>= 5.0. – Worst Nightmare

BackWPup used to be my go-to plugin for WordPress backups for at least eight years. It was reliable, flexible, and did exactly what it was supposed to. I used it on all my own sites, installed it for all my clients, and recommended it to others.

That changed abruptly when I upgraded to version 5.0. Before upgrading, I carefully read the changelog, which only mentioned a UI revamp. Since I had always had good experiences with BackWPup, I saw no reason to test it in a staging environment first and installed the upgrade directly on a client’s production site.

The new UI isn’t to my taste, but that’s not the real issue. The real nightmare? At first, it seemed like I had lost access to all my configured backup jobs. Fortunately, after some digging, I found a way to access them via Custom Settings. They can still be executed, but they can no longer be edited. Even though there’s a button to create new jobs through the old interface, all fields are disabled, making it impossible to set up new backup tasks.

BackWPup promises:
“All your favorite features are still here, now organized more intuitively!”

Sure, UI/UX is subjective, and people often need time to adjust to changes. But this isn’t just a case of reorganization—many features are simply gone or no longer functional:

• Viewing old backup logs (created before the upgrade)? No longer possible.
• Running an old job after the upgrade? Generated 10 logs with incorrect data.
• Managing multiple backup jobs? Restricted to two jobs.
• Editing existing jobs? Not possible.
• Creating new jobs via the old interface? All fields are disabled.

The biggest dealbreaker, however, is the limitation to only two backup jobs. This was BackWPup’s main selling point and the key reason I chose it. I relied on the ability to run daily, weekly, monthly, and other backups in parallel.

I have no idea what the thought process behind this upgrade was. If the goal was to push more users toward the premium version, this was a terrible approach — especially since the premium version seems to have the same limitations.

For now, I will stick with version 4.1. across all my sites until I find a suitable alternative. I’m open to recommendations!

A backup plugin must be trustworthy above all else. When an upgrade removes key functionality and breaks existing workflows without proper communication, it completely undermines confidence in the tool. If you rely on BackWPup, think twice before upgrading to 5.0.

Luckily, a simple downgrade by uploading the old files via FTP still works—at least for now, as there seems to have been no database migration.