WP stores all website data using the MySQL database management system. This data includes usernames, passwords, posts, pages, and comments. As such, it’s essential to maintain your WordPress database’s optimal performance.
WordPress database plugins allow you to do maintenance tasks like cleaning up the database, creating a backup, and resetting it.
Plenty of database plugins are equipped with different features. To help you pick the right one, this article will discuss the 10 best WordPress database plugins to optimize your site.
WordPress Create Plugin With Database Base
We’ve picked the 10 best WordPress database plugins that cover various uses. All these plugins are available in the WordPress plugin repository, where you can download and use them for free. If you need advanced features, premium options are also available.
- UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin
The banner of the UpdraftPlus plugin.
Plugin stats:
Downloads: 3+ million
Rating: 4.8/5
Best for: creating a database backup
Price: freemium (paid plans start from $70/year, and paid add-ons start from $10/year)
UpdraftPlus is the most popular WordPress backup plugin that integrates with various cloud storage platforms.
The scheduled backups for website files and the database have seperate settings. Thus, you can set a different backup frequency for the database.
The premium version offers the incremental backups feature. It stores new changes to existing backup files instead of creating entirely new backups to save time.
UpdraftPlus supports integration with various cloud platforms, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive.
However, you can choose more than one cloud storage option with the premium version. The plugin will automatically send the backup files to the selected storage.
The settings page of the UpdraftPlus plugin
The premium version also provides database encryption, securing backups on the storage and during the transfer. This is a great security feature because the database contains usernames and passwords.
Another premium feature is the Migrator, which lets you replace the database. This is useful for importing databases from other WordPress websites. The plugin will fix the references in the database, making it work on the new website.
Key Features
Separate automated backups for website files and databases.
Plenty of cloud storage integration, including Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and UpdraftPlus Vault.
Incremental backups only store new changes to the existing backup files, saving time compared to repeatedly creating a complete backup of the entire site.
Encrypted database backups to maximize security, including during cloud storage transfer.
The UpdraftPlus Migrator makes it easy to import databases from other WordPress sites.
Cons
Advanced plugin features such as database encryption and multisite support are included only in the premium version or require dedicated add-ons.
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- WP-Optimize
The banner of the WP-Optimize plugin.
Plugin stats:
Downloads: 1+ million
Rating: 4.8/5
Best for: database cleanup and optimization
Price: freemium (paid plans start from $49/year)
WP-Optimize is an all-in-one WordPress performance plugin that includes database cleaning, image compression, and caching.
To access the database optimization feature, navigate to WP-Optimize -> Database on your WordPress dashboard.
WP-Optimize database dashboard, showing the optimization settings
This plugin features 12 optimization tasks that you can run individually or simultaneously. They include table optimization, post revision cleanup, and unapproved comments removal.
WP-Optimize’s scheduler lets you choose daily, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly auto-optimization. It also allows you to pick which tasks to perform during the auto-optimization.
However, you need to get the premium version to get the more flexible scheduler system which lets you set the optimization schedule at an exact date or time of day.
The Tables tab shows all the tables in your database, along with the records, data size, and overhead. Being able to see all the tables you can optimize without accessing phpMyAdmin is also helpful.
WP-Optimize works seamlessly with UpdraftPlus to provide database backup and optimization for WordPress sites.
Key Features
An all-in-one plugin for optimizing your WordPress site, letting you optimize its database, compress images, and cache pages.
Run individual or bulk optimization tasks.
Shows all the database tables on the plugin’s dashboard.
Lets you keep the most recent revisions.
Cons
Advanced scheduling and reporting features are only available on the premium version.
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- BackWPup
The banner of the BackWPup plugin.
Plugin stats:
Downloads: 700,000+
Rating: 4.4/5
Best for: database backup
Price: freemium (starts from $69 for the first-time fee and $39/year for each renewal)
BackWPup lets you download the database backup in just a single click. Navigate to BackWPup -> Dashboard and click Download database backup to download the backup file to your computer.
The plugin requires you to create a backup job first. Select up to five tasks for each job, including database and file backup, WordPress XML export, installed plugins list, and tables check.
For the database backup, open the DB Backup tab and select the tables to back up.
Specify whether you want to back up tables with wp_ prefix only or all the custom tables. There’s also an option to use GZIP file compression.
BackWPup plugin settings page, showing the database backup settings.
The scheduler lets you choose between the basic or advanced setup. With the advanced setup, select any month, day of the week and month, hour, and minute to fine-tune the backup times.
The free version lets you integrate the plugin with Dropbox, Amazon S3, and Microsoft Azure. Get the premium version to link your Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive account.
Key Features
Choose specific files and database tables to back up.
Create a detailed backup schedule with the advanced scheduler.
Supports GZIP compression.
Cons
The plugin dashboard is not as user-friendly as other plugins in this list.
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- Database Backup for WordPress
The banner of Database Backup for WordPress plugin
Plugin stats:
Downloads: 100,000+
Rating: 4.5/5
Best for: database backup
Price: free
Database Backup for WordPress is a free plugin to back up your WordPress database. It has a straightforward plugin interface and few configuration options, making it truly beginner-friendly.
The plugin will back up the entire database by default. However, there are options to exclude spam comments and post revisions, making the backed-up file that much cleaner. You can also back up additional custom tables in a separate column.
Database Backup for WordPress plugin dashboard, showing the table backup settings.
When you’re ready to run the backup, choose between downloading the backup file to your local computer or sending the file to your email. Unfortunately, this plugin doesn’t have any cloud storage integration.
The scheduler lets you select additional custom tables for the scheduled backup. It will send the backup file to your email.
Key Features
An option to exclude spam comments and post revisions in the backup.
Include selectable custom tables in the backup.
Cons
No cloud storage integration. It only lets you download the database backup file or send it directly to your email.
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- Optimize Database After Deleting Revisions
The banner of the Optimize Database After Deleting Revisions plugin.
Plugin stats:
Downloads: 100,000+
Rating: 4.5/5
Best for: database optimization
Price: free
Optimize Database After Deleting Revisions is a free plugin that helps you quickly delete revisions and perform other optimization tasks.
Navigate to Settings -> Optimize Database to open the plugin dashboard and configure cleanup settings. At the top, select the post types and revisions you want to remove.
The settings page of Optimize Database After Deleting Revisions, showing the delete revisions options
If you don’t want to delete all revisions, use the Delete revision older than option. You can also keep a certain amount of the most recent revisions per post.
In addition, you can select other data such as trashed items, spam comments, unused tags, and transients. There is also a checklist to exclude specific tables from the optimization.
The scheduler lets you set an automatic cleanup in hourly, twice a day, daily, weekly, or monthly intervals.
Once you’ve saved the cleanup settings, click the Go To Optimizer button to run the cleanup and optimization process. You can also analyze the database first to see how much free space you get after cleaning it.
If you enable the one-click link on the admin bar, you can easily optimize the database from anywhere on the WordPress admin page.
Key Features
Removing unused WordPress database items like revisions, trash, and spam comments in a few clicks.
The scheduler provides five frequency options for deleting revisions automatically.
Keep the recent revisions by setting up a revision limit per post or the number of days.
Enable the one-click feature link to optimize the WordPress database easily from the admin panel.
Cons
You need to check the Delete revision older than option even if you want to delete all revision data. Otherwise, the plugin may not detect some removable revisions.