AWS
Amazon Web Services

AWS Migration Cost Calculator — True Cost of Migrating to AWS (2026)

AWS migration costs range from $50K for small workloads to $10M+ for enterprise. This calculator shows the full number — including what AWS won't tell you.

Cloud Migration Cost Estimator

Independent · No lead forms · Updated 2026

1500
1 TB500 TB
2 months36 months
$1.7Mtypical
Range: $931K$2.7M
Low: $931KHigh: $2.7M

Monthly Cloud Cost

$60K

post-migration

Break-Even

86 mo

from go-live

Monthly Savings

+$20K

vs on-premise

Data Egress Cost

$2K

one-time transfer

Cost Breakdown

Migration Labour$1.4M
Parallel Running$1.4M
Egress / Data Transfer$2K
Tooling & Assessment$20K
Contingency (20%)$284K

Estimates based on 2026 market rates. Actual costs vary by workload complexity, geographic region, and negotiated contract terms. Add 20–40% contingency for hidden costs.

Top Cost Drivers for This Scenario

1. Migration labour ($1.4M) · 2. Parallel running ($1.4M) · 3. Egress costs ($2K)

AWS-specific cost breakdown

AWS Application Migration Service (MGN)

Free (first 90 days per server)

AWS MGN automates lift-and-shift replication. After the 90-day free period, fees apply — but most migrations complete cutover within this window.

AWS DataSync (large data transfers)

$0.0125/GB transferred

For migrations with more than 10TB of data, AWS DataSync is more reliable than manual S3 uploads. A 50TB migration costs ~$640 in DataSync fees.

Data Egress to AWS

$0.09/GB first 10TB ($92/TB)

Moving data INTO AWS from on-premise via internet costs $0.09/GB for the first 10TB. AWS Snowball eliminates this for large datasets.

EC2 — On-Demand vs Reserved

Reserved saves 30–60% vs on-demand

On-demand EC2 pricing is expensive. 1-year reserved instances typically save 38–40%. 3-year reserved saves 55–60%. Commit to reserved early to reduce post-migration monthly costs.

AWS Enterprise Support

10% of monthly AWS spend

Enterprise Support is $15,000/month minimum. Business Support is 10% of monthly spend ($100/month minimum). Factor this into your monthly cost estimate.

AWS Professional Services

$250–$350/hour

AWS's own consulting arm. Premier Partner rates run $150–$250/hour. Typical engagement sizes for 100-server migrations: $150,000–$300,000.

AWS egress costs by data volume

Data VolumeRate / GBTotal Cost
1 TB$0.09$92
5 TB$0.09$461
10 TB$0.09$922
20 TB$0.085$2K
50 TB$0.085$4K
100 TB$0.07$7K
200 TB$0.05$10K
MAP

AWS Migration Acceleration Program

MAP provides AWS credits, tools, and partner support for qualifying migrations. This can reduce your AWS consumption costs during migration by 25–100%.

Enterprise customers: $50,000–$500,000+ in AWS credits
Must work with an AWS Competency Partner
Covers compute, storage, and migration tooling
Assess, Mobilise, and Migrate phases have separate credit pools
Learn about MAP eligibility

The 5 costs AWS's own calculator won't show you

01$50K–$300K

Parallel Running

The AWS Pricing Calculator models post-migration costs only. The 6–18 months you run both environments simultaneously is not included. Typical cost: $50K–$300K depending on estate size.

02$10K–$50K

Staff Retraining

AWS certification costs $300–$400 per exam. Training time is 2–4 weeks per engineer. For a 10-person team: $10,000–$50,000 in training costs alone.

03$5K–$200K per app

Application Re-architecture

Apps that run cleanly on-premise often need significant rework for AWS networking, secrets management, logging, and IAM. Not modelled in any AWS tool.

04Revenue × hours

Cutover Downtime

Revenue-at-risk during the cutover window. For an e-commerce site doing $1M/month, a 4-hour cutover window risks $55,000 in lost revenue.

05Up to $500K+

SQL Server / Oracle Licensing

Windows SQL Server on EC2 requires BYOL. Oracle on EC2 uses Oracle's complex cloud licensing rules — often 2–3× more expensive than on-premise. Factor this before migrating any Oracle workload.

AWS migration questions answered

How much does AWS migration cost for 100 servers?+
AWS migration for 100 servers typically costs $300,000–$900,000 all-in. Lift-and-shift runs $300K–$550K; mixed strategy (60% rehost, 30% replatform) runs $500K–$900K. This includes AWS MGN (free 90 days), consulting fees ($150–$350/hour), egress costs, and parallel running.
Is AWS cheaper than on-premise?+
For most mid-market workloads, AWS becomes cheaper than on-premise within 18–30 months. AWS EC2 is 20–35% cheaper than equivalent hardware over 3 years. However, egress fees, support plan costs (10% of monthly spend), and licensing on EC2 can erode savings. Use our ROI calculator to model your break-even.
What is the AWS Migration Acceleration Program and how do I qualify?+
MAP provides AWS credits and partner support for qualifying cloud migrations. To qualify, you must: (1) work with an AWS Competency Partner, (2) complete a Migration Readiness Assessment (MRA), (3) create a migration plan. Enterprise customers typically receive $50,000–$500,000+ in AWS credits. Contact AWS or an AWS Premier Partner to start.
Can I migrate to AWS myself or do I need a partner?+
Self-migration is feasible for under 20 servers. Use AWS MGN (free), follow the AWS Migration Hub guidance, and expect 2–4 months. For larger estates, an AWS Partner typically saves more in avoided mistakes than they cost. Partner rates: $150–$350/hour.
How long does AWS migration take?+
Small (under 20 servers): 2–4 months. Mid-market (20–100 servers): 4–12 months. Enterprise (100–500 servers): 12–24 months. Timeline depends heavily on migration strategy — lift-and-shift is 2–4× faster than replatforming.
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MigrationCost.com is not affiliated with Amazon Web Services. All estimates are for budgeting guidance only. AWS pricing is subject to change — verify current rates at aws.amazon.com/pricing.