I’ve been using Webflow for several years now, although I’m not a traditional web designer. I mainly use it to build sites for my own work needs, and it’s been a fantastic platform in many ways. However, there’s one concern that’s been on my mind for quite some time.
I believe I may have raised this question before, but I still feel uneasy knowing that all my work—several years of effort—relies solely on Webflow’s built-in backup system.
Has anyone here had to restore a site using Webflow’s backups, either due to their own mistake or for another reason? How was the experience?
What worries me most is that there doesn’t seem to be an option for independent or third-party backups. If Webflow were to go down or if one of their data centers experienced a major issue, would our sites be at risk? I’m sure Webflow has safety measures in place (I assume), but nothing beats the peace of mind that comes with having your own backup that you can access and test independently.
I know Webflow is a fairly large company now, but even big companies can face unexpected challenges—we’ve all seen examples of this in the past. The idea of potentially losing several years of work makes me feel quite uncomfortable.
Am I being overly cautious or even a bit paranoid here? Webflow has generally been reliable for me, but I did experience several crashes the other day, which made me wonder. I’m not sure if it was an issue on my end or something broader, but it got me thinking again about the lack of independent backup options.
For those of you who are more immersed in the Webflow design industry, are there any recent updates regarding backup processes or tools that integrate with Webflow to create independent backups?
Webflow’s backup system is pretty robust, I know a lot of people here use it daily as an “undo”- especially when learning Webflow and breaking layouts is a daily occurrence. Most of the time it works perfectly.
Regarding exports- most SaaS-based systems I’ve seen have similar limitations.
For Webflow, you can export the HTML, assets, and CMS CSV ( one at a time ). It’s not convenient but that should give you most of the content you’d need to rebuild the site. There’s a gap which is CMS-stored assets- you’d need to download those using the URLs in the CSV.
You’ve raised a very valid concern, Ryan. While Webflow’s backup system is reliable, I completely understand the unease of relying solely on it, especially for years of work. Restoring from their backups is generally smooth, but not having independent backup options can feel risky.
Some users mitigate this by manually exporting their site’s code and saving it locally or in cloud storage—less than ideal, but it offers some peace of mind. Tools like Zapier might help automate parts of the process, though they’re not perfect.
It’s not paranoid to want more control over your data—many of us share the same concerns. Hopefully, Webflow will consider adding independent backup features in the future. Until then, exploring manual options is a smart move. Thanks for bringing this up!
I’ve been using Webflow for years, and Webflow’s backup system is rock solid.
You can back up manually or let it happen automatically, and restoring and previewing a backup are super simple. Both our team and clients have been totally happy with it.
For bigger projects, we may export site versions regularly and push to Github (mostly to keep track of underlying changes), and also sync CMS data to Google Sheets.
Back in our WordPress days, backups were a nightmare. Restoring was a gamble, and in many cases, the backups were either broken or unusable, even backups are external.