Backup, restore and move a WordPress site without touching the command line

Amanur Rahman Backup & Restore packs your database and your wp-content folder (uploads, themes, plugins) into a single .zip file. Restore that file on the same site, or on a new host, a staging copy or a new domain, and the site comes back as it was. Work is done in many small steps, so big sites are not stopped by your host’s script time limit.

Free vs. paid, plainly:

Free: create backups of any size, download them, delete them, and restore backups up to 500 MB. Both ways of restoring work — upload a .zip in the browser, or copy it into the backups folder by FTP and restore from the list.
Paid add-on: the separate Unlimited Restore add-on removes the 500 MB restore limit. Install it next to this plugin and backups of any size can be restored.

The limit applies to restoring only. You see it on the Restore screen before you start, not after you have made a backup. If your site’s backups are bigger than 500 MB, check this before you rely on the free version.

Why use it?

One-click backup: database and wp-content into one .zip, with an option to leave out cache folders
One-click restore: from an uploaded file or from a backup already in the list
Made for large sites: archives above 4 GB are handled (ZIP64), big files and big database tables are processed in pieces, and progress is saved on the server
Safe to interrupt: lose your connection or close the tab and press “Try Now” to continue from where it stopped — nothing starts over
Moves sites between addresses: restoring onto a different domain rewrites the old address everywhere in the database, including serialized settings, without corrupting them
The live site is not left half-restored: the database is loaded into side tables first and switched in at the very end
Plain explanations when something fails: real errors with the file, line and table, a check of the restored site, and exact messages for missing files, a full disk or an expired login

How to move a site — 1-2-3:

Install the plugin on the old site and on the new one
Create a backup on the old site and download the .zip
Restore it on the new site: upload the .zip, or copy it to the backups folder by FTP and press Restore

For developers:

Filters: ocwpbr_restore_size_limit (restore limit in bytes, 0 = unlimited), ocwpbr_exclude_paths (leave paths out of backups), ocwpbr_rewrite_urls (turn the address rewrite off), ocwpbr_url_step_seconds
Action: ocwpbr_loaded — add-ons hook in here instead of editing core files
Add-ons can add their own classes in includes/pro/

What this plugin does not do (yet): scheduled backups, cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive and similar), multisite networks, WP-CLI commands. Back up before you restore, and keep a copy off the server.

Compatibility: WordPress 6.2 or newer, PHP 7.2 or newer. Works with MySQL and MariaDB, including converting MySQL 8 collations for MariaDB and different table prefixes.

Support and contact:

Plugin page and add-on
Author website
Please report security problems privately to the author, not in the public forum.

Privacy: the plugin collects no personal data and sends nothing to the author or to any third party. The only network request it makes is to your own site’s address, after a restore, to check that the restored site loads.