Digital Ocean snapshots are no longer free. Starting October 1, 2016, Digital Ocean will start charging for snapshots at 5 cents per GB. Here are some of the highlights:
Starting October 1, 2016, we will begin charging for snapshot storage at $0.05 per gigabyte per month. This will first be reflected in the invoice posted to your account on November 1, 2016. Like other features, snapshot storage uses hourly pricing, and size is calculated from a compressed version of the snapshot—not the total disk space allocated to the Droplet. Also, you can now take Droplet snapshots without having to power off the Droplet. You can see this in action by taking a snapshot of a Droplet while it’s still running. Over the coming weeks, we will update the Snapshots page to show the costs associated with your snapshot storage more easily and we’ll also send another reminder before charges begin on October 1, 2016. Be sure to see your usage on the Snapshots page and delete unused snapshots to avoid any unexpected charges.