging sites or lean Fast Staging builds in a subdirectory. Copy files and database tables into the staging environment. Exclude selected tables, plugins, themes, uploads, and WooCommerce-heavy data for developer-focused staging builds. Search and replace URLs for the staging copy. Track staging job progress. Delete staging sites from the plugin interface. Developer workflows StifLi Backup Tools includes dedicated workflows for developers, freelancers, and agencies who need faster QA environments and cleaner local handoff packages. Fast Staging for developers creates lean staging builds by letting you limit the copy to the tables, plugins, themes, uploads, and data scope you actually need. Local Developer Package export prepares a LocalWP-friendly package for local development workflows so a selected site snapshot is easier to move, inspect, and hand off. Background processing, live progress updates, cancel support, and resumable job handling help these workflows stay practical on large sites and typical WordPress hosting. Useful for client review environments, bug reproduction, plugin or theme QA, and pre-release testing without cloning the full production site every time. Maintenance and optimization tools StifLi Backup Tools also includes practical maintenance utilities for WordPress administrators. Image optimization using the WordPress image editor when available. Database cleanup for revisions, spam comments, trash comments, transients, and overhead. Temporary file cleanup for backup, restore, staging, and upload leftovers. Custom exclude rules for uploads and wp-content backup paths. System information and log viewer for troubleshooting backup issues. Built for shared hosting Many WordPress sites run on shared hosting or constrained VPS environments. StifLi Backup Tools is built with those limitations in mind. Background processing via WP-Cron. Resumable backup and restore stages. Chunked ZIP creation. Streaming database export and import. Memory-aware file operations. Locking to avoid concurrent destructive operations. Compatibility options for different archive engines and compression profiles. AI agents and MCP abilities StifLi Backup Tools can expose selected WordPress Abilities to MCP-compatible AI agents for professional and commercial automation workflows. Uses the WordPress Abilities API (WordPress 6.9+). Lets administrators enable or disable abilities globally and per ability. Exposes a safe default set for backup and remote-management operations. Keeps restore and scheduled-execution operations outside MCP ability exposure by design. External services This plugin can connect to third-party services only when you explicitly enable and configure the corresponding feature. No telemetry, analytics, license check, or automatic external update call is made by the plugin. The full list of services that may be contacted, the data that is sent, and when, is described below. Google Drive (optional, opt-in) If you connect a Google account to use Google Drive as a remote backup destination, the plugin contacts Google’s OAuth and Drive APIs. Endpoints used: https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token — to exchange and refresh OAuth tokens. https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/* — to list, create, update, download, and delete backup files in your Drive. https://www.googleapis.com/upload/drive/v3/files — to upload backup archives in resumable chunks. What is sent: your OAuth client ID and secret provided by you, the refresh/access token, backup ZIP files you choose to upload, and metadata such as filename, size, and parent folder ID. When: only when you start OAuth connection from the settings page, run a backup that has Google Drive selected as a destination, or browse, restore, or delete remote backups stored in your Drive. Provider terms: Google Terms of Service and Google Privacy Policy. Dropbox (optional, opt-in) If you connect a Dropbox account to use it as a remote backup destination, the plugin contacts Dropbox APIs. Endpoints used: https://api.dropboxapi.com/oauth2/token — to exchange and refresh OAuth tokens. https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/* — to query account info, list files, and delete files. https://content.dropboxapi.com/2/* — to upload and download backup archives. What is sent: your Dropbox app key and secret provided by you, the refresh/access token, backup ZIP files you choose to upload, and request metadata such as paths, filenames, and sizes. When: only when you start OAuth connection from the settings page, run a backup that has Dropbox selected as a destination, or browse, restore, or delete remote backups stored in Dropbox. Provider terms: Dropbox Terms of Service and Dropbox Privacy Policy. Amazon S3 and S3-compatible services (including Cloudflare R2) (optional, opt-in) If you configure an S3-compatible remote destination, the plugin contacts the endpoint you specify in the destination settings. Endpoints used: AWS S3 endpoints such as https://s3. .amazonaws.com and https:// .s3. .amazonaws.com, Cloudflare R2 endpoints such as https:// .r2.cloudflarestorage.com, or the custom S3-compatible endpoint URL you enter. What is sent: your access key ID, the SigV4-signed request, the backup ZIP file you choose to upload, and request metadata such as bucket, object key, and size. Your secret access key is used locally to sign requests and is not sent as plain text. When: only when you test the connection, run a backup that has the S3 destination selected, or browse, restore, or delete remote backups stored in the bucket. Provider terms: depend on the provider you configure. For AWS, see AWS Service Terms and AWS Privacy Notice. For S3-compatible providers, see the terms and privacy policy of the provider you choose. FTP and SFTP servers (optional, opt-in) If you configure an FTP or SFTP destination, the plugin connects to the server details you enter in the destination settings. Endpoints used: the FTP or SFTP host, port, and path entered by you. What is sent: the credentials or key details you configure, backup ZIP files you choose to upload, and request metadata required to list, upload, download, or delete files. When: only when you test the connection, run a backup that has the FTP/SFTP destination selected, or browse, restore, or delete remote backups stored on that server. Provider terms: depend on the FTP/SFTP server or hosting provider you choose. Webhooks (optional, opt-in) If you configure one or more webhook URLs in the scheduled backup settings, the plugin sends an HTTP POST to those URLs when a scheduled backup completes, depending on your notification settings. Endpoints used: any webhook URL you enter in the settings. What is sent: a small JSON payload containing the site URL, backup name, backup type, result status, and timestamp. No credentials, database content, or backup archive content is sent in the webhook payload. When: only when a scheduled backup task with a webhook configured finishes. Provider terms: depend on the third-party endpoint you enter. The plugin authors are not affiliated with any specific webhook provider. Site-to-site migration Connect API (optional, opt-in) If you enable the built-in Connect API and use the Push/Pull migration feature, this WordPress site exchanges data with another WordPress site that you control. Endpoints used: /wp-json/stifbt/v1/connect, /wp-json/stifbt/v1/push, and /wp-json/stifbt/v1/pull on the remote site URL you enter manually. What is sent: a shared secret generated by you and, for Push/Pull operations, the migration ZIP package containing the data you chose to migrate. When: only when you test the connection or start a Push/Pull migration from the migration screen. Provider terms: not applicable; the remote endpoint is another WordPress site under your control. No third-party service is involved.

The UpdraftPlus Backup & Migration Plugin is trusted by the WordPress community to backup, restore and migrate their WordPress websites. UpdraftPlus is actively installed on more than 3 million websites around the world. Backup with UpdraftPlus UpdraftPlus is the world’s highest ranking and most popular scheduled backup and migration plugin. Backup to your preferred storage location and restore in just three clicks. Backup to Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3 (or compatible), Rackspace Cloud, FTP, DreamObjects, Openstack Swift or email. The paid version also allows you to backup to Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Backblaze B2, SFTP, SCP, pCloud, WebDAV or UpdraftVault, our integrated storage option for UpdraftPlus. Backup manually or schedule to run every 2, 4, 8 or 12 hours, daily, weekly, monthly or fortnightly. Restore with UpdraftPlus Your WordPress website is vulnerable. Your site may get hacked. Something could go wrong with an update or your server could crash. You might need to reverse a change made or a mistake caused by human error. Whatever the reason, you can restore your WordPress website in just a few clicks with UpdraftPlus. Choose which components to restore (e.g. plugins, themes, database etc.), click again to restore, then click again to return to the main screen. Migrate with UpdraftPlus It’s easy to migrate your WordPress website to another web host, server or domain with this free version of UpdraftPlus. To migrate, simply download your database, plugins, themes etc. from the source site, then upload them into your destination site. When migrating, a built-in search-and-replace engine identifies old strings and replaces these to reflect the new location. UpdraftPlus saves you time and reduces the risk of broken links or missing files associated with manual migrations. Why UpdraftPlus? Writing a reliable backup and migration plugin that ‘just works’ consistently across millions of different WordPress deployments is hard. UpdraftPlus is relied upon to do exactly that. We’re trusted and actively deployed on more websites around the world than any other WordPress backup and migration plugin. UpdraftPlus: Backs up, migrates and restores Offers a huge number of remote storage locations Allows you to schedule backups, so you can ‘set and forget’ Is comprehensive and easy to use Is proven to work on over 3 million sites. UpdraftPlus Premium The free version of UpdraftPlus will back up and migrate your website perfectly well. However if you need more features and options you can purchase our Premium version. Backup and Migrate with UpdraftPlus Premium, and: Get automatic backups before updates. Restore the very latest version if a WordPress or plugin update breaks your site. Backup Incrementally. Changes are added to the master, saving server resources vs repeatedly backing up in full. Get more remote storage options including Microsoft OneDrive, SFTP, Microsoft Azure, WebDAV, Google Cloud, SCP, Backblaze and pCloud. Get 1GB of integrated storage with UpdraftVault for 99.999% reliability, redundancy and scalability. Get more control over how many backups are stored in a specified interval. Restore from other backup plugins including BackWPup, BackupWordPress, Simple Backups and more. Run backups at set times e.g. during periods of low traffic. Backup to more than one location for added protection. Get detailed reports. Includes cryptographic checksums so you can verify the integrity of the backup files and more. Get Premium migration. Migrating to the destination site is more direct and can be done from the source site. Get Multisite / multi-network compatibility. Backup non-WP files and databases e.g. tables belonging to your e-commerce store or customisations to WordPress core. Get database encryption. Manage your backups and migrations from the WP-CLI. Get Premium Support. Find out more on our comparison page. UpdraftPlus Premium is available for purchase here. Managing multiple websites? UpdraftCentral is a powerful remote control dashboard for WordPress that allows you to manage your backups, as well as updates, users, pages, posts, plugins and themes from one central location. Choose between: UpdraftCentral (free, self-hosted) UpdraftCentral Premium (paid-for, self-hosted) UpdraftCentral Cloud (paid-for, fully-hosted) Optimize your sites centrally by combining the power of WP-Optimize and UpdraftCentral or manage your backups centrally by combining the power of UpdraftPlus with UpdraftCentral. Need to create a temporary clone of your site? UpdraftClone makes it quick and easy to create a temporary sandbox for changes you want to try out. Simply select the versions of WordPress and PHP that you want, and we’ll do the rest. More about UpdraftClone The full suite of plugins from Team Updraft and friends UpdraftPlus. Backup, migrate and restore. Rated 5* on the plugin directory and trusted by more than 3 million WordPress website owner WP-Optimize. Clean the database, compress images and caching. Optimize your WordPress website. 5* user rating. 1 million + active installs. All-In-One Security (AIOS). Secure your WordPress website. Comprehensive, feature rich and easy to use. 5* user rating and 1 million + active installs. WP Overnight. Quality Extensions for your WooCommerce store. 5* rated invoicing, order and product management, customer management solutions and more. Easy Updates Manager. Take control of updates. Lots of features for free, and a Premium version with even more – over 300,000 users. Internal Link Juicer.Boost your SEO. Automate internal links within your WordPress website. Save time and rank higher in the search engines. For other useful, free plugins see our lead developer’s profile, here. Are you multilingual? Can you translate? Do you want to help people that speak your language to backup, migrate and restore their WordPress websites? The UpdraftPlus backup, migration and restoration plugin is ready and waiting. The translation process is easy, and web-based – please go here for instructions: https://updraftplus.com/translate/. Or, if you’re already an expert WordPress translator, just pick out the .pot file from the wp-content/plugins/updraftplus/languages/ directory – if you scan for translatable strings manually, then you need to get these functions: _x(), __(), _e(), _ex(), log_e(). Many thanks to our existing translators. License Copyright 2011-24 David Anderson This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA Non-English translators are provided by volunteers, and wordpress.org does not give plugin developers control over their translations; thus relying on them is at your own risk; UpdraftPlus cannot guarantee that translations from the original English are accurate. We recognise and thank those mentioned at https://updraftplus.com/acknowledgements/ for code and/or libraries used and/or modified under the terms of their open source licences.