iFastHostingHow long are backups kept?
It depends on the plan and can change over time — check the client area or ask support, and keep your own copy regardless.
Retention windows differ by plan and by provider, and they can change over time, so the accurate answer for your account is whatever your current plan terms say — check the client area, or ask support directly, rather than relying on a general figure. What follows explains how retention generally works and why it is structured the way it is, so the answer you get makes sense once you have it.
Why backups are not kept forever
Every backup takes up storage, and storage is not free at any scale. Rather than keep every backup ever taken, most backup systems — ours included — work on a rolling basis: a fixed number of recent backups are retained, and as new ones are created, the oldest ones are removed to make room. The practical effect is that recent backups are always available, and how far back you can go shrinks the further back you look, until at some point the trail runs out.
What that means in practice
- Yesterday's backup is almost always there. Recent recovery points are what retention windows are built to guarantee.
- A backup from months ago probably is not, unless you specifically downloaded and kept it yourself.
- The exact cutoff is plan-specific and is not something this general article can state accurately for your account — it depends on what you are subscribed to and what that plan currently offers.
Why you should not rely on this as your only safeguard
Even a generous retention window only protects you if you notice a problem before the relevant backup rotates out. If a fault goes unnoticed for a while — a slow database corruption, content quietly overwritten by a bug — you may need a point further back than the window covers. Keeping your own downloaded or synced copy on a schedule you control removes that uncertainty entirely, because you decide how long to keep it, not a rolling window.
Getting the exact figure for your plan
The client area reflects what your specific plan currently includes, and is the most reliable place to check. If it is not clear from there, contact support and ask directly how far back backups go on your account. That answer will be accurate to your plan today, which is worth more than any general figure this page could offer. Does my host back up my site for me? covers the related question of what is actually included in the first place.
Related reading
Often, in some form — but the specifics vary by plan and are worth confirming rather than assuming, and a copy of your own is still worth keeping.
How to download a full backup of your accountGenerate the archive in your control panel, then pull the whole file off the account with FTP or SFTP rather than a browser tab.
Where to keep your backupsThe default place a backup ends up is usually the one place it should not stay — here are the realistic alternatives.
A disaster recovery plan for a small websiteMost small sites have a backup, but no plan for actually using it — write the decisions down before you need them, not during.