Cloud backup services 2026: instance, volume and PVC coverage across seven providers

1. Scope

This report compares managed backup as documented by AWS, PortvMind Cloud, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, DigitalOcean, Vultr and Hetzner. The site’s criterion is scheduled backup and restore for instances or volumes, operated by the provider. Volume snapshots are recorded separately, because a snapshot of a block volume is not the same product as a backup schedule. No restore test was run. Related reading: Managed Kubernetes 2026 for PVC context, and S3-compatible object storage 2026 for object copies, which are not a backup service.

2. Capability comparison

Every provider is yes for a managed backup service. The useful difference is the scope each document actually names.

3. Where scope is explicit

PortvMind. Manual and scheduled backups of instances, block volumes and Kubernetes PVCs, restored from the panel. Retention, encryption and cross-region copies are not documented, so they are not claimed. Regions and list prices are in Cloud services, regions and list prices 2026.

Hetzner. Backups are automatic daily copies of a server’s disk, with seven slots per server; the oldest is deleted when a new one is created. Snapshots are manual copies kept until the customer deletes them. The same page states that backups and snapshots do not include volumes attached to the server. Consistent with that, volume snapshots are assessed no: Hetzner documents server snapshots, not snapshots of block volumes.

Vultr. Automatic Backups are scheduled copies of a Cloud Compute instance, daily, every other day, weekly or monthly. The documented price is 20% of the instance cost. The page states that the backup is the instance’s active file system and that attached Block Storage is not included. A backup can be restored to a new or existing instance or converted to a snapshot.

DigitalOcean. Backups are documented as automatically created disk images of Droplets. Enabling them provides system-level backups every 4 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, day or week, used to revert a Droplet or to create a new one. This edition does not score whether attached volumes are inside those images, because the cited overview does not say so.

4. Hyperscaler services, named but not re-tabulated

AWS documents AWS Backup as its managed backup service. Azure documents Azure Backup. Google Cloud documents schedules for Compute Engine disk snapshots. All three are assessed yes. This edition does not reproduce their resource matrices (which databases, which disk types, which retention locks). Using the product name is not a claim that every resource type is covered.

5. Questions the documents leave open

Ask these in writing where the page above does not answer them:

1. Does the backup include attached volumes, or only the instance disk?
2. Are Kubernetes persistent volumes included, or is that a separate product?
3. What is the retention period, and can copies be locked against deletion?
4. Is restore in place, to a new instance, or both? Was that restore tested?
5. Are copies kept in a second region, and is the copy encrypted?

6. Conclusion

A yes on managed backup is universal among the seven providers and is not a comparison of coverage. The pages that specify scope disagree: PortvMind includes volumes and PVCs, while Hetzner and Vultr exclude attached volumes. Retention is documented for Hetzner’s seven daily slots and is not documented for PortvMind. Treat object storage and volume snapshots as different controls, and confirm restore with a test the provider’s page does not replace.