Back up and restore your web hosting account
Keep your own copies of your hosting account: download full and partial backups in cPanel or use Plesk's Backup Manager, and restore files, databases and email.
- Beginner
- 15 min read
- Updated
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We back up hosting accounts weekly and monthly at no extra cost. Still, a copy of your own is the one you control: stored away from the server, kept as long as you like, ready to move. This guide shows how to make and restore backups in cPanel and Plesk. For the general rules (3-2-1), see backup strategy.
Before you start
- Check your disk usage in the panel: an account at its quota may fail to create a backup.
- Decide where you keep copies: your computer, a cloud drive or object storage, ideally two places.
Step 1: Create and download a backup
cPanel
Open Backup:
- Full Backup: generates an archive of the whole account (files, databases, email, settings). cPanel creates it in the background and lets you download it when it is ready.
- Partial backups: download the Home Directory, each MySQL database and the email forwarders and filters separately. These are the ones you can restore yourself in cPanel.
Plesk
Open Backup Manager (from Websites & Domains or your account menu), select Back Up, choose what to include (for example websites, databases and mail) and start it. When it finishes, select the backup in the list and Download it. Plesk offers to protect the file with a password; keep that password safe.
Verify: the downloaded file opens (a .tar.gz for cPanel, a Plesk backup file for Plesk) and has a plausible size.
Step 2: Restore what you need
cPanel
In Backup, under the Restore headings, select Choose File under the matching type (home directory, MySQL database, or email forwarders and filters), choose your partial backup file and Upload.
A full backup cannot be restored automatically in cPanel. To restore a single site from it, unpack the archive on your computer and upload the files from its homedir/public_html folder with the File Manager, or open a ticket and we restore the account.
Plesk
Open Backup Manager, use Upload for a backup file from your computer, then select the backup and choose what to restore: everything or selected objects. Restoring overwrites the existing objects with the same name, and changes made after the backup are lost.
Verify: the site, the database content and the mailboxes are as expected.
Step 3: Restore from our backups
If you have no copy of your own, or you need an older state, open a ticket and choose the hosting service as Related Service. Tell us the date to restore from and what you need: the whole account, the site files, a database or email. See open a support ticket.
Troubleshooting
The full backup never finishes. The account is at its disk quota. Delete old files or email and try again, or download partial backups.
The partial restore of a database fails. The file is not a SQL dump of a single database. Import it with phpMyAdmin instead; see databases and phpMyAdmin.
The restored site shows errors. The restored files and database come from different dates, or the PHP version differs. Restore both from the same backup and check PHP version and settings.
Next steps
- Recovering from an attack: clean a hacked website.
- Your overall plan: backup strategy.
Frequently asked questions
Do you back up my hosting account?
Yes. Hosting accounts are backed up at no extra cost. To restore from those backups, open a ticket with the date and what you need back.
Why should I keep my own backup as well?
Your own copy is under your control, stored away from the server and available at any time, which matters if you need an older version or want to move to another host.
Can I restore a full cPanel backup myself?
Not in cPanel: cPanel restores full backups only in WHM, so open a ticket. Partial backups of the home directory, databases and email settings can be restored in cPanel's Backup page.
How often should I download a backup?
Before every larger change (updates, new plugins, a redesign) and regularly, for example weekly, for sites that change often.