This is a quick reference to every group of settings in BackupEase, what each one controls, and whether it is part of the free plugin or BackupEase Pro. Use it to find the right screen fast, then follow the linked guide for the full walkthrough.

Backups

  • Backup contents: choose Full site, Database only, or Files only.
  • Destination: where the finished archive is sent (see Storage below).
  • Compression: ZIP on the free plugin; Pro adds tar.zst for smaller, faster archives.
  • Manual run: start a backup immediately with live progress reporting.

Storage destinations

  • Local and Google Drive: included free.
  • Dropbox, OneDrive, FTP, and SFTP: Pro.
  • Simultaneous uploads: Pro. Send one backup to several destinations in a single run.

Schedules

  • Frequency: Daily, Weekly, Monthly on the free plugin.
  • Custom cadences: Pro. Every 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, or 12 hours, up through monthly.
  • Multiple named schedules: Pro. Independent schedules with their own destinations and contents.
  • Timezone: schedules follow your WordPress timezone.

Retention and cleanup

  • Rule type: count-based, age-based, or combined.
  • Per-destination policies: Pro. A separate rule for each destination.
  • Exclusions: skip specific files, folders, or database tables to shrink archives.
  • Preview: review which archives a policy would remove before it runs.

Engine and performance

  • Processing mode: automatic WP-CLI detection with chunked PHP fallback.
  • Aggressiveness: Low, Medium, or High, to match your server's limits.
  • Per-step time limit: tune how long each step runs to avoid timeouts.
  • Resource guards: automatic memory and execution-time protection.

Security

  • Credential encryption: AES-256-CBC for stored OAuth tokens, client secrets, and passwords.
  • Legacy key migration: older stored keys are upgraded automatically.
  • Backup encryption: archives can be protected so they are unreadable without the key.

Migration (Pro)

  • One-click pull migration: the destination pulls the site from the source over HTTPS.
  • Single-use migration key: authorises one migration, then expires.
  • Search-replace and config rewrite: serialization-safe URL and path updates, plus an automatic wp-config.php rewrite.

License (Pro)

  • Activate or deactivate your BackupEase Pro license key.
  • Status: check whether the license is active and eligible for updates.
Free vs Pro at a glance

Free covers backups, Local and Google Drive storage, a single daily/weekly/monthly schedule, retention, and the adaptive engine. Pro adds extra destinations, simultaneous uploads, custom and multiple schedules, per-destination retention, tar.zst compression, and one-click migration.