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[Update] Amazon Redshift manual snapshots now support incremental billing, enabling storage cost reduction
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This is Ishikawa from the Cloud Business Division. The billing model for manual snapshots in Amazon Redshift Serverless and Amazon Redshift RG has been revised, changing to "incremental billing" where charges are based on unique data blocks across multiple snapshots.
Previously, retaining multiple manual snapshots caused storage costs to grow proportionally with the number of snapshots, but this update eliminates double-charging for duplicate data. This should be a significant boost for cost optimization for those who want to retain backups long-term or take snapshots more frequently.
What Are Amazon Redshift Snapshots?
In Amazon Redshift, you can take "snapshots" as backups of your data warehouse. There are two types of snapshots.
- Automated snapshots: Backups that Amazon Redshift takes automatically. Provisioned clusters (RG / RA3 node types) can retain these for up to 35 days at no charge, while Amazon Redshift Serverless automatically creates recovery points retained for 24 hours, also at no charge.
- Manual snapshots: Backups that users take at any time and are retained until explicitly deleted. They are used for disaster recovery, testing, long-term retention, and other purposes.
This update relates to the billing method for manual snapshots among these options.
What Changed
Previously, manual snapshot storage was billed based on the "total size of each snapshot." With this update, billing changes to be based on "unique data blocks across all active snapshots."
The main changes are as follows.
- The billing basis for manual snapshots changes from the total size of each snapshot to unique data blocks with deduplication across multiple snapshots
- Data blocks that are unchanged across multiple snapshots are billed only once (deduplication at the account level)
- Automatically applied to both existing and new manual snapshots with no additional configuration required
- Applies to Amazon Redshift Serverless and Amazon Redshift RG instances
Supported Regions
Available in all AWS Regions where Amazon Redshift Serverless and Amazon Redshift RG are available (including AWS GovCloud (US) Regions).
Impact on Pricing
Under the new billing model, even if you retain multiple manual snapshots, duplicate data blocks are only billed once. As a result, increasing snapshot frequency or extending retention periods will no longer cause costs to increase proportionally.
Note that there are no changes to the free tier for automated snapshots (up to 35 days for provisioned clusters, and 24 hours for Amazon Redshift Serverless recovery points).
How Incremental Snapshot Billing Works
With incremental billing, multiple manual snapshots share common data blocks, and only unique blocks are subject to charges. The concept is organized in the diagram below.
The AWS Big Data blog introduces specific cost examples.
Example 1: Retaining 3 snapshots for a 10TB data warehouse
| Snapshot | Timing | Newly Billed Data |
|---|---|---|
| Snapshot 1 | Day 1 | 10TB (unique data) |
| Snapshot 2 | Shortly after | No additional charge (no changes) |
| Snapshot 3 | 2 days later | 1TB (new data only) |
In this case, the billable amount under the new billing model is 11TB in total. Under the old model, each snapshot was counted individually, resulting in charges equivalent to 21TB. It is clear that eliminating duplicate data blocks significantly reduces the billed amount.
Example 2: Estimated Monthly Cost
For a scenario with 10TB of data where 5% of data changes daily and snapshots are retained for 7 days (US East (Ohio) region), the monthly cost is estimated as follows.
- Active data: $235.52
- Unique snapshot blocks (equivalent to 13TB): $306.18
- Monthly total: $541.70
※ The above is an estimate introduced in the blog. Actual costs will vary depending on workload and region. Please check the official pricing page for the latest pricing.
Expected Use Cases
Incremental billing makes backup strategies that were previously dismissed due to cost concerns more practical.
- Long-term retention for compliance: Long-term storage in industries such as finance, healthcare, and government that require backup retention of 90 days to 5 years or more
- Improved RPO / RTO for disaster recovery: Increasing snapshot frequency to add more recovery points and improve RPO (Recovery Point Objective)
- Cross-region disaster recovery: Increasing copy frequency to multiple regions while optimizing costs
- Extended backups: Economically achieving 7–14 day retention for workloads of any size
Notes on Usage
- This update applies to Amazon Redshift Serverless and Amazon Redshift RG instances. Amazon Redshift RA3 instances continue to use the standard Amazon S3-tier backup storage billing as before.
- Amazon Redshift RG is a new-generation provisioned node type that became available in May 2026 (see the official documentation for details). The AWS Big Data blog notes that migrating from RA3 to RG, combined with reduced compute costs and the use of Reserved Instances, enables comprehensive cost optimization.
- You can check your current snapshot usage in the AWS Billing and Cost Management console. We recommend checking your current usage first to understand the billing impact after the update is applied.
To check, open the Billing and Cost Management console and select "Bills" in the navigation pane. For AWS Japan at the very bottom of the screen, expand Redshift under the "Amazon Web Services Japan G.K. charges by service" section.
Closing
Manual snapshots for Amazon Redshift Serverless and Amazon Redshift RG now support incremental billing based on unique data blocks. Since duplicate data across multiple snapshots is billed only once, increasing snapshot frequency or extending retention periods will no longer cause costs to increase proportionally.
The update is automatically applied to both existing and new manual snapshots with no additional configuration required. We encourage you to first check your current snapshot usage in the AWS Billing and Cost Management console, and then reconsider your backup strategy from the perspective of compliance requirements and disaster recovery.
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