Website backup and maintenance
Hosting companies are not responsible for your website.
You are.
Most people believe their hosting company backs up and secures their website. Most hosting companies don’t, and their own terms say so.
Hosting and backups
Is your hosting company backing up your website?
A hosting company rents you space on its servers and keeps that space connected to the Internet, so your website loads when someone visits. Many website owners assume the host is also backing up every page and database their website depends on.
In most cases it is not. Hosting agreements usually leave security, backups and restoring a broken website to the website owner. Storage and support staff cost money, and it is easier for a host to hand that work to its customers than to do it for them.
Updates and maintenance
Why websites require maintenance
Websites need regular care. Updates to the software behind your website arrive almost every week, fixing security holes, blocking new kinds of attacks, adding features and improving speed.
A modern website is a chain of code, scripts, graphics, words, images and often product data, all working together on computers, tablets and phones. A break in any link can take the whole website down, and a single mistaken change during an edit can do the same.
Once a website is built and handed over, keeping it updated and backed up is the owner’s responsibility unless a maintenance plan covers it. That is why our backup and maintenance plans matter: updates, content changes and regular backups, so your website is always ready for your customers.
Why updates cannot wait
42%
more security holes were found in 2025 than in 2024 in the most popular website software and its add-ons.
Source: Patchstack security report, 2026
91%
of those security holes were in add-ons, the plugins most websites rely on for forms, galleries and stores.
Source: Patchstack security report, 2026
12%
of attacks on known security holes were stopped by typical hosting defenses. Keeping software updated is your best protection.
Source: Patchstack security report, 2026
What’s included
Quiet work that keeps your website running
Backups
A full copy of your files and database, stored off site and ready to restore quickly if anything ever goes wrong.
Security Watch
Security hardening, malware scans and quick fixes that keep hackers out and your visitors’ information safe.
Updates
Software and security updates kept current, tested first so an update never takes your website offline.
Content Changes
New photos, prices, events and pages added for you, so your website always matches your business today.
Read the fine print
What five major hosting companies say about backups
What you are about to read may surprise you. Below is what five major hosting companies say today in their own published terms and help pages, checked in September 2026. Like most hosts, each one places the job of backing up your website files and database on you, the customer.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is one of the best known hosting companies in the world, with more than 20 million customers. Its Hosting Agreement, last revised in May 2026, is clear about who protects your website. Section 4.3 says you are responsible for keeping:
“independent archival and backup copies of your website or server content”
The same section says its servers “are not an archive.” Section 3.2 adds that if you cancel without moving your content off its servers first, GoDaddy deletes it and cannot give you a copy.
Network Solutions
Network Solutions, founded in 1979, is now part of Newfold Digital, which folded the Web.com brand into Network Solutions in 2025. Its Master Services Agreement, updated in January 2026, puts it in capital letters:
“It is solely customer’s duty and responsibility to backup customer’s website”
The agreement also says its backup services “are not guaranteed” and that it has no obligation to keep backups for any set period of time.
DreamHost
DreamHost was founded in 1997 and hosts more than a million websites. Its own help center says it generally keeps about two weeks of backups of your website files, and then adds:
“this backup is not guaranteed”
DreamHost highly recommends that you keep your own local backups in case one of its backups is not available when you need it.
HostGator
HostGator is another Newfold Digital brand. Its help center calls its automatic backup a courtesy that runs once a week, on a random day, and overwrites the week before. Accounts over 20 GB are left out. Its Terms of Service, updated in June 2026, say the customer is:
“solely responsible for backing-up all User Content”
The terms call this an affirmative duty, even if you buy a separate backup product.
Bluehost
Bluehost, also owned by Newfold Digital, works the same way. Its help center, updated in August 2026, describes its automatic backup as a courtesy that runs once a week and keeps only one week at a time. You agree to:
“be solely responsible for all files and data”
That is the pattern across the industry. Adirondack Website Design can take this job off your plate with scheduled backups, updates and restores, so you can focus on running your business.
Peace of mind
Set up your maintenance and backup plan
We offer regular website maintenance, backups and, when needed, file and database restoration to keep your website safe and running. Choose from a range of plans that fit your business and your budget.
We are ready when you are
If you need website security, maintenance or backups, call or send us a message and we will get back to you to talk through your needs.
Already an Adirondack Website Design client? Email or call us to set up your maintenance and backup plan.
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Chris Grosser
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