# Long-retained Azure snapshot | Cloud Efficiency Hub Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/long-retained-azure-snapshot Snapshots are often created for short-term protection before changes to a VM or disk, but many remain in the environment far beyond their intended... By: Anderson Oliveira Updated: 2026-09-28 [Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) # Long-Retained Azure Snapshot The short version Snapshots are often created for short-term protection before changes to a VM or disk, but many remain in the environment far beyond their intended lifespan. [Anderson Oliveira](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anderson-c-oliveira/) FinOps Account Manager @ CloudZero Azure service [Azure Snapshots](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/cloud-services/azure-snapshots) Category [Storage](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/storage) Reference CER-0021 Type Excessive Data Retention ## Explanation Why the waste happens and who it affects. Over time, this leads to an accumulation of snapshots that are no longer associated with any active resource or retained for operational need.Since Azure does not enforce automatic expiration or lifecycle policies for snapshots, they can persist indefinitely and continue to incur monthly storage charges. This inefficiency is especially common in development environments, migration efforts, or manual backup workflows that lack centralized cleanup.Snapshots older than 30-90 days, especially those not tied to a documented backup strategy or workload, are strong candidates for review and removal. ## Billing model The pricing dimensions that drive this cost. - Snapshots are billed based on the amount of data stored (per GB/month) - Charges accrue regardless of whether the snapshot is used or linked to an active disk - Incremental snapshots are more space-efficient but still incur storage cost ## How to detect 5 checks to find it in your estate. - List all snapshots in the subscription - Filter for snapshots not associated with any currently active managed disk - Review creation timestamps to identify snapshots older than a defined threshold (e.g., 30 or 90 days) - Cross-reference with project timelines, VM decommissioning dates, or change records to validate relevance - Use Azure Resource Graph or scripting to automate identification at scale ## How to fix 4 ways to remove the waste. - Manually review long-retained snapshots with application or infrastructure owners - Delete snapshots no longer needed for recovery, rollback, or compliance retention - Adopt tagging standards to track purpose, owner, and expected retention period at time of snapshot creation - Incorporate snapshot lifecycle reviews into infrastructure decommissioning or backup policy audits ## Documentation Vendor references for pricing and configuration. - [Azure Snapshot Pricing azure.microsoft.com](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/managed-disks/) - [Create a snapshot of an Azure managed disk learn.microsoft.com](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/snapshot-copy-managed-disk) - [Create an incremental snapshot for managed disks learn.microsoft.com](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/disks-incremental-snapshots) ## Related inefficiencies [Browse the library](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) - Azure Snapshots CER-0428 ### [Managed Disk Snapshots Stored as Full Premium Snapshots](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/managed-disk-snapshots-stored-as-full-premium-snapshots) Azure managed disk snapshots come in two kinds. A full snapshot stores a complete copy of the disk's used data every time and can be stored on either Standard HDD or Premium SSD storage. An incremental snapshot stores only the changes... Storage - Azure Backup CER-0278 ### [Azure Backup Data Retained Beyond Intended Retention Period](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/azure-backup-data-retained-beyond-intended-retention-period) Backup data persists longer than intended due to misaligned or outdated retention policies. It often arises when retention requirements change over time, but older recovery points are not evaluated or cleaned up accordingly. In some cases,... Storage - Azure Backup CER-0286 ### [Retained Azure Backup Data After Resource Decommissioning](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/retained-azure-backup-data-after-resource-decommissioning) A protected resource (such as a virtual machine, database, or file share) is decommissioned without explicitly stopping backup protection. In these cases, Azure Backup keeps applying the retention policy to older recovery points, but the... Storage --- Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.