ElephantSQL Database Backup

Your data is safe with us. ElephantSQL creates database backups for you. These backups are created automatically and at no additional charge. You don't need to do anything to make them happen.

Automated backups

Automated backups are performed every day on all paid plans (pg_dump). It's possible to schedule these backups on a time of your own choice. These backups are stored in a cloud file storage so they it's always accessible for you. We store the backup in the same cloud as your instance.

Our backups are compressed with lzop, to restore the data you can usually use the following command: lzop -cd "$FILE_NAME" | psql "$DATABASE_NAME"

Full server backup (base backup)

Full server backup (a base backup) is performed once a week.

WAL backup

Rolling WAL backups are performed every second minute.

Retention period

Each database backup has a retention period of 30 days.

All backups are saved for 30 days. The last month backup files can be found and downloaded or restored in the ElephantSQL Control Panel.

GDPR and Backup compliance

ElephantSQL does not know what you store in your database. If the backup contains personal data, which is subject to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you are required to apply enhanced security measures to protect the data from unauthorized access. In order to comply with the GDPR, you need a way to manage the data requests of data owners without having to access backups. The backup window in ElephantSQL is 30 days, which is the time allowed to complete the data access requests.