Introducing iControlWP Unlimited Backup

By 16th May 2016 June 8th, 2016 iControlWP: Manage WordPress Better, News

As of today we’re going unlimited!

We’re now offering unlimited storage space with our ‘Growth’ and ‘Protect Pro’ subscription plans.

After a lot of feedback on how our pricing was structured, we’ve made some big changes which I’m sure you’ll love.

First, some common questions:

Will my current pricing change?
Absolutely no. Unless you change or upgrade your subscription, your current pricing will remain exactly the same.

What exactly does “unlimited” mean?
When you use our daily automatic backup service, we would normally charge for storage. Now we don’t. We don’t track and charge based on storage usage, so your backup costs are now fixed. (See below for more details)

Can I get unlimited with my current package?
No. If you want unlimited, you’ll need to upgrade your package to one of the new packages.

Should I upgrade to the new packages?
This is up to you. If you think the new way will work for you better, you definitely should. You can walk through the upgrade process and see what it will cost, but you don’t have to confirm the upgrade unless you’re happy with it.

What is Shield?
iControlWP is placing a much greater focus on WordPress site security. We’re leveraging our security plugin, Shield, and offering professional support including advanced features you can’t get on the free plugin.  These advanced features are integrated directly into the control panel.

New: Unlimited WorpDrive Backup Storage

When you subscribe to one of the new Shield plans, your backups will follow a new rotation schedule:

  • 4x Daily Backups (was 3x)
  • 3x Weekly Backup (was 1x)
  • 3x Monthly Backups (was 6x)

This is less than the previous rotation schedule, but following feedback from our clients, we recognise that storing all that extra data was unnecessary.

By reducing the data stored, we can now offer our clients what is effectively unlimited data storage.  To cover this though, the average cost per site has increased but we have managed to keep costs lower by reducing unnecessary backup rotations.

What’s the new cost?

To see the current pricing, please go here. But basically, we’re offering unlimited, daily, automatic WordPress backups (that works!) for less than $24 / year / site.

This price includes security scanning and WordPress management. You probably pay more for your SEO plugin.

New: Don’t backup if you don’t want to

Since some of you have backup solutions already, you don’t need the backup service we offer.  No problem.  Then you’ll want our ‘Shield‘ security package.

The ‘Shield‘ package is our lower-cost tier that doesn’t include any backup service.  You get all of iControlWP and Shield security scanning however, so you can manage your sites as you’ve always done, but with the advantage of better security features.

That said though, if you do want backups while you’re on this tier, you can currently add WorpDrive backup storage as an extra add-on, but this is charged and the storage usage is tracked.  If you want untracked, unlimited storage, you can move up to one of the unlimited tiers.

And yes, ‘Shield’ security is included in all the tiers.

Questions or Feedback?

We’ve made these changes based on a lot of feedback we’ve received from our clients.  Of course, they wont suit everyone, but then no pricing structure ever will. We hope though that you’ll appreciate the new flexibility and the ability to now fix and plan your costs going forward.

Let us know what you think below in the comments!

Join the discussion 7 Comments

  • TwoCentsBob says:

    Hello Paul:

    1. Let me see if I get this right @ $15.00 per month; I have to pay an additional $12.00 per year for 20GB storage? Also if I needed an additional 20GB: that would that be $24.00 per year?
    2. I noticed though you have increased the number of sites from 5 to 10?
    3. Plus what exactly is “No Maximum Site Limits”?

    View Comment
    • Paul G. says:

      Hi Bob,

      1) Yep, that’s $15.00/month. The $12/20GB is per month. It’s unlikely you would exceed the initial 20GB unless you had a particularly large site. And if you had a lot of sites to backup, then you’d be better off on one of the unlimited plans.

      2) Yes, the included number of sites has gone up for this package, but then backups was also removed from it.

      3) No maximum site limits means that you can add as many sites to your account as you’d like. You just pay the additional costs for sites not included in your plan.

      Hope that helps!

      View Comment
  • Ruud says:

    This change just made it more interesting for me to join iControlWP. The previous rotation schedule was indeed way too much. However, I have some doubts about the current schedule as well. Why did you choose for 3 daily, 1 weekly and 6 monthly? I don’t see the point in that. Something like 4 daily, 4 weekly and 2 monthly would have seen more appropriate in my opinion. Backups are for if something goes wrong. Than, aren’t recent backups not more important than one that is six months old? I definitely understand the logic for less backups in total (I was one of the people suggesting that), but could you explain why you guys choose for this new schedule?

    @TwoCentsBob:
    1. I think the additional backup costs for the Shield package are monthly costs, but let Paul correct me if I’m wrong. So as soon as you need more than 20 GB, you’re probably better of switching to the Growth package.
    2. Yes, guess you are right. Seems a logical exchange in return for removing the backups from the package.
    3. As I understand it, No Maximum Site Limits means there is no limit on additional sites that you can add to your package, on top of the number of sites that is included by default.

    View Comment
    • Paul G. says:

      Hi Ruud,

      There is merits to both of our approaches, though perhaps I dare say somewhere in the middle might be better. There are a lot of factors to consider here, and one of those is long-term disaster recovery. Going back as far as 6 months is important, but I’m definitely considering your feedback.

      I may consider going 4 daily, 2 weekly, 4 monthly. If you contact me directly on the support helpdesk, then we can discuss all this a bit further.

      Thanks!

      View Comment
  • TwoCentsBob says:

    G’Day Paul

    In the light of my recent little hiccup, I cannot but sing the praises of having the daily backups. Keep up the good the good work and improving Shield; with much thanks.

    Cheers TwoCentsBob.

    View Comment

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