Best plugins to Backup (and Restore) a WordPress database


I tried some plugins promising that they will backup a WordPress database, only to discover how many problems they were able to cause. I need a plugin first of all able to create a reliable backup, then zip it and put it somewhere on the server, even restore it, if I need a restoration.

The plugin that worked best for me was WordPress Database Manager (wp-dbmanager). It can also email the backups, but I’m not interested in that. Another great (for me) option is that WP DBManager will backup only the database – not any files you may have uploaded at your domain.

Unfortunately WP DBManager did not repair the overhead of my database tables, as it claimed it could do, a task that remains assigned to PHPmyAdmin. However, I was not interested in a repair or optimize plugin — just a backup and restore, and this is what WP DBManager does best.

Another great plugin is WP Database Backup. It lets you exclude tables and it creates automatically scheduled backups you can store on your server and restore anytime.