Cloud migration is one of the largest infrastructure investments an enterprise makes. It is also one of the most consistently underestimated. Survey after survey shows that the majority of cloud migrations exceed their initial budget — not because the technology is unpredictable, but because the planning frameworks used to estimate cost are incomplete. Hidden costs surface during execution. Scope expands. Refactoring requirements emerge that were not visible during the assessment phase.
This guide provides real 2026 cost benchmarks for cloud migration across AWS, Azure and GCP — broken down by migration approach, workload type and company size — alongside an honest breakdown of the costs that most initial estimates miss. It is written for CIOs, CTOs and technology procurement leaders evaluating cloud migration investments and the partners who will deliver them.
The Four Migration Approaches and What They Cost
Cloud migration is not a single activity. It is a spectrum of approaches, each with materially different cost, timeline and risk profiles. The approach you choose determines more of the total cost than any other single factor.
Lift and shift (Rehost)
Applications are moved to the cloud with minimal changes. Fastest to execute. Lowest professional services cost. Does not capture the full efficiency benefits of cloud-native architecture and can result in higher ongoing cloud bills than re-platforming or re-architecting. Best for legacy applications that need to exit a data centre quickly or for applications with limited remaining lifespan.
Re-platform
Applications are moved to the cloud with targeted optimisations — containerisation, managed database services, auto-scaling configuration — without a full code rewrite. Balances speed with cloud efficiency. The most common approach for mid-size enterprise migrations where cost-benefit analysis justifies the additional work over pure lift-and-shift.
Re-architect (Cloud-native)
Applications are redesigned from the ground up to use cloud-native services — microservices, serverless functions, managed data services, event-driven architecture. Highest professional services cost. Delivers the strongest long-term cloud economics and operational resilience. Required for high-traffic applications where scalability and cost efficiency at scale are critical.
Retire and replace
Legacy applications are decommissioned and replaced with SaaS alternatives or modern replacements rather than migrated. Often the most cost-efficient outcome for applications with commodity functionality. Requires a thorough application portfolio assessment to identify candidates.
Cost Benchmarks by Migration Approach and Company Size
| Company Size / Scope | Lift and Shift | Re-platform | Re-architect |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMB (5-20 applications) | $25,000 – $80,000 | $60,000 – $180,000 | $150,000 – $400,000 |
| Mid-market (20-50 apps) | $80,000 – $250,000 | $150,000 – $500,000 | $400,000 – $1.2M |
| Enterprise (50-200 apps) | $250,000 – $800,000 | $500,000 – $2M | $1.2M – $5M+ |
| With India-based partner (mid-market) | $35,000 – $110,000 | $65,000 – $220,000 | $175,000 – $550,000 |
These figures represent professional services costs only — the engineering, architecture, project management and quality assurance work required to execute the migration. They do not include ongoing cloud infrastructure costs, which are a separate and equally important part of the total cost model.
AWS vs Azure vs GCP — Which Is Right for Your Migration
| Factor | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Migration credits available | AWS Migration Acceleration Program | Azure Migrate incentives up to 25% | Google Cloud credits program |
| Best for | Broadest use case coverage | Microsoft-heavy enterprises | Data and AI workloads |
| Migration tooling maturity | Most mature — AWS MGN, DMS | Azure Migrate suite | Google Migrate for Compute |
| Compute cost comparison | Baseline reference | Broadly comparable to AWS | 5-20% lower on comparable specs |
| Data egress cost | Standard egress fees apply | Standard egress fees apply | Free egress to internet in many cases |
| Enterprise agreement discounts | Up to 40% committed use | Up to 30-40% EA pricing | Up to 57% with committed use |
"The provider decision should follow the workload map — not precede it. Companies that choose a cloud provider before assessing their workloads leave significant cost efficiency on the table."
The Hidden Costs Most Estimates Miss
This is where most cloud migration budgets fail. The professional services cost is visible and quoted upfront. The costs below are frequently absent from initial estimates and surface during or after migration execution.
Network egress fees
Moving data out of a cloud provider's network incurs egress charges. For enterprises with large data volumes — databases, file stores, backup repositories — egress costs during initial data transfer can add $15,000 to $80,000 to a mid-market migration that was not budgeted for this line item. Ongoing egress costs for cross-region or cross-cloud data movement also represent a recurring cost that does not appear in pre-migration estimates.
Application refactoring discovered during migration
A thorough pre-migration assessment surfaces most refactoring requirements. An inadequate assessment misses them. When unexpected refactoring requirements emerge during execution — hardcoded IP addresses, unsupported OS versions, tightly coupled dependencies — timeline extends and cost increases. Budget a 15 to 25 percent contingency reserve for application refactoring on any migration with more than 20 applications.
Dual-running costs
During migration, most enterprises run both the legacy and cloud environment simultaneously to validate functionality and ensure rollback capability. This dual-running period — typically 4 to 12 weeks — incurs both the old infrastructure cost and the new cloud cost simultaneously. For mid-market enterprises this can add $20,000 to $60,000 to the total migration cost.
Cloud operations upskilling
Your internal team needs to operate the cloud environment after migration. Cloud operations training, certification programmes and the productivity dip during the learning curve represent a real cost that rarely appears in migration estimates. Budget $5,000 to $20,000 per engineer for structured cloud training programmes depending on role and depth of skill required.
FinOps and cost optimisation
Enterprises that migrate to the cloud without establishing FinOps governance from day one frequently find their cloud bills 30 to 50 percent higher than projected in the first year. Right-sizing, reserved instance purchasing, spot instance strategies and idle resource elimination require dedicated attention during the first 90 days post-migration to establish cost efficiency baselines.
Complete cost checklist for your migration estimate
- Professional services — architecture, engineering, project management, QA
- Application assessment and discovery tooling costs
- Network egress fees for initial data transfer
- Refactoring contingency reserve — 15 to 25 percent of services cost
- Dual-running infrastructure cost during migration window
- Cloud operations training and certification for internal team
- FinOps tooling and governance setup in first 90 days post-migration
- Security architecture review and compliance validation
- Ongoing cloud management cost if no internal capability exists
India-Based Cloud Migration Delivery
The professional services component of cloud migration — which represents 40 to 70 percent of total migration cost for most enterprises — can be delivered at 50 to 65 percent lower cost through India-based cloud engineering partners without compromising delivery quality when the partner has genuine cloud architecture depth and enterprise delivery experience.
T-Mat Global delivers cloud migration programmes for US, UAE and UK enterprises from India. Our cloud engineering team holds AWS, Azure and GCP certifications and has delivered migrations across Healthcare, FinTech, Telecom and SaaS platforms. We operate in US and Gulf time zones, provide full project governance and deliver against milestone-based contracts. You can learn more about our cloud and DevOps delivery at www.t-matglobal.com/about-us and our engagement models at www.t-matglobal.com/why-us.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does cloud migration cost in 2026?
Cloud migration costs vary widely. A lift-and-shift for a mid-size enterprise with 20 to 50 applications costs $80,000 to $250,000 in professional services. Re-platforming costs $150,000 to $500,000. Full re-architecture of a complex enterprise system costs $500,000 to $2 million or more. India-based delivery partners reduce professional services cost by 50 to 65 percent while delivering equivalent quality.
What are the hidden costs of cloud migration?
The most common hidden costs include network egress fees during data transfer, application refactoring discovered during migration that was not visible in the assessment, dual-running infrastructure costs during the migration window, cloud operations upskilling for your internal team, and FinOps governance setup to prevent runaway cloud bills in the first year post-migration.
Which cloud provider is cheapest for migration in 2026 — AWS, Azure or GCP?
There is no single cheapest provider. AWS has the broadest service catalogue and most mature migration tooling. Azure is the natural choice for Microsoft-heavy enterprises with existing EA agreements. GCP offers the most competitive pricing for data-heavy and AI workloads and has the most favourable egress pricing. The best total cost outcome comes from mapping specific workloads to the most cost-efficient provider rather than defaulting to a single cloud.
Plan your cloud migration with T-Mat Global
AWS, Azure and GCP certified engineers. India-based delivery at 50 to 65 percent lower professional services cost. US and UAE time zone aligned. Milestone-based contracts from day one.
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