# EBS Snapshot Archive Tier Candidate

> EBS snapshot archive costs $0.0125 per GB-month against $0.05 for standard, a 75% reduction. ZopNight flags snapshots older than 90 days and larger than 50 GB, where the saving is worth the tradeoff: restoring from archive takes 24 to 72 hours.

Source: https://zop.dev/integrations/aws/recommendations/ebs-snapshot-archive-tier-candidate
Updated: 2026-08-19

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## The arithmetic

| Tier | Rate | 500 GB snapshot |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $0.05 / GB-month | $25.00 / month |
| Archive | $0.0125 / GB-month | $6.25 / month |

A flat 75% saving against [the published snapshot storage rates](https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/pricing/), and the only cost is restore latency.

## Why the two thresholds

**Older than 90 days.** A recent snapshot is plausibly part of an active restore path. One that
has sat untouched for a quarter is being kept for retention or compliance, and retention copies
do not need to be instantly restorable.

**Larger than 50 GB.** Archiving has a per-snapshot overhead, and below roughly this size the
absolute saving is not worth the restore penalty on something you might actually need.

## The tradeoff you are accepting

Restoring an archived snapshot takes **24 to 72 hours**. That is not a slow download, it is a
tier transition you cannot rush.

Which makes the real question: is this snapshot part of a recovery plan with an RTO? If your
disaster-recovery runbook says "restore from snapshot", archiving it silently breaks that
runbook, and you find out during the incident. Archive retention copies, never recovery copies.

## Listing snapshots by size and StartTime

```bash
aws ec2 describe-snapshots --owner-ids self   --query 'Snapshots[?VolumeSize>`50`].[SnapshotId,VolumeSize,StartTime,Description]'   --output table
```

Sort by `StartTime` and look at anything past 90 days.

## Fixing it

Archive through the EC2 console or `aws ec2 modify-snapshot-tier`. The change is reversible
(restoring moves it back to standard), but each transition takes time, so it is not something to
toggle repeatedly.