Restore a cPanel backup: files, databases or email
Every hosting account is backed up automatically. You can bring back a deleted file, roll a database back to last night, recover a mailbox or download a full copy of your account from cPanel, without waiting for us.
Before you start
- Your cPanel login (or WHM, if you're a reseller restoring for a client).
- Roughly when things were last right, in IST. Restore points are labelled with the server's date and time.
- What exactly is broken: one file, one database, one mailbox or the whole site.
Which cPanel backups you have
We back up every hosting account automatically. How often, and how many restore points we keep, depends on your plan (our security page charts the restore points per plan over 30 days):
| Plan | How often | Restore points kept |
|---|---|---|
| Launch | Weekly | Last 4 copies |
| Orbit | Daily | 7 days |
| Galaxy | Daily | 14 days |
| Universe | Daily | 30 days |
| WP Starter | Daily | 14 days |
| WP Pro and WP Business | Daily | 30 days |
On reseller hosting, each client's cPanel account has its own restore points. You can restore for a client from WHM, or let them do it themselves in cPanel. VPS backups work differently: see the snapshots and backups add-on on the VPS page.
Keep a copy of your own as well. Automatic backups are a safety net, not an archive: once a restore point ages out, it's gone. Download a full backup before big changes and about once a month (see below).
Open the backup tool in cPanel
Log in to cPanel and type backup into the search box at the top. What you see depends on the backup software on your server:
JetBackup 5
Lists our automatic restore points by date and restores files, databases, mailboxes or the whole account in place. The steps below use it.
Backup and Backup Wizard
cPanel's own tools. They make a copy of your account now and restore from a file you upload, but they don't list our automatic restore points. If this is all you see, ask us for an older point.
Files: Restore files or folders
-
Open File Backups and pick a date
In cPanelJetBackup 5File Backups, choose the newest restore point from before the problem. Labels can differ slightly between versions.
-
Select what to bring back
Browse into the backup (your site is usually under
public_html) and tick only the files or folders you need. Restoring a single folder is faster and safer than restoring everything. -
Restore, then follow the queue
Click Restore and confirm. The job runs in the background; Queue shows its progress. Files with the same name are replaced by the backup copy, and files that exist now but weren't in the backup are left alone.
Not sure which version you want? Click Download instead, compare the files on your computer, and upload only what you need through cPanelFilesFile Manager.
Database: Restore a database
In JetBackup 5Database Backups, pick the date, tick the database (for example yourus3r_wp123) and click Restore. The whole database is replaced with that day's copy, so anything written since, such as orders, comments or form entries, is lost. Keep a copy of the current state first, either from phpMyAdminExport or in cPanelAdvancedTerminal:
# save the database as it is now, before restoring over it
mysqldump -u yourus3r_wpuser -p yourus3r_wp123 |
gzip > ~/before-restore-$(date +%F).sql.gz
# load a downloaded .sql.gz back in (replaces the tables it contains)
gunzip -c ~/yourus3r_wp123.sql.gz | mysql -u yourus3r_wpuser -p yourus3r_wp123WordPress: restore files and database from the same date. Plugin and core updates change both at once, so a database from Tuesday with files from Thursday can break the site. Afterwards, purge the cache: in LiteSpeed CacheToolboxPurge, click Purge All.
Email: Restore a mailbox
-
Make sure the address exists
If the mailbox itself was deleted, create it again with exactly the same name in cPanelEmailEmail Accounts first. Create an email account in cPanel shows how.
-
Restore it from Email Backups
In JetBackup 5Email Backups, pick the date, tick the address and click Restore. Deleted messages come back to their original folders, and mail that arrived since the backup is kept.
-
Refresh your mail app
Webmail shows the messages straight away. Desktop and phone apps using IMAP pick them up on the next sync; if a folder looks empty, remove and re-add it in the app.
Download a full account backup
-
Generate the backup
Go to cPanelFilesBackup and click Download a Full Account Backup. Leave Backup Destination on Home Directory, enter an email address for the "done" notice, and click Generate Backup.
-
Download it, then delete the server copy
When the email arrives, the archive is listed on the same page. Download it, then delete it in File Manager: it counts against your disk quota. The name looks like this:
backup-10.20.2026_14-05-11_yourus3r.tar.gz
The archive contains your files, databases, mail and settings. A full backup can only be restored onto a server by us, so to roll back an entire account, open a ticket; to move one in from another host, use our free website migration. Leaving us or cancelling a plan? Download one first; Renew, upgrade or cancel a service explains how long data is kept.
Ask us to restore for you
Open a ticket when you need a whole-account rollback, can't find the restore point you want, or aren't sure which date to use. Include:
- The domain or cPanel username.
- What to restore: the path, the database name or the email address.
- The last date and time it was right, in IST.
- Whether to overwrite the current version or restore alongside it, into a folder such as
restored/.
We never ask for your password. If the site was hacked, say so: restoring alone can bring the same hole back, so we'll look for the cause as well.
Troubleshooting
There's no backup tool in my cPanel
Search for "backup" rather than scrolling. If nothing appears and your hosting comes from a reseller, they may have hidden the feature; ask them first. Otherwise open a ticket with your cPanel username.
The date I need isn't listed
It's older than your plan keeps (see the table above), and expired restore points can't be recovered. Check your own downloaded backups. If this keeps catching you out, a plan with longer retention, such as Galaxy or Universe, keeps 14 or 30 days.
The site still looks broken after restoring
You're probably seeing a cached copy. Purge LiteSpeed Cache, purge Cloudflare if you use it, and reload with Ctrl+Shift+R. If it's still wrong, the files and database may be from different dates.
WordPress says "Error establishing a database connection"
The database user or password no longer matches wp-config.php. In cPanelDatabasesMySQL Databases, check the user is added to the database with All Privileges. If you reset its password there, put the same one in DB_PASSWORD.
The full backup never finishes
The archive is built inside your account, so it needs free disk space roughly the size of your account. Delete old archives and large logs, or open a ticket and we'll generate it for you.
Was this guide helpful?Your answer stays in this browser; nothing is sent unless you write to us below.
Related guides
All 16 guidesStill stuck? Ask an engineer.
Tickets and email are answered 24/7 in English and Hindi. Tell us what to restore and the last date and time (IST) it was right.