External backups

Backups for WordPress sites we do not host

Back up any WordPress site, wherever it lives, to storage we run on Cloudflare R2. Connect it with our connector plugin or over SSH, choose a size tier, and your site is protected somewhere other than the server it runs on. Connect over SSH and restoring is one click.

What it is

A standalone backup product for WordPress sites hosted anywhere. You do not need to be a hosting customer, move your site or change anything about how it is served. You connect the site, we take copies of it, and those copies live on infrastructure that has nothing to do with the server your site runs on.

That last part is the whole point. A backup stored on the same machine as the site protects you from your own mistakes and from very little else. Keeping copies somewhere separate is what makes them useful on the day the host, the disk or the account itself is the problem.

A WordPress site connected to an off-site backup store

What you get

Written plainly, including the limitation that matters most.

Any host, not just ours

Works with WordPress sites wherever they are hosted. Nothing has to move and nothing about your current hosting has to change.

Two ways to connect

Connect with our WordPress connector plugin, or over SSH. The plugin is quicker to set up; SSH gives you more, and the difference is explained below.

One-click restore over SSH

When a site is connected over SSH, putting a backup back is a single action. The plugin can take backups but cannot perform a restore, because a plugin cannot run inside a WordPress installation that is too broken to load.

Stored on Cloudflare R2

Backups are held on Cloudflare R2, off your web server and out of your host's blast radius. If the server is gone, the copies are not.

Tiers by size

Three size tiers, chosen by how many gigabytes you need to keep. You pick the tier that fits the sites you are protecting.

A soft landing if you move

Because we already hold your backups, bringing the site onto our hosting later is a restore rather than a migration. Changing host stops being a project.

How it works

Setting up takes a few minutes and does not touch how your site is served.

  1. Connect the site

    Install the connector plugin on the WordPress site, or give us SSH access to the server it runs on. SSH is the option to pick if you want one-click restore.

  2. Backups run and are stored

    Copies of the site are taken and written to Cloudflare R2, away from the server the site runs on. You choose a size tier based on how much you need to keep.

  3. Restore when you need it

    With SSH connected, restoring a backup is one click. If you connected with the plugin only, your backups are still held and intact — adding SSH is what turns on one-click restore.

Pricing

External backups are sold in three size tiers, set by how many gigabytes of backup data you keep. You pick the tier that covers your sites; there is nothing per-restore and nothing per-site to calculate on top. Current tier sizes are listed in the dashboard.

Backups for a site you host elsewhere — up to 1 GB

$5.00/month

Backups for a site you host elsewhere — up to 10 GB

$15.00/month

Backups for a site you host elsewhere — up to 50 GB

$45.00/month

Tiers are chosen by storage, so a handful of small sites and one large one can sit comfortably in the same tier. If you outgrow one, you move up a tier rather than re-doing your setup.

Why it is built this way

We built this for people who are not our hosting customers, which is unusual and deliberate. Most sites that lose data lose it on a host that offered backups nobody had ever tested, stored on the same infrastructure that failed. Holding copies somewhere genuinely separate is the part that does the work, and it should not require you to change host first.

It also changes what moving host feels like. Once we already hold your backups, coming onto our platform later is a restore into a place your data is already sitting, not a migration project with a risky cutover. We would rather earn that move by being useful to you beforehand than by making your data awkward to take elsewhere.

Can I use this if my site is not hosted with Zinn Digital®?

Yes — that is what it is for. It backs up WordPress sites wherever they are hosted, and you do not need to be a hosting customer or move anything. You connect the site with our plugin or over SSH, and it carries on being served exactly as it is today.

What is the difference between connecting by plugin and by SSH?

The plugin can back your site up, but it cannot restore it. That is not a feature we have held back: a restore has to run when WordPress itself is broken or missing, and a plugin lives inside the WordPress installation being restored, so it cannot be the thing that repairs it. SSH connects to the server rather than to WordPress, which is why one-click restore requires SSH — if you want restores as well as backups, connect over SSH.

So can I still recover a site I connected with the plugin?

Your backups are taken, stored and intact either way, so nothing is lost. What the plugin cannot do is perform the restore for you at the click of a button. Adding SSH access to that site turns one-click restore on, and it is the change we would suggest making before you need it rather than after.

How much does it cost?

It is sold in three size tiers based on how many gigabytes of backup data you store, so you pick the tier that fits the sites you are protecting rather than paying per site. Current tier sizes are shown in the dashboard. If you outgrow a tier, you move up one without changing how anything is connected.

Where are my backups actually stored?

On Cloudflare R2, which is separate from the server your site runs on and separate from your current host. That separation is the point: a backup kept on the same machine as the site does not help when that machine or that account is the problem.

What happens if I move my site to Zinn Digital® later?

Because we are already holding current copies of your site, bringing it onto our hosting is a restore rather than a migration. There is no export, no transfer window and no hoping the copy you made by hand is complete. That is worth knowing even if you never do it, because it means changing host stops being the frightening part.

Protect a site you host elsewhere

Connect your WordPress site with the plugin or over SSH, pick the size tier that fits, and have off-site copies of it today. Connect over SSH and restoring is one click.

Get started