How long does Backblaze keep my backup data after I cancel?

Thirty days. Then it is permanently and irreversibly deleted. Backblaze's own cancel doc states the action immediately and irreversibly deletes the backup data when the 30-day window closes. There is no extension, no grace period, no archive tier. Day 31 your files are gone. Restore everything you want to keep before you click cancel, not after.

I sold my laptop and Backblaze deleted the backup. Is that fixable?

Probably not. Backblaze runs the same 30-day deletion clock for a computer that goes offline as it does for a cancelled subscription. A laptop that has not checked in for 30 days has its backup expunged. This is documented in Backblaze's own help center under retaining backups during extended leaves. The only realistic recourse is to ask support whether the backup is still inside the deletion window (rare, but possible if the computer was offline less than 30 days). If you are storing or selling a device, run a full restore first and treat the backup as already gone.

Why am I still being billed after cancelling Backblaze?

Almost always one of two reasons. First, you cancelled Personal Backup but still have B2 Cloud Storage enabled on the same account, or vice versa. They are billed separately. Second, you have multiple computers on the account and only deleted one backup; the others continue to renew. Sign in, go to Computer Backup, Overview, and confirm zero active licenses and zero buckets under B2. If both sections are empty and you are still being charged, you have a legitimate refund claim worth escalating.

What is the difference between Delete Backup and Delete Account?

Delete Backup cancels the subscription for one computer and starts the 30-day data retention clock for that backup. Delete Account wipes everything across the account, blocks future logins, and makes all data immediately inaccessible (no 30-day window). Always Delete Backup first if you want a chance to recover anything. Only Delete Account once every restore has finished downloading and every prorated refund has been confirmed in your statement.

Read this first

Cancel Backblaze today. Your backup is permanently deleted on day 30.

Not 60 days. Not 90. Thirty. After that, every file you ever uploaded is gone, and Backblaze keeps zero copies. Restore everything you want to keep before you click Delete Backup. The order of operations on this page is built around that one fact.

Last verified: May 12, 2026

How to cancel Backblaze and get a refund without losing your backup

Backblaze Personal Backup is $9/month, $99/year, or $189 for two years. The published refund policy reads non-refundable. The actual billing team grants prorated refunds on request more often than not, and a full refund is your right inside the first 30 days of an annual plan. Most users never ask. They cancel, wave goodbye to two thirds of an unused year, and learn about the data deletion clock the wrong way.

This page does three things in order: restore your data, claim what Backblaze owes you, then cancel. Skip the first step and the second matters less.

Two different 30-day clocks. Both can bite you.

Backblaze uses "30 days" twice, for two unrelated rules. Confusing them is the number-one reason readers either lose data or leave money on the table:

Clock #1

30 days to restore before deletion

Starts the moment you cancel a backup, or the moment the computer goes offline for more than 30 consecutive days. Backblaze permanently and irreversibly deletes the backup at the end of it. There is no restore tier afterwards. You either pull the data inside the window or you do not pull it at all.

Clock #2

30 days to claim a full refund

Starts on the purchase date of any annual or 2-year subscription. Inside this window, the published Backblaze refund policy grants a full refund on request. Past it, you are negotiating, not claiming. Monthly plans have no refund window.

Same number, opposite directions. One is a deadline against you; the other is a right belonging to you. Keep them straight.

Step 1 of 3

Restore your data first. You have three options and most users only know about one.

Backblaze runs all three from the same Restore page at backblaze.com/restore. Costs and ceilings as of this verification:

Zip download

Free

Up to 500 GB per restore request. Backblaze builds the archive on their servers (usually within about 7 days for big restores) and emails you a download link. Best for users with under half a terabyte and a fast home connection. Fine for documents, photos, source files. Painful for raw video.

USB flash drive, mailed

$99 (refundable)

Up to 128 GB. Ships FedEx Overnight. Here is the part most people miss: under Backblaze's Restore Return Refund Program, you have 30 days to mail the drive back and get the full $99 refunded. Net cost: a deposit, not a fee. The dossier flagged this as the single most under-known feature of the product.

USB hard drive, mailed

$189 (refundable)

Up to 4 TB. Same FedEx Overnight, same 30-day Restore Return Refund Program. If your backup is bigger than 500 GB and the zip would take a week of bandwidth you do not have, this is the path. Photographers and video editors leaving Backblaze use this constantly; the Lightroom community thread cited in our dossier is full of users walking it through.

Connect every external drive you backed up before you start the restore. Backblaze marks drives that have not been seen in 30 days as removed and includes them in the deletion sweep. The community thread on Tom's Hardware about Backblaze backup behavior covers this in detail.

Step 2 of 3

Claim the refund before you cancel, not after.

This is the order that matters. Cancel first and you are negotiating from zero leverage with no active subscription to credit against. Ask first, cancel second. Three escalation routes, in order:

Route 1

The standard email request

Backblaze is one of the few cloud subscriptions where the standard request often works. Multiple BBB and PissedConsumer threads show users getting prorated refunds with one email to [email protected]. Vague requests get a script reply. Specific dollar amounts and dates trigger a human.

Copy this, fill the brackets, send it from the email address on the account:

Subject: Prorated refund request, account [your email] Hi Backblaze, I subscribed to Personal Backup on [purchase date] under a [annual / 2-year] plan at [$99 / $189]. My current renewal runs through [renewal date], leaving [N] months unused. I am cancelling effective today and would like to request a prorated refund for the unused [N] months of license time, in line with your published willingness to do so for completed account deletions. I will complete the Delete Backup flow once we agree the refund amount, so the cancellation is on the record from your side first. Account email: [your email] Last invoice ID (if available): [invoice ID from My Settings] Thanks, [Your name]

Two details that move this from coin-flip to near-certainty: (a) state the exact remaining months instead of letting them calculate, and (b) offer to delete the account, since billing is more comfortable prorating when the account is closing. Inside the first 30 days of an annual plan, swap "prorated refund" for "full refund per your 30-day refund policy"; that one is published, not negotiable.

Route 2

The escalation

If the first reply quotes "All payments are non-refundable per TOS section 10B," reply with the link to the Payments and Refunds policy and quote the 30-day full-refund language back at them if you are inside that window. The TOS clause defers to that policy doc. Then cc [email protected]: bizdev is a different team and more likely to grant goodwill.

Still nothing after a week? File at the Backblaze BBB profile. Backblaze holds A+ and answers publicly; a March 2025 $99 silent-renewal complaint got refunded within days of filing.

Route 3

The chargeback (last resort)

Appropriate in three specific situations: a charge after a confirmed cancellation, a refused refund inside the published 30-day annual window, or a charge to a card whose owner cannot reach the registered email. Outside those three, save it. Charging back ten months in closes the account, which under Backblaze's deletion clock means remaining backup data is gone within 30 days.

Have ready: the cancel confirmation, the refund-policy paragraph, the denied-refund email, and the renewal charge. Most issuers handle this as "service not as described" in 30 to 90 days. Backblaze billing has its own 45-day dispute window the card networks expect you to use first.

Step 3 of 3

Run the cancel flow. Seven clicks, one email code, per computer.

Personal Backup only. B2 has a different path; see below.

Open Computer Backup, then Preferences.

If you have multiple computers, each one is a separate license. You will repeat steps 3 through 7 for each.

Find the backup in the list and click Delete Backup.

This is the moment the 30-day data deletion clock starts.

Enter your account password when prompted.

Paste the email confirmation code Backblaze sends, then click Continue.

No email access to the registered address means no self-serve cancel. You must contact [email protected].

Go to Computer Backup, then Overview.

Under Unused License, click Delete. Repeat for every additional computer on the account.

Have B2 Cloud Storage too?

B2 is a separate product on the same login. Personal Backup and B2 are billed independently, and a March 2025 BBB complaint documented a user who had been charged $99 a year for years because they cancelled one and assumed the other followed. To turn B2 off: empty all buckets, delete the buckets, remove non-master application keys, delete snapshots, then go to My Settings and uncheck B2 Cloud Storage under Enabled Products. Backblaze publishes the B2 cancel doc at backblaze.com/docs/cloud-storage-delete-or-cancel-a-backblaze-b2-account.

What not to do

✕Do not click Delete Account before you finish restoring. Delete Account is a separate, more aggressive action that blocks future logins and makes all data immediately inaccessible. There is no 30-day grace period on full account deletion. Delete Backup first; only Delete Account once every file is downloaded and every refund has cleared.
✕Do not accept "service credit" instead of a cash refund. A few support reps will offer a discount on next year as an alternative. If you are leaving, that is worth zero dollars. Ask again, in writing, for the prorated cash refund.
✕Do not let a laptop sit offline for a month while you "think about it." The 30-day deletion clock runs whether or not you cancelled. PissedConsumer documented a user whose 16 TB backup was deleted this way after the computer went offline; Backblaze acknowledged the deletion but the data was gone.
✕Do not file a chargeback before completing Routes 1 and 2. Card networks expect the merchant's own dispute path first (Backblaze has a 45-day window). Chargeback closes the account and restarts the 30-day data clock.

Verifying the money actually lands

Refunds post to the original payment method in 5 to 10 business days. Keep the [email protected] confirmation email. Check the statement on day 7 and day 14. If nothing by day 14, reply on the same ticket (don't open a new one): "Refund of $X confirmed on [date] not yet posted to my card ending in XXXX. Please advise."

Day 30 with no refund and no reply is your chargeback trigger. You have written-promise evidence and a cooperative issuer.

Easy to miss: confirm refund and cancellation separately. The refund email does not imply the subscription is killed. Refund is billing; cancel is an account action. You need both.

A note on the BLZE securities investigations

Since April 2025, several law firms have been investigating securities class action claims against Backblaze (NASDAQ: BLZE) tied to a Morpheus Research short report. These are investor actions about accounting practices, not consumer actions. Your subscription, refund rights, and backup data are unaffected.

Questions people actually ask

Will Backblaze refund my annual plan if I cancel mid-year?

Published policy says no. Actual practice says often yes. Inside the first 30 days of an annual or 2-year plan, a full refund is your published right. Past 30 days, ask politely at [email protected] with your purchase date, renewal date, and the exact months remaining stated. The dossier surfaced multiple BBB and forum threads where users got prorated refunds on the unused portion after completing account deletion. Monthly plans are non-refundable, no exceptions documented.

How long does Backblaze keep my backup after I cancel?

Thirty days. Then it is gone, permanently and irreversibly, per Backblaze's official cancel doc. No archive tier, no extension. If you suspect you might want a file later, restore everything before cancelling.

Can I do a credit card chargeback on a Backblaze charge?

Yes, but treat it as Route 3 not Route 1. Backblaze has a 45-day billing dispute window with their own support, which the card networks expect you to use first. Chargebacks are reasonable for: a charge after a confirmed cancellation, a denied refund inside the published 30-day annual window, or a charge to a card whose owner cannot reach the registered email. The chargeback will close the account, restarting the 30-day data deletion clock immediately, so restore your data before filing.

I cancelled and Backblaze charged me again. What happened?

Almost always one of two things. Either you have B2 Cloud Storage enabled on the same account, or you have multiple computers and only deleted one backup. Sign in, check Computer Backup > Overview and B2 under My Settings. If both are empty and you are still being billed, escalate per Route 2.

Delete Backup vs Delete Account: which one do I want?

Delete Backup, almost always. It ends one computer's subscription and starts the 30-day data retention window so you can still restore. Delete Account wipes everything and makes data immediately inaccessible (no grace period). Only Delete Account at the end, after restores and refunds clear.

Researched and written by the Subcut team. Verified against Backblaze's official cancel-or-delete documentation, the Payments and Refunds policy, the Terms of Service (Section 10B refunds, Section 12 auto-renewal), and BBB complaint history through May 2026. Last verified working: May 12, 2026.

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