The BackupBuddy alternative that's faster and modern
BackupBuddy is now Solid Backups, a paid-only, tiered plugin. SafeGuard is the modern alternative: faster on both phases, everything included on every plan, with staging and push-to-live built in rather than sold up the ladder.
Why people move to SafeGuard
It is genuinely faster
Backups and restores that don't crawl on large sites. SafeGuard is top-ranked on our public benchmark, backing up faster than six of the eight plugins tested and restoring faster than five.
Everything is included
Incremental, migration, multisite, staging and 20+ storage providers come on every plan. No per-feature addons or tiers to climb.
Claims you can verify
The benchmark is public and reproducible. Instead of trusting a marketing line, you can run the exact test yourself and check where each plugin lands.
SafeGuard vs BackupBuddy
BackupBuddy is a solid, popular plugin. Here is where the two differ in practice.
| Feature | SafeGuard | BackupBuddy |
|---|---|---|
| Public benchmark | Faster backup and restore | Tested, slower on both |
| Pricing model | Everything on every plan | Paid only, tiered plans |
| Scheduled backups | ||
| Cloud storage providers | 20+ included | Several |
| Incremental / real-time | Stash Live (higher tier) | |
| Site migration / clone | ||
| Multisite support | Higher tier | |
| Staging + push-to-live | ||
| Cloud relay for firewalled sites | ||
| REST API + 40+ WP-CLI commands | Limited | |
| Money-back guarantee | 14 days | Varies |
BackupBuddy is now Solid Backups (SolidWP). Comparison based on its public product tiers and the public Backup Arena benchmark. Verify anything for yourself.
Common questions
Is BackupBuddy still around?
It was rebranded to Solid Backups by SolidWP (formerly iThemes). It is still a paid-only plugin. SafeGuard is newer, measurably faster on both phases against it, with every feature on every plan.
How does SafeGuard compare to Solid Backups on speed?
On the public Backup Arena benchmark, on identical hardware and data, SafeGuard is faster than BackupBuddy on both phases, and the restore gap is the widest in the whole benchmark: 3.9s against 47.1s. The method is public so you can verify it.
Does SafeGuard include staging and migration?
Yes. Staging with push-to-live, site migration and multisite are all included on every SafeGuard plan, not gated to a higher tier.
Is there a free version of SafeGuard?
No, SafeGuard is premium only, with a 14-day money-back guarantee and a free first year for the first 50 customers.
Still weighing up the whole field? Our honest buyer's guide to the best WordPress backup plugin covers BackupBuddy alongside every other serious option, including the cases where they are the better pick.
Ready to switch?
Every feature on every plan, a 14-day money-back guarantee, and the first 50 customers get a full year free.
Get SafeGuard