Everything you want to know about DigitalOcean Backups

DigitalOcean native backups are disk images of Droplets, they are a snapshot based that create point-in-time images based on the current disk state of the droplet or volume.DigitalOcean

Everything that is written to disk at the time of the request is stored in the backup.

Where do DigitalOcean Snapshots live?

DigitalOcean snapshots and backups life within your DigitalOcean account, there is no way to download/extract the backup, you can however transfer droplet snapshots to a second region and create new droplets from them.s

What can I do with a Droplet Snapshot/Backup?

With a droplet snapshot you can create a new droplet from the backup or you could restore an existing droplet to a Snapshot. This is useful when you wish to keep the IP/machine when restoring.

If you destroy the droplet and create a new one, there is a very strong possibility you will lose your IP Address.

Are DigitalOcean backups incremental?

No, your snapshot is a full disk image.

What is the cost?

DigitalOcean backup service costs 20% of the droplet's monthly fee. Its prorated until you have all 4 weekly backups created. If you delete the droplet the backups will also be removed, hence using Snapshot can offer better protection against human error.

DigitalOcean Snapshots are charged at $0.06/Gb per month. Pricing is based on the size of the final snapshot and not the size of the droplet disk capacity or filesystem being saved.

There is no extra charge for transferring a snapshot to multiple regions.