In accordance with various embodiments, described herein are systems and methods for enabling backup and recovery of cloud services (services) in a cloud computing environment (cloud environment). The techniques described herein can be used, for example, to facilitate restoration of a service that may have been originally provisioned as part of a user system/environment, within the cloud environment, and was subsequently lost due to accident deletion of the service, or cloud account termination. A service archive, created during a backup process, includes an archive file that contains the artifacts that were installed and/or created when the service was provisioned; and a metadata file that contains the current state information for the service when the backup was performed. During a recovery process, a lost service can be provisioned within the user system/environment, using the contents of the service archive, irrespective of whether the service itself still exists within the user system/environment.