Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner
Plugin Review
AI-ResearchedWhat is Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner?
Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner is a long-standing backup plugin for WordPress. Developed by watchful, it has been available for 16 years. The plugin currently has 10K+ active installs. It holds a 4.2/5 rating from 129 reviews, with 73% of those being five-star ratings.
XCloner helps you create backups of your WordPress site. It also handles restoration and migration tasks. The plugin supports sending backups to multiple remote locations. You can use SFTP, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Drive, Backblaze, and Azure. XCloner includes a built-in scheduler for automatic backups. It can run daily, weekly, monthly, or even hourly.
Key Features of Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner
- Differential Backups – Only files modified after a certain date are included, reducing storage space needed for backups.
- Remote Storage Support – Send backups to FTP, SFTP, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Drive, WebDAV, Backblaze, Azure, and more.
- Automatic Pre-Update Backups – XCloner generates a backup of core, plugins, themes, or language files before automatic updates run.
- Encrypted Backup Archives – AES-128-CBC encryption protects your data, helping maintain GDPR compliance even if a backup fails.
- Backup Splitting – Large backups are split into smaller parts when a size limit is reached, preventing timeout issues.
- Local Copy Deletion – A local backup copy is stored temporarily and deleted once the remote transfer completes successfully.
- Restore Script Included – The archive contains a /restore/ directory with a script that extracts files, imports MySQL dumps, and updates wp-config.php.
- Selective Restoration – Choose to restore only plugins, themes, uploads, the database, or all files from a backup archive.
Who Should Use Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner?
XCloner suits site owners who need a dependable way to backup their WordPress site to cloud storage. If you want to backup WordPress site to Dropbox or Google Drive, this plugin handles that directly. The scheduler is useful for developers managing multiple sites who want automated daily or weekly backups. The 73% five-star rating suggests many users find the core backup features reliable.
The plugin also works for anyone planning to migrate WordPress site to new host. The included restore script helps move a site to a different server with new MySQL credentials. With 16% one-star ratings, some users have reported issues, particularly with support. Beginners comfortable with basic plugin settings will manage the setup, but those needing hand-holding may find the support lacking.
Installation & Setup
Install XCloner from the WordPress admin by going to Plugins > Add New and searching for "xcloner". Click Install, then Activate. The plugin requires WordPress 5.1+ and PHP 7.3+. Setup involves configuring remote storage destinations and scheduling backups through the plugin's menu.
Support & Community
Support data from the last two months shows 0 open threads and 0 resolved threads, giving a 0% resolution rate. This is a significant concern. The 4.2/5 rating includes 73% 3% are one-star. Many negative reviews likely stem from support issues. The plugin is developed by watchful, which also offers a dashboard for managing multiple sites. Users should rely on the plugin's documentation and FAQ for help, as direct support appears inactive.
Pros & Cons
- With over 10K+ active installs and a 4.2/5 rating from 129 reviews, XCloner is a widely trusted backup solution for WordPress sites.
- 73% of its 129 ratings are 5-star, indicating strong user satisfaction with its core backup and restore functionality.
- It supports differential backups, reducing storage needs by only including files modified after a specified date.
- The plugin offers built-in scheduling via cron, allowing automatic backups at intervals from hourly to monthly.
- Backups can be encrypted with AES-128-CBC and sent to multiple remote destinations like SFTP, Dropbox, Amazon S3, and Google Drive.
- 16% of its ratings are 1-star, suggesting notable issues with reliability or usability for a significant minority of users.
- There are 0 resolved support threads out of 0 total, which may indicate a lack of active support or community troubleshooting.
- The plugin’s reliance on TAR, MySQL, and CSV formats, while open-source, may require technical knowledge for manual restoration outside the provided script.
Technical Details
- Requires WordPress
- 5.1+
- Requires PHP
- 7.3+
- Tested up to WP
- 7.0.1
- First Released
- 2010 (16+ years)
- Support (last 2 months)
- 0 threads
Feature Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner is completely free and available on WordPress.org. It has 10K+ active installs and is rated 4.2/5 by users.
The plugin has 10K+ active installs according to WordPress.org data. It also holds a rating of 4.2/5 based on 129 ratings.
The plugin requires WordPress 5.1 or higher to function properly. It has been actively maintained since its first release in 2010 and was last updated on May 26, 2026.
Yes, the plugin is regularly updated — the current version is 4.8.7 and it was last updated on May 26, 2026. It has been actively developed since its first release in 2010.
The plugin requires PHP 7.3 or higher to run. This ensures compatibility with modern hosting environments and security standards.
Support threads on WordPress.org show 0 total threads and 0 resolved threads in the last 2 months, indicating very low support activity. However, the plugin is well-documented with a built-in restore script and detailed FAQ content.
Yes, it is suitable for beginners thanks to its built-in scheduler, automatic restore script, and easy-to-use backup management panel. You can create manual or automatic backups without technical expertise, and the plugin even generates backups before WordPress updates for added safety.
Key features include scheduled backups (daily, weekly, monthly, or hourly), differential backups, remote storage to SFTP, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Drive, Backblaze, and Azure, plus automatic backup splitting and pre-update safety backups. The plugin also provides a one-click restore script and stores database backups in separate MySQL dump files within the archive.