Hosting Duty

How do I back up a Ghost site?

Manual vs Automated Backup Methods

At HostingDuty, we recommend a layered approach to Ghost site backups. Ghost provides native export functionality, but this only covers content—not themes, media, or configuration files. For complete site recovery, you need both content exports and system-level backups.

Content Export via Ghost Admin

Ghost Admin includes a built-in export feature accessible under Settings > Labs > Export. This generates a JSON file containing posts, pages, tags, authors, and custom navigation. However, this export does not include:

Email analytics or member engagement metrics
Comments (Ghost's native commenting system)
Media files stored in your media library
Theme customizations or route configurations

For more details on export limitations, see our guide on Ghost export vs full backup. You can also review the Ghost JSON export format for technical specifications.

Full Site Backup via File System

For Docker-based Ghost installations, a complete backup requires:

1. Database dump (SQLite or MySQL) 2. Content files from /content directory 3. Theme files from /content/themes 4. Configuration files (config.production.json)

HostingDuty's managed Ghost hosting includes automated daily backups of all these components. You can restore from the HostingDuty dashboard or request a manual snapshot via our Ghost backup restore guide. For self-hosted instances, we recommend using tools like ghost-backup-cli or cron jobs to automate database dumps.

External Backup Services

For enhanced redundancy, integrate with external storage services. HostingDuty supports seamless integration with:

AWS S3 for object storage
Google Cloud Storage
DigitalOcean Spaces

Configure these via environment variables or third-party backup plugins. See our Ghost backup automation tutorial for step-by-step instructions.

Best Practices

Test restoration procedures quarterly
Store backups in geographically separate locations
Encrypt sensitive backup files
Maintain versioned backups for at least 30 days

For additional guidance on Ghost site maintenance, refer to our Ghost security checklist and Ghost performance optimization tips. Always verify backup integrity after creation.