AWS Backup Hidden Costs: Restore Costs + 8 More

Quick Answer

Last verified: June 13, 2026

High confidence

AWS Backup costs $0.00 to $0.07 per GB-Month as of July 2026, with 10 plans available. Plans: Backup storage at $0.05/GB-Month, Cold storage backup at $0.05/GB-Month, Restore at $0.02/GB-Month, Cold storage restore at $0.03/GB-Month, Restore testing evaluations at $0.00125/GB-Month, Restore testing storage at $0.02/GB-Month, Cross-Region data transfer at $0.04/GB-Month, Backup search at $0.07/GB-Month, and Backup evaluations at $0.00125/GB-Month. Enterprise pricing is available on request. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

Free tier: No free tier available

AWS Backup offers 10 pricing tiers: Backup storage, Cold storage backup, Restore, Cold storage restore, Restore testing evaluations, Restore testing storage, Cross-Region data transfer, Backup search, Backup evaluations, Malware protection. Paid plans include Backup storage at $0.05/GB-Month, Cold storage backup at $0.05/GB-Month, Restore at $0.02/GB.

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AWS Backup lists $0.00125-$0.07/GB-Month, but hidden costs like implementation and support add to the total as of July 2026. Key hidden costs: backup storage pricing, restore costs, cross-region data transfer. Verified from 1 sources by CostBench.

Hidden Costs Breakdown

Backup Storage Pricing

critical overage

This is the largest cost for most users, varying by resource type and storage tier, with some services billed per GB-day, meaning short-lived backups can incur a full day's charges.

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Some services, including EFS, S3, VMware, SAP HANA on EC2, and Timestream, are billed per GB-day, meaning even short-lived backups can incur a full day's charges.

Restore Costs

high overage

Restoring data is not free, incurring per-GB charges, additional per-request fees for item-level restores, and S3 PUT request charges for S3 backups.

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Restoring S3 backups also incurs S3 PUT request charges, which can be significant for a large number of small objects (e.g., 5 million restored objects could add $25 in PUT requests).

Cross-Region Data Transfer

high overage

Copying backups to another AWS Region incurs transfer charges and ongoing storage charges in the destination region, which can effectively increase per-GB costs by 40-80%.

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Restoring S3 backups also incurs S3 PUT request charges, which can be significant for a large number of small objects (e.g., 5 million restored objects could add $25 in PUT requests).

API Charges

medium addon

Hidden costs for S3 backups include S3 GET and LIST API request charges, billed by S3, and EventBridge event charges for backup event processing.

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API Charges: For S3 backups, hidden costs include S3 GET and LIST API request charges (billed by S3, not AWS Backup) and EventBridge event charges for backup event processing.

Minimum Object Size

medium overage

S3 backups have a 128 KB minimum object size for pricing, meaning small objects can cost disproportionately more.

industry
Minimum Object Size: S3 backups have a 128 KB minimum object size for pricing, meaning small objects can cost disproportionately more.

Early Deletion Penalties

medium overage

Cold storage tiers often have minimum retention periods, and backups deleted before this period incur a pro-rated charge for the remaining days.

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Backups deleted before this period incur a pro-rated charge for the remaining days.

Backup Search and Audit Manager

medium addon

Backup search is billed for indexed backups at the time of indexing, storage of the backup indexes, and for searching, while AWS Backup Audit Manager charges $1.25 per 1000 evaluations per account per region and requires AWS Config.

industry
Backup Search and Audit Manager: * Backup search is billed for indexed backups at the time of indexing, storage of the backup indexes, and for searching.

Malware Protection

low addon

If enabled, malware protection via Amazon GuardDuty is charged per GB scanned.

industry
Malware Protection: If enabled, malware protection via Amazon GuardDuty is charged per GB scanned.

Frequently Asked Questions

01 What hidden costs should I budget for with AWS Backup?

Beyond the license fee, budget for: Backup Storage Pricing ($0.05 per GB-month (EBS warm), $0.0125 per GB-month (EBS cold), $0.10 per GB-month (DynamoDB warm), $0.03 per GB-month (DynamoDB cold), $0.021 per GB-month (Aurora warm), ~$0.035/GB-month (S3 low-cost warm), 30% lower (S3 low-cost warm)); Restore Costs ($0.02 per GB (warm storage), $0.03 per GB (EBS cold file-level), $0.50 per request (item-level), $25 (5 million S3 PUT requests)); Cross-Region Data Transfer ($0.02-$0.04/GB); Backup Search and Audit Manager ($1.25 per 1000 evaluations per account per region). Exact totals depend on your deployment size and negotiated terms.

02 Does AWS Backup charge for implementation?

Implementation costs for AWS Backup vary by deployment size and customization. Contact the vendor or check our sourced hidden-cost breakdown above for verified figures.

03 How much does AWS Backup support cost?

Premium support pricing for AWS Backup depends on your tier and contract terms. See the sourced cost breakdown above for any verified figures we have.

04 Are there overage or storage costs with AWS Backup?

This is the largest cost for most users, varying by resource type and storage tier, with some services billed per GB-day, meaning short-lived backups can incur a full day's charges.. Estimated impact: $0.05 per GB-month (EBS warm), $0.0125 per GB-month (EBS cold), $0.10 per GB-month (DynamoDB warm), $0.03 per GB-month (DynamoDB cold), $0.021 per GB-month (Aurora warm), ~$0.035/GB-month (S3 low-cost warm), 30% lower (S3 low-cost warm).

05 What add-ons cost extra with AWS Backup?

Add-on pricing for AWS Backup varies by feature. The sourced cost breakdown above lists any verified add-on costs we have.

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Prices and terms change; verify against the live pricing page.

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