Linode Backup Service vs Amazon S3
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Linode Backup Service and Amazon S3.
Quick Verdict
3.3/5
Linode Backup Service
0 reviews
4.1/5
Amazon S3
0 reviews
Amazon S3 is rated higher (4.1 vs 3.3). Linode's managed backup service creates automatic daily, weekly, and biweekly backups of your Linode VPS. Stored for 2 or 4 weeks. Simple restore via Linode dashboard. AWS S3 stores and retrieves unlimited amounts of data via a simple web interface. Built for developers, enterprises, and anyone needing reliable, durable cloud storage with pay-as-you-go pricing.
Linode Backup Service Automatic backups for Linode VPS |  Amazon S3 Scalable object storage for any data size or type | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.3 (0 reviews) | 4.1 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | paid | pay-as-you-go (per GB-month + per 1,000 requests + retrieval/transfer) |
| Starting price | From $2/mo | From $0.023/mo✓ |
| Best for | Akamai Cloud (Linode) users wanting a zero-maintenance restore safety net for single instances — especially as one layer alongside off-site storage. | Teams building on AWS who need durable, API-stable object storage for backups, data lakes, static content and archives — and who value tooling compatibility over the lowest per-GB rate |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ✓ | |
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | — | 39 AWS regions / 123-124 AZs |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | backups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenter | free tiers3 compatibleapi accessus datacentereu datacenterapac datacenterterraform provider |
| Visit Linode Backup Service → | Visit Amazon S3 → | |
Linode Backup Service
Pros
- + Cheap and effortless: from $2/month, one-click enable, no software to install
- + Live full-disk snapshots taken while the instance runs — no downtime
- + Four restore points including a persistent manual snapshot slot
- + Managed via Cloud Manager, Linode CLI, and REST API for fleet scripting
- + Free with Linode Managed ($100/instance/month)
Cons
- - Automated retention capped at 14 days — shallow for compliance or ransomware scenarios
- - Stored in the same data center as the instance — off-host but not off-site
- - Excludes attached Volumes and encrypted disks (unencrypted ext3/ext4 only)
- - Backups are deleted together with the instance; not an archive
- - Not available in distributed compute regions; priced per instance
Amazon S3
Pros
- + Designed for 11 nines durability with cross-AZ replication by default and strong read-after-write consistency
- + The S3 API is the industry standard — code written in 2006 still works, and third-party compatibility is everywhere
- + 23x cost ladder from Standard down to Glacier Deep Archive at $0.00099/GB-month, with lifecycle automation
- + Deepest storage feature set available: versioning, Object Lock, replication, inventory, event notifications, access management
Cons
- - Egress at $0.09/GB and per-request pricing produce surprise bills for chatty or restore-heavy workloads
- - IA and Glacier classes add retrieval fees and latency — the restore path must be priced separately
- - Policy configuration (bucket policies, IAM, Block Public Access, KMS keys) is complex and historically error-prone
- - SLA (99.9%/99.0%) is far below the durability figure — availability and durability are different promises
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