Hostinger WordPress Backup: How to Set Up & Restore in 2026

Hostinger's backup system covers:

• Files: All files in your hosting account, including WordPress core, themes, plugins, and media uploads
• Databases: Full MySQL database including posts, pages, settings, and user data
• Email: Mailboxes on your hosting account

Backup frequency by plan:

• Single plan: Weekly backups, 7-day retention
• Starter plan: Weekly backups, 7-day retention
• Business plan: Daily backups, 30-day retention
• Cloud Startup: Daily backups, 30-day retention

Restoring from a Hostinger backup takes under 5 minutes:

1. Log in to hPanel → Backups (in the Files section)
2. Select the backup date you want to restore from
3. Choose what to restore: full backup, specific files, or database only
4. Click Restore — Hostinger applies the backup to your live account
5. Your site reverts to the selected restore point

You can also download backups as ZIP files for local storage. Database backups can be downloaded as .sql files and imported elsewhere.

Partial restore: If only your database was corrupted (e.g., after a plugin update), restore just the database without touching your files. This is faster and avoids overwriting recent file changes.

Relying solely on your host's backups is risky — if your account is suspended or the data center has an issue, you lose access to those backups too. Add an off-site backup layer:

1. Install UpdraftPlus from the WordPress plugin directory (free)
2. UpdraftPlus → Settings → Choose remote storage: Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, or SFTP
3. Set schedule: Files every week, Database every day (or your preferred frequency)
4. Click Save and Back Up Now to test the first backup

Now your WordPress site has two independent backup streams: Hostinger's server-side backups and UpdraftPlus sending copies to your Google Drive. Even if your hosting account disappears, you can restore from Drive.

Before updating WordPress, installing major plugins, or changing themes, create a manual backup:

From hPanel: Backups → Create Backup. This creates an on-demand backup outside the normal schedule.

From WordPress (UpdraftPlus): UpdraftPlus → Backup Now → check both 'Backup files' and 'Backup database' → Backup Now.

Creating a manual backup before making significant changes is the single best habit for WordPress site safety. It takes 2 minutes and could save days of work.

The 3-2-1 backup rule applied to WordPress on Hostinger:

• 3 copies: Live site + Hostinger backup + off-site (Google Drive)
• 2 media types: Cloud hosting + cloud storage
• 1 off-site: Off-site means a different service — Google Drive or Dropbox, not just another Hostinger server

Test your backups quarterly by restoring to a staging site to verify the restore process works and backup files aren't corrupted. A backup you've never tested is not a real backup.