SafeGuard vs UpdraftPlus Backup Speed Battle

completedNews/Magazine (M) -- M

SafeGuardPROvsUpdraftPlusPRO

SafeGuard v1.2.0UpdraftPlus v1.24.2
Share on X
🔒 SequentialNews/Magazine (M) — MNone Load
Speed Winner
SafeGuard
14.1svs15.7s

Fastest total time (backup + restore)

Storage Winner
SafeGuard
88 MBvs90 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
7.0s
Restore
7.0s
UpdraftPlus
Backup
10.7s
Restore
5.0s

Per-Profile Median Times

Median backup + restore time broken down by hosting profile.

Shared Hosting
SafeGuardTotal: 23.3s
Backup
11.4s
Restore
11.4s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 20.4s
Backup
14.9s
Restore
5.6s
Managed WordPress
SafeGuardTotal: 14.1s
Backup
7.1s
Restore
7.0s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 16.1s
Backup
10.7s
Restore
5.4s
VPS Standard
SafeGuardTotal: 14.3s
Backup
7.1s
Restore
7.1s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 15.9s
Backup
10.7s
Restore
5.1s

Backup Size & Efficiency

SafeGuard
Data backed up238.0 MB
Archive size88.0 MBZIP
Compression2.7:1
Throughput20.9 MB/s
Compression methodDEFLATE Normal (Level 6)
UpdraftPlus
Data backed up254.0 MB
Archive size90.0 MBGZ
Compression2.9:1
Throughput17.1 MB/s
Compression methodgzip

Backup Inventory

CategorySafeGuardUpdraftPlusDiff
FilesSizeFilesSizeFiles
Database1546.4 KB165.4 KB=
Plugins8,077107.8 MB9,358119.8 MB+1,281
Themes39013.6 MB39013.6 MB=
Uploads26118.2 MB26118.2 MB=
WP Core2,78257.4 MB2,78257.4 MB=
wp-config00 B15.8 KB+1
Other356.4 MB316.4 MB-4
Total11,546204.0 MB12,824215.4 MB+1,278

Phase Breakdown

Iteration 8 (median)

SafeGuard
SCAN
0.2s
VERIFY
0.1s
ARCHIVE
6.0s
DB_EXPORT
0.2s
UpdraftPlus
SCAN
0.0s
VERIFY
0.0s
ARCHIVE
8.8s
DB_EXPORT
1.1s

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
9.5s8.2s17.6s
UpdraftPlus
12.4s5.7s18.1s
2Median
SafeGuard
11.9s11.4s23.3s
UpdraftPlus
14.9s5.5s20.4s
3
SafeGuard
11.4s12.3s23.7s
UpdraftPlus
15.0s5.6s20.5s
Managed WordPress3 iterations
#PluginBackupRestoreTotal
4Median
SafeGuard
7.0s7.0s14.1s
UpdraftPlus
10.7s5.5s16.2s
5
SafeGuard
7.1s7.0s14.1s
UpdraftPlus
10.5s4.8s15.4s
6
SafeGuard
7.1s7.3s14.4s
UpdraftPlus
10.7s5.4s16.1s
VPS Standard3 iterations
#PluginBackupRestoreTotal
7
SafeGuard
7.2s7.2s14.4s
UpdraftPlus
10.8s5.1s15.9s
8
SafeGuard
7.0s7.1s14.1s
UpdraftPlus
10.7s5.0s15.7s
9Median
SafeGuard
7.1s7.1s14.3s
UpdraftPlus
10.7s5.4s16.0s

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.

Community Governance

Report an Issue

Explore this matchup

Full head-to-head: SafeGuard vs UpdraftPlusSafeGuard statsUpdraftPlus statsFull leaderboard

Related battles