Top Database Plugins For WordPress Business Sites

The Top Database Plugins That You Can Use to Clean and Optimize Your Business WordPress Site

Beyond any doubt, WordPress is the most popular content management system used globally in websites, including e-commerce websites, and not just blog sites as many presume. According to https://kinsta.com, quoting a W3Techs study, the market share of WordPress is a whopping 34% of all websites hosted on the Internet, with or without a CMS. In the world of digital technologies, where cutthroat competition is normal, it means that WordPress controls over one-third of the World Wide Web. As all website administrators will know WordPress stores all its information in a MySQL database. It is quite natural that with the passage of time and repetitive use of the database, a lot of irrelevant and useless data tends to be generated, which ends up slowing up the database making user queries slow to respond and dissatisfying users. It follows that for optimum website database performance, it is necessary for the database to be cleaned and optimized periodically. While access to manage the database and clean it up is possible using the phpMyAdmin tool provided within WordPress itself, database maintenance and optimization becomes far easier if you use one of the many available WordPress database plugins developed by third-party developers. Some of the top ones that owners of online businesses can use for ensuring that their e-commerce platforms are powered by optimized WordPress databases:

UpdraftPlus Backup & Restoration

Available in a free version as well as a version that costs $42, UpdraftPlus is one of the most popular WordPress database plugins with an installed base in excess of one million. The principal features of the plug-in are backing up data and restoring it in the database, the facility of storing the backed-up data in a number of options in the cloud, one-click operations and scheduling of the maintenance according to convenience. The premium plug-in coding and structure does not present a heavy load on the server when it is in operation so there is no need to fear that the e-commerce site will become sluggish when the database cleanup and other operations are being conducted. The premium version of the plug-in justifies the price tag with additional features like provision of incremental backups, multi-network compatibility, easy duplication, and migration of the website across platforms, encryption of the database, generation of advanced reports, Wp-CLI support, as well as expert support completely free of charge. Another plug-in in the same suite is UpdraftCentral that permits the management, updating, backup, and other database maintenance functions from a remote central location, typically, as done by service providers like RemoteDBA.com.

VaultPress

Created by one of the founders of WordPress, VaultPress is one of the best examples of WordPress database plugins that one can hope to use for database maintenance, management, and optimization. The plug-in’s standout feature is its ability to create backups of the data in real-time. As it keeps on backing up every little change that you make on the website, the chances of your losing data in a potential server crash are zero. You can also instruct the plug-in to perform an automated backup on a daily basis and transmit the results to you at a predetermined time. Users can restore backups with just a single click operation, get an opportunity to review suspicious codes or disruptive threats, create an archive of the backups of the last 30 days, and conduct site migrations very easily with one-click automated restore functions. There is also a useful feature that prevents the site from coming to harm due to spam. The premium version incorporates additional features like advertisement revenue generation, video hosting that is completely advertisement-free, and integration with Google Analytics. You have the option of choosing between the three versions; the personal use one costs $39, the business version is $99 while the professional one costs $299.

BackWPup Free

While many users may balk at the prices of using the feature loaded VaultPress plug-in, it is possible to get a free plug-in that allows you to execute a complete database backup without having to spend a single penny. Of course, there are more advanced versions of BackWPup that range from $69 for the Standard to as much as $349 for the Agency. However, most small online businesses with WordPress sites will be happy with the free version that not only allows the backup of the database and the files tar, tar.gz, and zip format but also the checking and repairing of the database, export of WordPress XML, optimizing the database. It also allows data storage across a number of options like FTP server, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. Of course, the use of the free version does not get you any support so if you are really shaky about how to administer, cleanup, and optimize your database, it may help to opt for a paid version that gets you round-the-clock support for the subscription period.

Optimize Database after Deleting Revision

This free WordPress database plug-in can be a real lifesaver when it comes to database maintenance. It is quite common for users to edit their posts on WordPress multiple times before deciding on the one that is the best. However, as innocuous, the activity is, in the long run, a large number of revisions can make the database clunky and lead to deterioration of the user experience of the website. With this plug-in, it is possible to delete all the redundant revisions to speed up the database. You can also keep some of them in the exclude list to prevent their deletion. The plug-in can be run manually whenever you like or you can schedule it as per your convenience. The plug-in also incorporates a very powerful and effective database optimization tool with several features like deleting the items in the spam and trash, removing trackbacks, pingbacks, and expired or all transients. You can also delete unused tags, optimize the tables of the database, create log files of all the operations pertaining to the optimization process, and also run an analysis of the database to find out its performance across different metrics.

Conclusion

WordPress is so easy and intuitive to work with, that it is automatically the first choice of most small online businesses and the preferred platform of many leading global businesses. The wide variety of plugins available makes the work of administering and optimizing the database for delivering the best performance simple even for administrators without a great deal of experience.