Rehost, replatform, refactor, repurchase, retain or retire — the right choice differs per workload. A decision framework for migration planning.
The six options
Rehost (lift and shift) moves workloads as-is — fast, but carries existing inefficiencies along. Replatform makes targeted improvements, like moving a database to RDS. Refactor re-architects for cloud-native services — highest value, highest effort. Repurchase swaps to SaaS, retain keeps workloads on-premise for now, and retire decommissions what nobody uses.
Decide per workload, not per project
The classic mistake is picking one strategy for everything. A portfolio assessment should score each application on business value, technical debt, and cloud readiness — then assign a strategy per workload. Most estates end up with a mix dominated by rehost and replatform, with selective refactoring for differentiating systems.
Retire aggressively
Migration assessments routinely find 10–20% of servers support nothing anyone can identify. Decommissioning them before migration is the cheapest cost saving in the entire programme.
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