Backups and snapshots side by side
| Droplet backups | Snapshots | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Automatic disk images on a schedule | On-demand disk images you create |
| Schedule | Weekly or daily on percentage plans; every 12, 6 or 4 hours on usage-based plans | Manual, whenever you take one |
| Retention | Daily: 7 backups kept 7 days. Weekly: 4 backups kept 4 weeks. Usage-based: 3 days to 6 months | Until you delete it |
| Price | 20% of the Droplet price for weekly, 30% for daily; usage-based from $0.01 per GiB of restorable size per month | $0.06 per GB per month, based on snapshot size; $0.01 minimum |
| Taken while running | Yes, in the background during a 4-hour window you choose | Yes, live, but DigitalOcean recommends powering off for the most reliable result |
| Consistency | Crash-consistent disk image; DigitalOcean recommends application-level backups for databases and other high-I/O systems | Live snapshots may compromise data consistency |
| Attached volumes | Not included | Volumes need their own volume snapshot |
| Download | Not possible | Not possible |
| Restore | New Droplet or revert the Droplet | New Droplet or restore the Droplet; can be copied to other regions at no extra charge |
What each costs on a typical WordPress Droplet
DigitalOcean’s Basic Droplets start at $6 per month for 1 GiB of RAM and 25 GiB of SSD; a 2 GiB, 1 vCPU, 50 GiB Droplet is $12 and a 4 GiB, 2 vCPU, 80 GiB Droplet is $24. Percentage-based backups scale with that price; snapshots scale with how much data the image holds.
Usage-based backup rates are listed per GiB of restorable size per month: $0.04 weekly, $0.03 daily, $0.02 every 12 hours, $0.015 every 6 hours and $0.01 every 4 hours. The percentage-based plans list only weekly and daily schedules, so the intra-day options mean switching to usage-based billing. Use its pricing calculator with your real data size and retention before choosing, because total cost depends on how many restore points you keep.
Creating a backup or snapshot takes roughly 2 minutes per GB of used space, so a 15 GB server takes around half an hour. Disk writes slow while it runs.
| Droplet | Weekly backups (20%) | Daily backups (30%) | One 15 GB snapshot kept a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| $6 per month | $1.20 | $1.80 | $0.90 |
| $12 per month | $2.40 | $3.60 | $0.90 |
| $24 per month | $4.80 | $7.20 | $0.90 |
Why neither replaces an off-server WordPress backup
WordPress’s own backup documentation says a site has two parts to back up, the database and the files, that you need both to restore a typical site, and recommends keeping at least 3 to 5 recent backups with copies stored in different locations. DigitalOcean backups and snapshots satisfy the first point but not the second: they live in the same provider account and cannot be downloaded.
Four gaps matter on a course site. First, if the account is locked, compromised or closed, every restore point goes with it. Second, both are disk images taken while the server may be writing: DigitalOcean describes backups as crash-consistent, warns that live snapshots may compromise data consistency, and recommends application-level backups for databases and other high-I/O systems. Third, backups do not include volumes, so if you moved wp-content/uploads to a volume, your lesson files are not in the backup. Fourth, restoring is all or nothing: reverting the Droplet to last night also discards today’s enrollments, quiz attempts and orders.
A database dump made with mysqldump or WP-CLI, plus a copy of wp-content, stored in object storage in another account or with another provider, closes those gaps. It also lets you restore one table or pull out today’s orders before rolling back.
A sensible setup by site size
| Site | DigitalOcean layer | Off-server layer |
|---|---|---|
| Small course, few daily sales | Weekly backups plus a snapshot before every update | Nightly database dump and weekly uploads sync to another provider |
| Active membership site with daily enrollments | Daily backups; snapshot powered off before major upgrades | Database dump every few hours; daily uploads sync; monthly test restore |
| Uploads or media on a volume | Backups plus scheduled volume snapshots | Uploads synced off-server, since backups skip volumes |
| High-write database (forums, busy quizzes) | Backups as a server safety net only | Application-level database backups as the primary recovery path |
Taking a clean snapshot before a risky change
- Put the site in maintenance mode or schedule a quiet hour so no orders are mid-checkout.
- Export a fresh database dump and copy it off the server first.
- Power off the Droplet if you can accept a few minutes of downtime; DigitalOcean recommends this so applications finish writing to disk.
- Take the snapshot and wait for it to complete before powering on and making the change.
- Delete old snapshots you no longer need; they are billed until deleted.
Restore-plan checklist
- Write down where each restore point lives: DigitalOcean backups, snapshots, database dumps and uploads copies.
- Decide your acceptable data loss: if losing a day of enrollments is too much, daily Droplet backups alone are not enough.
- Before reverting a Droplet, export orders, enrollments and new users created since the restore point.
- Prefer restoring to a new Droplet, checking it, then switching DNS or a reserved IP, over reverting the live one.
- After any restore, check payment webhooks, scheduled jobs and email sending.
- Rehearse a full restore from the off-server copy at least once per quarter.
Questions before you decide
Can I download a DigitalOcean backup or snapshot?
No. DigitalOcean’s documentation says you cannot currently download backups or snapshots; use your own database and file backups for an off-platform copy.
Do DigitalOcean backups include volumes?
No. Automated backups do not include volumes; use volume snapshots for those.
How long are DigitalOcean backups kept?
On the percentage plans, daily backups keep 7 backups for 7 days and weekly backups keep 4 backups for 4 weeks. Usage-based plans allow 3 days to 6 months.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- DigitalOcean Docs: Backups Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- DigitalOcean Docs: Backups features Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- DigitalOcean Docs: Backups limits Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- DigitalOcean Docs: Backups pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- DigitalOcean: Backups product page Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- DigitalOcean Docs: Snapshots Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- DigitalOcean Docs: Snapshots pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- DigitalOcean Docs: Snapshot Droplets Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- DigitalOcean: Droplet pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- WordPress Developer Resources: WordPress backups Accessed 29 Oct 2026
Sources link directly to providers. Product buttons may use separately labeled affiliate links. Read our disclosure.