This topic describes the backup billing items and costs for RDS PostgreSQL.
Backup billing items
Billing item | Billing item code | Billed product | References |
RDS base backup cost | BackupCharged | ApsaraDB RDS | |
Cross-region backup storage cost | DdrOssStorageSize | ApsaraDB RDS | |
Cross-region backup network traffic cost | NetworkOutDuplicationSize | Database Backup (DBS) | |
Internet traffic cost for backup download | NetworkOutSize | Database Backup (DBS) | |
Cloud disk instance backup conversion cost | BackupAnalyticSize | Database Backup (DBS) |
Cost details
If your total backup size does not exceed the free quota, you are not charged for backups. You pay only for usage beyond the free quota. Hourly backup cost = (Total backup size – Free backup quota) × Backup unit price.
Notes
Backup costs depend on backup size, not on instance storage usage, because backups do not consume instance storage space.
When you analyze the backup fees, you must check the total size of backup files. You do not need to check the storage usage.
Operations that involve replacing cloud disks (such as rebuilding a secondary database) affect cloud disk instances:
Single-region backup storage usage increases, raising single-region backup storage costs (billing item code: BackupCharged).
Cross-region backup network traffic increases, raising cross-region backup network traffic costs (billing item code: NetworkOutDuplicationSize).
Cross-region backup storage usage increases, raising cross-region backup storage costs (billing item code: DdrOssStorageSize).
NoteFor example, if certain DDL operations on an RDS cloud disk instance cause excessive replication delay, the system may automatically trigger a secondary database rebuild to ensure stability. This increases related costs for the cloud disk instance.
How to reduce backup costs
Increase free quota
Scale out storage space. For more information, see Change configuration.
The free quota depends on storage space. For example, scaling out storage space for an instance with Premium Local SSDs from 150 GB to 300 GB increases the free quota from 75 GB to 150 GB.
View backup bills
On the Bill details page, select Billing Item and Billing Period. Then enter the instance name, instance ID, or bill ID, and click Search.
Look for bills where the billing item name contains backup.
Different backup methods use different billing items. For more information, see Backup billing items.
FAQ
The automatic backup of my RDS instance has exceeded the free quota and is now being charged. How can I turn off the backup feature?
Automatic backups are enabled by default and cannot be turned off. To reduce charges, modify the automatic backup policy to delete existing backups or reduce the rate at which new backups are generated.
I shortened the backup retention period from x days to y days, but the backup size hasn't changed. Why?
If no existing backup files are older than y days, no files are deleted and the backup size remains unchanged. The retention period only removes backups that have exceeded the specified duration.
Where can I view my total backup size and free quota?
Go to the instance details page in the console and navigate to Basic Information > Instance Resources > Backup Usage.
Why is my total snapshot backup size larger than my actual data file size?
Snapshot backups are calculated based on cloud disk storage blocks, not actual data file size. Storage blocks are allocated in fixed sizes (such as 4 MB). When data is written in a scattered pattern, a small amount of data can occupy multiple blocks (for example, 3 MB of data may occupy 2, 3, or even more storage blocks). As a result, the total number of non-empty storage blocks — and therefore the snapshot backup size — can exceed the actual data size.