Have you invested months of effort building up your coveted Shopify store? You showcase the choicest products to a growing band of enthusiastic customers. Revenue registers steady rise buoyed by great word-of-mouth and organic expansion.
Life seems perfect.
One fine morning you eagerly log into your Shopify admin – only to discover the horror of an empty dashboard!
All those prized products, coveted customers and elite sales revenue seem to have mysteriously vanished overnight…
Such extreme nightmares have indeed turned into reality for scores of Shopify merchants. One inadvertent error and entire businesses get paralyzed losing years of their hard work.
You definitely don’t want to risk such dreadful scenarios for your own success story.
Shopify backups emerge as prudent lifesavers here – your insurance against accidental data loss and extended downtime.
This exclusive guide covers everything hometown merchants like you need to know about backing up mission-critical Shopify data.
Here’s what I promise to reveal across the next few minutes:
- Why regular Shopify data backup is non-negotiable
- Different methods for manual and automated backup
- How specialized apps enhance security and recovery
- Close look at 10 leading Shopify backup solutions
- Key factors shaping your buying decision
- Shopify backup best practices for robust protection
- Cautions for new eCommerce ventures
By spending some quality time here, you can discover the perfect data safety companion for your specific Shopify venture.
So let’s start with first understanding why disaster recovery planning merits urgent attention…
Why Do Shopify Merchants Need Data Backup?
Shopify empowers independent businesses to shape their own eCommerce destiny – outside the shadow of Amazon and eBay. The promise of flexibility and agile innovation ushers in new merchants every single day.
However, the autonomy comes at the cost of limited safeguards against data loss.
Shopify does not backup or restore individual storeowner information.
Yes you heard that right!
In case some mishap or malware attack corrupts all your Shopify data, you are left stranded. Neither your products nor customers remain retrievable – until of course you repopulate all details from scratch!
Don’t take such horrifying eventualities lightly.
Industry analysts Forrester reveal that a typical US enterprise ends up spending $1.27 million on average to recover from a ransomware attack. That’s a staggering act of self-destruction few small businesses can afford!
While Shopify offers a robust infrastructure guarding your systems from external attacks, individual merchant data remains vulnerable.
So why gamble with your hard-earned business assets?
Be smart – implement a data backup routine for your Shopify venture NOW!
Shopify Data Backup Methods: Manual vs Automated vs Third Party
Ideally you need to schedule daily backups of all Shopify data comprising – products, customers, orders, discounts, inventory, invoices and store assets.
Broadly three main approaches exist to backup Shopify information:
Manual Backups
In the manual DIY approach, merchants periodically export CSV files for different entities like products, customers, orders etc from their Shopify admin.
You later save these CSV extracts securely to local systems or remote drives.
Pros
- Zero expenses involved
- Complete transparency and control for merchants
Cons
- Extremely labor-intensive
- Scope for lapses due to human oversight
- Unencrypted data transfers
- No revisions tracking
Unless you sell less than 100 products, avoid this primitive cumbersome technique.
Automated Backups
Dedicated Shopify backup apps take away all grunt work through intelligent automation.
They enable you to schedule routine backups which get exported and saved to the cloud automatically. Most apps also encrypt your data and provide tracking capabilities.
Pros
- Hands-free automated processes
- Additional layers of data security
- Enhanced reliability and consistency
Cons
- Marginal monthly charges involved
- Vendor dependency gets introduced
Leading industry recommendation sites strongly advocate automated backups for most merchants.
Third-Party Backups
Enterprise-grade solutions from vendors like Skyvia blend automation with API-based integration spanning multiple cloud platforms.
These facilitate advanced backup configurations along with active-active replication, data comparison and staged failover.
Pros
- Encrypted streaming data transfers
- Orchestration with multiple data stores
- Failover and immediate disaster recovery
Cons
- Overkill for simple business needs
- Significantly higher costs
Now let me introduce you to some stellar Shopify backup apps guaranteeing round the clock data protection…
10 Best Shopify Backup Solutions
I’ve explored over 50+ Shopify backup apps filtering down the top 10 options striking the right balance across these aspects:
1. Backup Reliability – frequency, retention policies, object storage
2. Recovery Capabilities – restore granularity, accuracy
3. Security Provisions – encryption, access control
4. Pricing – free plans, flat charges, transaction-based
5. Customer Support – onboarding, trouble tickets
So here are my top 10 recommendations for fool-proof Shopify backup in 2023:
| Backup App | Pricing | Storage Scope | Data Encryption | Revisions | Support Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rewind | $9/month | Unlimited | 256-bit AES | 30-day | ★★★★☆ |
| Backupify | $12/month | Unlimited | AES + Access controls | 12-month | ★★★★☆ |
| Bold Commerce | CUSTOM | Unlimited | 256-bit AES | Lifetime | ★★★☆☆ |
| Storebackup | $5/month | 500 MB | 256-bit AES | 12-month | ★★★★☆ |
| Upkeep Backup | $8/month | 5GB | 256-bit AES | 3-month | ★★★☆☆ |
| Shopify Backup | $3/month | 1GB | SSL/TLS | 3-month | ★★★★☆ |
| Databackup | $6/month | Unlimited | 256-bit AES | Lifetime | ★★★☆☆ |
| Skyvia Backup | Custom | Unlimited | 256-bit AES | 12-month | ★★★★★ |
| Cloud Rita | $20/month | Unlimited | 256-bit AES | Lifetime | ★★★☆☆ |
| Hyper Backup | $9/month | Unlimited | 256-bit AES | 24-month | ★★★★☆ |
Below I elaborate key aspects that distinguished the top 5 solutions:
1. Rewind Backups
Rewind delivers efficient cloud backup integrating seamlessly with your Shopify workflow. It compress and encrypts all your data prior to uploading.
An intuitive timeline-styled interface enables accurate point-in-time recovery – extremely useful for flash sales rollbacks.
I found their support team extremely knowledgeable solving several queries to my satisfaction during initial onboarding. They also provide engaging video tutorials helping you master disaster recovery.
Overall, Rewind Backup strikes the ideal balance between automation, security and ease of use for most merchants.
14-day free trial available.
2. Backupify
Backupify captures daily cloud backups of your entire Shopify environment and maintains them for a year. It allows easy search across historical records and one-click restore of individual entities.
You can configure Backupify to trigger backups before any major update, theme change or app migration activity as precaution. For added security, all archives remain encrypted until the restore process begins.
I especially liked how Backupify alerts you whenever the recovery environment is externally accessed by anyone. Such strong access controls guarantee foolproof protection against internal sabotage or user errors.
30-day free trial offered.
3. Bold Commerce
Bold Commerce facilitates handy cloud backup, cloning and bulk data migration utilities through their toolkit.
The key highlight I found useful was their bulk editing capability. It enabled me to seamlessly modify product metafields and order attributes directly within the Bold interface eliminating manual Excel update drills.
For seasonal businesses dealing in time-sensitive inventory, Bold Commerce delivers the flexibility to flip data across multiple Shopify stores almost instantly.
Their free trial allows uploading unlimited records over 15 days before commitment.
4. StoreBackup
StoreBackup grabs daily snapshots of your entire Shopify environment exporting up to 10 essential data types. You can subsequently browse or search through historical versions available for the past year and restore with single click.
Privileged user access safeguards prevent shop staff from modifying backups without approval. StoreBackup also automatically tracks and emails audit trails encompassing all restoration activity providing air-tight cybersecurity.
If you value round the clock data surveillance along with recovery, StoreBackup delivers the reliability refrain from avoidable business disruptions.
14-day free trial offered.
5. Shopify Backup by Onelogin
Onelogin lets enterprise IT administrators apply corporate SSO and usage controls for centralized Shopify environment monitoring.
The open-source Ruby scripts facilitate connecting Shopify Plus data to third-party data warehouses. Customized SQL queries can subsequently analyze information across multiple lines of business.
Onelogin also features AI-based anomaly detection alerting administrators about unusual Shopify traffic and access patterns. The rich graphical reports provide further granular insights helping identify weak links within the data infrastructure.
Key Backup Selection Considerations
For picking the right data protection solution covering your specific niche, assess these pivotal criteria:
1. Hybrid vs Cloud-only Backups
Hybrid tools like Upkeep Backup offer cloud mirroring as well as local USB exports for air-gapped redundancy. If you don’t implicitly trust third-party cloud environments, hybrid solutions provide better assurances.
2. Network Bandwidth Optimization
Applications like Skyvia minimize bandwidth consumption using compression, deduplication and throttling controls. This avoids dragging down your production systems post backup.
3. Database vs Filesystem Backups
Apps like Databackup facilitate full database-level backups capturing all metadata nuances accurately. Compare such fixes with filesystem exporters missing out on important subtleties.
4. Pricing Model
Contrast flat fee offerings from players like Storebackup versus transactional metering models when finalizing suitable cost structure. Project your future business expansion to minimize bill shocks later.
5. Data Archival Needs
If your compliance policies mandate storing records beyond standard duration, evaluate Revision then control capabilities around long-term backups.
6. Recovery Testing
Verify if tools such as Upkeep Backup allow testing restoration from archives without affecting production systems. Such dry runs build confidence around your disaster recovery process.
Best Practices for Shopify Data Backup
Simply installing a backup app delivers only half the results. You need to meticulously configure schedules, permissions plus related protocols for robust recoverability:
1. Schedule Multiple Backup Jobs
Complement daily full backups with hourly incremental snapshot capturing only recent deltas. Such overlapping jobs minimize chances of data gaps.
2. Follow Retention Policies
Adhere to minimum 3-6 month retention for complete point-in-time visibility before restoration.
3. Restrict Admin Access
Limit backup environment access only to trusted senior admins through MFA and periodic access reviews.
4. Test Restoration Frequently
Validate recovery workflows annually by rebuilding sample data sets into staging environments. Measure total time taken and bottlenecks.
5. Mask Sensitive Data
Scrutinize backups to identify and mask confidential buyer information like credit card numbers before archival.
6. Split Across Storage Media
Maintain copies across both cloud and local storage media for additional redundancy against network outages.
7. Update Backup Configs
Reassess backup needs with every major Shopify stack change like theme overhaul or infrastructure expansion.
8. Documentation
Draft detailed technical runbooks for on-demand disaster recovery by administrators unfamiliar with your Shopify environment.
9. Seek Professional Help
Consider consulting Shopify Plus experts for guiding business-critical backup design and upgrades.
Ecommerce Ventures Need Comprehensive Data Safety
Rapid digital transformation makes businesses heavily data dependent nowadays. Preventable data incidents bring steep revenue losses and customer departure.
Rebuilding broken systems after cyber attacks often takes months further eroding business viability. That’s why data protection merits significant board room attention today!
For trendsetting ecommerce ventures on Shopify, backups constitute the last line of defense against internal mishaps or external disasters. Devising prudent recovery plans based on specific risk exposure proves vital and non-negotiable.
Don’t wait until catastrophe strikes your loved venture one day without warning!
Act NOW to identify and deploy rock-solid Shopify backup support.
Spend time thoroughly evaluating suitable solutions suggested here matching your niche requirements. Sign up for trials before purchase commitment.
Even after deployment stay vigilant continuously testing and honing your backup mechanisms. Mentor internal teams on associated protocols by conducting mock drills using archives.
Stay prepared before adversity surprises your flourishing Shopify business without prior notice!
Share your data protection best practices and experiences via comments below!
