If you're searching for "on-premise to cloud migration," you're probably tired of managing servers in a data center. Maybe your hardware refresh is coming up, or you're sick of 3am calls about failing RAID arrays.

Whatever brought you here, migrating from on-prem to cloud is a one-way journey that more companies are taking in 2025. And platforms like Northflank can make it surprisingly simple, whether you use their managed cloud or bring your own.

But first…

What is on-premise to cloud migration?

On-premise to cloud migration is the process of moving applications, data, and workloads from your physical servers and data centers to cloud infrastructure.

You're leaving behind server rooms, cooling systems, network hardware, and maintenance contracts for the promise of elastic infrastructure, managed services, and actually sleeping through the night.

Why companies are finally leaving on-prem

Most companies hit a moment where on-prem stops making sense:

• Hardware refresh cycle: Your servers are 5 years old. Do you spend $500k on new hardware or finally make the jump?
• Scaling nightmares: Black Friday is coming. Do you buy servers for peak load that sit idle 350 days a year?
• Talent shortage: Your lone infrastructure guru just quit. Good luck finding a replacement who wants to manage physical servers in 2025
• Disaster recovery costs: Building a second data center for DR is insanely expensive
• Innovation speed: Your competitors deploy 10x faster because they're not waiting for hardware procurement

• Hardware: $200k-2M every 3-5 years
• Data center space: $10k-50k/month
• Power and cooling: $5k-20k/month
• Network hardware and connectivity: $100k-500k
• 24/7 ops team: $300k-1M/year
• Maintenance contracts: $50k-200k/year

The on-premise to cloud migration challenge

Moving to cloud sounds great until you realize what's involved:

• Refactoring everything: Your apps were built for specific hardware. Now they need to run anywhere
• Network redesign: Your nice flat network becomes VPCs, subnets, security groups
• Storage migration: Moving petabytes of data without downtime
• Security rethink: Your firewall becomes IAM policies and cloud-native security

Which cloud do you even choose?

• AWS: Most services, most complex, most expensive at scale
• Azure: Great for Windows workloads, licensing can be a trap
• GCP: Best for data analytics and AI/ML, smallest ecosystem
• Multi-cloud: Sounds good in theory, operational nightmare in practice

Your team knows VMware, not Kubernetes. They speak VLAN, not VPC. The learning curve is brutal.

Enter Northflank: Two paths for your on-premise to cloud migration

This is where Northflank comes in. Instead of spending years learning cloud platforms, you get two simple options:

Just use Northflank's cloud. Zero infrastructure decisions.

How it works:

1. Sign up for Northflank (5 minutes)
2. Connect your Git repo
3. Deploy your apps
4. Northflank handles literally everything else

What you get:

• No cloud provider decisions
• No infrastructure management
• Automatic scaling, security, monitoring, disaster recovery. All the bells and whistles.
• Multiple regions available
• Predictable pricing
• Start deploying in 30 minutes, not 6 months

Best for:

• Any team who just wants their apps to run and would rather focus on building product customers pay for than the infrastructure behind it.

Use Northflank's platform on YOUR choice of cloud provider.

How it works:

1. Choose your cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP, etc.)
2. Connect it to Northflank
3. Northflank provisions and manages everything
4. You get cloud benefits + Northflank simplicity

What you get:

• Your data in your cloud account
• Compliance and data residency control
• Use existing cloud credits or commitments
• Still no infrastructure complexity
• Same Northflank experience

Best for:

• Enterprises with compliance requirements
• Companies with existing cloud commitments
• Teams who need specific cloud services
• Organizations planning massive scale

Which cloud should you choose?

If you go the BYOC route:

• You need the most service options
• You're building something massive
• You have AWS credits from investors
• You don't mind complexity for flexibility

Warning: Most expensive at scale. Bills can surprise you.

• You run lots of Windows workloads
• You're already deep in Microsoft ecosystem
• You need hybrid cloud (some stuff stays on-prem)
• You have an Enterprise Agreement

Warning: Licensing can lock you in hard.

• Data analytics or AI/ML is core to your business
• You want the best price-performance
• You prefer Google's simplified approach
• You're already using Google Workspace

Warning: Smallest ecosystem, fewer third-party tools.

• You want to avoid this decision entirely
• You're not sure which cloud is best
• You want to start migrating TODAY
• You can always move to BYOC later

FAQs

1. What about our data? Northflank handles database migrations. Whether managed or BYOC, your data is encrypted, backed up, and yours.
2. We have compliance requirements. BYOC lets you maintain full control. Your cloud, your compliance. Northflank just makes it manageable.
3. Our apps weren't built for cloud If they run in containers, they'll run on Northflank. The platform handles the cloud complexity.
4. What if we need to move clouds later? With Northflank, switching clouds is just changing a configuration. No app changes needed.

Why Northflank works for on-prem escapees

Northflank is specifically designed for teams making this transition:

• No cloud expertise required: The platform handles all the complex cloud stuff
• Gradual migration: Move at your own pace, app by app
• Both options available: Start with managed, move to BYOC when ready
• Enterprise-ready: Built for serious workloads, not just demos
• Real support: Actual humans who understand migration pain

Getting started

• Northflank Managed: Sign up and start deploying today
• BYOC: Pick your cloud, then connect to Northflank

1. Pick one simple app
2. Containerize it (if not already)
3. Deploy to Northflank
4. See how easy this can be

1. List all your applications
2. Group by complexity and criticality
3. Plan 2-3 migration waves
4. Set realistic timelines

Ta-da! You’ve got your on-premise to cloud migration done.

Conclusion

On-premise to cloud migration doesn't have to be a multi-year nightmare. Whether you choose Northflank's managed cloud for simplicity or BYOC for control, you can be deploying in the cloud within days, not months.

The best part? You don't need to become a cloud expert. Northflank handles the complexity while you focus on what matters, your applications and your business.

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