SafeGuard vs UpdraftPlus Backup Speed Battle

completedBlog Starter (XS) -- XS

SafeGuardPROvsUpdraftPlusPRO

SafeGuard v1.2.0UpdraftPlus v1.24.2
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🔒 SequentialBlog Starter (XS) — XSNone Load
Speed (different scopes)
SafeGuard
6.8svs8.2s

Not comparable — plugins back up different data

Storage Result
DRAW
SafeGuard37 MB
UpdraftPlus40 MB
Best Overall
Not Directly Comparable

These plugins back up different amounts of data — see the Backup Scope badges below. Speed and storage comparisons are not apples-to-apples.

⚠️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
3.2s
Restore
3.6s
UpdraftPlus
Backup
5.5s
Restore
2.7s

Per-Profile Median Times

Median backup + restore time broken down by hosting profile.

Shared Hosting
SafeGuardTotal: 7.0s
Backup
3.3s
Restore
3.7s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 8.3s
Backup
5.7s
Restore
2.7s
Managed WordPress
SafeGuardTotal: 6.8s
Backup
3.2s
Restore
3.6s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 8.3s
Backup
5.5s
Restore
2.8s
VPS Standard
SafeGuardTotal: 6.9s
Backup
3.3s
Restore
3.7s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 8.4s
Backup
5.6s
Restore
2.7s

Backup Size & Efficiency

SafeGuard
Data backed up111.0 MB
Archive size37.0 MBZIP
Compression3:1
Throughput33.1 MB/s
Compression methodDEFLATE Normal (Level 6)
UpdraftPlus
Data backed up127.0 MB
Archive size40.0 MBGZ
Compression3.2:1
Throughput22.2 MB/s
Compression methodgzip

Backup Inventory

CategorySafeGuardUpdraftPlusDiff
FilesSizeFilesSizeFiles
Database5273.4 KB11115.5 KB+6
Plugins2,44322.0 MB3,71833.9 MB+1,275
Themes39414.4 MB39414.4 MB=
Uploads24968.9 KB24968.9 KB=
WP Core2,73355.9 MB2,73355.9 MB=
wp-config28.9 KB314.7 KB+1
Other17178.9 KB17178.9 KB=
Total5,61893.8 MB6,900105.5 MB+1,282

Phase Breakdown

Iteration 8 (median)

SafeGuard
SCAN
0.1s
VERIFY
0.1s
ARCHIVE
2.6s
DB_EXPORT
0.1s
UpdraftPlus
SCAN
0.0s
VERIFY
0.0s
ARCHIVE
4.3s
DB_EXPORT
0.7s

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
3.3s3.7s7.0s
UpdraftPlus
5.5s2.7s8.2s
2
SafeGuard
3.4s3.7s7.0s
UpdraftPlus
5.7s2.8s8.5s
3Median
SafeGuard
3.3s3.6s6.9s
UpdraftPlus
5.7s2.6s8.3s
Managed WordPress3 iterations
#PluginBackupRestoreTotal
4Median
SafeGuard
3.2s3.6s6.8s
UpdraftPlus
5.5s3.0s8.5s
5
SafeGuard
3.2s3.6s6.8s
UpdraftPlus
5.6s2.7s8.3s
6
SafeGuard
3.4s3.7s7.1s
UpdraftPlus
5.5s2.8s8.3s
VPS Standard3 iterations
#PluginBackupRestoreTotal
7
SafeGuard
3.3s3.7s6.9s
UpdraftPlus
5.6s2.8s8.4s
8
SafeGuard
3.3s3.6s6.9s
UpdraftPlus
5.5s2.7s8.2s
9Median
SafeGuard
3.2s3.7s6.8s
UpdraftPlus
5.7s2.7s8.4s

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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