How to Back Up WordPress to Google Drive (Step by Step)

Introduction

Storing your backups on the same server as your website is one of the most common mistakes in WordPress. If that server fails, gets hacked, or your host suspends the account, your site and its only backup vanish together. The fix is simple: keep an off-site copy. And the easiest place to start is the one almost everyone already has — Google Drive, with 15 GB of free storage.

This guide shows you exactly how to back up WordPress to Google Drive, step by step, using Nota Backup & Restore. You’ll connect your own Google app, pick a destination folder, run your first off-site backup, and then automate the whole thing on a schedule.

Why Back Up WordPress to Google Drive

• Off-site safety — your backup lives somewhere completely separate from your hosting account, so a server failure can never take both down at once.
• Free to start — every Google account comes with 15 GB of storage, which is plenty for most sites.
• Already familiar — no new account to create, no card to enter, and your files are easy to find and download from any device.
• Private to you — with Nota Backup & Restore, backups upload to your own Google Drive through your own Google app, so no third-party service ever touches your data.

What You’ll Need Before You Start

• A WordPress site with Nota Backup & Restore installed (Google Drive upload is a Pro feature).
• A Google account (free is fine).
• About 10 minutes for the one-time setup. After that, every backup goes to Drive automatically.

Step 1: Create Your Google OAuth App (Client ID & Secret)

Nota Backup & Restore connects to Drive through your own Google app, so your backups stay entirely between your site and your Google account. You only do this once.

1. Open the Google Cloud Console and create a new project (or select an existing one).
2. Go to APIs & Services → Library, search for Google Drive API, and click Enable.
3. Open APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen, configure the basics, and — if your app stays in “Testing” mode — add your own Google address under Test users.
4. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials → Create Credentials → OAuth client ID and choose Web application as the type.
5. In the plugin, open Nota Backup & Restore → Settings → Google Drive and copy the Authorized redirect URI shown there. Paste it into the Authorized redirect URIs field in the Google Cloud Console exactly as shown.
6. Click Create, then copy your Client ID and Client Secret.

That redirect URI has to match character-for-character on both sides — it’s the single most common cause of connection errors, so copy it straight from the plugin rather than typing it.

Step 2: Connect Google Drive in Nota Backup & Restore

1. In WordPress, go to Nota Backup & Restore → Settings → Google Drive.
2. Paste your Client ID and Client Secret into the fields, then click Save Settings.
3. Click Connect Google Drive. Google’s authorization page opens — approve access, and you’re redirected back to the settings page.
4. You’ll see “Google Drive is connected and authorized.” That’s it — the hard part is done.

Step 3: Choose a Backup Folder

Once connected, the Auto Backup Folder section lets you pick where backups land in your Drive. Search for a folder by name, browse into it, and select it. If you leave it empty, backups go to the root of My Drive. Keeping them in a dedicated folder (for example, WordPress Backups) keeps your Drive tidy and makes restores easier to find later.

Step 4: Send Your First Backup to Google Drive

To run a one-off backup straight to Drive:

1. Open the main Nota Backup & Restore page.
2. Enable the Google Drive upload option for this backup.
3. Click Start Backup.

The plugin builds the archive on your server first, then uploads it to Drive in small chunks — so even large sites on shared hosting finish without hitting a timeout. When it’s done, the backup appears in your chosen Drive folder, and the history table links straight to it.

Step 5: Automate It With Scheduled Google Drive Backups

Manual backups are great for one-off snapshots, but the real safety net is automation. To send backups to Drive on a schedule:

1. Go to Settings → Automatic Backups.
2. Add a schedule and set its frequency (daily, weekly, or monthly).
3. Select Google Drive as a destination for that schedule.
4. Set how many backups to keep — older ones are pruned automatically so your Drive never fills up.

One important caveat: WordPress’s built-in scheduler (WP-Cron) only runs when someone visits your site, so on low-traffic sites a “daily” backup can quietly skip days. It’s worth setting up a real server cron job so your schedule actually fires — we cover exactly how in WP-Cron Not Running? How to Make Scheduled WordPress Backups Actually Reliable.

Get More Out of Your Google Drive Backups

• Encrypt them. Turn on AES-256 encryption in Settings, and your backups are encrypted before they ever leave your server — so even the copy sitting in Drive is unreadable without your password.
• Make uploads smaller and faster. Switching to the SQLite archive format enables incremental backups, so only changed files are uploaded each time. See SQLite vs ZIP for WordPress Backups.
• Add a second destination. Google Drive is a great primary, but true redundancy means more than one location. You can send the same backup to Drive and Amazon S3, Dropbox, OneDrive, Wasabi, or FTP — see the multi-cloud backup guide.

Troubleshooting Common Google Drive Backup Errors

• “redirect_uri_mismatch” — The redirect URI in the Google Cloud Console doesn’t exactly match the one shown in the plugin. Copy it again, character for character, including https:// and any trailing characters.
• “Not yet authorized” — You entered your credentials but haven’t saved settings before clicking Connect. Save first, then connect.
• “Access blocked” during authorization — Your OAuth consent screen is in Testing mode and your Google address isn’t listed as a test user. Add it (or publish the consent screen) and try again.
• The upload stalls on a large site — Lower the chunk size in settings; the plugin also auto-detects stalled jobs and cleans them up. See how to fix backup timeout errors on shared hosting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a paid Google account to back up WordPress to Google Drive?
No. A free Google account includes 15 GB of storage, which is enough for most sites. You only need a paid plan if your backups grow beyond your free quota.

Why do I have to create my own Google app instead of just clicking “connect”?
Because it keeps your data private. Using your own Google OAuth app means backups travel directly from your site to your Drive, with no third-party service in between that could see or store them.

Are my backups safe sitting in Google Drive?
They’re as safe as your Google account — and you can make them safer by enabling AES-256 encryption, which scrambles each backup before it leaves your server, so the file in Drive can’t be read without your password.

Will old backups pile up and fill my Drive?
No. Set a retention limit on your schedule and the plugin automatically removes the oldest backups from Drive once that limit is reached.

Conclusion

An off-site backup is the difference between a five-minute recovery and a lost website — and Google Drive is the easiest place to keep one. With Nota Backup & Restore, the setup is a one-time job: connect your Google app, pick a folder, and let every backup from then on upload automatically. Add encryption and a schedule, and you’ve got hands-off, off-site protection that just works.