Backup and disaster protection is something that most bloggers don’t do enough of it. They think it will never happen to them. However, we all know better. Disaster happens and it’s something you should prepare for. This is especially true if your blog makes money. There are many ways to backup and protect your WordPress blog and I’ve tried most of them. Out of all of them, the best solution by far is VaultPress.
Made By The Makers of WordPress
Why is VaultPress the ultimate WordPress protection tool? For one, it’s made by the makers of WordPress. Who better understand the needs of WordPress than WordPress itself? VaultPress does more than just backup a copy of your WordPress database. It backs up your entire blog. This means your plugins, dashboard, themes, comments, and post revisions are all safeguarded and ready to be restored. Backups are saved to the Automattic grid (over 1,200 servers in three data centers) that serves over 16 million WordPress.com blogs and 270 million monthly visitors.
As you would expect from WordPress, setting up VaultPress is super easy. Simply install the VaultPress plugin and you’re pretty much ready to go. VaultPress works in the background and will give you peace of mind knowing that your blog has the best protection available. Unlike other backup tools that use a schedule backup, VaultPress is always working. Whenever I write a new blog post or a reader writes a new comment, VaultPress will back it up on the fly. There is a real-time status display that shows what VaultPress is doing at all times.
The Bad News – It’s Not Free
VaultPress is a WordPress premium service. Currently, there are two plans available: Basic and Premium. They cost $15 a month and $40 a month respectively. The only difference between the plans is the premium plan has security monitoring, which scans your files every night for potential threats or exploits.
If your blog makes no money, playing for a backup service, no matter how good, can be hard to justify. However, if you have a money-making blog, paying $15 or $40 a month is cheap insurance. The price includes a concierge service. The concierge can assist you with initial setup, restoring your files, and any needs in between.
More Bad News – Even If You Want To Pay, You Still May Not Get It
VaultPress is in beta right now and open only to approved beta testers. Even if you want to pay for the service, you can’t. You need to apply for a “Golden Ticket.” If VaultPress thinks you are worthy, they will give you the privilege to pay them. If they deem you not worthy, then you’ll have to wait until VaultPress comes out of beta, at which time, the price will go up to $20 and $50 per month. Only WordPress and Apple can get away with this kind of pricing scheme!
I’m not going to get into a debate over charging bloggers to be beta testers (if you want to get into it in the comments, go for it). If VaultPress can get away with it, I say more power to them. What I can tell you is VaultPress is an extremely powerful backup solution, the best I’ve used. If you really care about protecting your WordPress blog from disaster, then good luck getting your Golden Ticket.