How Shopify backups work

BackupMaster backs up your Shopify store by pulling data through the Shopify API, saving each item individually, and tracking changes over time. Every backed-up item has its own version history, so you can see what changed, when it changed, and restore a previous version if you need to.

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The initial backup

When you install BackupMaster and select a plan, the app runs an initial backup of your store. It pulls every supported item — products, collections, themes, pages, and more — and saves each one as its first version in backup storage. This creates a restore point for all your store data. Wait for the initial backup to finish before you clone data to another store or restore to that point. Both features depend on having a completed backup to work from. How long the initial backup takes depends on your store’s size and Shopify’s API rate limits. A small store can finish in minutes; a large store with thousands of products can take several days. Backups run in the background and don’t affect your store’s performance, so you can close the browser tab while one runs — BackupMaster sends an email when it finishes. The initial backup establishes a baseline; from then on, BackupMaster only needs to track what changed.

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Automatic daily backups

After the initial backup finishes, BackupMaster runs an automatic daily backup. Instead of pulling your entire store again, it requests only the data that changed since the last backup. For each changed item, the app compares the Shopify version with the version already in storage. If the item is different, BackupMaster saves it as a new version. For example, if you update a product’s price, the next backup detects the change and saves the updated product as a new version. Over time, this builds a complete version history for each item. You can also run a backup manually at any time with the Backup Now button on the dashboard. Manual backups use the same change detection as automatic ones. Run one before a major change like an import or a bulk edit to give yourself a recent restore point to fall back on. BackupMaster assigns a daily backup time when you install the app. To change it, contact support at support@backupmaster.io.

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Version history

Every item that BackupMaster backs up has its own version history. Each time a backup detects a change to an item, BackupMaster saves the item’s current state as a new version. If the item hasn’t changed, no new version is created. Over time, this builds a timeline of versions for each item individually. Backups run every day, but BackupMaster only saves a new version when something changed. Days without changes don’t add a version — this keeps version history clean, and each version represents an actual change. To view an item’s version history, open the BackupMaster app, go to Backup Storage, and select a category. Select any item to see its versions. The comparison view shows the current live data on the left and the backed-up version on the right, with a dropdown to switch between versions. You can restore a supported item to a previous version directly from this view. For step-by-step instructions on browsing and comparing versions, see View and browse backed-up Shopify data. You can also export your backups or clone data to another store for staging or migration.

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Restore points

Each backup creates a restore point — a snapshot of your store data at that moment. You can restore any item to any captured version within the retention window. As backups accumulate, each item builds its own timeline of versions, so you have more points to choose from.

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Data retention

All plans include one-year retention for backup versions. You can restore any item to any version captured within the past year. BackupMaster automatically removes versions older than one year. After you uninstall BackupMaster, your backup data is kept for seven days and then permanently deleted from BackupMaster’s servers. Deleted data can’t be recovered.

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Store performance and API rate limits

BackupMaster connects to your store through the Shopify API only. It doesn’t inject any code into your storefront, so your page load times and customer experience aren’t affected. Shopify enforces API rate limits that control how frequently any app can send requests. BackupMaster stays within these limits automatically. A few factors affect how long backups and restores take:

• Each item (product, page, theme file) requires one or more API calls.
• Products with many images, variants, or metafields need multiple calls each.
• Stores with thousands of items need thousands of API calls over time.

If backup progress looks stuck, BackupMaster is most likely processing items that require many API calls, such as products with hundreds of variants. Wait for the completion email before assuming there’s a problem. If no progress shows for more than two hours, contact support at support@backupmaster.io.