# Backups & recovery

Automated backups, retention policy configuration, and in-platform restore for SurrealDB Cloud.

SurrealDB Cloud provides **managed backups** so you can recover from mistakes or the need to clone an instance — without operating your own backup infrastructure. The same backup and restore experience applies to **Start and Scale** instances. Backups are **stored and restored inside Cloud**; you **cannot download or extract backup files** to your own storage today.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> **Automated backups are not available on free instances.** Upgrade to a paid Start or Scale plan to enable scheduled backups and restore.

## Backup retention policy

Paid instances use a **tiered retention policy** you can configure per instance. Each tier keeps snapshots for a set period before they expire:

| Tier | Schedule | What you configure |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Daily** | Automated every day | How many **days** of daily snapshots to keep |
| **Weekly** | Snapshot each Sunday | How many **weeks** of weekly snapshots to keep |
| **Monthly** | Snapshot on the 1st of each month | How many **months** of monthly snapshots to keep |

To change retention, open the instance in **SurrealDB Studio**, go to **Settings → Backups**, and open **Backup retention**. Adjust the values for each tier within the allowed range shown in the UI, then save.

Some tiers may be **fixed on your current plan** (not editable in the console). If you need longer retention than your plan allows, contact SurrealDB support from the same screen.

Longer retention improves recoverability but increases storage use and cost. Align retention with compliance and recovery objectives.

## On-demand backups

You can also trigger **on-demand backups** before risky changes (for example a major version upgrade). These appear alongside scheduled snapshots in the instance backup list.

## Restoring from a backup

Restore is an **in-platform** operation:

1. Open the instance **backups** list in SurrealDB Studio or the Cloud dashboard.
2. Select the snapshot to restore from.
3. Choose **Create from selected** (or pick the backup when creating a new instance).

This provisions a **new instance** from the backup. You cannot restore into the same instance in place.

Common constraints:

- Source and restore instances must be in the **same region**.
- Restore target **storage size** must be equal to or greater than the source.
- Restored instances must use a **compatible SurrealDB version** for that backup (the UI shows valid versions).

Step-by-step screenshots and the create-instance flow are in **[Data export and backup](/docs/build/deployment/surrealdb-cloud/operations/data-export-and-backup.md)**.

## What backups are not

- **Not downloadable** — backup snapshots are not exposed as files you can copy to S3, your laptop, or another cloud. Recovery is through Cloud restore only.
- **Not a substitute for logical export** — if you need a portable `.surql` or data file outside Cloud, use [`surreal export`](/docs/reference/cli/surrealdb-cli/commands/export.md) against a running instance (see [Migrating data](/docs/build/deployment/surrealdb-cloud/operations/migrating-data.md)).

## Operational detail

For migration runbooks and related operations topics, see **[SurrealDB Cloud operations](/docs/build/deployment/surrealdb-cloud/operations/)**.