Backups and snapshots: what's the difference
Quick answer
A backup is a full, standalone image stored off the host, protecting you even if the host itself fails. A snapshot is a faster point-in-time copy stored on the same host, so it doesn't protect against host failure. Use backups for recovery, snapshots for quick rollback before a risky change.
These two get confused because they both let you go back to an earlier state of a VPS. The difference is where the copy lives and what it protects against.
Backups
The Backups page in Portal shows protection status for all your VPS instances, summarised in six tiles: Protected (the number of VPS instances with backup protection on), Unprotected (VPS instances with no policy configured), Storage Used, Restore Points, Avg Job Duration, and Success Rate. Open a VPS's Backups & Snapshots tab to switch auto-backup on and set its frequency, retention and start time.
Backups
Protection status across all VPS instances
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Every 4 hours, every 6 hours, every 12 hours, or daily |
| Retention | Configurable from 1 to 365 days |
| Start time | Auto, or a specific UTC hour |
Every backup is a full, standalone image. Backups aren't incremental, so each one can be restored on its own without needing an earlier backup to be present. You can also trigger one immediately with Backup Now, from a VPS's own Backups & Snapshots tab.
To restore from a backup, you have two options:
- Restore puts the backup back in place on the existing VPS.
- New VPS creates a brand new instance from the backup, leaving the original untouched.
Backup storage is billed by usage: you're charged for the amount of backup storage you actually use, in GB, rather than a flat fee per VPS.
Reporting and failed jobs
Send Summary emails a report covering your backup activity. If a job fails, it shows up as an unacknowledged failed job: use Retry or Acknowledge on an individual job, or Acknowledge All to clear every unacknowledged failed job in one go.
Snapshots
A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of the VPS disk, taken and kept on the same host. That makes it faster to create than a backup, but it's not stored off-host, so a snapshot doesn't protect you if the underlying host fails. Snapshots are best used as a quick rollback point immediately before a risky change, such as an OS upgrade or a configuration change you're not fully sure about.
Create, restore, and delete snapshots from the VPS's own Backups & Snapshots tab.
Which one should you use?
- Ongoing protection against data loss or host failure: use scheduled backups.
- A quick undo point before a risky change: use a snapshot, and take a backup too if the change matters.
- Moving to a new instance without touching the original: restore a backup with New VPS.