How to Back Up Your WordPress Site on Bluehost (Step-by-Step)

Why Backups Matter for Business Websites

A single plugin conflict, theme update, or hacked login can take your entire site down in seconds, costing you leads, sales, and credibility.

Reliable backups let you roll back to a clean working version of your site in minutes instead of rebuilding from scratch.

Step 1: Log In to Your Bluehost Account

Before creating backups, you need access to your Bluehost Account Manager and cPanel.

1. Go to the Bluehost login page and sign in to your account dashboard.
2. In the left-hand menu, click Websites.
3. Find the domain connected to your WordPress site and click Manage.
4. On the Overview tab, click the cPanel or Hosting tile to open your hosting control panel.

Step 2: Check Automated Backups in Bluehost

Newer Bluehost plans often include automatic backups that run on a scheduled basis, which may be weekly by default and can be extended with add-ons like Site Backup & Restore or CodeGuard.

1. From your Bluehost dashboard, open the site you want to protect.
2. Go to the site Settings area (or Websites → Manage).
3. Look for a Backups tab or a backup tool section in the dashboard.
4. Confirm whether automatic backups are active (you should see a list of recent backup dates or a status mentioning weekly/daily backups).
5. If available, use the Create New Backup button to generate an on‑demand snapshot before any big change.

If your plan does not include automatic backups, you can still fully protect your site using the manual backup method below.

Step 3: Create a Full cPanel Backup (Account-Level)

A full cPanel backup contains your entire account—files, databases, email, and settings—and is ideal for disaster recovery or migrations.

1. In cPanel, scroll to the Files section.
2. Click the Backup icon.
3. Under Full Backup, click Download a Full Account Backup.
4. Select Home Directory as the Backup Destination if prompted.
5. Enter an email address if you want a notification when the backup is complete, then click Generate Backup.
6. Once generated, download the backup file to your local machine for safe storage.

This backup may take some time depending on site size, so let it complete fully before closing your browser.

Step 4: Manually Back Up WordPress Files via File Manager

If you want a lighter, WordPress‑only backup, you can compress just your site files using File Manager.

1. In cPanel, go to the Files section and click File Manager.
2. Open the public_html folder, or the folder where your WordPress site is installed.
3. Click Select All to highlight all files and subfolders.
4. At the top toolbar, click Compress and choose ZIP Archive.
5. Name the archive, for example: yourdomain-wordpress-files-backup-2026-01-06.zip.
6. Once compression finishes, select the ZIP file and click Download to save it to your computer.

This ZIP contains your themes, plugins, uploads, and core WordPress files, which you will pair with a database backup for a complete restore.

Step 5: Back Up Your WordPress Database via phpMyAdmin

Your posts, pages, users, and settings live in the MySQL database, so backing it up is essential alongside your file backup.

1. From cPanel, find the Databases section and click phpMyAdmin.
2. In the left sidebar, select the database used by your WordPress site (you can confirm the name in wp-config.php if needed).
3. Click the Export tab at the top.
4. Select the Quick export method and make sure the format is SQL.
5. Click Go to download the .sql file to your computer.

Store this .sql file together with your file backup ZIP so you can restore the full site if needed.

Step 6: Restoring Your Site from Backups (Overview)

If something breaks, you can restore using either Bluehost’s built‑in backup tools or your manual backups.

• Using Bluehost Backups: Open the Backups tab, locate the backup you want, click the options (three dots) and choose Restore, then confirm.
• Using Manual Backups: Re‑upload your ZIP archive via File Manager and extract it to your site’s folder, then use phpMyAdmin’s Import tab to upload your .sql database backup.

After restoring, clear any caching (plugin or server-level) and test key pages, forms, login flows, and checkout to ensure everything works.

Backup Best Practices for Business Owners

• Keep at least one copy of your backups off‑site (cloud storage or external drive) in case of hosting account issues.
• Schedule regular backups before updates, new plugin installs, or major design changes.
• Rotate backups (e.g., keep several recent versions) instead of relying on a single file.
• Periodically test a restore on a staging or test environment to confirm your backups are usable.

No Time to Handle Backups Yourself?

If you are a business owner, your time is better spent on sales, marketing, and serving customers—not digging through cPanel, File Manager, and phpMyAdmin screens trying to rescue a broken site.

SmartBiz Automator can handle all of this for you as part of a done‑for‑you systems and operations stack: automated backups, uptime monitoring, task management, and workflow automation built around how your business actually runs.

• Set up and monitor Bluehost and WordPress backups on a fixed schedule.
• Create off‑site backup routines so you are not dependent on a single host.
• Document a clear recovery playbook so your site can be restored quickly if anything breaks.
• Integrate alerts and automations so you know about issues before your customers do.

If you want your backups—and the rest of your business operations—handled by a dedicated systems partner, reach out to SmartBiz Automator today and get a fully managed backup and automation setup tailored to your WordPress site.