Why Relying on Your Web Host for Backups Could Leave You Exposed

“I thought my hosting company had backups. But when my site went down, they couldn’t recover what I needed.”

We hear some version of this all the time. And it’s a gut punch—especially when you thought you were protected.

Let’s be clear: some hosting companies do provide backups. But what they offer and what you actually need in a moment of crisis are often two very different things.

Hosting Backups Aren’t Designed for You

Hosting providers offer backups primarily to help restore servers, not individual websites. That’s an important distinction. When you need a clean, fast recovery of your site, here are some of the common limitations you’ll run into with typical host backups:

1. Low Backup Frequency

Many hosts back up your site just once every 24 hours. That might sound reasonable—until you lose a day’s worth of blog posts, product sales, or customer data.

2. Limited Retention

Some hosts only store backups for 7 days. Others even less. If you don’t notice the issue immediately, you may be out of luck by the time you realize something went wrong.

3. Slow or Complicated Restores

Restoring from a host backup often requires submitting a support ticket, waiting for a response, and hoping the right version of your site still exists. That’s lost time—and lost revenue.

4. Missing Files or Incomplete Copies

Not all host backups include everything. Media libraries, plugin settings, or custom code might be excluded. You think you’re restoring your full site—but you end up with broken layouts or missing content.

5. On-Server Storage

This one’s scary. Some hosts store backups on the same server as your website. So if that server fails (or gets hacked), both your site and your backups are gone.

That’s not a backup. Admiral Ackbar will tell you that’s a trap.

What a Real Backup Strategy Looks Like

A good backup system doesn’t just exist—it’s built to help you recover quickly when things go wrong.

Here’s what you should look for:

  • Multiple backups per day, especially if you make frequent changes
  • Offsite storage, so backups are safe even if your server isn’t
  • Easy access to restore—without waiting on tech support
  • Automated monitoring to make sure backups actually complete
  • Fast restore time, so you can bounce back from issues without long delays

That’s what we’ve built into PJ Update.

How PJ Update Protects You

When you’re on PJ Update, we back up your WordPress site four times per day—automatically. And we don’t store those backups on your host’s server. Each one goes to secure cloud storage, offsite and independent from your hosting environment.

If your site crashes, gets hacked, or an update breaks something, we restore a clean, working copy—fast.

You don’t have to worry about whether the backup worked or if it’ll take three hours to get help. We’ve already taken care of it.

Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late

Backups are one of those things you don’t think about—until you really, really need them.

And when that moment comes, the difference between a 10-minute inconvenience and a full-on business crisis is the strength of your recovery plan.

If your entire backup strategy relies on your host, it might not be a real plan at all.

Let PJ Update give you the peace of mind that your site is backed up, offsite, and restorable—at any time.

👉 Learn more about PJ Update
Let’s make sure your “what if” has a plan B.

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