# Taking a Backup

Source: https://support.kapsulehost.com/en-nz/taking-a-backup

Every site on KapsuleHost is backed up automatically once a day, and you can take a manual backup at any time. This guide covers where backups live in KPanel, how to create one on demand, what each backup captures, and how long backups are kept.

## What a Backup Includes

Every backup, automatic or manual, captures two things together:

- **Site files.** Everything in your site's directory, including WordPress core, themes, plugins, uploads, and any custom code.
- **Database.** A full snapshot of the site's database: posts, pages, settings, users, and plugin data.

Both are stored as a single restore point, so you can return the whole site to exactly the state it was in when the backup ran.

> **Warning:** Backups do not include services hosted outside KapsuleHost. A third-party payment gateway, a marketing platform, or an email provider you connect to your site holds its own data, and that data is not captured here. Export it from that service separately if you need it.

## Automatic Daily Backups

Your site is backed up once every day with no setup required. Automatic backups appear in the backup list with the type **Daily Auto**.

Every plan includes 30 days of retention. After 30 days a backup is permanently removed unless you have extended retention on the site (see below).

## Where Backups Live in KPanel

Backups belong to a site, so you reach them from the site rather than from the main menu:

1. Sign in to [KPanel](https://kpanel.kapsulehost.com).
2. Click **Websites** in the left sidebar, then click the site you want.
3. In the site's own menu, open **Backups**, then **Backups**.

The direct address is `/websites/<site-id>/backups`.

> **Note:** There is no **Backups** entry in the main KPanel sidebar. Backups sit one level down, inside a specific site.

![The Backups page inside a site in KPanel](https://support.kapsulehost.com/help/screenshots/taking-a-backup.2b4f7795.webp)

## Creating a Manual Backup

Take a manual backup before any change that could break the site: a WordPress core update, a plugin or theme install, a PHP version change, a theme file edit, or a database change.

1. Open the site's **Backups** page using the steps above.
2. Click **Create Backup** at the top right of the page. If the site has no backups yet, the same button appears in the middle of the empty page.
3. The new backup appears at the top of the list straight away with the status **Pending**, then **Running**.
4. The list refreshes itself every few seconds while a backup is in progress. Most backups finish within a few minutes, depending on how large the site is.
5. When the status reads **Complete**, the backup is a usable restore point.

> **Tip:** There is no naming step: a manual backup is identified by its date and time, and by the type **Manual** in the Type column. If you want a note attached to a change, take the backup immediately before you make the change so the timestamps line up.

## Checking That a Backup Worked

The backup list has five columns:

| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Date | When the backup started, in your local time |
| Type | Manual, Daily Auto, or a safety backup taken automatically before a restore or a staging push |
| Size | How large the backup is, in MB |
| Status | Pending, Running, Complete, or Failed |
| Offsite | A filled cloud icon means a second copy has been written to offsite storage |

A **Complete** status with a size is all you need. If the status reads **Failed**, a **Contact Support** button appears on that row: use it, and include the date and time of the failed backup.

## Looking Inside a Backup

You do not have to restore a whole site to get one file back. Click **Browse files** on any completed backup to open its file browser and pull out individual files.

## Restoring a Backup

Click **Restore** on a completed backup to start a restore. KapsuleHost restores to a [staging copy](https://support.kapsulehost.com/en-nz/staging-environments) by default so you can check the result before anything touches your live site. The full walkthrough is in [Restoring From a Backup](https://support.kapsulehost.com/en-nz/restoring-from-backup).

## How Long Backups Are Kept

| Retention | Kept for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Included with every plan | 30 days | Included |
| Extended 90-Day | 90 days | US$3.00 / NZ$5.00 / ⃃ 11.00 / AU$5.00 / CA$5.00 / CN¥21.00 / €3.00 / £2.50 / ¥450 / S$4.00/mo |
| Annual | 365 days | US$9.00 / NZ$15.00 / ⃃ 33.00 / AU$16.00 / CA$13.00 / CN¥63.00 / €9.00 / £7.50 / ¥1,350 / S$12.00/mo |
| Compliance 7-Year | 7 years | US$29.00 / NZ$49.00 / ⃃ 109.00 / AU$55.00 / CA$42.00 / CN¥206.00 / €29.00 / £25.00 / ¥4,500 / S$40.00/mo |

Extended retention is bought from the **Backup Retention** panel at the bottom of the same **Backups** page. Pick a tier, click **Upgrade to** that tier, and finish at checkout. The panel then shows the active tier and how long backups are now kept, with a **Change tier** button and a **Cancel upgrade** button. The same tiers are also listed under **Store**, then **Backup**.

> **Warning:** There is no **Add-ons** section under Billing. If you go looking there for backup retention you will not find it: extended retention is set on the site's own Backups page, or bought from the Store.

Once a backup passes the retention window it is deleted permanently and cannot be recovered. If you are cancelling a site or a plan, download anything you still need first.

## Point-in-Time Recovery

Daily snapshots restore a site to the state it was in when that day's backup ran. WordPress and WooCommerce sites with a managed database can go finer than that with [point-in-time recovery](https://support.kapsulehost.com/en-nz/site-pitr): open **Backups**, then **Point-in-time recovery** in the site's left menu, to enable continuous recovery and restore to a chosen minute. Retention is up to 30 days.

## Asking Kora to Take a Backup

You can ask Kora, the assistant inside KPanel, instead of clicking through:

> "Take a backup of my site before I update my plugins."

Kora triggers the backup and confirms when it finishes. It appears in the same list on the site's Backups page.

## Storage and Housekeeping

Backups count towards your plan's storage. Large sites, especially stores with a lot of product images, can produce backups of several gigabytes. If you are close to your storage limit, download and remove older manual backups you no longer need.

If a backup has not appeared five minutes after you started it, or a backup keeps failing, contact us at [support@kapsulehost.com](mailto:support@kapsulehost.com) with the site name and the time you tried.