diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0d7264c..20af9f9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -27,3 +27,6 @@ yarn-error.log*
 /vue-expenses-api/obj
 *.orig
 *.user
+
+# data files
+backups
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/vue-expenses-api/Startup.cs b/vue-expenses-api/Startup.cs
index 98fe9c8..12d4b96 100644
--- a/vue-expenses-api/Startup.cs
+++ b/vue-expenses-api/Startup.cs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+using System;
+using System.IO;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Data;
 using System.Net.NetworkInformation;
@@ -16,6 +18,7 @@
 using vue_expenses_api.Infrastructure;
 using vue_expenses_api.Infrastructure.Security;
 using vue_expenses_api.Infrastructure.Validation;
+using static Backup;
 
 namespace vue_expenses_api;
 
@@ -32,6 +35,8 @@ public Startup(
     public void ConfigureServices(
         IServiceCollection services)
     {
+        Backup.CreateBackup(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection"));
+
         services.AddControllers()
             .AddNewtonsoftJson();
 
diff --git a/vue-expenses-api/Util/Backup.cs b/vue-expenses-api/Util/Backup.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9c46143
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vue-expenses-api/Util/Backup.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+using System;
+using System.IO;
+
+public class Backup{
+    public Backup(){
+
+    }
+
+    public static void CreateBackup(string expensesFilePath){
+        string backupDirectory = "App_Data/backups";
+        if (!Directory.Exists(backupDirectory))
+        {
+            Directory.CreateDirectory(backupDirectory);
+        }
+
+        expensesFilePath = expensesFilePath.Replace("Data Source=", "");
+
+        string timestamp = DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss");
+
+        string backupFilePath = Path.Combine(backupDirectory, $"{timestamp}.expenses.db");
+
+        File.Copy(expensesFilePath, backupFilePath, true);
+
+        int maxBackups = 5;
+        string[] backupFiles = Directory.GetFiles(backupDirectory, "*.expenses.db");
+
+        if (backupFiles.Length > maxBackups)
+        {
+            Array.Sort(backupFiles);
+            for (int i = 0; i < backupFiles.Length - maxBackups; i++)
+            {
+                File.Delete(backupFiles[i]);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file