You won’t find many honest reviews of JetBackup online because most people writing about backup software have never actually used it in a real production environment. I have, across 500+ client sites for years. So here’s what JetBackup is actually like when you’re running it at scale, not just testing it on a single WordPress install.
I’m Kieran, director of InfaCloud. We host over 500 client sites on our own infrastructure and JetBackup has been our backup solution for the last couple of years. Here’s the review.
Why We Chose JetBackup
We needed something that could do incremental backups (full backups of 500+ sites daily would eat storage for breakfast), integrate cleanly with the server, and let us restore individual accounts fast when a client needs a rollback. JetBackup ticked all three boxes and had a reasonable price point.
The alternatives we considered were CloudLinux’s Immunify Backup, JetPack (different beast entirely), and just rolling our own with rsync scripts. JetBackup won because of the integration tools and being able to hit “restore” from within the control panel rather than SSH ing in was worth the licence fee alone.
Setup Is Straightforward Once You Know What You’re Doing
A lot of online reviews will tell you JetBackup is a nightmare to set up. That’s mostly people who’ve never touched proper server backup software before comparing it to a WordPress plugin.
JetBackup setup is genuinely straightforward. Configure your destinations (Local disk or SFTP off site), set your retention policies, create your backup jobs, hit save. On a new server, we can have it running in under an hour.
If you’re on shared hosting and just want to back up one site, JetBackup is overkill and probably not what you want. This is server level backup software for people running actual server infrastructure.
What JetBackup Genuinely Does Well
Incremental backups are lightning fast once set up. Our nightly runs across complete in a few hours because it’s only backing up what’s actually changed. Compare that to some legacy tools that would need several days.
The restore process is brilliant. Individual file restore, database restore or whole account restore. When a client rings up having accidentally messed up a update, we can get them back in minutes rather than hours. (Although, if it’s just an update, we usually fix it rather than restoring)!
The encryption support is enterprise grade. You set a master encryption key at setup, JetBackup encrypts backups before they hit your destination storage, and even if someone got hold of your backup files they’d be useless without the key.
Destination flexibility is great. We use a mix of local storage and off site SFTP to a separate provider, giving us both fast local restores and geographic redundancy so we’re not relying on a single location.
The Bits That Have Annoyed Me
The web interface is functional rather than beautiful. If you’re used to modern SaaS dashboards, JetBackup’s UI will feel a bit dated. It works, but it’s not going to win any design awards.
Symlink handling can be a bit fussy if you’re doing anything unusual with disk layout. Nothing dealbreaking, but worth knowing about if you’re managing multi disk servers.
Licensing is per server which is fair enough but adds up if you’re running multiple boxes.
Is It Worth It?
For an agency or host running server infrastructure? Yes, without hesitation. The peace of mind of knowing you can restore any client site to any point in the last 30 days within minutes is invaluable. We’ve saved client relationships multiple times because we could restore something they thought was lost forever.
For a single site owner? Almost certainly overkill. Something like UpdraftPlus running to your own Google Drive or Dropbox will serve you fine.
For someone in between, say running 10 to 20 sites on a VPS? That’s the tricky middle ground. JetBackup would work but the licence cost might not be justified. Look at BackupBuddy or a scripted rsync solution instead.
The Bottom Line
JetBackup isn’t the best tool in our stack, but it’s one of the most important. When a client rings up in a panic, JetBackup gets it back in minutes. That’s what backup software is for.
Would I recommend it? Yes, if you’re at the scale where it makes sense. No, if you’re not.
Fancy talking about hosting your business website on infrastructure that actually gets backed up? Get in touch with InfaCloud today. Why not send us a message today!
