Ultimate Guide: Backup Your WordPress Site to OneDrive – Free & Paid Solutions Explained!

If you’re searching for a dependable method to back up your WordPress site to OneDrive, you’re in the right place. Many of our readers use Microsoft Windows, so we’ve researched and identified two simple ways to back up WordPress to this cloud storage solution.

Having explored various cloud storage options like Google Drive and Dropbox, we believe OneDrive has distinct advantages that set it apart. Its pricing is often more budget-friendly than Google Drive, and it features more sophisticated access controls.

In this article, we will guide you through the process of setting up a WordPress backup to OneDrive, including a free option, to ensure your site remains secure.

Why Choose Microsoft OneDrive for WordPress Backups?

Backing up your WordPress site to Microsoft OneDrive is a wise decision, particularly if you already utilize Microsoft products.

It consolidates your WordPress backup files with your other essential documents, allowing you to manage your website backups without the hassle of juggling multiple storage services.

Additionally, OneDrive provides several unique advantages over other cloud storage solutions.

OneDrive offers a more budget-friendly option for backup storage. Its basic plan is priced at just $19.99 per year, making it a more economical choice compared to Google Drive’s monthly fee of $1.99. This can lead to significant savings over time.

OneDrive excels in providing robust permissions and secure access features. You can not only share files but also set expiration dates for access and implement password protection. These capabilities ensure that your WordPress backups are secure and accessible only to trusted individuals.

There are various WordPress backup plugins available for OneDrive. Fortunately, we’ve conducted thorough research to help you select the best options that fit your requirements.

In this guide, we will examine both free and premium WordPress backup solutions for OneDrive, allowing you to find the option that best suits your needs.

Let’s get started with the tutorial. You can use the links below to jump to the section that interests you:

Method 1: Using Duplicator to Backup WordPress to OneDrive (More Customizable Option)

Among the two methods available, we highly recommend this one. It utilizes Duplicator, a backup plugin that we have personally used for both our partner websites and personal projects.

We endorse Duplicator because it offers robust features for managing your WordPress backups. These features include automatic backup scheduling, website migration capabilities, and integrations with cloud storage services like Dropbox.

For more information about the plugin, be sure to check out our comprehensive Duplicator review.

A drawback of this method is that you need Duplicator Pro to back up your WordPress site to OneDrive. However, you can try the free version to familiarize yourself with Duplicator’s functionalities before deciding to upgrade.

Now, let’s go through the steps to configure Duplicator for OneDrive backups.

Step 1: Install and Activate Duplicator

To start, you need to install Duplicator on your WordPress site. If you’re unsure how to do this, you can refer to our beginner’s guide on installing a WordPress plugin for detailed instructions.

Next, activate your Duplicator Pro license key. To do this, navigate to Duplicator Pro » Settings in your WordPress admin dashboard. Then, enter your license key in the designated field and click the ‘Activate’ button.

Step 2: Integrate OneDrive as Your Remote Storage Solution

Next, connect your WordPress site to OneDrive using the Duplicator plugin.

To begin, navigate to Duplicator Pro » Storage in your WordPress dashboard and click the ‘Add New’ button.

Now, assign a name to your OneDrive backup, such as ‘OneDrive-Backup’ for simplicity.

In the ‘Type’ dropdown menu, choose ‘OneDrive.’

Scroll down until you reach the ‘Authorization’ section.

Click on the ‘Connect to OneDrive’ option. You can enable the ‘Are you using a business account?’ setting, but we will leave it disabled for now.

You will see a button to authorize the OneDrive connection and a field to paste the code from the next step.

Click the ‘Authorize OneDrive’ button.

A new tab will open in your browser, directing you to the OneDrive website. Make sure to log in to your account.

You will be prompted to grant permission for Duplicator to connect with OneDrive. Click ‘Accept.’

You should now see a page displaying a code that you need to copy back to the Duplicator plugin page.

Click the ‘Copy’ button to copy the code.

Return to the Duplicator-OneDrive settings page in your WordPress dashboard.

Enter the code in the designated field and click ‘Finalize Setup.’

Once the connection is established, your account name will appear in the ‘Authorization’ section.

You can rename the Duplicator storage folder. By default, it uses your website’s domain name for easy identification.

Scroll down to specify how many backups Duplicator should retain in the storage folder. When the limit is reached, the oldest backup will be deleted. If you prefer no limit, set the number to ‘0.’

Then, click ‘Save Provider.’

After saving the new cloud storage provider, the ‘Test Storage’ button will become active.

To verify everything is functioning correctly, click that button.

If the test backup is successful, a popup will confirm that the plugin has stored and deleted the file successfully.

You can dismiss this popup by clicking ‘OK.’

Step 3: Backup Your Site to OneDrive

Now, let’s proceed with backing up your WordPress site to OneDrive.

To begin, navigate to Duplicator Pro » Backups. Click on ‘Add New’ to initiate the backup process.

Next, select a format for your backup name to easily identify it based on key details like date and time.

Duplicator provides various dynamic tags for this purpose, eliminating the need to manually rename each backup. You can utilize tags such as %year%, %day%, and even %hour% if you plan to perform multiple backups in one day.

At this point, scroll down to the ‘Storage’ tab.

Here, check the box next to ‘OneDrive’ to ensure your backup is saved in your Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage.

Next, proceed to the ‘Backup’ section, where you can select options for complete WordPress backups, database-only backups, media-only backups, or custom backups.

For this example, we will choose ‘Full Site’ to back up your entire WordPress website.

You can also go to the ‘Security’ tab in this section.

Here, you have the option to add a password to your backup installer file or your archive zip file, ensuring that your backups are protected from unauthorized access.

As you move down, you will see the Installer section, but you can keep the default settings unchanged.

Finally, click ‘Next.’

The Duplicator plugin will scan your website for any issues before proceeding with the backup.

If there are any problems detected, a ‘Notice’ label will appear, indicating the issue and how to resolve it. If everything is fine, it will display ‘Good’, allowing you to continue.

Simply click the ‘Create Backup’ button to initiate the backup process.

After the backup is complete, you will return to your Duplicator dashboard.

Here, you can view the newly created backup in OneDrive and use it to restore your WordPress site if necessary.

To verify that the backup was successful, access your OneDrive storage, navigate to ‘My Files’, and locate the folder where your backups are stored.

You should now see your WordPress backup files securely stored in OneDrive.

By following these instructions, you have successfully created a backup of your WordPress site to OneDrive using Duplicator, ensuring a safe and customizable cloud storage solution for your website backups.

Method 2: Utilize WPvivid for Free WordPress Backup to OneDrive

We have explored various WordPress backup solutions besides Duplicator, including Jetpack, CodeGuard, and UpdraftPlus. Unfortunately, none of these options provide a free backup solution for WordPress to OneDrive.

After conducting some research, we discovered WPvivid, a free plugin that performs exceptionally well.

One of the advantages of this plugin is that the OneDrive storage option is free by default, allowing you to back up your WordPress site to OneDrive without any charges.

However, the free version has some limitations. You won’t have access to multiple cloud storage options or the ability to create custom backups. Nonetheless, it remains a viable choice for those on a limited budget.

To begin, you’ll need to install this WordPress plugin through your admin dashboard. If you’re unsure how to do this, check out our beginner’s guide on installing a WordPress plugin.

Once the plugin is installed, navigate to WPvivid Backup » Backup & Restore and go to the ‘Remote Storage’ tab.

Select ‘Microsoft OneDrive’ and click the ‘Authenticate with Microsoft OneDrive’ button.

You will be redirected to the OneDrive website, where you can grant WPvivid access to your OneDrive storage.

Simply click ‘Accept’ to proceed.

After that, return to the WPvivid plugin page and assign a name to your new OneDrive storage. If you want to use OneDrive for all your future backups, you can also check the box labeled ‘Set as the default remote storage’.

Next, click on ‘Add Now.’

Now, navigate to the ‘Backup & Restore’ tab to initiate the backup process for your WordPress site. Here, you can select whether to back up the entire database and files, only the WordPress files, or just the database.

You also need to check the box next to the ‘Send Backup to Remote Storage’ option and select the OneDrive icon.

Below the ‘Backup Now’ button, you can tick the box next to the ‘This backup can only be deleted manually’ option. Keep in mind, this choice is yours.

You can enable this option if you prefer that this backup is not automatically deleted when a new backup is created in the OneDrive folder.

Then, click on ‘Backup Now.’

Once the backup process is complete, scroll down to the ‘Backups’ section.

You should see your newly created backup file listed there.

You can also check your OneDrive dashboard to verify if the backup was successful.

Simply go to ‘My Files’ and navigate to the wpvivid_backup folder. You should find your backup file securely stored in your Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage.

We hope this article has guided you in backing up your WordPress site to OneDrive. You may also want to explore our guide on backing up WordPress to Google Drive and our expert recommendations for the best Dropbox plugins for WordPress.

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