If you're searching for "cloud to on-premise migration," you're probably looking at your AWS bill in horror. Maybe you just got quoted $200k/month for what seemed like basic infrastructure. Or perhaps you realized you're paying for elasticity you never use.

You're not alone. Cloud repatriation is real, and more companies are bringing workloads back home in 2025.

The good news? With platforms like Northflank, you can keep the cloud experience without the cloud bills.

What is cloud to on-premise migration?

Cloud to on-premise migration (also called cloud repatriation) is the process of moving applications, data, and workloads from public cloud providers back to your own physical infrastructure.

You're essentially reversing your cloud journey, but keeping all the operational improvements you've learned along the way.

Why companies are leaving the cloud

Let's talk about when cloud stops making sense:

• Predictable workloads: You're paying for elasticity but your load never changes
• Data transfer costs: That $0.09/GB egress fee becomes $90k at 1PB/month
• Reserved instances trap: You're locked into 3-year commitments for instances you don't need
• Managed service markups: RDS costs 3x more than running your own Postgres
• The compound effect: Small inefficiencies multiply into massive bills

The math is simple:

• If your workload is predictable
• If you're spending > $50k/month on cloud
• If you have the expertise (or can hire it)
• If you can amortize hardware over 3-5 years

...then on-prem might save you 50-70%.

The cloud to on-premise migration challenge

Moving back to on-prem sounds great until you realize what you're giving up:

Remember the cloud's best parts?

• Push code, it deploys automatically
• Scale with a slider
• New environments in minutes
• Built-in monitoring and logging
• No SSH-ing into servers

Your developers won't go back to the old ways.

• Cloud-native services: How do you replace Lambda, DynamoDB, or S3?
• Automation: Your CI/CD assumes cloud APIs exist
• Observability: CloudWatch doesn't work in your data center
• Security: Cloud IAM doesn't translate to on-prem

"What if we need to scale suddenly?"

"What if hardware fails?"

"What if we're making a huge mistake?"

Enter Northflank: Cloud experience on your metal

This is where Northflank comes in. You can move back to on-prem WITHOUT giving up the cloud experience.

The setup:

1. Get bare metal servers (or repurpose existing ones)
2. Install Kubernetes (k3s or Rancher work great)
3. Connect Northflank
4. Deploy exactly like you did in the cloud

What you get:

• Same push-to-deploy workflow
• Same autoscaling (within your hardware limits)
• Same monitoring and observability
• Same developer experience
• Just running on YOUR hardware

Planning your cloud exodus (cloud to on-premise migration)

Calculate your real costs:

Cloud costs:

• Compute: $XX,XXX/month
• Storage: $XX,XXX/month
• Bandwidth: $XX,XXX/month
• Managed services: $XX,XXX/month
• Total: $XXX,XXX/month

On-prem costs:

• Hardware (amortized): $XX,XXX/month
• Colocation/Power: $X,XXX/month
• Networking: $X,XXX/month
• Staff (additional): $XX,XXX/month
• Total: $XX,XXX/month

If on-prem is less than 50% of cloud, it's worth considering.

Option 1: Colocation

• Rent space in a data center
• They handle power, cooling, network
• You manage the servers
• Best balance of control and convenience

Option 2: Your own data center

• Maximum control
• Highest upfront cost
• Only for large enterprises

Option 3: Hybrid approach

• Keep burst capacity in cloud
• Run baseline load on-prem
• Best of both worlds

This is where Northflank shines:

1. Provision servers: Get beefy machines. RAM is cheap, buy lots.
2. Install Kubernetes: k3s for simplicity, Rancher for enterprise
3. Connect Northflank: Same platform, new infrastructure
4. Test everything: Ensure performance meets expectations

The migration process

1. Set up Northflank on your hardware
2. Deploy non-critical services
3. Test performance and reliability
4. Train your team on any differences

1. Set up databases on-prem
2. Replicate data from cloud
3. Test backup and recovery
4. Plan cutover strategy

1. Move services in waves
2. Start with stateless applications
3. Monitor everything closely
4. Keep cloud as fallback

1. Verify everything works on-prem
2. Shut down cloud resources
3. Cancel reservations (watch those penalties)
4. Celebrate massive cost savings

What about scaling?

The elephant in the room: "What if we need to scale?"

Most companies don't have viral moments, but if you do need to scale:

1. Northflank works across clouds and on-prem
2. Burst to cloud when needed
3. Run baseline on your hardware
4. Only pay cloud prices for peaks

The hybrid approach: Keep 80% on-prem, 20% cloud-ready.

FAQs

1. What if hardware fails?

Build redundancy (it's still cheaper than cloud). Northflank handles failover automatically. Hot spares are cheaper than cloud insurance.

2. We'll lose cloud innovation

Kubernetes brings most cloud patterns on-prem. Northflank provides the platform features. You can always burst to cloud for specific services.

3. Our team doesn't know hardware

Colocation handles the physical stuff. Northflank handles the platform layer. You just need basic Linux skills.

4. This seems risky

Start with non-critical workloads. Keep cloud as backup initially. Many companies have done this successfully.

When NOT to repatriate

Staying in cloud makes sense if:

• You're spending < $20k/month (you could be spending less if you used Northflank!)
• Your workload is truly unpredictable
• You heavily use cloud-native services
• You have no ops expertise

Conclusion

Cloud to on-premise migration is all about taking the best of cloud, the automation, the developer experience, the operational excellence, and running it on infrastructure that makes financial sense.

With Northflank, you keep everything developers love about cloud while cutting costs by 50-70%.

The cloud was a great teacher. Now it's time to graduate.

Ready to migrate? Get started here or talk to an engineer.