HOW TO BACKUP WORDPRESS ON HOSTINGER: COMPLETE GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
I’ll be completely honest – I learned about backups the hard way. One day my site went down unexpectedly, and I had no backup. That was a painful lesson.
Now I backup everything automatically. It takes 10 minutes to set up, and then it just runs in the background. If something goes wrong, I can restore my entire WordPress site in minutes.
The good news? Hostinger makes WordPress backups incredibly simple. You don’t need technical skills or coding knowledge. In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how I backup WordPress on Hostinger, step by step.
WHY BACKUPS ARE YOUR INSURANCE POLICY
Before I explain how to backup, let me tell you why it matters so much.
Your WordPress site contains everything you’ve built – posts, comments, settings, user data, all of it. Lose that, and you lose your business.
Things that can go wrong:
A plugin conflict breaks your site
A hacked website forces you offline – To prevent this, make sure to implement [WordPress security best practices]
A database corruption wipes your content
A hosting issue deletes your files
A user accidentally deletes important data
I’ve seen websites completely destroyed by just one of these issues. The difference between a disaster and a minor hiccup? Having a backup.
Here’s the thing – backups aren’t complicated. They’re just copies of your entire WordPress site saved somewhere safe. If something breaks, you restore the backup and you’re back online in minutes.
This is why I’m obsessed with backups now. After that first incident, I never want to experience that panic again.
WHY HOSTINGER BACKUPS ARE DIFFERENT
Hostinger actually includes automatic backups on most plans. This is huge – many hosting providers don’t offer this.
But here’s what I learned: relying only on Hostinger’s built-in backups isn’t enough. You need backup redundancy. That means multiple copies in multiple locations.
My approach now is simple:
Use Hostinger’s built-in automatic backups as a safety net
Add a backup plugin for extra redundancy
Store offsite backups in cloud storage
This way, even if something catastrophic happens to Hostinger’s servers, I still have my data safe elsewhere.
STEP 1: ENABLE HOSTINGER’S AUTOMATIC BACKUPS
First, let’s use Hostinger’s built-in backup system. This is the easiest starting point.
Log into your Hostinger control panel (hpanel.hostinger.com).
Navigate to Website → WordPress → Backups.
You should see a “Backups” or “Automatic Backups” option.
On Hostinger, automatic backups are usually enabled by default. But check to make sure.
Look for a toggle or checkbox that says “Enable Automatic Backups” or “Auto Backup”.
Click it if it’s not already enabled.
Choose your backup frequency. I personally recommend:
Daily backups if you update your site frequently
Weekly backups if you update less often
Hostinger will show you where backups are stored and how many previous versions you can keep. Take note of this – it matters if you need to restore an old version.
That’s it. Hostinger now automatically backs up your WordPress site.
If you haven’t installed WordPress yet, check out my [How to Install WordPress on Hostinger] guide first.
STEP 2: VERIFY HOSTINGER’S BACKUP SETTINGS
Don’t just set it and forget it. Verify the settings actually took effect.
Check the backup schedule – make sure it says “Daily” or whatever you selected.
Look for a “Last Backup” timestamp. It should show a recent date and time.
If it shows “Never,” that means backups aren’t actually running. Contact Hostinger support – I’ve had to do this before and they fix it quickly.
I personally check this once a month just to be paranoid. Better safe than sorry.
STEP 3: INSTALL A BACKUP PLUGIN FOR REDUNDANCY
Hostinger’s backups are great, but I don’t rely on them alone. I use a backup plugin for extra copies.
My personal choice is UpdraftPlus. I’ve used it on multiple Hostinger sites and it works flawlessly.
To install UpdraftPlus:
Go to your WordPress dashboard.
Navigate to Plugins → Add New.
Search for “UpdraftPlus”.
Click “Install Now” and then “Activate”.
Once activated, go to Settings → UpdraftPlus Backups.
I recommend configuring these settings:
Backup Schedule: Daily (or Weekly if you prefer)
Backup Retention: Keep last 4 backups (gives you options if you need to restore an older version)
Cloud Storage: This is important. Choose between Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or others. I use Google Drive because it’s free and reliable.
Once you connect your cloud storage account, UpdraftPlus will automatically backup to the cloud every day.
STEP 4: CONNECT CLOUD STORAGE
This is crucial. Cloud backups mean your data is safe even if Hostinger’s servers explode (unlikely, but possible).
In UpdraftPlus settings, click “Backup to [your chosen service]”.
Select your cloud service (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc).
Authorize UpdraftPlus to access your cloud account.
UpdraftPlus will now automatically upload backups to your cloud storage.
I personally use Google Drive because:
Free storage (15GB)
Reliable and trustworthy
Easy to access my backups anytime
Works perfectly with UpdraftPlus
STEP 5: RUN YOUR FIRST MANUAL BACKUP
Don’t wait for the automatic schedule. Run a backup right now to make sure everything works.
In UpdraftPlus settings, click “Backup Now”.
Wait for it to complete. This might take 5-10 minutes depending on your site size.
Once it’s done, you’ll see “Backup completed” message.
Check your cloud storage to verify the backup actually uploaded. Log into your Google Drive or Dropbox and look for an UpdraftPlus folder.
If it’s there, you’re golden. Your backups are working.
STEP 6: TEST YOUR RESTORE PROCESS
Here’s something most people don’t do – they never test if their backups actually work for restores.
I learned this lesson too. I had backups for months, then when I needed to restore, the backup was corrupted. Scary.
So test your backup now while everything is fine.
In UpdraftPlus, click on your latest backup.
Select “Restore” (don’t actually restore, just click the button to see the option).
This tells you that your backup is valid and can be restored if needed.
STEP 7: SET UP BACKUP NOTIFICATIONS
You want to know if your backups are working. Set up email notifications.
In UpdraftPlus settings, enable “Email notification”.
Enter your email address.
Now you’ll get an email after every backup confirming it worked.
I get these emails daily and it gives me peace of mind.
STEP 8: BACKUP STRATEGY MOVING FORWARD
Here’s my personal backup strategy that I recommend:
Hostinger automatic daily backups (local storage)
UpdraftPlus daily backups to Google Drive (cloud storage)
Manual backup once a month to an external drive (just to be extra careful)
This triple redundancy means I’m protected against almost anything.
The monthly manual backup takes me 5 minutes – I download the backup from UpdraftPlus and save it to my external hard drive. Sounds paranoid? Maybe. But it saved me once when I had a catastrophic failure.
WHEN YOU ACTUALLY NEED TO RESTORE
If something breaks on your site, restoring is simple.
Go to UpdraftPlus in your WordPress dashboard.
Find the backup you want to restore.
Click “Restore”.
Confirm (yes, you really want to restore).
UpdraftPlus will restore your entire WordPress site to that point in time.
This usually takes 2-5 minutes. Then your site is back online with all your data intact.
I’ve had to restore twice – once from a plugin conflict and once from a hacking attempt. Both times, UpdraftPlus saved the day. My site was back online with zero data loss.
WHY HOSTINGER USERS SHOULD BACK UP EVEN MORE
Hostinger shared hosting means you’re sharing server resources with other sites. While Hostinger is reliable, shared hosting does have slightly higher risk than dedicated hosting.
That’s why I always have multiple backups for my Hostinger sites. It’s not paranoia – it’s protection.
Think of it like insurance. You don’t expect to use it, but you’re glad it’s there when you need it.
BEYOND BACKUPS – ALSO SECURE YOUR SITE
While you’re protecting your data with backups, also protect your site from being hacked in the first place. If you haven’t already, read my guide on WordPress security best practices. Prevention is better than restoration.
Also, if you haven’t optimized your Hostinger setup yet, make sure you’ve installed the essential WordPress plugins for Hostinger.https://digitallab365.com/best-wordpress-plugins-for-hostinger-2026-top-picks-for-optimal-performance/ The right plugins protect and speed up your site while backups protect your data.https://digitallab365.com/how-to-speed-up-wordpress-on-hostinger-complete-guide/
FINAL THOUGHTS
Backups are boring but essential. They’re the difference between a minor problem and a catastrophe.
My recommendation – set this up today:
Enable Hostinger’s automatic backups
Install UpdraftPlus
Connect cloud storage
Run one test backup
Verify it works
That’s it. Your WordPress site on Hostinger is now protected. You can sleep soundly knowing that if something goes wrong, you can restore everything in minutes.
I can’t stress this enough – backups have saved my sites multiple times. The 10 minutes it takes to set this up is the best investment you’ll make in your WordPress site.
Do it today. Your future self will thank you when you never have to experience the panic of a site going down with no backup.