AWS Backup for Amazon EKS review
A strong AWS-native choice for scheduled EKS backup, retention, and recovery.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
AWS Backup for Amazon EKS is a fully managed service for protecting Amazon EKS cluster state and supported persistent storage. It is aimed at teams running EKS that need policy-based scheduling, retention, encryption, and recovery through the AWS console, APIs, and CLI. Backups can include Kubernetes resources and persistent volumes backed by Amazon EBS, Amazon EFS, or Amazon S3. Restore options cover full clusters, namespaces, persistent storage, existing clusters, and newly created clusters.
Pricing is usage-based rather than subscription-based. The Backup storage plan charges for backup storage with no minimum fee or setup charges. EKS backup creation has a one-time backup creation fee for EKS clusters, while persistent storage is charged separately under applicable AWS Backup storage pricing. The published pricing model has no free plan, and costs vary by AWS Region and resource type. Teams should therefore review their expected cluster, storage, backup, and copy requirements before choosing it.
AWS Backup for Amazon EKS fits environments already organized around AWS services. It connects with Amazon EKS, EBS, EFS, S3, AWS Organizations, KMS, SNS, CloudWatch, and CloudTrail. Scheduled backup plans, custom retention, cross-account and cross-Region copies, AWS Backup Vault Lock, and KMS-integrated encryption support governance-focused recovery workflows. Choose it when centralized AWS policy management and EKS-aware restoration matter more than a standalone, multi-cloud backup product. It is less suitable for teams seeking a free tier or a tool designed outside the AWS and EKS ecosystem.
AWS Backup for Amazon EKS pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Backs up EKS state plus EBS, EFS, and S3 persistent storage
- Supports scheduled retention, cross-account, and cross-Region copies
- Offers namespace, full-cluster, and persistent-storage restores
- Where it doesn't
- No free plan is available
- Usage-based pricing varies by AWS Region and resource type
- Designed around Amazon EKS and the AWS ecosystem
AWS Backup for Amazon EKS fact sheet, pricing and score →
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