Guide
Three ways to bring back a site from the Wayback Machine
A download tool, a restoration service or a rebuild by hand. They differ in what you get, who does the work and what happens to the old addresses. This page helps you pick the route before you pay anyone.
Routes
The three routes
Download tool
You choose the settings and get an automatic copy of the archived pages: static HTML or a PHP copy, sometimes with a simple editor of its own. Priced per file or per site. Fits when a working copy is enough and price matters most.
Restoration service
Someone restores the site for you, usually into WordPress, at a fixed price per site, and hands it over as a package or installs it. Fits when the site must run on WordPress and you do not want to spend your own time on it.
Rebuild by hand
A developer recreates the site in a CMS, page by page, from the archived copies. Fits when the design or structure changes anyway, or the archive holds too little to restore.
Comparison
Side by side
| Criterion | Download tool | Restoration service | Rebuild by hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Download toolA static or PHP copy of the archived pages | Restoration serviceA WordPress site, sometimes static HTML | Rebuild by handA new site in the CMS you choose |
| Who does the work | Download toolYou, with automation | Restoration serviceThe provider | Rebuild by handA developer |
| Price | Download toolPer file or per site, often a few dollars | Restoration serviceA fixed price per site | Rebuild by handPer hour or per page |
| Speed | Download toolMinutes to hours | Restoration serviceDays | Rebuild by handWeeks |
| Original URLs | Download toolUsually kept | Restoration serviceDepends on the provider: ask | Rebuild by handOnly if planned |
| Editing | Download toolTheir editor or plain files | Restoration serviceThe WordPress editor | Rebuild by handAny |
Checklist
Six questions to ask any provider
Are the original URLs kept exactly?
Including parameter addresses such as ?p=123 and ?cat=5. Backlinks point to the old addresses; renamed URLs lose them.
What happens to pages the archive did not save?
Sending them all to the homepage is common. Search engines tend to treat that as a soft 404, so the links to those pages pass nothing useful.
Is there a report for every address?
What came back, what did not and why, including the URLs on your own list.
What does the price cover?
The size limit in pages and gigabytes, add-on fees, and the refund terms.
How will you edit the site?
The WordPress editor, HTML blocks, a separate CMS or plain files.
Is it white-label?
If you resell, the site files should carry no name or links of the provider or of the archive.
My answers
How I answer them
I run a restoration service: WordPress only. If a static copy is enough for you, a download tool costs less.
- The original URLs,
?p=,?cat=,?tag=,?m=included, not renamed - Missing pages answer
410with a reason, or301where the original site redirected; nothing is sent to the homepage; every one is a row inredirects.csv qa/report.htmlwith the recovery percentage, the reason for each gap and the status of your important URLs
- $99 per site up to 10,000 pages or 5 GB, with no add-on fees for the sitemap, snapshot search or white-label; full refund before work starts and 14 days of free fixes after delivery
- WordPress with the original layout as HTML blocks; conversion to editor blocks priced individually
- White-label included: no traces of me or the archive in the site files, your brand on the documents.
FAQ
Questions
Can I restore the site myself?
Yes: download tools are made for that. What takes time is turning the copy into WordPress on the same addresses and checking every URL. That is the part I sell.
Why not redirect missing pages to the homepage?
Search engines tend to treat mass redirects to the homepage as soft 404s. A 410 says honestly that the page is gone; a 301 keeps a redirect the original site itself had.
Is a working copy enough for a PBN?
If the content only needs to be back online on the same addresses, it can be. If you want to publish new posts in WordPress and have a status for every old address, a restored WordPress site saves that work.
Send the domain. The free audit shows what the archive holds, what looks recoverable, the price and the date, before you pay.