Cloud Migration Services
Cloud Migration Strategy, the Steps, What It Costs, and How to Choose a Migration Partner
Cloud migration services move your servers, applications and data into AWS, Azure or Google Cloud. Steady workloads often run 30 to 50 percent cheaper on dedicated capacity, so not everything should go. Get your migration through us, and we say what should stay.
Price My Cloud MigrationMost companies buy migration from a firm that will also run the result, often a partner of one cloud. Buying from the first one you call means its plan and its price, with no one checking which workloads should move at all. We source your migration from the providers that fit, compare their plans and negotiate before you sign, and the provider you choose pays us. If some workloads are cheaper where they are, we will say so.
Sources: Flexera 2026 State of the Cloud, a survey of more than 750 cloud decision makers (waste and hybrid); Redress Compliance (egress); transfer time is an MCA calculation, shown under how long a migration takes.
Cloud Migration Strategy: The 7 Rs, Compared
A cloud migration strategy is a decision made application by application about how each one moves, or whether it moves at all. The common framework started as Gartner’s five Rs in 2010 and has since grown to seven. The methods that change an application least are fastest, and leave it running much as it did on premises.
Framework: Gartner’s original five Rs (rehost, refactor, revise, rebuild, replace), as reported by Help Net Security, and the extended seven Rs as described by TechTarget. Effort ranking is the Metro Colo Advisory market read: relative positions, not quotes. Figures as of October 2026. Free to cite with a link to this page.
One requirement goes to the migration and managed cloud providers that fit your estate, the same day. Ask one directly and it prices you as the only option.
Same inventory, same targets: each provider’s method, timeline, one-time cost and monthly cost side by side.
Once a provider has priced you directly, it usually will not register an advisor on the deal, and you negotiate alone.
The provider you choose pays us, so it costs you nothing. You'll hear back within 24 hours.
If you have already spoken to one provider, tell us which; we can still run the rest of the market.
What Cloud Migration Services Include
A full-service cloud migration runs through six phases, whether one firm delivers them all or a migration specialist and a managed cloud provider split the work. The right-hand column is what to get in writing: it is where quotes that look alike turn out to be different.
| Phase | What the provider does | What you should get in writing |
|---|---|---|
| AssessmentDiscovery and dependency mapping | Inventories servers, applications, data and their dependencies, usually with discovery software run through a business cycle | The inventory, the dependency map, and a placement call for each application, including those that should not move |
| PlanningStrategy, business case, waves | Picks a method per application, groups them into waves, and models one-time and monthly cost | The wave plan with dates, the cost model with its assumptions, and who owns each risk |
| Landing zoneThe foundation in the cloud | Builds accounts, identity, networking, security controls, logging and the private link to your sites | The security baseline, the network design, and how it connects to your offices and any data center connectivity you keep |
| MigrationServers, data and applications | Replicates servers, transfers data and changes applications, wave by wave | The method per application, the data transfer approach, and how long each wave runs in parallel |
| Testing and cutoverProving it, then switching | Tests function, performance and failover, then switches users over in an agreed window | Acceptance criteria you sign off, the cutover runbook, and the rollback trigger |
| Managed cloud afterRun, secure, optimize | Monitors, patches, backs up and secures the environment, and keeps the bill in check | Service levels, what the monthly fee covers, cost reviews and exit terms |
The old environment needs a plan too: hardware has to be wiped and disposed of with a record, and leases have notice dates. See data center decommissioning, and if only part of the estate is going to the cloud, data center relocation covers moving the rest.
Which Workloads Belong in the Cloud, and Which Usually Do Not
The cloud is priced for elasticity: you pay a premium for the ability to scale up and down, and for every gigabyte that leaves the provider’s network. Workloads that use that elasticity get their money’s worth. Workloads that run flat out all year pay the premium for nothing. Sorting the two is the first step of any cloud migration strategy, and the step most worth an independent check.
The 30 to 50 percent range is the Metro Colo Advisory market read from our cloud repatriation work, relative positions rather than quotes, and is consistent with a16z, which put repatriated workloads at one-third to one-half the cost of equivalent cloud.
Send us the workload list. We separate what belongs in the cloud from what runs cheaper on dedicated capacity, then price both with the providers that fit. You'll hear back within 24 hours.
Cloud Migration Steps
Every competent cloud migration plan runs in the same order, whatever the size of the estate. Skipping a step moves the work to the cutover weekend, where it costs the most.
Inventory and map dependencies
Every server, application, database and data store, who uses it, and what it talks to. Hidden dependencies are a common reason a wave fails at cutover.
Decide workload by workload
Retire, retain, relocate, rehost, repurchase, replatform or refactor. This is where the strategy is actually made.
Build the business case
One-time cost, monthly run cost, the old environment until it is switched off, and the exit cost of any lease or contract.
Build the landing zone
Identity, network, security controls, logging, backup and the private connection to your sites, before the first production workload.
Migrate in waves, pilot first
Prove the method on a low-risk application, then move groups that share dependencies, running old and new in parallel until each wave is accepted.
Test, cut over, switch off
Test against signed acceptance criteria, cut over with a rollback trigger, then decommission the old systems so you stop paying for both.
Optimize from the first month
Rightsize what moved as-is, commit only to steady usage, and review the bill monthly.
What a cloud migration plan should contain
A plan you can hold a provider to has five parts: the inventory with a decision for every application, the wave schedule with dates and owners, the cost model split into one-time and monthly costs, the acceptance criteria for each wave, and the rollback plan. A proposal without all five is a sales document, not a plan.
Lift and Shift Migration: When It Works and When It Does Not
Lift and shift migration, or rehosting, moves servers to cloud virtual machines with configuration changes but no change to the application. Gartner’s original framework, as reported by Help Net Security, called it fast but short of cloud benefits such as scalability, and that is still the trade.
When it works
A hard date: a lease ending, hardware out of support, a server room closing. Stable applications due for replacement in a few years anyway. A first move that gets you out, with modernization as a second phase.
When it disappoints
Servers sized for peak on premises and moved at the same size, so the bill pays for idle capacity every hour. Steady workloads that were cheaper where they were. A second phase that never gets funded.
How to make it pay
Rightsize on measured utilization, not old server specs. Commit only to usage that has proven steady. Put the modernization phase in the contract with a date, or accept that it will not happen.
If the estate is mostly VMware and the trigger is licensing, compare the options before choosing relocate or rehost: VMware alternatives covers other hypervisors and private cloud, and VMware licensing covers what the current terms cost.
How Long Does a Cloud Migration Take?
Delays are common: in a 2021 McKinsey survey of nearly 450 CIOs and IT decision makers, 38 percent of companies had seen migrations delayed by more than a quarter. Five things set the timeline, and the provider’s tooling is rarely one of them.
| Timeline driver | Why it matters | What shortens it |
|---|---|---|
| Number of applications | Every application needs a decision, a test plan and a cutover slot | Retiring what nobody uses before the plan is built |
| Method mix | Rehosting moves at the pace of replication and testing; refactoring moves on development timelines | Rehost now, modernize later, for anything tied to a deadline |
| Data volume and bandwidth | Large data sets take days to weeks to copy, before changes are synced | A temporary higher-capacity circuit, or a shipped storage appliance |
| Change windows | Cutovers that need downtime wait for quiet periods | Continuous replication, so the cutover is a short final sync |
| Compliance and testing | Regulated systems need evidence of controls before they go live | A landing zone built to the control framework from day one. See compliance colocation |
Data migration to cloud
Data moves in three ways: copied over the network, shipped on a storage appliance the cloud provider sends you, or replicated continuously so the cutover only syncs the last changes. Databases usually need replication so they stay consistent while the copy runs. The plan should say which method applies to each data set, how integrity is checked, and how long the source copy is kept.
Server migration to cloud
Server migration usually means replication software copying each server’s disks to the cloud while the original keeps running, then a short cutover. What decides success is around the server, not on it: IP addresses and DNS, licenses tied to hardware, backups and monitoring that pointed at the old machine, and the firewall rules that let it talk to everything else.
Cloud Migration Cost: One-Time Cost Versus Monthly Run Cost
Cloud migration cost has two parts, often quoted as one. The one-time cost gets you there; the monthly run cost lasts as long as you stay. A proposal cheap on the first and silent on the second is not cheap.
Metro Colo Advisory read of how migration proposals are built. Line sizes vary too widely by estate to show as figures.
Overruns are common. In a 2021 McKinsey survey, the average company spent 14 percent more on migration than planned each year, and McKinsey expected about $100 billion of wasted migration spend over the following three years. Egress is easy to miss: data transfer out of AWS starts at $0.09 per GB for the first 10 TB, per Redress Compliance, so an application that sends 10 TB a month out pays about $900 a month for transfer alone (MCA calculation: 10,000 GB at $0.09).
The large clouds also run migration incentive programs. For AWS, Redress Compliance reports that credits are sized from estimated spend after the migration and released as workloads move, so they reward a larger cloud bill. Count them, but do not let them decide which workloads move.
Cloud migration services pricing
Providers price migration work in three ways: a fixed fee per wave or per server, time and materials against an estimate, or folded into a managed cloud contract with the migration discounted in exchange for a multi-year term. None is wrong, but they only compare on the same inventory, over the same term, with the monthly run cost included.
Send the inventory you have, even a rough one, before you request quotes. We put the same requirement in front of the migration and managed cloud providers that fit and compare the totals over the full term. The provider you choose pays us, so it costs you nothing, and you'll hear back within 24 hours.
Keeping the cost down after the move
Flexera’s 2026 survey puts wasted cloud spend at 29 percent, the first increase in five years. Much of it starts during migration: servers moved at their old size, test environments left running, storage nobody deletes. Ask each managed cloud provider how cost reviews work and what they commit to in writing. If the bill already needs work, see FinOps consulting.
Cloud Migration Risks and How to Reduce Them
| Risk | How to reduce it | What to ask the provider |
|---|---|---|
| Cost overrun | Fixed fees per wave where possible, and a cost model with its assumptions exposed | Which parts of the quote are fixed, and what triggers a change order? |
| Schedule slip | A pilot wave first, realistic data transfer times, and change windows booked early | What delayed your last three migrations of this size? |
| Hidden dependencies | Discovery tooling running long enough to see month-end and quarter-end traffic | How long does your discovery run, and what does it miss? |
| Data loss or corruption | Integrity checks, the source kept read-only until sign-off, and backups in place before cutover. See backup as a service | How is integrity verified, and how long is the source retained? |
| Security gaps | Identity, logging and monitoring before the first workload, and someone watching around the clock. See managed security services | Who monitors the new environment from day one, and who responds to an alert? |
| Performance and latency | Load testing before cutover, and a network design for the sites that use the application. See SASE and SD-WAN | What were the acceptance thresholds, and what happens if we miss them? |
| No recovery plan | Disaster recovery designed into the landing zone, not added later. See DRaaS | How do we recover if the region or the account is lost? |
| Lock-in | Refactor onto proprietary services only where the benefit is clear, and keep an exit plan | What would it take to move this workload out in three years? |
Cloud Migration Checklist
On the exit plan: since 2024, AWS, Azure and Google Cloud have each waived data transfer fees for customers leaving the platform, with conditions. Azure’s, for example, requires a support request, a 60-day window and cancelling every subscription, per ITPro. Moving only part of an estate out later is billed as normal egress.
Once a provider has priced your migration directly, it usually will not register an advisor on the deal. Send it to us first and the providers that fit price the same scope at the same time.
Azure Migration Services
Azure is the usual destination for estates built on Windows Server, SQL Server and Active Directory. The steps are the same as for any cloud, but four things are specific to it, and each changes the cost.
| Azure-specific item | What it is | Why it matters to the quote |
|---|---|---|
| Azure Migrate | Microsoft’s discovery, assessment and migration tooling | Ask what a provider’s assessment adds beyond the tool’s own report |
| License reuse | Azure Hybrid Benefit, which applies existing Windows Server and SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance to Azure | Quotes that ignore it overstate the monthly bill |
| A VMware path | Azure VMware Solution, which runs VMware workloads in Azure without converting them | Makes relocate an option for VMware estates on a deadline, at a different price from rehosting |
| Government clouds | Azure Government and Microsoft 365 GCC High for regulated defense and federal work | Defense contractors handling CUI often need them. See GCC High and CMMC enclaves |
AWS and Google Cloud each have their own tooling, license terms and incentive programs too. The provider you pick should be able to show the run cost on more than one cloud before you commit. We place Azure, AWS and Google Cloud migrations with the providers that fit the estate.
Cloud Migration for Small Business
A small business migration is usually a server closet, a file server, an email system and one or two line-of-business applications. Most of it ends up as software you subscribe to rather than servers you run in the cloud.
Email and files first
Move email and the file server to a hosted productivity suite. It is the cheapest, safest win and often removes the reason the server closet exists.
The line-of-business application
Ask the vendor for its SaaS version before paying to rehost it. If there is none, a small cloud server or managed host usually fits.
Security comes with the move
Cloud accounts are reachable from anywhere, so a stolen login is enough. Multi-factor authentication, monitoring and someone to respond belong in the plan. See managed detection and response.
Backups do not move themselves
SaaS keeps the service running, not your history. Separate backup protects against deletion and ransomware. See backup as a service.
The right partner is often a managed IT or managed cloud provider that does the migration and then runs the result for a monthly fee. Compare the fee, what it covers, response times and exit terms: that contract will outlast the migration by years.
What to Put in Front of Providers
Rough numbers are fine. Send what you have and we work out the rest with you before anything goes to a provider.
How We Place Cloud Migration and Managed Cloud
We do not migrate servers or run clouds. We are the independent advisor between you and the providers that do.
You send the requirement
The estate, the trigger and date, the target, the rules and who runs it afterward. You'll hear back within 24 hours from the person who will run your search.
We run the providers that fit, at once
The same requirement goes to the migration and managed cloud providers suited to your estate and cloud, on the same day, so the plans are comparable.
We compare plans and totals
Method per application, wave dates, one-time cost, monthly run cost over the term, service levels and exit terms, side by side.
We negotiate, and you sign
Fixed fees where possible, acceptance criteria, cost reviews and exit terms, settled while still negotiable. The provider you choose pays us, so it costs you nothing.
If the bigger question is whether to move at all, or where each workload should run across cloud, colocation and bare metal, that is a fixed-fee IT infrastructure consulting engagement, and we tell you the fee before it starts. If the move is out of a data center into colocation rather than into the cloud, see data center migration.
Cloud Migration Services: Frequently Asked Questions
What are cloud migration services?
Cloud migration services are the outside help a company buys to move servers, applications and data from its own server room or data center into a public cloud. They cover assessment, planning, the move itself, testing, cutover and usually managed cloud afterward.
What does a cloud migration consulting firm do?
A cloud migration consulting firm inventories your estate, decides how each application should move, builds the business case and wave plan, and often carries out the migration. Many are partners of one cloud and also sell managed services afterward. That is fine as long as someone independent checks which workloads should move at all.
How do I choose a cloud migration company?
Give every candidate the same inventory and targets, then compare the method per application, the wave dates, the one-time cost, the monthly run cost over the term and the exit terms. Choosing on the one-time price alone usually means paying for it in the monthly bill.
What are the steps of a cloud migration?
Inventory and map dependencies, decide a method for each application, build the business case, build the landing zone, migrate in waves starting with a pilot, then test, cut over and switch off the old systems. Cost optimization starts in the first month, not after the project closes.
What are the 7 Rs of cloud migration?
Retire, retain, relocate, rehost, repurchase, replatform and refactor. They grew out of Gartner's original five Rs from 2010 and describe the ways an application can move to the cloud, or not move. Most migration plans use several at once.
What is lift and shift migration?
Lift and shift, or rehosting, moves servers to cloud virtual machines with configuration changes but no change to the application. It is the fastest method and suits a hard deadline such as a lease ending. The trade is that the application gains little of the cloud's scalability until it is modernized.
How much does cloud migration cost?
It depends on the number of applications, the methods and how long old and new environments run in parallel, so the useful answer is a quote on your own inventory. In a 2021 McKinsey survey, the average company spent 14 percent more on migration than planned. Compare the one-time cost and the monthly run cost together, because the second lasts for years.
How long does a cloud migration take?
The timeline is set by the number of applications, the mix of methods, data volume and bandwidth, change windows and compliance testing. Copying 100 TB over a 1 Gbps link at 80 percent utilization alone takes about 11.6 days, by our calculation.
Should every workload move to the cloud?
No. Variable or bursty work, heavy use of managed cloud services, global reach and short-lived projects belong in the cloud. Steady, egress-heavy and latency-sensitive workloads typically run 30 to 50 percent cheaper on dedicated capacity, which is the Metro Colo Advisory market read, and most companies end up hybrid.
Is cloud migration worth it for a small business?
Usually, for email, files and most line-of-business applications, which move to subscription software and remove the need for an on-site server. The plan should include security monitoring and separate backups, which the move does not provide by itself.
What is the difference between cloud migration and cloud repatriation?
Cloud migration moves workloads into a public cloud; cloud repatriation moves them out, to colocation, bare metal or private cloud. They are the same decision seen from two sides: which workloads cost less where. Many companies do both at once.
Do you perform the migration, and what does it cost us?
No. We do not migrate servers or run clouds; we put your requirement in front of the migration and managed cloud providers that fit, compare their plans and totals, and negotiate before you sign. The provider you choose pays us, so it costs you nothing, and you'll hear back within 24 hours.
Price Your Cloud Migration
Send what you have: the estate, the trigger and date, the target cloud if you have one, and who should run it afterward. Rough numbers are fine. If some workloads are cheaper where they are, we will say so. Everything runs by email, so there is no sales call to book.
Once a provider has quoted you directly, it usually will not register an advisor, and you negotiate alone. The provider you choose pays us, so it costs you nothing, and you'll hear back within 24 hours. If you have already spoken to one provider, tell us which; we can still run the rest of the market.
The decision: cloud repatriation, hybrid cloud colocation, IT infrastructure consulting, the cloud vs colocation calculator and FinOps consulting.
Where the rest runs: managed private cloud, bare metal, wholesale colocation, data center relocation and data center decommissioning.
Securing the new environment: managed security services, SOC as a service, managed detection and response, managed firewall services and SASE and SD-WAN.
Recovery: DRaaS, backup as a service and disaster recovery colocation.
The numbers: data center cost, the colocation pricing guide, the data center lease guide and data center consulting for owners and investors.
