Cloud migration promises cost savings, scalability, and innovation. But the reality? Many organizations face surprise costs that undermine ROI.
In 2025, controlling migration expenses requires a FinOps mindset and proactive planning. This is especially critical when executing zero-downtime migrations where dual-run environments and CDC strategies can significantly impact budget. Let's explore the hidden costs most teams overlook and how to mitigate them.
1. Data Transfer and Egress Fees
Cloud providers often charge for:
- Moving data into the cloud (ingress).
- Moving data between regions.
- Moving data out (egress).
Example: Migrating 50TB from on-prem into AWS may incur egress fees from your data center plus ingestion costs on AWS.
How to avoid it:
- Use offline transfer appliances (AWS Snowball, Azure Data Box).
- Compress or deduplicate data before transfer.
- Stage migration in-region to reduce cross-region fees.
2. Dual-Run Environments
During transition, many companies run old and new systems in parallel. Costs include:
- Double licensing fees.
- Storage duplication.
- Extra staffing.
Mitigation:
- Shorten dual-run windows with robust testing.
- Automate cutover validation.
- Decommission legacy faster.
3. Oversized Infrastructure
Teams often over-provision cloud resources “just to be safe.” This leads to inflated monthly bills.
Solution:
- Implement right-sizing post-migration.
- Use auto-scaling and tiered storage classes.
- Review with cloud cost analysis tools (CloudHealth, CloudZero).