# Excessive retention of automated RDS backups Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/excessive-retention-of-automated-rds-backups If backup retention settings are too high or old automated backups are unnecessarily retained, costs can accumulate rapidly. By: Andrew Shieh Updated: 2026-09-28 [Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) # Excessive Retention of Automated RDS Backups The short version If backup retention settings are too high or old automated backups are unnecessarily retained, costs can accumulate rapidly. [Andrew Shieh](https://www.linkedin.com/in/shandrew/) Principal Engineer / Director of Engineering, Operations @ SmugMug AWS service [AWS RDS](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/cloud-services/aws-rds) Category [Databases](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/databases) Reference CER-0055 Type Excessive Data Retention ## Explanation Why the waste happens and who it affects. RDS backup storage is significantly more expensive than equivalent storage in S3. For long-term retention or compliance use cases, exporting backups to S3 (e.g., via snapshot export to Amazon S3 in Parquet) is often more cost-effective than retaining them in RDS-native format, but exported data cannot be restored to an RDS DB instance, so this only suits analytics or archival needs where restoring the database is not required. ## Billing model The pricing dimensions that drive this cost. Backups in RDS are billed by the total volume of backup data retained beyond the free tier (equal to the size of the active DB storage). Additional backup storage is charged per GB-month, which can lead to disproportionately high costs if backup volumes grow over time. Exporting snapshots to S3 offers a lower-cost archival alternative for data that will not need to be restored as a database. ## How to detect 5 checks to find it in your estate. - Review backup storage consumption by DB instance - Review total backup size versus DB size to identify excess retention - Check if automated backup retention periods are longer than necessary - Determine whether legacy snapshots are still required or can be deleted - Assess whether long-term backup needs could be satisfied with lower-cost S3 exports ## How to fix 4 ways to remove the waste. - Adjust backup retention periods to match business or compliance needs - Shorten the automated backup retention period (automated backups of a running instance cannot be deleted individually and expire with the retention period), delete retained automated backups of deleted instances, and delete manual snapshots that are no longer needed - Export long-term data to S3 using snapshot export where restore is not required, since exported data cannot be restored to a DB instance - Monitor backup growth and align storage tier with data access needs ## Documentation Vendor references for pricing and configuration. - [Introduction to backups docs.aws.amazon.com](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_WorkingWithAutomatedBackups.html) - [Backup retention period docs.aws.amazon.com](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_WorkingWithAutomatedBackups.BackupRetention.html) - [Deleting retained automated backups docs.aws.amazon.com](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_WorkingWithAutomatedBackups-Deleting.html) - [Exporting DB snapshot data to Amazon S3 for Amazon RDS docs.aws.amazon.com](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_ExportSnapshot.html) - [Amazon RDS Pricing aws.amazon.com](https://aws.amazon.com/rds/pricing/) ## Related inefficiencies [Browse the library](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) - AWS RDS CER-0072 ### [Long-Retained RDS Manual Snapshot](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/long-retained-rds-manual-snapshot) Manual snapshots are often created for operational tasks like upgrades, migrations, or point-in-time backups. Unlike automated backups, which are automatically deleted after a set retention period, manual snapshots remain in place until... Databases - AWS RDS CER-0323 ### [RDS SQL Server Running Bundled Licensing on Older Instance Families](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/rds-sql-server-running-bundled-licensing-on-older-instance-families) Amazon RDS for SQL Server has traditionally used a License Included model where the SQL Server license cost is bundled into a single hourly instance price alongside Windows OS licensing, compute resources, and RDS management capabilities.... Databases - AWS RDS CER-0322 ### [Non-Production RDS SQL Server Using Standard or Enterprise Edition Instead of Developer Edition](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/non-production-rds-sql-server-using-standard-or-enterprise-edition-instead-of-developer-edition) Amazon RDS for SQL Server uses a License Included pricing model where the hourly instance rate bundles Microsoft SQL Server licensing fees on a per-vCPU basis. When non-production workloads - such as development, testing, staging, QA, or... Databases --- Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.