# Excessive Snapshot Retention and Cross-Region Copies in MongoDB Atlas Cloud Backup Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/excessive-snapshot-retention-and-cross-region-copies-in-mongodb-atlas-cloud-backup Atlas Cloud Backup takes scheduled snapshots of dedicated clusters and bills the retained snapshot storage per GB-month. By: PointFive Updated: 2026-09-28 [Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) The short version Atlas Cloud Backup takes scheduled snapshots of dedicated clusters and bills the retained snapshot storage per GB-month. PointFive Research Cloud cost research at PointFive MongoDB Atlas service [MongoDB Atlas](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/cloud-services/mongodb-atlas) Category [Storage](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/storage) Reference CER-0533 Type Excessive Data Retention ## Explanation Why the waste happens and who it affects. The default backup policy is generous: snapshots every 6 hours (every 12 on NVMe clusters) kept for 7 days, daily snapshots for 7 days, weekly for 4 weeks, monthly for 12 months and yearly for 1 year. Clusters can also have additional backup copies in other regions; MongoDB notes that copying all backups to one additional region costs approximately twice the storage, plus cross-region data transfer. The waste comes from applying that default, or a production-grade policy with extra region copies, to every cluster regardless of what it holds. Staging, test and analytics clusters whose data can be rebuilt end up keeping a year of monthly and yearly snapshots, and on-demand snapshots taken before migrations are never deleted. MongoDB's billing optimization guidance lists high backup frequency as a cost driver and recommends lowering it for less critical clusters, and its cost documentation lists deleting unneeded snapshots, reducing frequency and retention, and reducing copies to other regions as the ways to lower backup cost. This entry covers scheduled snapshots; point-in-time Continuous Cloud Backup is a separate add-on. ## Billing model The pricing dimensions that drive this cost. Snapshot storage Billed per GB per month of retained snapshot data, at rates that vary by cloud provider and region, shown as daily GB-days line items Snapshot incrementality Atlas snapshots incrementally from one snapshot to the next where possible, so storage grows with how much data changes and how many snapshots are retained Additional backup copies Snapshots copied to other regions add roughly the same storage again in each copy region, plus cross-region data transfer Snapshot export Exporting snapshots to cloud object storage is charged per GB exported plus the cloud provider's transfer costs ## How to detect 5 checks to find it in your estate. - Review each project's backup policies in the Backup Policy Editor or the cluster backup schedule in the Administration API, and flag non-production or rebuildable clusters still on the default policy with monthly and yearly retention - Flag clusters with additional backup copies in other regions where disaster recovery requirements do not call for a second region - List snapshots per cluster and identify on-demand snapshots and long-retained snapshots that no longer serve a recovery or compliance purpose - Use Cost Explorer and the invoice to compare backup charges per cluster with the cluster's data size; backup cost growing faster than data points to retention, copies or poor incrementality - Check whether a Backup Compliance Policy applies to the project, since it sets minimums that cluster policies cannot go below ## How to fix 6 ways to remove the waste. - Define backup tiers by environment and criticality, and reduce snapshot frequency and retention for less critical clusters, for example dropping hourly and yearly items and shortening monthly retention where recovery objectives allow - When shortening retention, check Update retention time of existing snapshots before saving so existing snapshots created by the edited policy items also expire sooner - Remove additional backup copies to other regions, or reduce the snapshot types copied, on clusters without a cross-region recovery requirement - Delete unneeded on-demand and legacy snapshots, keeping those required for audit or rollback - Improve snapshot incrementality where possible; MongoDB notes that write patterns such as inserting documents rather than repeatedly updating large arrays can make snapshots more efficient - For projects under a Backup Compliance Policy, move non-production clusters to a project without the policy, since the policy's minimums and snapshot protections cannot be reduced self-service ## Documentation Vendor references for pricing and configuration. - [Manage Backup Policies mongodb.com](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/backup/cloud-backup/configure-backup-policy/) - [Cluster Configuration Costs mongodb.com](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/billing/cluster-configuration-costs/) - [Billing Breakdown and Optimization mongodb.com](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/billing/billing-breakdown-optimization/) - [Dedicated Cluster Backups mongodb.com](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/backup/cloud-backup/dedicated-cluster-backup/) - [Configure a Backup Compliance Policy mongodb.com](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/backup/cloud-backup/backup-compliance-policy/) ## Related inefficiencies [Browse the library](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) - MongoDB Atlas CER-0536 ### [Cold Data Kept on MongoDB Atlas Cluster Storage Instead of Online Archive](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/cold-data-kept-on-mongodb-atlas-cluster-storage-instead-of-online-archive) Event, log, audit, order-history and time-series collections in MongoDB tend to grow without limit, while applications query only recent documents. When older documents stay on the cluster, they occupy disk on every data-bearing node,... Storage - MongoDB Atlas CER-0535 ### [Overprovisioned MongoDB Atlas Storage After Auto-Scaling](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/overprovisioned-mongodb-atlas-storage-after-auto-scaling) Atlas storage auto-scaling, enabled by default for new clusters, increases a cluster's disk when used space reaches 90% on any node, and it scales storage up only. When a cluster grows past its tier's default storage, Atlas bills the full... Storage - MongoDB Atlas CER-0326 ### [Continuous Backup Enabled on Non-Production MongoDB Atlas Clusters](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/continuous-backup-enabled-on-non-production-mongodb-atlas-clusters) MongoDB Atlas offers two backup mechanisms for dedicated clusters: Cloud Backups (scheduled snapshots using the underlying cloud provider's native snapshot functionality) and Continuous Cloud Backup, which adds point-in-time recovery by... Databases --- Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.