How to back up Confluence (and restore deleted data)
Confluence Cloud's trash can be purged by any space admin and deleted spaces are removed after 60 days; this guide shows how to back up Confluence spaces, pages and attachments daily with ProBackup and restore deleted content.
In short: Confluence Cloud moves deleted pages to a space trash that any space admin can purge, after which the page "and all its versions and attachments, are gone for good". Deleted spaces are permanently removed after 60 days. ProBackup snapshots your Confluence spaces, pages, blog posts, attachments and comments every 24 hours and restores deleted pages under their original parent.
Why Confluence's trash is not a backup
Confluence holds the documentation your organisation runs on: runbooks, policies, meeting notes, product specs. Atlassian protects the platform. It does not protect a page from the person who deletes it.
Atlassian's documentation (checked 2026-09-16) describes the native safety net:
- Pages: a deleted page "moves to the space's trash" and "can be restored, until or unless it is manually purged from the trash." Purging means "the item, and all its versions and attachments, are gone for good."
- Restored pages lose context: "a previously deleted item will lose its inherited permissions as well as its location in the sidebar." It is placed at the same level as the space home page, so it is invisible in the sidebar until you move it.
- Spaces: since 6 January 2025 Atlassian will "permanently delete spaces that have been in the trash for at least 60 days." Only a Confluence admin can restore a trashed space, and permanent deletion "cannot be undone".
Trash therefore protects against a single accidental deletion noticed quickly. It does not protect against a purge, an offboarded admin's clean-up, a space deleted three months ago, or a page rewritten by a bulk find-and-replace or an AI assistant.
| Data in Confluence Cloud | Native protection | Recovery window | With ProBackup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deleted page or blog post | Space trash | Until manually purged | Restore from any snapshot under the original parent |
| Purged page | None | 0 days | Restore from any snapshot |
| Deleted space | Space trash, admin-only | 60 days | No space-level restore; recreate the space with the same key, then restore its pages and blog posts into it |
| Deleted attachment | Space trash, admin restore | Until purged | Stored in every snapshot |
| Overwritten page content | Page history | While the page exists and is not purged | Snapshot history: 2 years on Standard, 4 years on Advanced |
| Deleted comment | None | 0 days | Stored in every snapshot |
How to back up Confluence with ProBackup
ProBackup is a SaaS backup service that takes automated daily snapshots of your cloud app data and lets you restore individual records, files or whole projects back to the original account.
Setting it up for Confluence Cloud:
- Start a trial on the Atlassian Marketplace. ProBackup for Confluence is sold only on the Atlassian Marketplace. Open ProBackup for Confluence there and start the free trial; after the trial you pay per user through Atlassian.
- Connect via OAuth. Click Connect Confluence and sign in to Atlassian. Choose the Confluence site to protect and grant ProBackup read access. ProBackup never stores your Atlassian password; it holds an OAuth token you can revoke from your Atlassian account settings.
- Choose the scope. Select the spaces to include. Only content the connected account can see is backed up, so connect a user with view permission on every space that matters. Advanced scope control is available on the Advanced plan.
- Check restricted pages. Pages with restricted access cannot be read through the Atlassian API unless the connected account is granted access. Update the page restrictions to include the ProBackup user, or those pages stay outside the backup.
- Wait for the first snapshot. The first snapshot is taken within 24 hours; large sites with many attachments take longer. You receive an email when it completes. After that, a new snapshot every 24 hours, with no scheduling required.
Snapshots are stored on AWS S3, encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS in transit, in one of nine AWS regions you select at signup. ProBackup is SOC 2 Type II audited and GDPR compliant.
What is and is not backed up
ProBackup backs up what the Confluence Cloud REST API exposes:
- Spaces
- Pages, including page hierarchy and body content
- Blog posts
- Attachments
- Comments
Not backed up:
- Pages with restricted access the connected account cannot see. This is an Atlassian API constraint, not a ProBackup choice; grant access to the connected user and they are included from the next snapshot.
- Site configuration: space permissions, templates, macro settings and app data are outside the backup scope.
ProBackup captures the first 2,000 characters of a text field for table display; page bodies are stored in full. Snapshots are retained for 2 years on the Standard plan and 4 years on Advanced.
How to restore deleted Confluence pages
ProBackup supports two restore modes across its platforms: create new duplicates (originals left untouched) or overwrite existing records field by field. For Confluence, every restore creates a duplicate:
- Open the Confluence backup in ProBackup and pick the snapshot date before the deletion or the bad edit.
- Browse to the space and select the page or blog post. Use Compare to check the content against a later snapshot if you are unsure which version you need.
- Click Restore. A duplicate is created under the original parent page or, for top-level content, in the original space. Your live pages are never overwritten.
- Review the restored page and move it in the page tree if needed.
Restoring a page or blog post also restores its comments, attachments and child pages. A single attachment can also be restored on its own to its page; comments are restored only together with their page.
Restores go back to the original Confluence site only, so that site needs to still exist. ProBackup is a backup tool, not a migration tool.
Global Search, included on both Marketplace plans, finds a page across every snapshot when you only remember a phrase from it. Smart Alerts email you when a space has been missing from your backup for a few days, and a weekly report lists deleted records.
Frequently asked questions
How often is Confluence backed up?
Every 24 hours, automatically. Each snapshot is a full copy of the API-available content, so you can browse any day in your version history, compare two snapshots and restore from the one you want.
Where is my Confluence backup stored?
On AWS S3, in the AWS region you select at signup (nine regions are available). Changing region after the first backup requires support assistance. Data is encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS in transit. On both Marketplace plans you can also sync a copy to your own Google Drive.
Can I back up Jira and Confluence together?
Yes. Jira and Confluence are separate integrations in ProBackup, each connected via OAuth to the same Atlassian site. Each is its own app on the Atlassian Marketplace (ProBackup for Jira, ProBackup for Confluence), priced per user from 10 users on a Standard or Advanced plan.
How much does it cost to back up Confluence?
ProBackup for Confluence is sold only on the Atlassian Marketplace and priced per user. Standard starts at $2.80 per month for a team of 10 users; Advanced adds Single Sign-On (SSO) and bulk download of files (Atlassian Marketplace, checked November 2026). The storage-based plans on our pricing page don't cover Confluence.
Protect your Confluence data today
ProBackup is trusted by 3,000+ teams and rated 4.8 on G2.
