Application Migration to the AWS Cloud: the Essence
Moving your application — or parts of it — to AWS opens up possibilities that on-premises infrastructure simply can’t match.
- Ship new features in days, not months, using AWS’s growing ecosystem of ready-to-use services.
- Scale up or out instantly — add server capacity or spin up new instances without planning months ahead.
- Pay only for what you actually use, so your cloud spend grows with your business — not ahead of it.
- Go global in minutes, not quarters. AWS’s worldwide infrastructure puts your app close to every user.
- Significantly lower infrastructure costs over time compared to maintaining on-premises environments — no more hardware bills or facilities overhead.
Steps to Migrate Your Application to the AWS Cloud
A small app can be live on AWS in 4–8 weeks. A medium or large application typically takes around 6 months for the first migration — but once your team knows the ropes, subsequent migrations move significantly faster. With repeatable processes in place, dozens of apps can move in 6 months; hundreds within a year.
Here’s how INNERLUXES approaches AWS migration, step by step.
1. Prerequisites & High-Level Planning (1–2 weeks)
Define migration goals, establish full scope, identify risks early, map every app dependency, and select the right migration approach from the 6 Rs: Re-hosting, Re-platforming, or Re-factoring into cloud-native.
2. Migration Design & Planning (3–4 weeks)
Build a complete migration knowledge base, create dependency graphs for data flows and microservices, design target AWS architecture from the ground up, and select the right AWS services across compute, storage, analytics, security, and CI/CD.
3. Business Case & Roadmap (1–2 weeks)
Run a side-by-side cost comparison of current infrastructure vs. projected AWS costs, estimate migration investment and expected ROI, and deliver a full project plan with resources, timelines, risk log, and RACI matrix.
4. Data Migration (3–10 weeks)
Run a full data quality check, write scripts to extract, clean, and load data into target AWS databases, build automation where availability requirements demand it, execute a trial migration, then validate every record before going full scale.
5. Pilot Migration (2–4 weeks, optional)
Stand up a full beta environment, test app functionality with test data, validate scalability and load balancing under production-equivalent load, review pilot results, and solve every problem before the real migration begins.
6. Iterative Migration & Testing (3–6 weeks)
Set up the new AWS production environment, configure DevOps tools, migrate applications and APIs, document every change, validate that functionality and performance are fully intact, and configure monitoring so nothing goes unnoticed once you’re live.
Converting on-premises products to SaaS on AWS? Plan the shift to a subscription business model deliberately, adjust your sales and marketing approach, rethink product management cadences, and design for the varying compliance and simplicity needs of different tenants — while ensuring data security and session privacy across shared cloud infrastructure.
INNERLUXES’s Offering for App Migration to AWS
Our AWS migration services span two distinct tracks — consulting and implementation — so we meet you exactly where you are.
AWS Migration Consulting
Our consultants analyze the business needs driving your migration, your application portfolio, and surrounding infrastructure. We estimate ROI and total cost of ownership before you commit, design a target AWS architecture aligned to your goals and budget, and recommend cost-effective management strategies for your migrated applications.
AWS Migration Implementation
Our implementation team delivers a clear migration and modernization strategy built around your application, optional iterative modernization including legacy re-engineering for teams carrying technical debt, full AWS application migration execution, and managed AWS cloud services to keep your migrated apps available, secure, and evolving after go-live.
Project Management
Plans and oversees the full AWS migration project from kickoff to go-live. Keeps deliverables on time, on budget, and to the agreed quality standard. Manages change, risk, and progress reporting throughout every phase.
AWS Solutions Architecture
Designs a distributed AWS system that’s highly available, cost-effective, secure, and built to scale. Defines technical requirements and maps them to the right AWS services. Provides architecture guidance at every stage of the project.
DevOps Engineering
Implements infrastructure-as-code and selects suitable AWS deployment and management services. Configures orchestration, CI/CD pipelines, and automated testing across your environment. Sets up monitoring, alerting, and performance visibility from day one.
Security & Compliance
Ensures every workload aligns with your organization’s security controls and compliance requirements across SOC, PCI, HIPAA, GDPR, and more. Provides security recommendations at each migration stage. Configures network security, access controls, monitoring, and event management.
Database Engineering
Selects and configures the right AWS database services for your workload. Builds and implements data migration tooling. Validates data integrity and performance end-to-end before and after migration.
QA & Testing
Plans the testing strategy for the full migration lifecycle. Conducts pre-migration and post-migration testing — manual and automated. Runs integration, performance, and data integrity testing to confirm nothing breaks in the move.
Batool
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
at INNERLUXES
“For AWS migrations, we run pre-migration and post-migration testing in parallel — functional, integration, performance, and data integrity. Automated testing across every iteration keeps the pace high and the risk low. Nothing goes to production without proving itself in a controlled staging environment first.
Selected Cloud Migration Projects by INNERLUXES
Cost of Application Migration to the AWS Cloud
The cost of migrating an application to AWS varies significantly based on complexity, scope, and approach. These are starting-point benchmarks — your actual quote is scoped individually based on your specific workload.
Lift-and-shift migration of a single application to AWS with no code changes.
Migration of a single application with re-architecting, code changes, or modernization work.
Enterprise-scale migration covering multiple applications, complex dependencies, and full re-architecture.
Major AWS Migration Cost Factors
- Scope of migration — one app, several apps, or specific modules.
- Application complexity and depth of dependencies involved.
- Volume of data being transferred.
- Target deployment option — AWS public cloud, Amazon VPC, or hybrid.
- Application age and current migration readiness.
- Availability and uptime requirements during migration.
- Level of migration automation and associated tooling costs.
- Testing scope and depth required for safe go-live.
Popular AWS Cloud Migration Tools and Services
INNERLUXES uses the full suite of AWS-native migration tooling — choosing the right instruments for your specific workload, not the most expensive ones.
AWS Application Discovery Service
Automatically maps applications running on-premises, collects dependency data, and summarizes performance portfolios. Feeds directly into TCO analysis and migration planning. Pricing: Free.
AWS Server Migration Service
Provides scheduled, live incremental server replication with a console-based GUI. Compatible with VMware vSphere, Windows Hyper-V, and Microsoft Azure. Pricing: Free.
AWS Database Migration Service
Supports same-vendor and cross-vendor database migrations. Source database stays fully operational throughout, keeping app downtime to a minimum. Pricing: Free for 6 months when migrating to Aurora, Redshift, DynamoDB, or DocumentDB.
AWS Migration Hub
A unified dashboard for all migration activity — status updates, key metrics, and progress tracking in one place. Integrates with AWS’s own tools and third-party platforms. Pricing: Free for all AWS customers.
Why Migrate with INNERLUXES?
No long downtimes
We break migration into clean, manageable phases with rollback readiness at every step. Automated testing keeps the whole process moving quickly and safely.
Reduced costs
Pragmatic migration strategies cut development costs. Automated resource orchestration and smart AWS service selection keep your ongoing cloud spend lean.
Safe legacy migration
We mine business rules from existing code and documentation, map every dependency, and work closely with your internal teams and third-party vendors to ensure nothing is lost.
Built-in reliability
Cloud architectures are designed for failure from the start — so troubleshooting happens without interruptions and recovery is fast when it matters most.
Sourcing Models for Application Migration to the Cloud
The right sourcing model depends on your team’s existing capabilities, the complexity of your workload, and how much risk you want to hold internally.
In-house team handles everything
Pros: Full control over the migration process and team output.
Cons: AWS migration requires niche skills that rarely justify a full-time hire for a one-time project. All recruitment, onboarding, and management falls on your team.
Partial or full outsourcing
Pros: Fast project ramp-up with no hiring delays. Optimal use of specialized resources only when you need them.
Cons: Team coordination, quality control, and risk oversight still require your involvement.
Full process outsourced
Pros: Your vendor owns team assembly, management, and migration quality end-to-end. Access to established migration frameworks built from real-world delivery.
Cons: Vendor selection carries risk. Choose a partner with a real track record.
In-house + outsourced consultancy
Pros: Your in-house team brings deep knowledge of internal systems. Outsourced consultants bring expert guidance, fill technical skill gaps, and mentor your team.
Cons: Requires deliberate communication to build smooth collaboration between both teams.
AWS Application Migration – Q&A
A small app can be live on AWS in 4–8 weeks. A medium or large application typically takes around 6 months for the first migration. With repeatable processes in place, dozens of apps can move in 6 months; hundreds within a year. Your timeline depends on workload size, migration readiness, chosen approach, and security requirements.
We support all relevant approaches from the 6 Rs: Re-hosting (lift-and-shift, fastest to execute with no code changes), Re-platforming (targeted upgrades for better performance and fault tolerance), and Re-factoring into cloud-native (full transformation into microservices leveraging the complete AWS ecosystem). We also support any blend of these based on your application’s needs and timeline.
A lift-and-shift migration of a single application starts from $5,000. Migration with re-architecting ranges from $20,000 to $100,000. Cost depends on application complexity, data volume, migration approach, and testing scope. Note that migration costs do not include ongoing AWS infrastructure and service charges. Share your project details and we’ll provide a tailored estimate within one business day.