Why You Need to Backup Your Website

Running a website comes with many responsibilities—but one of the most important is making sure your data is protected. Whether you’re a small business owner, a developer managing client sites, or a webmaster overseeing critical infrastructure, having a reliable website backup strategy can mean the difference between recovery and disaster.

No matter how hard you work to secure your site—keeping software up to date, using strong passwords, enabling firewalls—you’re still vulnerable to cyberattacks. That’s not fear-mongering to sell you something. It’s a fact. And when the worst-case scenario becomes reality, there’s one thing that offers real peace of mind: having recent, validated backups.

In this post, we’ll walk you through the different types of website backups, why they matter, and how to implement them effectively. Most importantly, we’ll explain why it’s your responsibility to make sure backups are in place—no matter who your hosting provider is.

Types of Website Backups

A reliable backup should include everything you’d need to restore your website in the event of server failure—site files, databases, email accounts, and other essential configurations. But not all backups are created equal. Each type provides a different level of protection, storage efficiency, and recovery speed.

Here are the most common types of website backups:

1. Full Backups

Full backups capture everything: your website files, databases, email, and settings. These are typically saved as compressed archive files—like zip, tar, or 7z—which makes it easy to restore the full site or extract individual components if needed.

This is the most comprehensive backup option and the best choice for full recovery. However, full backups can be storage-heavy and take longer to complete, especially for larger websites.

2. Incremental Backups

Incremental backups only save the changes made since the last backup (full or incremental). They’re efficient and quick, especially for websites with frequent updates. However, restoring from incremental backups can be slower since multiple backup sets need to be reassembled.

3. Differential Backups

This type captures all changes made since the last full backup. It strikes a balance between speed and comprehensiveness, though it can still become large over time if not paired with routine full backups.

4. Database-Only Backups

Perfect for WordPress and other CMS-driven websites, these backups preserve your content, settings, and user data—but not your theme files, media, or plugins. Pair this with file-only backups for full coverage.

5. File-Only Backups

These backups store your static files like images, themes, and uploads, but skip the database. They’re helpful when content doesn’t change often or when paired with database backups.

6. Offsite & Cloud Backups

Storing backups remotely (e.g., in the cloud or on external servers) ensures you can recover your site even if your hosting environment fails. This is critical for disaster recovery planning.

Why Website Backups Are Essential

If you’ve never had to restore a website, it’s easy to underestimate the value of a good backup. But when something goes wrong, a recent backup can be a lifesaver.

The last thing you want is to have to rebuild a website from scratch. This could take weeks or even months. Meanwhile, your sales, search engine optimization (SEO) rankings, and branding will suffer.

Protect Against Site Failures

Mistakes happen. A misconfigured plugin, accidental file deletion, or failed update can break your site. A reliable backup gives you a quick way to roll back and restore service.

Recover from Malware or Hacks

Security incidents can happen to any website—big or small. Even major platforms like Amazon have experienced unexpected downtime. In 2013, the company went offline for just a few minutes and reportedly lost nearly $2 million in that short window. Now consider your own eCommerce site. If something were to prevent customers from completing purchases, how long would it take you to notice and fix it? Without uptime monitoring or regular UX audits, the issue could linger far longer than you’d expect.

For smaller businesses, a common threat is website defacement—when an attacker alters your site’s appearance to display a hack message or offensive content. When this happens, your priorities are clear:

• Restore a clean, working version of your website as soon as possible
• Identify how the attacker gained access to make the changes
• Take steps to secure the site and prevent future incidents

Let’s take WordPress as an example. It’s the world’s most popular CMS—and a common target. A successful attack could involve malicious changes to your PHP files, configuration settings, and database content. In some cases, malware may be deeply hidden in obfuscated code. Without a recent backup, your only option may be to manually search for and clean every infected file—a time-consuming and risky process.

In more severe cases like ransomware, attackers may encrypt your website files and demand payment to unlock them. Victims without backups are more likely to consider paying the ransom—hoping the attacker honors their promise. But with a verified backup, you can skip the stress and simply restore your site to a known-good state.

Every business owner should have a basic understanding of incident response. But the most effective recovery plan starts with one thing: a reliable, restorable backup.

Test Changes Safely in a Staging Environment

Backups aren’t just for recovery—they’re also a powerful tool for safe development. If you’re testing a new plugin, module, or a major update like switching to PHP 8, you shouldn’t take risks on your live site. Instead, use a backup to spin up a staging environment. This non-public copy of your site gives you a controlled space to troubleshoot, test compatibility, and document changes before applying them to production. It’s a safer, more professional way to work—and a smart use of your backups.

Stay Compliant

If you collect customer data, you may be required to maintain backups for legal or regulatory reasons. This is especially important for ecommerce and financial services sites.

Minimize Downtime and Lost Revenue

Every hour your website is down can mean lost traffic, sales, and customer trust. Backups reduce recovery time and protect your bottom line.

Why Backups Are Your Responsibility

Yeah, we’re going there first. We all know we should read Terms of Service (ToS), especially policies covering data liability and personally identifiable information (PII). Sometimes, we don’t. For major corporations with ToS too complex for the average reader, there are websites like tl;drLegal to simplify things. Our backup liability policy is straight-forward:

While InMotion Hosting maintains the backups for clients choosing to subscribe to Backup Manager, InMotion Hosting assumes no liability as to the availability or completeness of client data backups. Each client is expected and encouraged to maintain backup copies of their own data.

Regardless of what a web hosting or cybersecurity vendor ToS states, it’s your data. Even if you use third-party services or delegate data protection through a concept known as risk transfer, it’s still your responsibility to ensure you have access to recoverable backups. The safest approach? Maintain offsite or local copies—ideally stored on a physical device you control. That extra step can make all the difference in a crisis.

At InMotion Hosting, we provide tools and services to make backups easy—but the decision to use them, and how you use them, is up to you. Here’s why:

Hosting Providers Offer Tools—Not Guarantees

Even with automatic backup features or add-ons, no provider can guarantee backups will be available exactly when you need them unless you’ve taken proactive steps to configure and monitor them.

Shared Hosting Has Limits

If you’re on a shared hosting plan, automatic backups may be limited in frequency or retention. These defaults may not be enough for your business-critical needs.

You Own the Data

Your website and customer data are valuable digital assets. Just as you wouldn’t leave your business uninsured, you shouldn’t leave your site unprotected.

How to Implement a Reliable Backup Strategy

Here are a few best practices to ensure your website is fully protected:

Automate Your Backups

Use tools like Backup Manager (available with many InMotion Hosting plans), cPanel backup utilities, or WordPress plugins like TotalUpkeep and UpdraftPlus. Automating your backups ensures consistency and reduces human error.

• WordPress, Drupal, and other CMSs have user-friendly backup features or integrations
• cPanel has Backup Wizard and automated Backup Configuration on managed VPS and dedicated server hosting
• Linux systems include zip, tar, and cron command-line interface (CLI) programs to schedule backups in the terminal
• Web applications and server administration software may have ways to easily connect to various cloud storage services
• Web hosting providers may offer an automated backup solution similar to our Backup Manager offering

Back Up Frequently

Your backup schedule should match how often your content changes. For example:

• Daily for active blogs, ecommerce stores, or dynamic sites
• Weekly for more static websites

Store Backups Offsite

Never store your only backup on the same server as your website. Use cloud storage (like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3), an external server, or InMotion Hosting’s offsite backup options.

Test Your Restoration Process

A backup is only useful if it works. Schedule occasional tests to ensure your restore process works as expected.

Keep Multiple Versions

Don’t rely on a single copy. Retain several versions of your site to protect against corrupted data or undetected infections.

Final Thoughts

Backups aren’t just a technical afterthought—they’re a cornerstone of your website’s stability and security. Whether you’re recovering from a cyberattack, testing in a staging environment, or rolling back a bad update, a recent backup can be your safety net when things go wrong.

It’s ultimately your responsibility to maintain backups that match your site’s needs. Hosting providers can offer tools and support, but only you can decide when, how, and where those backups happen. Even having a monthly backup is better than nothing. The approach you take—manual or automated, local or offsite—depends on your workflow, your website’s complexity, and your risk tolerance.

At InMotion Hosting, we’re here to help. Whether you use our built-in solutions or prefer a custom setup, our team is ready to guide you.

Take control of your backups—because no one else will do it for you.