---
title: Supported backup plugins
description: "Watchful supports several backup plugins for WordPress and Joomla! websites. Compare the available options and learn how to configure manual, queued, and scheduled backups."
url: "https://watchful.net/docs/supported-backup-plugins/"
updated: "2026-10-30"
category: "Backing Up Your Sites / Backup overview & compatibility"
tags:
  - backups
  - "Joomla!"
  - WordPress
---

# Supported backup plugins

Watchful supports several backup plugins for WordPress and Joomla! websites, giving you the flexibility to choose the backup solution that best suits your needs.

All supported backup plugins integrate with Watchful's backup management features, including manual backups, queued backups, scheduled backups, multiple backup profiles, and stale backup monitoring.

## Supported backup plugins

The following backup plugins are supported in Watchful:

| Backup plugin | WordPress | Joomla! |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Akeeba Backup Pro | Yes | Yes |
| XCloner | Yes | No |
| All-in-One WP Migration | Yes | No |

Each plugin provides the same core backup management features in Watchful, although the available backup configuration and storage options depend on the plugin.

## Configure a backup plugin

Before using Watchful to manage your backups, install and configure one of the supported plugins on your website.

Once configured, you can use Watchful to manage backups without logging into each website individually.

## Schedule website backups

Watchful supports automatic backup scheduling with all three plugins.

You can configure backups to run at regular intervals, helping ensure that recent backups are available when you need them.

Select your backup plugin for detailed scheduling instructions:

- [Schedule backups with Akeeba Backup Pro](https://watchful.net/docs/site-backups-with-akeeba/)
- [Schedule backups with XCloner](https://watchful.net/docs/site-backups-with-xcloner/)
- [Schedule backups with All-in-One WP Migration](https://watchful.net/docs/site-backups-with-all-in-one-wp-migration/)

Watchful also supports [scheduling multiple backup profiles for a single website](https://watchful.net/docs/schedule-multiple-backups/). This is useful when you want to create different types of backups at different intervals.

## Backup methods and monitoring

Regardless of which supported backup plugin you choose, Watchful provides three ways to create backups:

- Manual backups, started immediately from the `Sites Dashboard`.
- Queued backups, processed in the background.
- Scheduled backups, started automatically according to your configured schedule.

Learn more about these options in [Choose a backup method in Watchful](https://watchful.net/docs/backup-methods/).

Watchful can also monitor the age of your backups and alert you when they become outdated.

See [Monitor stale backups](https://watchful.net/docs/monitor-stale-backups/) for instructions on configuring backup age thresholds, dashboard warnings, and email notifications.