Website Backup & Restore on GoSiteMe
Regular backups are your safety net against accidental deletions, hacking incidents, and failed updates. GoSiteMe makes it easy to create, schedule, and restore backups for your hosted websites.
Automated Backup Schedule
GoSiteMe automatically backs up your entire hosting account—including files, databases, email, and configurations—on a daily basis. Backups are stored in geographically separate data centers for redundancy.
| Plan | Backup Frequency | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | Daily | 7 days |
| Business | Daily + Weekly | 30 days |
| Enterprise | Daily + Weekly + Monthly | 90 days |
Creating an On-Demand Backup
- Log in to your GoSiteMe Dashboard.
- Navigate to Hosting → Backups.
- Click Backup Now.
- Select the scope: Full Account, Website Files, Databases, or Email.
- Click Generate. You will receive an email notification when the backup is ready.
Tip: Always create a manual backup before making major changes such as plugin updates, theme switches, or database schema modifications.
Downloading a Backup
From the Backups page, click the download icon next to any available backup. Backups are compressed as .tar.gz files. Store downloaded copies in a secure offsite location for additional protection.
Restoring from a Backup
- Go to Hosting → Backups → Available Backups.
- Select the date you want to restore.
- Choose Full Restore or Selective Restore.
- For selective restores, browse the backup contents and pick specific files or databases.
- Click Restore and confirm. The process typically takes 2–10 minutes depending on the size.
Using Alfred for Backups
You can manage backups by voice or chat:
- "Alfred, create a full backup of my account."
- "Alfred, restore my database from yesterday's backup."
- "Alfred, when was the last successful backup?"
Best Practices
- Verify backup integrity quarterly by performing a test restore to a staging environment.
- Use GoSiteMe's remote backup feature to replicate backups to Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage.
- Keep at least one local copy of your most recent backup on an external drive.