Cloud Migration

Last updated: August 17, 2026

What is cloud migration?

Cloud migration happens when a business moves its data and applications off physical servers it owns and operates, and into a cloud provider's infrastructure instead, whether that means a public cloud, a private cloud, a hybrid mix of both, or a shift from one cloud provider to another. It covers everything from a full data center move to a single application shifting between cloud providers.

Most organizations migrate because legacy infrastructure holds them back. Legacy hardware, servers, storage, and networking equipment sitting in a company's own data center still works, but it's costly to maintain, slow to scale, and disconnected from the automation and elasticity that cloud environments offer. Keeping workloads on-premises means missing out on those advantages entirely.

Companies rarely migrate everything at once. Many start by moving non-critical workloads to learn how cloud computing performs before committing core systems. Cloud migration software helps plan and execute that move, and organizations that don't have the in-house expertise to run it themselves often turn to cloud migration services providers, who handle the planning and execution for a fee.

How does cloud migration work?

Cloud migration generally follows four stages: assessing the current environment, planning the approach, migrating workloads, and optimizing the result afterward.

• Assess: catalog which applications talk to which systems, where compliance rules apply, and what data actually needs to move, before deciding what's in scope for the project.
• Plan: decide which strategy fits each workload, sketch out the target environment, and pick a provider, with success metrics set up front. G2's Cloud Migration Assessment Tools category can score cost, security, and risk beforehand.
• Migrate: move workloads in order of priority rather than all at once, confirming each one runs correctly before flipping production traffic over to it.
• Optimize: track cost, performance, and security after go-live, and keep adjusting as new workloads and provider features come up long after the initial move wraps.

What are the types of cloud migration?

Cloud migration takes four forms, depending on where workloads start and where they end up: datacenter migration, hybrid cloud migration, cloud-to-cloud migration, and multi-cloud migration.

• Datacenter migration: relocating an entire on-premises facility's servers and workloads into the cloud in one project. This is the scenario most people picture when they hear "cloud migration."
• Hybrid cloud migration: keeping some systems on-premises permanently while moving others to the cloud, connected through a hybrid cloud architecture.
• Cloud-to-cloud migration: switching data or applications from one cloud vendor's platform to another's, often to consolidate vendors, cut costs, or access a feature only available elsewhere.
• Multi-cloud migration: running workloads across two or more public cloud providers at once, usually for redundancy, negotiating leverage, or to use the best-suited service from each one.

What are the cloud migration strategies?

Most cloud migrations rely on a mix of strategies, often called the "7 R's," that determine how much a workload gets redesigned during the move: rehosting, replatforming, repurchasing, refactoring, retiring, retaining, and relocating.

• Rehost: move an application to the cloud largely unchanged, commonly called lift-and-shift. It's the fastest strategy, but it carries over any existing inefficiencies.
• Replatform: make a handful of targeted upgrades during the move, like swapping a self-hosted database for a managed cloud one, without touching the rest of the application's architecture.
• Repurchase: retire a self-built or self-managed application and switch to a comparable subscription software product instead, sometimes called "drop and shop." This suits highly customized legacy systems that cost more to migrate than to replace.
• Refactor: rebuild the application's architecture to run on cloud-native services like serverless compute, instead of just hosting the same setup in the cloud. It takes the most effort, but pays off the most long-term.
• Retire: shut down applications nobody actually uses instead of paying to move them, and put that budget toward workloads worth migrating.
• Retain: leave certain workloads where they are rather than migrating them, typically because of compliance requirements, low return on investment, or hardware that isn't ready to move.
• Relocate: shift a whole group of virtual machines into the cloud together, keeping their existing setup intact rather than rebuilding each one individually. Some frameworks count this as a seventh strategy alongside the original six.

What are the benefits of cloud migration?

Cloud migration delivers five main benefits: lower infrastructure costs, faster application deployment, built-in security and backup, easier scaling, and a shift from large upfront capital costs to predictable operating expenses.

• Lower infrastructure costs: eliminates spending on physical servers, data center leases, and the ongoing maintenance contracts that come with owning hardware.
• Faster deployment: skips procurement and server setup, so new applications can go live almost immediately once the cloud environment is ready.
• Built-in security and backup: cloud providers apply security controls and automated backup and recovery that would be expensive to replicate on-premises.
• Easier scaling: cloud resources scale up or down with demand instead of requiring new hardware purchases and lead time.
• Predictable costs: trades a large upfront hardware purchase for smaller, ongoing costs tied to actual usage, a budgeting model many finance teams prefer.

Cloud migration best practices

Successful cloud migrations follow four core practices: defining clear goals before the project starts, investing in cybersecurity ahead of the move, replicating databases throughout the process, and training the team on the new environment.

• Define goals: tie the migration strategy to specific business outcomes, such as cutting infrastructure costs or improving application performance, before choosing a strategy or provider.
• Invest in cybersecurity: cloud security works differently than on-premises security, so a cloud firewall or security plan should be in place before any data moves, not after.
• Replicate the database: keep the database synced throughout the migration so the most current version is always available if something goes wrong mid-move.
• Train the team: cloud platforms require different skills than on-premises systems, so plan for reskilling or hiring ahead of time instead of leaving IT staff to learn on the fly mid-migration.

Frequently asked questions about cloud migration

Here's what people commonly ask about cloud migration.

Q1. What's the difference between cloud migration and cloud deployment?

Cloud migration is the project of relocating workloads into the cloud in the first place; cloud deployment is the architecture decision, public, private, hybrid, or multi-cloud, that governs how those workloads are run and managed afterward. Migration is how a company gets to the cloud; deployment is where it lands and stays.

Q2. What's the difference between cloud migration and data center modernization?

Cloud migration moves workloads largely as-is into the cloud; data center modernization re-architects applications and infrastructure to be cloud-native, whether that infrastructure ends up on-premises or in the cloud. Migration is a move, modernization is a rebuild. Many organizations migrate first using a strategy like rehosting, then modernize specific applications later once they're already running in the cloud.

Q3. What types of businesses benefit most from migrating to the cloud?

Three types of organizations see the fastest payoff from cloud migration: startups and fast-growing companies that need to scale computing capacity without large upfront hardware purchases, enterprises replacing on-premises data centers that are reaching end-of-life, and regulated industries like healthcare and finance that use hybrid cloud models to keep sensitive workloads in a private cloud while moving lower-risk systems to the public cloud.

Migrating a workload is only half the equation. Browse G2's Cloud Management Platforms category to see the tools that help manage cost, security, and performance.