Amazon Redshift clients rely closely on snapshots, that are point-in-time backups of their information, for catastrophe restoration, compliance retention, and information portability throughout AWS Areas. Amazon Redshift helps two forms of snapshots: automated and guide. For provisioned clusters, automated snapshots are enabled by default and retained for as much as 35 days; guide snapshots persist till you delete them. For serverless workgroups, Amazon Redshift mechanically creates restoration factors which might be retained for twenty-four hours, and you may as well create guide snapshots with a configurable retention interval. For particulars on snapshot creation and backup storage pricing, you may confer with Amazon Redshift pricing for extra particulars.
Beginning June 8, 2026, Amazon Redshift is introducing an incremental snapshot billing mannequin for Amazon Redshift Serverless and Amazon Redshift RG (provisioned situations powered by AWS Graviton). With this enhancement, you pay just for the distinctive information blocks throughout your energetic guide snapshots inside your account. This delivers important value financial savings for patrons who’ve a number of snapshots that include largely equivalent information blocks.
On this put up, you’ll find out how the brand new incremental snapshot billing mannequin works, the client use circumstances it addresses, and the way it helps you optimize prices whereas enhancing your Restoration Level Goal (RPO).
Incremental snapshot billing
With this new billing mannequin, Amazon Redshift payments guide snapshots primarily based on distinctive information blocks. While you take a number of guide snapshots of the identical workgroup or cluster, a lot of the information stays unchanged between snapshots. The billing mannequin acknowledges this overlap and prices just for the distinctive information blocks throughout your energetic snapshots. Information that has not modified between snapshots is counted as soon as.
Take into account a ten TB information warehouse with three guide snapshots:
- Snapshot 1 (Day 1): Full backup, 10 TB of distinctive information blocks
- Snapshot 2 (seconds later): Nothing modified, shares information blocks with Snapshot 1, no further cost
- Snapshot 3 (two days later): 1 TB of latest distinctive information blocks created from adjustments
- Complete billed: 11 TB of distinctive information blocks
Utilizing this instance, clients pay for the ten TB of distinctive information blocks in Snapshot 1 plus the 1 TB of latest distinctive information block in Snapshot 3. Snapshot 2 shares its blocks with Snapshot 1, so it provides zero value. Therefore, whole 11 TB of distinctive information blocks are billed.
Key billing mannequin particulars
With the brand new incremental snapshot billing mannequin, you’re charged just for the distinctive information blocks on the present snapshot charges. Following are the important thing particulars of the brand new characteristic:
- Scope: Amazon Redshift Serverless and Amazon Redshift RG situations. Amazon Redshift RA3 situations retains the present tiered S3 billing.
- Fee: Based mostly on the prevailing snapshot pricing to your Area.
- Deduplication degree: Account-level for Amazon Redshift Serverless and RG.
- Automated snapshots: Unchanged, nonetheless obtainable at no further value (35 days for Provisioned, 1 day for Serverless).
- Current snapshots: Mechanically transition to the incremental snapshot billing mannequin. No motion required.
This mannequin is particularly helpful for patrons needing backup retention past the automated snapshot home windows obtainable at no further value. Serverless clients needing backup past 24 hours can now take guide snapshots figuring out they pay for a singular information block, making prolonged retention extra sensible and reasonably priced.
Advantages
With the incremental snapshot billing mannequin, buyer can undertake stronger information safety methods at optimized prices:
Compliance-driven long-term retention
Regulated industries (monetary providers, healthcare, authorities, and life sciences) should usually retain backups for 90 days to five+ years. Since this billing mannequin prices just for distinctive information blocks, retention insurance policies change into considerably extra reasonably priced as snapshots accumulate.
How this characteristic helps: Now you can keep backup retention (90-day, 1-year, 7-year) on Amazon Redshift Serverless and RG at optimized value. A ten TB warehouse with 5% day by day change charge retaining 90 days of day by day snapshots pays for ~14.5 TB of distinctive information blocks whole throughout all snapshots.
Catastrophe restoration with higher Restoration Level and Time Targets (RPO/ RTO)
Many purchasers need extra frequent snapshots (hourly as an alternative of day by day) for tighter restoration aims. As a result of every further snapshot is billed just for its new distinctive information blocks, frequent backups are sensible and reasonably priced.
How this characteristic helps: You possibly can take hourly snapshots the place each provides solely ~0.2% in new distinctive information (assuming 5% day by day change charge). Extra snapshots imply extra restoration factors and fewer information loss in a failure state of affairs, all at optimized value.
Cross-Area catastrophe restoration at decrease value
Snapshots copied to a different area for catastrophe restoration are additionally billed primarily based on distinctive information blocks. Organizations sustaining multi-Area catastrophe restoration (DR) methods pay proportionally to precise information adjustments, making geographic redundancy reasonably priced.
How this characteristic helps: In case you are working active-passive or active-active multi-Area architectures, you may copy snapshots throughout Areas extra often, enhancing cross-Area RPO whereas maintaining DR prices proportional to precise information adjustments quite than full dataset measurement.
Inexpensive prolonged backups
With the incremental snapshot billing mannequin, prolonged guide backups are extra reasonably priced for patrons, no matter their workload measurement. Even retention insurance policies (7-day, 14-day) value proportionally to precise information adjustments, for enhanced information safety posture throughout the board.
How this characteristic helps: Prospects now not want to decide on between information safety and funds. This billing mannequin helps make prolonged retention value efficient for workloads of various sizes.
Pricing instance
For instance, you could have an Amazon Redshift Serverless workgroup with 10 TB of energetic information in US East (Ohio). You’re taking day by day guide snapshots with 7-day retention. Your information adjustments at 5% per day (0.5 TB/day).
| Element | Calculation | Month-to-month Value |
| Lively information | 10 TB × 1,024 GB/TB × $0.023 | $235.52 |
| Distinctive snapshot blocks (after deduplication) | 13 TB × 1,024 GB/TB × $0.023 | $306.18 |
| Complete | $541.70 |
As a result of shared blocks throughout snapshots are counted solely as soon as. You pay for 13 TB of distinctive snapshot information quite than the complete cumulative measurement of all seven day by day snapshots.
Compounding financial savings on Amazon Redshift RG
In case you are evaluating migrating from RA3 to RG, the financial savings stack considerably. A few of the compounding financial savings on RG embrace:
- RG situations are priced at 30% low cost as in comparison with RA3 situations.
- Reserved Situations (RI) pricing is obtainable for RG which offer additional compute financial savings.
- Incremental billing alleviates duplicate snapshot prices for backup storage.
- Information lake queries are included in RG compute pricing, thereby avoiding the per-terabyte scanning prices of Amazon Redshift Spectrum.
The mixed impact of those choices for RG can ship an combination higher than 30% value discount over RA3. You possibly can lock in RI pricing on RG clusters for predictable, long-term financial savings on prime of the incremental snapshot profit.
Getting began
No motion is required in your finish. Your present guide snapshots mechanically transition to the incremental snapshot billing mannequin on June 8, 2026.
To maximise the profit:
- Overview your present snapshot utilization within the AWS Billing and Value Administration console.
- Improve snapshot frequency. Extra frequent snapshots now value proportionally much less since every further snapshot solely provides its distinctive information blocks to your invoice.
- Prolong retention insurance policies. Compliance pushed retention (90-day, 1-year, 7-year) is now considerably extra reasonably priced.
- Consider RA3 to RG migration. Take into account the 30% compute financial savings, mixed with RI eligibility throughout RG analysis for migrating from RA3.
- Discover Serverless. The improved billing mannequin makes Serverless a cheap choice for patrons who want backup retention past the 24-hour automated restoration level window.
Conclusion
The incremental snapshot billing mannequin for Amazon Redshift Serverless and Amazon Redshift RG prices just for distinctive information blocks throughout your snapshots. This helps extra frequent snapshots for higher catastrophe restoration, reasonably priced long-term compliance retention, and a compelling path to Amazon Redshift Serverless adoption. Mixed with Amazon Redshift RG’s 30% compute low cost and Reserved Situations, this delivers significant whole value financial savings throughout your total Amazon Redshift spend.
Overview your snapshot technique in the present day and share your suggestions on AWS re:Put up. For full pricing particulars, go to the Amazon Redshift pricing web page.
In regards to the authors
Nidhi Nayak
Nidhi is a Senior Technical Account Supervisor with AWS, she helps enterprise clients construct scalable, high-performance cloud functions and optimize cloud operations. With over a decade of expertise in Information Analytics, Nidhi at present focuses on Redshift & Generative AI integration with Redshift.
Raza Hafeez
Raza is a Senior Product Supervisor, Technical at Amazon Redshift. He has 15+ years of expertise constructing and optimizing enterprise information warehouses and is captivated with making cloud analytics accessible and cost-effective for patrons of all sizes.
Sushmita Barthakur
Sushmita is a Senior Information Options Architect at AWS, supporting Strategic clients architect their information workloads on AWS. With a background in information analytics, she has intensive expertise serving to clients architect and construct enterprise information lakes, ETL workloads, information warehouses and information analytics options, each on-premises and the cloud. Sushmita is predicated in Florida and enjoys touring, studying and enjoying tennis.
Amy Huang
Amy is a Senior Monetary Analyst at AWS and a CPA with over 7 years of progressive expertise throughout Strategic Finance, Banking, and Auditing. She makes a speciality of pricing, monetary modeling and valuation, and data-driven evaluation. Exterior of labor, she enjoys yoga and climbing.
