Backups and snapshots

Updated 2026-10-30

Wolkra offers two ways to save a whole server: automatic daily backups, which cost 20% of the server price and keep 7 restore points, and snapshots, which you take on demand, pay per GB and can use to create new servers.

Automatic backups

Enable

Turn on backups when you create a server, or later:

1. Open the server in the console.
2. Go to Backups.
3. Choose Enable backups.

From then on a backup runs every day. The 7 most recent restore points are kept; older ones are removed automatically.

Cost

Backups cost 20% of the server's price. For a server at €3.49 a month that is about €0.70 a month. Like everything else, it is billed per started hour from your prepaid balance and capped at the monthly amount. See pricing.

Restore

1. Open the server and go to Backups.
2. Pick the restore point you want.
3. Choose Restore and confirm.

A restore replaces the server's current disk with the backup. Anything written after that backup is lost, so if you are unsure, take a snapshot of the current state first.

Disable

Choose Disable backups in the same place. Billing for backups stops. Read the confirmation dialog for what happens to existing restore points, and take a snapshot first if you want to keep the current state.

Snapshots

Take a snapshot

1. Open the server.
2. Go to Snapshots and choose Take snapshot.
3. Give it a clear name, such as before-postgres-17.

Good moments for a snapshot:

• before an OS or database upgrade;
• before big config changes;
• when you want a template for more servers.

Create a server from a snapshot

When you create a server, choose your snapshot as the image. The new server starts with the same disk content. Afterwards, change anything that must be unique, such as the hostname or app secrets. Pick a plan with at least as much disk as the original server.

This is also a cheap way to park a server: take a snapshot, delete the server, and create it again from the snapshot when needed. You pay only for snapshot storage meanwhile.

Cost

Snapshots are billed per GB while they exist. Delete the ones you no longer need under Snapshots.

Make backups consistent

Backups and snapshots copy the disk while the server runs. File systems handle that well, and databases recover on start-up as they would after a power loss. For important databases, also keep logical dumps inside the server:

sudo -u postgres pg_dump -Fc mydb > /tmp/mydb.dump

Run dumps from cron before the backup window, so each restore point contains a clean dump.

Keep a copy elsewhere

Provider backups protect against mistakes and server problems. For important data, add an encrypted copy outside your Wolkra account, for example with restic. The backup strategy guide shows a full setup with retention and restore tests.

Test your restores

Every few weeks, create a test server from a backup or snapshot and check that your app starts. With hourly billing, an hour of testing costs very little.

API

Server actions, including snapshots, are visible through the API at https://api.wolkra.com/v1/actions and the server endpoints at https://api.wolkra.com/v1/servers. See API tokens.

More on the product page: backups and snapshots.