The short version.
A backup answers "give me the store as it was." A change history answers "what changed, when, from what to what, and who made it when Shopify reports it." They overlap when something goes wrong, which is why people searching for one find the other. Actorly keeps changes, not a copy of the store.
This page describes Backup Buddy from its own listing, read on 2026-10-14, and links each fact to the page it came from. Its developer is MigrateGO, and the listing gives 2026-07-03 as its launch date. Backup Buddy may have changed since, so check it. Backup Buddy is another company's product and Actorly is not affiliated with it. We make Actorly, so weigh our entry accordingly.
Side by side.
| Topic | Backup Buddy | Actorly |
|---|---|---|
| The job | Scheduled daily and on-demand backup, with restore and duplication of backed-up data to a staging store. listing | A searchable record of what changed in your store, with the old and new value. |
| What it keeps | Products, collections, pages, blogs, themes, files, customers, orders, metafields, metaobjects and more. listing | The changes it sees across 25 parts of a store, from the day it is installed. Not a copy of the store. |
| Restore | Individual items or previous versions, and several items at once. listing | One field at a time, for 15 named fields, after you confirm the exact value, checked afterwards. No bulk restore, no whole-store restore, no restore to a date. |
| Who made a change | Not stated. listing | Product changes only, when Shopify reports it, beside Likely or Possible, and Unknown where Shopify records no one. |
| History kept | Not stated. listing | Three months on Watch. Unlimited while on Restore. |
| Price and trial | Listed as free, with no paid plan shown. listing | Watch is $0, with no clock. Restore is $29 a month or $240 a year. Billed by Shopify, never per change. No trial. |
A cell that says Not stated means Backup Buddy's page does not say, not that the thing is missing. We make Actorly, so weigh our entry accordingly.
Which to pick.
- You want to restore several items at once.
- You want to duplicate backed-up data into a staging store.
- You want themes, files, customers and orders in the copy.
- You want to see what changed, when, and from what to what, without a copy of the store behind it.
- You want who made a product change shown only when Shopify reports it, beside how sure Actorly is, with Unknown shown rather than a guess.
- You want to put one field back and have Actorly check that it took.
- You want your history free to see.
They can sit side by side: each keeps its own record.
What Actorly will not do.
- It does not copy or restore a whole store.
- It does not restore themes or customers, and it never changes an order.
- It does not bring back a deleted product: deleted items are kept and shown, not recreated.
- The record starts the day Actorly is installed. It cannot show what your store looked like before that.
Backup Buddy source.
- Backup & Restore: Backup Buddy, read on 2026-10-14
Questions.
Is Actorly an alternative to Backup Buddy?
They do different jobs. Backup Buddy describes itself as a backup of your store, with restore of individual items or previous versions. Actorly keeps a record of what changed and can put select fields back. If you need a copy of the store to restore from, Backup Buddy's own listing describes that job; Actorly does not do it.
Can I use Actorly and Backup Buddy together?
They are separate, and Actorly keeps its own record from the day it is installed, whatever else is on the store. What Backup Buddy does on its own side is for its listing to say.
Does Actorly show who made a change?
Only for product changes, only when Shopify reports it, and always with how sure Actorly is. Where Shopify records no one, the answer is Unknown, and Unknown is permanent.
What does Actorly cost?
Actorly Watch costs $0 and keeps three months of change history and one restore a month. Actorly Restore is $29 a month or $240 a year. Shopify bills it, never per change. There is no trial.
Is Actorly affiliated with Backup Buddy?
No. Backup Buddy is another company's product, described here from its own listing as read on 2026-10-14. It may have changed since, so check it.