---
title: Auto Backups
url: https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/features/auto-backups
description: A service that automatically creates and stores backups of your Vultr instances on a regular schedule.
publish_date: 2024-09-23T20:20:02.116273Z
last_updated: 2026-05-26T18:42:59.600779Z
---

# How to Enable Automatic Backups on a Vultr Cloud Compute Instance

Automatic Backups allow you to create full backups of your instance's data and file system on a scheduled basis, ensuring recovery in case of unexpected failures. These backups follow specific schedules and retention policies to ensure your instance is securely backed up in your Vultr account

Follow this guide to enable automatic backups on a Vultr Cloud Compute instance using the Vultr Console, API, or Terraform.

=== "Vultr Console"

    1. Navigate to **Products** and click **Compute**
    1. Click your target Vultr Cloud Compute instance to open its management page.
    1. Navigate to the **Backups** tab.
    1. Click **Enable Backups** to turn on automatic backups.
    1. Click **Enable Backups** in the confirmation prompt to enable automatic backups.
    1. Click the **Schedule Backups** drop-down to choose a backup schedule.
    1. click **Update** to create automatic backups based on your selection.

=== "Vultr API"

    1. Send a `GET` request to the [**List Instances** endpoint](https://www.vultr.com/api/#tag/instances/operation/list-instances) and note your target instance's ID.

        ```console
        $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/instances" \
          -X GET \
          -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}"
        ```

    1. Send a `PATCH` request to the [**Update Instance** endpoint](https://www.vultr.com/api/#tag/instances/operation/get-instance) to update the instance and enable automatic backups.

        ```console
        $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/instances/{instance-id}" \
          -X PATCH \
          -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}" \
          -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
          --data '{
            "backups" : "enabled"
          }'
        ```

    1. Send a `POST` request to the [**Set Instance Backup Schedule** endpoint](https://www.vultr.com/api/#tag/instances/operation/create-instance-backup-schedule) to create a new automatic backups schedule.

        ```console
        $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/instances/{instance-id}/backup-schedule" \
          -X POST \
          -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}" \
          -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
          --data '{
            "type": "daily",
            "hour": 10,
            "dow": 1,
            "dom": 1
          }'
        ```

        Visit the [**Set Instance Backup Schedule** API page](https://www.vultr.com/api/#tag/instances/operation/create-instance-backup-schedule) to view additional backup schedule attributes.

=== "Terraform"

    1. Open your Terraform configuration for the existing Cloud Compute instance.

    1. Enable backups and define a schedule in the configuration.

        ```terraform
        resource "vultr_instance" "cc" {
            label       = "cc-instance-1"
            hostname    = "cc-instance-1"
            region      = "del"
            plan        = "vc2-2c-4gb"   # or vhf-*, vhp-* etc. per need
            os_id       = 2284

            backups = "enabled"

            backups_schedule {
                type = "daily"  # daily | weekly | monthly
                hour = 10       # UTC hour (0-23)
                # dow/dom only when type = "weekly" or "monthly"
                # dow = 1
                # dom = 1
            }
        }
        ```

    1. Apply the configuration and observe the following output:

        ```
        Apply complete! Resources: 0 added, 1 changed, 0 destroyed.
        ```