Why VPS backups stay small, encrypted and off the server

After the first full copy, only the blocks that changed are read. That one choice shapes the size, the price and what a restore does to your disk.

A backup lives somewhere else

If a backup sits on the same disk as the thing it protects, it isn't a backup. Ours are written to storage away from the host that runs your server, so losing the host doesn't lose the copies.

Incremental after the first copy

The first backup reads the whole disk. Every one after that reads only the blocks that changed. That's why a nightly backup of a quiet server is tiny, and why you can keep many.

You choose the window the backups run in, in your own time zone. With the guest agent installed, the filesystem is frozen for a moment so the copy is clean. Without it you get a crash-consistent copy: the same state as pulling the plug.

Encrypted before it leaves

Each backup is encrypted with AES-256-GCM. You keep from 1 to 60, and older ones are removed as new ones arrive.

What it costs

A backup add-on is the greater of $5 or 20% of the plan, per month. The minimum exists because the first full copy and the storage cost the same on a small plan as a large one.

What we'd like you to check

• Pick a window when the server is quietest.
• Install the guest agent for clean copies.