Skip to main content
Updated October 20, 2026 A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of a VM’s OS disk or a volume’s contents. Use snapshots as restore points before risky changes — kernel upgrades, OS package changes, schema migrations — or as the starting point for a clone. For automated, scheduled protection use backups. See Snapshots vs Backups for when to pick which.

​
Before you start

A snapshot can be taken while the VM is active (running) or passive (stopped). For a volume snapshot, the VM the volume is attached to must be running or stopped. A snapshot of a stopped VM is the most consistent: nothing writes to the disk while it is taken.
Snapshots taken while the VM is running are crash-consistent, not application-consistent — quiesce databases or freeze writes first if you need a clean capture (e.g. mysql FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK, pg_start_backup()).

​
Three ways to start

​
a. Top-level Snapshots tab — pick any resource

From the Compute Resources page, switch to the Snapshots tab and click + Create Snapshot.
Compute Resources Snapshots tab showing the empty state and Create Snapshot button
The dialog asks you to pick what kind and which resource:
General Create Snapshot dialog with Type, Resource, and Name fields

​
b. VM detail page → Snapshot quick button

The top action bar of every VM detail page has a Snapshot button — the fastest path when you’re already on the VM.

​
c. VM detail page → Snapshots tab

Same VM detail page, the Snapshots tab lists every snapshot of this VM and has its own + Create Snapshot button.
VM detail page Snapshots tab with the Create Snapshot button on the right
Paths b. and c. open a VM-scoped dialog that’s already pre-filled with the current VM and a generated name like vm-<name>-MM-DD-YY:
VM-scoped Create Snapshot dialog pre-filled with the current VM and auto-generated name
Tweak the name if you want, then click Create Snapshot.

​
What happens after you confirm

From the Snapshots list (top-level tab) or the VM’s Snapshots tab, each snapshot row has actions for Restore, Save as Image, and Delete.

​
Pricing

Snapshots are billed by GB-hour — the size of the snapshot in GB times the hours it’s stored.
  • The meter starts the moment a snapshot reaches ready and runs continuously until you delete it.
  • The billing cycle closes at the end of each calendar month.
  • The previous month’s snapshot bill is settled on the 1st of the next month: it’s deducted from your account balance, and any remainder is charged to your saved card.
  • A 50 GB snapshot kept all month costs the same as a 100 GB snapshot kept for half a month — same total GB-hours.
Idle snapshots are the most common source of surprise charges. Delete the ones you no longer need, or Save as Image if you want a permanent template (images are billed differently).

​
Naming convention

The auto-generated name pattern is vm-<vm-name>-MM-DD-YY (e.g. vm-finance-05-03-26). Replace it when you want context — e.g. finance-pre-kernel-upgrade or finance-prod-2026-q2. Names don’t need to be unique across your account.

​
Next steps

Snapshots vs Backups

When to use which.

Enable backups

Schedule recurring captures instead.

Storage model

How snapshots fit into the wider storage stack.
Last modified on October 20, 2026