SafeGuard vs UpdraftPlus Backup Speed Battle

completedBusiness Site (S) -- S

SafeGuardPROvsUpdraftPlusPRO

SafeGuard v1.2.0UpdraftPlus v1.24.2
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🔒 SequentialBusiness Site (S) — SNone Load
Speed Winner
SafeGuard
13.1svs15.1s

Fastest total time (backup + restore)

Storage Winner
SafeGuard
70 MBvs72 MB

Smallest archive size

Best Overall
SafeGuard

No other plugin is both faster AND produces a smaller backup.

⚠️Different backup scope -- results may not be directly comparable

One plugin backs up more data categories than the other, which affects both speed and archive size.

Backup Scope

SafeGuard
DBPluginsThemesUploadswp-configWP Core

wp-config.php is not in the archive. Plugins that leave it out rebuild it during their own restore, so this is recorded rather than penalised. Why

UpdraftPlus
DBPluginsThemesUploadswp-configWP Core

Overall Median Times

SafeGuard
Backup
6.9s
Restore
6.1s
UpdraftPlus
Backup
10.2s
Restore
4.6s

Per-Profile Median Times

Median backup + restore time broken down by hosting profile.

Shared Hosting
SafeGuardTotal: 17.4s
Backup
8.6s
Restore
8.8s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 17.6s
Backup
12.9s
Restore
4.6s
Managed WordPress
SafeGuardTotal: 13.2s
Backup
7.0s
Restore
6.3s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 15.2s
Backup
10.3s
Restore
4.8s
VPS Standard
SafeGuardTotal: 13.4s
Backup
7.0s
Restore
6.4s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 15.1s
Backup
10.2s
Restore
4.7s

Backup Size & Efficiency

SafeGuard
Data backed up215.0 MB
Archive size70.0 MBZIP
Compression3:1
Throughput25.1 MB/s
Compression methodDEFLATE Normal (Level 6)
UpdraftPlus
Data backed up231.0 MB
Archive size72.0 MBGZ
Compression3.2:1
Throughput17.9 MB/s
Compression methodgzip

Backup Inventory

CategorySafeGuardUpdraftPlusDiff
FilesSizeFilesSizeFiles
Database1172.4 KB141.7 KB=
Plugins5,93683.9 MB7,21795.8 MB+1,281
Themes1,13634.9 MB1,13634.9 MB=
Uploads571.9 MB571.9 MB=
WP Core2,78257.4 MB2,78257.4 MB=
wp-config00 B15.8 KB+1
Other296.4 MB296.4 MB=
Total9,941184.6 MB11,223196.4 MB+1,282

Phase Breakdown

Iteration 5 (median)

SafeGuard
SCAN
0.2s
VERIFY
0.1s
ARCHIVE
5.9s
DB_EXPORT
0.2s
UpdraftPlus
SCAN
0.0s
VERIFY
0.0s
ARCHIVE
8.5s
DB_EXPORT
1.2s

Iteration Results

9 iterations across 3 hosting profiles -- median highlighted per profile. Compression shows archive-to-raw ratio (higher = better). * = no compression detected.

Shared Hosting3 iterations
#PluginBackupRestoreTotal
1
SafeGuard
7.7s6.5s14.2s
UpdraftPlus
13.2s4.6s17.8s
2Median
SafeGuard
8.6s8.8s17.4s
UpdraftPlus
12.4s5.2s17.6s
3
SafeGuard
9.8s9.1s18.8s
UpdraftPlus
12.9s4.4s17.3s
Managed WordPress3 iterations
#PluginBackupRestoreTotal
4
SafeGuard
7.0s6.3s13.3s
UpdraftPlus
10.3s5.0s15.4s
5
SafeGuard
7.0s6.1s13.1s
UpdraftPlus
10.3s4.8s15.2s
6Median
SafeGuard
6.9s6.3s13.2s
UpdraftPlus
10.4s4.8s15.2s
VPS Standard3 iterations
#PluginBackupRestoreTotal
7
SafeGuard
6.9s6.1s13.1s
UpdraftPlus
10.2s4.9s15.1s
8
SafeGuard
7.0s6.4s13.4s
UpdraftPlus
10.4s4.6s15.1s
9Median
SafeGuard
7.1s6.5s13.6s
UpdraftPlus
10.2s4.7s14.9s

Downloads

Metrics (CSV)Full Results (JSON)File Inventory — SafeGuard (TXT)File Inventory — UpdraftPlus (TXT)

Raw log archive is temporarily unavailable while the benchmark cluster is offline. Metrics, results, and inventories remain downloadable.

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