View and Manage Backups on InstaWP

InstaWP automatically creates daily backups of every site and stores them in a separate region from your primary data center. If the primary data center encounters an issue, your site immediately fails over to the secondary location, keeping it live and your backups safe.

In addition to automated backups, you can trigger on-demand backups at any time, and download or restore any backup directly from your InstaWP dashboard.

In this documentation, we will cover:

• View Backups
• On-Demand Backup
• Manage Backups
• Backup Schedule

InstaWP automatically creates daily backups and allows on-demand backups, storing a separate shadow copy of the live site, updated in sync, in another region. Additionally, you can download files and database backups or restore your site from a backup in case of data loss or malfunction.

Let’s get started 🚀

View Backups on InstaWP

Step 1: In your InstaWP dashboard, go to Sites and click on the site whose backups you want to view.

Step 2: In the left-hand sidebar of the site panel, click Backups. This opens the Backups & Restore screen, which lists all available backups with their date, type, file size, and database size.

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On Demand Backup

In addition to automated backups, you can manually trigger a backup at any time. This is useful before making significant changes to your site, such as updating plugins, switching themes, or running migrations.

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Step 1: From the Backups & Restore screen, click the Backup Now button in the top-right corner.

Step 2: A confirmation window will appear. Click Continue to proceed.

InstaWP will begin creating the backup immediately. Once complete, it will appear in your backup list with the type labeled On-Demand, alongside the date, file size, and database size.

It'll add a new on-deman backup with a tag Manual.

Manage Backup on InstaWP

From the Backups & Restore screen, each backup row has three action icons on the right side:

• File icon: Download the files backup
• Database icon: Download the database backup
• Three-dot menu (⋯): Create a Site and Delete

Download a Backup

You can download the files or database of any backup to your local computer.

Click the file icon to download the site files backup.

Click the database icon to download the database backup in .sql format.

The download will begin immediately.

Delete Backup

You'll get delete option for your backups. Click on the three-dot menu and select Delete icon. A confirmation window will appear.

Click Delete to confirm. The backup will be permanently removed and the slot will become available for a new on-demand backup.

Create a New Site from a Backup

You can spin up a brand new site directly from any existing backup, useful for cloning, testing a restore in a safe environment, or starting a new project from a known good state.

In the backup row you want to use, click the three-dot menu (⋯) and select Create New Site from the dropdown.

A new window will pop-up and as you click on Confirm, InstaWP will provision a new site using the files and database captured in that backup. The original site remains completely untouched.

Backup Schedule by Plan

The frequency of automated backups depends on the site plan you are on. All paid plans include 3 on-demand backup slots. To check which plan your site is on, refer to our Site Plan guide.

Updated on: 20/02/2026