How to create a cloud migration plan for SMBs on any budget

• Cloud migration process overview: Treat migration as three steps (assess, mobilize, then migrate and modernize) so you can prioritize apps, plan waves, and measure progress against clear success metrics.
• Cloud deployment models explained: Pick the model that matches day-to-day operations: public for speed and flexibility, private for specific control needs, hybrid to bridge what must stay on-prem; the choice sets your networking, identity, and backup scope.
• Strategies for a successful cloud migration: To start, use the lowest-effort strategy per workload and mix as needed — rehost for speed, replatform for quick gains, refactor for long-term value, repurchase when Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) fits — executed in measured waves.
• Cloud migration challenges that become opportunities: Turn constraints into upgrades by using migration to tighten costs, raise security, modernize pain points, build resilience, and upskill the team with a simple cadence.
• Build your cloud migration success with AWS: Start small, prove value, and scale; combine assessments, managed services, and partner help to move fast while keeping governance, cost control, and reliability on track.

The most standard migrations follow three skimmable phases. Think of them as assess, mobilize, migrate, and modernize. Let's take a closer look at what each of these entails.

Assess: Understand what you have and why you’re moving

Start by inventorying servers, applications, and dependencies; then, build a data-driven business case to prioritize effectively.

Migration Evaluator helps you create a data-driven and directional business case based on what’s running today. AWS Migration Hub discovers on-premises resources, maps dependencies, and gives you one place to track discovery and assessment.

Mobilize: Set guardrails and plan migration waves

Design your landing zone (accounts, identity, logging, controls), define success metrics, and group apps into waves.

AWS Control Tower automates a best-practice landing zone and prescriptive guardrails. You can also use the AWS Well-Architected Framework as your checklist for reliability, cost, performance, security, and sustainability.

Migrate and modernize: Move what matters, optimize where it pays off

Choose the proper treatment per application. For this, we recommend using the “7 Rs” migration strategies: retire, retain, rehost, relocate, replatform, repurchase, and refactor.

In this guide, we focus on the approaches most small and midsize businesses (SMBs) start with: rehost (lift-and-shift), replatform, refactor, and repurchase (software as a service, or SaaS) — moving in waves and measuring against your success metrics.

Learn more about the 7 Rs migration strategies.

When you’re running an SMB, choosing the right cloud model — public, private, hybrid — is less about buzzwords and more about how you’ll run day to day.

• Public cloud gives you on-demand capacity and services without buying hardware, which helps when cash flow and speed matter.
• Private cloud can make sense if you already own dedicated infrastructure or have strict data placement requirements, but you’ll take on more management work.
• Hybrid cloud helps you bridge, keep an on-prem system that can’t move yet, while new workloads run in AWS, so you avoid “big-bang” cutovers.

Picking the model upfront keeps your plan realistic; It sets the scope of networking, identity, backup, and compliance tasks you need to line up before the first workload moves.

Service models you’ll decide between

Understanding the different types of cloud computing service models — SaaS, integration platform as a service (iPaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) — helps you match each application to the most straightforward and cost-effective path.

• If there’s a solid SaaS replacement, repurchase and drop the maintenance burden.
• If you need to modernize and centralize, an iPaaS manages databases, containers, and serverless functions, integrating data from multiple applications into a single solution. This reduces what you manage and speeds delivery.
• If you need to move quickly and scale, IaaS supports a rehost-first approach, allowing you to replatform or refactor later as time and budget allow.

Framing your choices this way can keep your team focused: what do you stop managing, what do you keep controlling, and what delivers the most business value for the least effort right now? 

As an SMB, it is recommended that you choose the lowest-effort strategy that meets the business goal for each workload and then adjust accordingly as you scale. You can mix strategies and phase them over time.

But of course, every SMB is different. What works for others may not work for you, and vice versa. Let's explore the various cloud migration strategies you can choose from. If this all sounds overwhelming, consider contacting an AWS SMB expert for guidance.

Rehost (Lift-and-shift)

Migrate servers and apps to the cloud with minimal changes, allowing you to cut over quickly and defer deeper modernization. This approach works well when timelines are tight, staff is limited, and you want the least disruption to the business.

Use AWS Application Migration Service to continuously replicate source servers and perform test cutovers before the real move. Pair with AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery when you want a pilot-light or disaster recovery pattern that also lowers downtime risk during rehearsals.

Plan at least one test run, a rollback path, and a low-traffic cutover window.

Replatforming (Lift-and-optimize)

Make small changes that unlock managed capabilities, such as improved performance, scalability, and reduced operations, without requiring a complete rewrite.

Typical moves include migrating databases with AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) into Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) or Amazon Aurora, then tightening autoscaling and monitoring.

You can enable AWS DMS change data capture (CDC) to keep the source and target in sync, thereby reducing cutover time.

Use Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon Managed Grafana, and Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus to tune after go-live.

Refactoring (rearchitect)

Redesign applications to take advantage of cloud-native patterns — for example, serverless or managed containers — when your goal is long-term scalability, performance, or cost efficiency.

You can use the AWS Well-Architected Framework, for example, to guide design choices and phase the modernization so you’re delivering incremental value while you refactor.

Repurchasing (SaaS adoption)

Replace legacy software with a SaaS alternative to reduce maintenance and accelerate access to modern features. Plan for data migration and user onboarding.

You can use Amazon AppFlow to bring SaaS data — for example, Salesforce, Zendesk, SAP, and Google Analytics — into Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), which is an object storage service offering for scalability, data availability, security, and performance.

Or you can bring SaaS data into Amazon Redshift for reporting, and centralize sign-in through AWS IAM Identity Center for consistent single sign-on (SSO).

Hybrid or phased migration

Move in waves and keep specific systems on-premises temporarily when you have strict uptime needs, hardware contracts, or limited IT capacity.

You can establish reliable connectivity with AWS Site-to-Site VPN or AWS Direct Connect, schedule file and object transfers with AWS DataSync, and use AWS Snowball for very large datasets that would take too long over the network.

Treat each wave as a mini-project with clear success metrics (cutover time, error budget, cost delta), as recommended in AWS Prescriptive Guidance.

Tip: You don’t have to pick one strategy forever. Many SMBs rehost first to reduce risk and cost quickly, then replatform high-value components (like databases), and finally refactor the parts that benefit most from cloud-native design.

Every migration “challenge” is an opportunity to upgrade and grow how you and your team work. Below are a couple of the most common challenges SMBs face, along with how to turn them into opportunities with AWS.

Expanding capabilities with limited budgets and resources

Pay-as-you-go pricing and managed services help you stretch your spend while reducing admin work. AWS SMB customers can see an average of 31% cost savings after migrating, especially when they right-size and automate their infrastructure.

You can build a data-driven case with the help of Migration Evaluator, then tag resources and enable AWS Budgets alerts on day one to keep spending in bounds.

Strengthening data security and compliance

Cloud security relies on consistent controls and visibility that you configure, supported by AWS security services. You can use built-in checks and monitoring to evaluate configurations against recognized standards and surface potential issues early, without claiming guarantees.

You can turn on AWS Security Hub CSPM (which includes AWS foundational security best practices) to gain a comprehensive view of your security posture in AWS and to assess your AWS environment against security industry standards and best practices.

Enable Amazon GuardDuty for continuous threat detection, manage encryption keys with AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS), and centralize sign-in via IAM Identity Center (connect Google Workspace, Okta, or Microsoft Entra ID).

Modernizing applications and workloads

Treat legacy pain points as a roadmap. Replatform quick wins (managed databases, autoscaling) now if possible and necessary; then refactor the pieces that pay back later.

The Migration Hub Strategy Recommendations provide per-app guidance on rehost, replatform, and refactor. You can run strategy recommendations on your portfolio and stage apps into waves based on their output.

Improving resilience and business continuity

Migration is the moment to bake in backup and recovery. Centralized policies and tested runbooks reduce downtime and simplify audits.

You can create governed backup plans in AWS Backup, which is a fully managed backup service that simplifies centralizing and automating data backup across AWS services. Then, design and rehearse failover using Elastic Disaster Recovery (non-disruptive drills; fast recovery).

Driving innovation through change management and adoption

Small to medium-sized teams can upskill quickly with structured learning and peer support. Focus on practical skills that map to your next migration wave.

Enroll your team in AWS Skill Builder (500+ free digital courses) and join the AWS Connected Community for SMB-focused guidance and 1:1 consults.

You can start your cloud journey today by taking a measured, step-by-step approach.

Begin with a short assessment, select the lowest-effort strategy that meets each workload’s goal (rehost, replatform, refactor, or repurchase), and proceed in waves, validating identity, logging, networking, cost controls, and backups as you go.

AWS provides prescriptive guidance, assessments, and managed services to help small teams plan with data and execute with confidence. You can start now, on any budget — three quick paths:

• No or lower cost groundwork. Build a data-driven business case with Migration Evaluator; skim the AWS Prescriptive Guidance overview to shape your plan. Enroll in AWS Skill Builder (500+ free courses) for your team, and enable AWS Budgets alerts on day one.
• Small to medium investment, significant risk reduction. Use AWS MGN for fast rehost with test cutovers; AWS DMS with CDC for minimal-downtime database moves; AWS DataSync for scheduled cross-cloud transfers; turn on AWS Backup, Amazon GuardDuty, and AWS Security Hub CSPM for protection and posture checks.
• Get expert help and support. Work with AWS Partners experienced with SMB projects to time-box planning, set up your landing zone, and run your first migration wave.

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