How to download a full backup of your account

This guide shows how to save a copy of your hosting account to your own computer or storage, so you hold a backup that doesn’t depend on us.

Why keep your own copy

We already back up every account every six hours and store those backups off-site. That covers most accidents, and you can restore from them yourself. See how to restore a backup with JetBackup.

A copy in your own hands is still worth having:

• Our backups are kept for a limited period, so an old version you might want one day won’t be there for ever.
• You may want a snapshot before a big change, such as a redesign or a major WordPress update.
• If you ever move to another host, you’ll need the files and databases anyway.
• It’s a sensible part of any business’s own record keeping.

A copy taken every month or so, plus one before any big change, is a reasonable habit.

Download a full account backup with JetBackup

A full account backup includes your website files, databases, email and most cPanel settings, packed into one compressed file. JetBackup builds the file for you, then gives you a link to download it. The exact button names can differ slightly between JetBackup versions, so look for the closest match if what you see isn’t word for word the same.

1. Log in to cPanel.
2. Find the JetBackup section and click Full Account Backups.
3. Choose the backup date you want a copy of. The most recent one is usually at the top.
4. Click Download (it may be in an actions menu next to the backup).
5. JetBackup adds the request to its queue. Click Queue in the JetBackup section to watch it.
6. When it’s ready, open the Downloads page in the JetBackup section and click the download link.

The file is usually a .tar.gz archive. Large accounts, especially ones with a lot of email, can take a while to prepare and may run to several gigabytes. Download links are only kept for a limited time, so save the file promptly.

Download just files or a database

If you only want your website, smaller downloads are quicker. In the JetBackup section, File Backups and Database Backups let you pick a date and download a single folder or database in the same way.

Using the cPanel Backup tool

If your cPanel shows Backup in the Files section, you can also take a fresh copy of things as they are right now. This is cPanel’s own tool and sits alongside JetBackup.

1. In cPanel, open Backup in the Files section.
2. Under Download a Home Directory Backup, click Home Directory. Your browser downloads a .tar.gz file of everything in your home folder, including public_html and your mail folders.
3. Under Download a MySQL Database Backup, click the name of each database. Each one downloads as a compressed .sql.gz file.
4. Under Download Email Forwarders and Download Email Filters, click your domain if you want those too.

The home directory and the databases are separate, so you need both to rebuild a website. A WordPress site, for example, won’t work from its files alone.

If you only need one database, you can also export it from phpMyAdmin. See how to import and export a database with phpMyAdmin.

Where to store it

• Keep at least one copy somewhere other than the computer you downloaded it to, such as an external drive or a cloud storage service.
• Name the file with the date, for example yourdomain-2026-11-11.tar.gz, so you can tell copies apart.
• Treat it as private. The archive contains database passwords, email and customer data if your site collects any, so don’t put it anywhere public or share the link.
• Delete old copies you no longer need, especially if they hold personal data.

If it doesn’t work

• The download stops partway through. Large files can be interrupted by an unstable connection. Try again on a wired connection, or download files and databases separately.
• The backup sits in the queue for a long time. Big accounts take longer to package. Give it time, then check Queue again.
• You don’t see JetBackup or Backup in cPanel. Use the search box at the top of cPanel and type the name. If it still isn’t there, open a ticket.
• You want to check what’s inside. On a Mac, double-click the file to extract it. On Windows, use a free tool such as 7-Zip, which opens .tar.gz files.
• You need us to move the whole account to a new server. Open a ticket and tell us what you’re trying to do.

Still stuck? Open a support ticket and we’ll help.