What is Recovery Point Objective (RPO)?

Recovery Point Objective, or RPO, is the maximum amount of data loss a system or organization can tolerate after an incident. It is usually measured in time.

Example of RPO

If a database has a 15-minute RPO, the recovery plan should avoid losing more than about 15 minutes of data. A shorter RPO usually requires more frequent backups or replication.

RPO versus RTO

RPO is about data loss. RTO is about how quickly the system must be restored.

RPO helps decide backup frequency, replication design, and recovery cost.