SafeGuard vs UpdraftPlus Backup Speed Battle

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SafeGuardPROvsUpdraftPlusPRO

SafeGuard v1.2.0UpdraftPlus v1.24.2
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Speed (different scopes)
SafeGuard
14.3svs16.5s

Not comparable — plugins back up different data

Storage Result
DRAW
SafeGuard88 MB
UpdraftPlus90 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
7.1s
Restore
7.1s
UpdraftPlus
Backup
10.9s
Restore
5.4s

Per-Profile Median Times

Median backup + restore time broken down by hosting profile.

Shared Hosting
SafeGuardTotal: 23.5s
Backup
11.0s
Restore
12.4s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 20.8s
Backup
15.1s
Restore
5.8s
Managed WordPress
SafeGuardTotal: 14.3s
Backup
7.1s
Restore
7.2s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 16.7s
Backup
10.9s
Restore
5.7s
VPS Standard
SafeGuardTotal: 14.4s
Backup
7.2s
Restore
7.2s
UpdraftPlusTotal: 16.6s
Backup
11.2s
Restore
5.4s

Backup Size & Efficiency

SafeGuard
Data backed up238.0 MB
Archive size88.0 MBZIP
Compression2.7:1
Throughput21.6 MB/s
Compression methodDEFLATE Normal (Level 6)
UpdraftPlus
Data backed up254.0 MB
Archive size90.0 MBGZ
Compression2.9:1
Throughput16.8 MB/s
Compression methodgzip

Backup Inventory

CategorySafeGuardUpdraftPlusDiff
FilesSizeFilesSizeFiles
Database37746.4 KB43233.1 KB+6
Plugins8,086108.2 MB9,361120.2 MB+1,275
Themes39414.4 MB39414.4 MB=
Uploads26118.2 MB26118.2 MB=
WP Core2,73355.9 MB2,73355.9 MB=
wp-config28.9 KB314.7 KB+1
Other336.4 MB296.4 MB-4
Total11,546204.0 MB12,824215.4 MB+1,278

Phase Breakdown

Iteration 4 (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
1.3s

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
8.8s8.7s17.5s
UpdraftPlus
12.3s5.6s17.9s
2Median
SafeGuard
11.0s12.5s23.5s
UpdraftPlus
15.1s5.8s20.8s
3
SafeGuard
11.9s12.4s24.3s
UpdraftPlus
15.6s5.9s21.5s
Managed WordPress3 iterations
#PluginBackupRestoreTotal
4
SafeGuard
7.1s7.2s14.3s
UpdraftPlus
10.8s5.9s16.7s
5
SafeGuard
7.1s7.1s14.3s
UpdraftPlus
11.6s5.7s17.2s
6Median
SafeGuard
7.2s7.5s14.8s
UpdraftPlus
10.9s5.6s16.5s
VPS Standard3 iterations
#PluginBackupRestoreTotal
7Median
SafeGuard
7.3s7.1s14.4s
UpdraftPlus
11.2s5.4s16.6s
8
SafeGuard
7.2s7.2s14.4s
UpdraftPlus
11.0s5.3s16.3s
9
SafeGuard
7.0s7.3s14.3s
UpdraftPlus
11.2s5.7s16.9s

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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