## [Overview](#overview)

On [Starter, Pro, and Business plans](https://www.prisma.io/pricing), Prisma Postgres automatically creates snapshots of your database to support recovery and backup workflows. Navigate to the **Backups** tab of your Prisma Postgres instance in the [Prisma Console](https://console.prisma.io/?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=content\&utm_content=postgres) to view and re-instantiate your available backups.

Snapshots are created _daily_, but only on days when the database has activity. Depending on your plan, you will see a different number of available snapshots:

| Plan     | Snapshot retention |
| -------- | ------------------ |
| Starter  | Last 7 days        |
| Pro      | Last 7 days        |
| Business | Last 30 days       |

Database changes or events that occurred after the most recent snapshot may not be restored.

For more details about backup availability and plan-specific features, visit our [pricing page](https://www.prisma.io/pricing).

:::callout{intent="note"}
In the future, Prisma Postgres will provide more fine-grained backup mechanisms based on user specific configurations and with point-in-time restore functionality.
:::

## [Manually creating a backup file via `pg_dump`](#manually-creating-a-backup-file-via-pg_dump)

If you would like to create a backup file of your database, you can use `pg_dump` with a [direct connection](/guides/database-connecting-to-your-database). This is useful for migrating data between databases or creating a local copy of your database.

## [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)

Before you begin, make sure you have:

- **Node.js** installed (version 16 or higher).
- **PostgreSQL CLI Tools** (`pg_dump`) for creating backups. Use Postgres version 17 as Prisma Postgres is based on this version.
- A **direct connection string** for your Prisma Postgres database.

## [1. Install PostgreSQL command-line tools](#1-install-postgresql-command-line-tools)

To create backups, ensure you have the PostgreSQL command-line tools installed. Run the following commands based on your operating system:

::::tabs
:::tab{title="macOS"}
```
brew install postgresql@17

which pg_dump

which pg_restore
```
:::

:::tab{title="Windows"}
```bash
# Download from the official PostgreSQL website:
# https://www.postgresql.org/download/windows/
# During installation, select "Command Line Tools".
# Then verify with:

where pg_dump
where pg_restore
```
:::

:::tab{title="Linux"}
```bash
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install postgresql-client-17
which pg_dump
which pg_restore
```

> \[!NOTE]
> If you installed PostgreSQL but still see a "command not found" error for `pg_dump` or `pg_restore`, ensure your installation directory is in your system's `PATH` environment variable.
:::
::::

:::callout{intent="note"}
If you installed PostgreSQL but still see a "command not found" error for `pg_dump` or `pg_restore`, ensure your installation directory is in your system's `PATH` environment variable.
:::

### [2. Creating the Backup with `pg_dump`](#2-creating-the-backup-with-pg_dump)

Get your direct connection string by following [Connecting to your database](/guides/database-connecting-to-your-database).

You can now dump the database by running the following command and using your own connection string:

```
pg_dump --dbname="postgres://USER:PASSWORD@db.prisma.io:5432/?sslmode=require" > ./mydatabase.bak
```

This will create your backup file named `mydatabase.bak` in the current directory.

## Related pages

- [Authentication & Tools](./authentication-tools-index.md)
- [Build](./build-index.md)
- [Changelog](../changelog.md)
- [Concepts](./concepts-index.md)
- [Console commands](./console-commands-index.md)
- [Contract Authoring](./contract-authoring-index.md)
- [Core Concepts](./core-concepts-index.md)
- [Data Modeling](./data-modeling-index.md)
- [Database](./database-index.md)
- [DB commands](./db-commands-index.md)

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