Tool catalogue

Universal Restore injects the right HAL and storage drivers so an image taken from physical hardware boots cleanly as a VM - the classic answer for awkward legacy servers.

Limitations. Per-workload cost, and the console is aimed at MSPs rather than large enterprise programmes.

Cost

Paid — Per-workload annual subscription

Licence model

Per-workload (server / workstation / VM host) annual subscription; perpetual available in some regions.

How to license it

Buy per-workload licences from Acronis or an MSP partner and register them in the Acronis console.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

The only free tool that does real inter-forest migration with SID history and password export. Migrates users, groups, computers and service accounts, and re-ACLs member servers.

Limitations. Unchanged since 2012 R2 and effectively in maintenance. Requires a two-way trust, is one-directional (no ongoing coexistence), has no GUI for large waves, and there is no built-in rollback - you must plan restores. Expect scripting.

Cost

Free — No licence cost

Licence model

Free Microsoft download, covered by your existing Windows Server licensing.

How to license it

Download ADMT 3.2 from the Microsoft Download Center. Free. Note it has not been updated since Windows Server 2012 R2 - it installs on newer servers only with documented workarounds, and it needs a SQL Server (Express is fine) instance.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Built into vCenter 7 U1+. Moves VMs between vCenters in different SSO domains with no shared storage and no extra appliance.

Limitations. vSphere only, needs good latency/bandwidth between sites, no L2 extension so IP re-addressing must be planned.

Cost

Included — Included with vSphere Enterprise Plus / VCF

Licence model

Native vCenter feature. Requires vSphere Enterprise Plus (or VVF/VCF) on both source and destination for vMotion; cold relocate works on lower editions.

How to license it

No separate SKU. Ensure both vCenters carry Enterprise Plus / VVF / VCF keys in Broadcom Support Portal.

Cutover profile

Live - no guest downtime

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

The native path into Alibaba Cloud, with incremental sync and image-based cutover.

Limitations. Alibaba target only; documentation and support quality varies by region.

Cost

Free — Free service; pay for target ECS and intermediate resources

Licence model

No charge for SMC. You pay for the intermediate instance, disks and the destination ECS.

How to license it

Activate SMC in the console, download the migration client, register the source servers. Nothing to purchase.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Low cost, straightforward image-and-restore P2V for SMB Windows estates.

Limitations. Not an enterprise tool - no wave management, limited Linux support.

Cost

Freemium — Free Standard edition; Workstation/Server editions are paid per machine

Licence model

Free edition for basic imaging; Universal Restore (dissimilar hardware) requires a paid Professional/Server licence.

How to license it

Download the free edition, buy a per-machine key online to unlock Universal Restore and centralized management.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Moves journal and compliance archives into a customer-controlled Azure tenancy with defensible reporting.

Limitations. Compliance archive focus.

Cost

Paid — Capacity or per-user subscription

Licence model

Subscription, capacity or user based.

How to license it

Quote from Archive360.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Strongest when Teams, Groups, SharePoint and Power Platform matter as much as the mailbox - it preserves structure the mail-only tools drop.

Limitations. No public pricing; sized for larger programmes.

Cost

Paid — Per-user subscription, quote based

Licence model

Per-user term subscription, usually bundled across mail, files and Teams.

How to license it

Quote from AvePoint or a partner; also available through the Microsoft commercial marketplace.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Continuous block-level replication from anything that runs the agent, unlimited non-disruptive test launches, and cutover measured in minutes. Source-agnostic, which makes it the strongest general P2C/V2C tool.

Limitations. Agent-based - you need admin access and an outbound path to the staging subnet on every server. AWS target only.

Cost

Free — Free for 90 days per source server; then about US$0.042 per server-hour

Licence model

The service is free for 2,160 hours (90 days) per source server, which covers a normal migration. After that it bills per server-hour. You always pay for the staging-area EBS volumes, snapshots, data transfer and the target EC2 instances.

How to license it

No purchase - enable AWS Application Migration Service in the target account and region. Install the free replication agent on each source server. Consider the AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) for funding and credits.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Same engine as MGN but with point-in-time recovery and failback - use it when you need a rollback path to the source after cutover.

Limitations. Costs from day one (no 90-day free period).

Cost

Paid — About US$0.028 per source server-hour plus storage

Licence model

Consumption meter per replicating source server-hour, plus staging EBS and snapshots.

How to license it

Enable in the AWS console; billed to the account. No commitment.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Also works in reverse - export an EC2 instance back to OVA/VHD/VMDK, which is one of the few supported C2V routes out of AWS.

Limitations. Cold, image-based, with significant export restrictions (instances originally imported, no marketplace AMIs). Slow for big disks.

Cost

Free — No service charge; you pay S3 storage and EBS

Licence model

No service fee. You pay for the S3 bucket holding the image and the resulting EBS snapshots.

How to license it

Nothing to buy. Use the AWS CLI import-image / export-image commands with an IAM role named vmimport.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

One console for inventory, dependency mapping, right-sizing, TCO modelling and the actual replication. Agentless for VMware and Hyper-V. Free for the migration window itself.

Limitations. Azure only. Agentless VMware replication has disk-count and size limits; very large or very chatty servers may need the agent-based path.

Cost

Free — Tool is free; first 180 days of replication per server included

Licence model

Azure Migrate itself carries no licence fee. Discovery and assessment are free. Server migration is free for the first 180 days per machine, after which Azure Site Recovery per-instance charges apply. You still pay for the target Azure compute, storage and network.

How to license it

Create an Azure Migrate project in any Azure subscription - no SKU to buy. Deploy the Azure Migrate appliance OVA/VHD on-prem. Use Azure Hybrid Benefit to carry existing Windows Server / SQL Server licences into Azure.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Continuous replication with test failover into an isolated Azure vNet - you can rehearse cutover as often as you like before committing.

Limitations. The classic VMware/physical-to-Azure path is being folded into Azure Migrate. Check the current supported-scenario matrix before designing around it.

Cost

Paid — First 31 days free per instance, then roughly US$16-25 per protected instance per month

Licence model

Consumption-based Azure meter per protected instance per month, plus storage, snapshots and egress. Azure-to-Azure and on-prem-to-Azure are metered separately.

How to license it

No purchase order - it bills straight to your Azure subscription. Use a Recovery Services vault. The 31-day free period per new instance covers most migration cutovers at zero replication cost.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

The widest source list in the market - Exchange 2010 onwards, M365, Google, IMAP, Zimbra, GroupWise, Notes, POP. Fully SaaS with no servers to build, transparent pricing, and DeploymentPro fixes Outlook profiles on endpoints at cutover.

Limitations. Item-level copy, so very large mailboxes and archives take multiple passes and hit throttling. No free/busy coexistence of its own - pair it with Entra cross-tenant sync for that.

Cost

Paid — Roughly US$15 per mailbox; User Migration Bundle around US$25 per user (adds OneDrive/Drive)

Licence model

Prepaid per-user licences. A Mailbox Migration licence covers one source-to-target mailbox move with unlimited delta passes for 12 months. The User Migration Bundle adds documents and personal archives.

How to license it

Buy licences self-service in the BitTitan store with a credit card or PO - no contract, no minimum, no infrastructure. Apply them to users in the MigrationWiz portal. Unused licences stay valid, so buying a block up front is normal.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Transparent, self-service pricing and no on-prem servers. DeploymentPro reconfigures Outlook profiles on endpoints automatically at cutover.

Limitations. Lighter than Quest for complex forest surgery - no SID history.

Cost

Paid — Per-user licence, typically around US$12-15 per user for the AD/device component

Licence model

Prepaid per-user licences bought from the BitTitan store; each licence covers one user for a 12-month window with unlimited passes.

How to license it

Buy licences online with a card or PO and apply them to users in the MigrationWiz portal. No infrastructure, no contract minimum - which is why MSPs favour it.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Unified hybrid AD/Entra administration and change rollback during a long coexistence.

Limitations. Administration-centric.

Cost

Paid — Per-user annual subscription

Licence model

Per-user subscription.

How to license it

Quote from Cayosoft or a partner.

Cutover profile

Live - no guest downtime

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Boot both sides from the live ISO and clone disk-to-disk over the network. Works when no agent can be installed and the OS is unusual or unsupported.

Limitations. Full outage for the whole copy, manual driver and bootloader repair afterwards, no incremental sync.

Cost

Open source — No licence cost (GPL)

Licence model

GPLv2 open source live image.

How to license it

Download the ISO. Free, including commercial use.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

N/a

Full detail Vendor page

Genuinely bidirectional cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-on-prem. One of the few tools that treats C2V as a first-class scenario rather than an afterthought.

Limitations. Smaller vendor, so validate your exact source/target pair in a PoC first.

Cost

Paid — Per-migrated-VM licensing; free trial available

Licence model

Commercial per-VM licensing with support; a free evaluation covers a limited number of migrations.

How to license it

Request a quote from Cloudbase Solutions sized on the number of VMs in the programme. Delivered as an appliance.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Strong cross-platform coexistence (Google and Microsoft GAL sync, free/busy) at a lower price point than the big names.

Limitations. Smaller support organisation.

Cost

Paid — Per-user licence, published online

Licence model

Per-user licences bought online, plus separate coexistence subscriptions.

How to license it

Self-service purchase on the Cloudiway site.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Excellent value with a genuinely usable console, automatic mailbox matching, and strong public folder support. Runs on your own server so no mail data passes through a vendor cloud - which matters for data-residency reviews.

Limitations. You supply and run the migration server and its bandwidth. Lighter on Teams/SharePoint than Quest or AvePoint.

Cost

Paid — One-time per-mailbox licence, commonly a few US$ per mailbox with volume tiers

Licence model

One-time perpetual per-mailbox licence (not a subscription), with volume discounts and a free trial limited by item count.

How to license it

Buy online from CodeTwo sized on mailbox count and activate the on-prem console. Because it is a one-time fee rather than an annual subscription, it is usually the cheapest option for a single planned migration.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Cross-hypervisor recovery plus instant mount for validation; NetBackup adds deep UNIX and mainframe-adjacent coverage.

Limitations. Backup-first product; migration is a recovery workflow.

Cost

Paid — Per-TB or per-workload subscription

Licence model

Capacity or workload-based subscription.

How to license it

Quote through Cohesity or a partner.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Genuine any-to-any conversion on restore across a very wide platform matrix, including UNIX, and strong reporting for audit-heavy programmes.

Limitations. Complex to set up if you do not already run it; licensing needs careful sizing.

Cost

Paid — Per-TB front-end or per-VM subscription

Licence model

Subscription by front-end terabyte or per-VM/per-instance, depending on the package.

How to license it

Quote through Commvault or a partner; also on AWS/Azure marketplaces for cloud-spend drawdown.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Natural fit where the estate is already Dell/VxRail.

Limitations. Migration is restore-driven; narrower alternative-hypervisor support.

Cost

Paid — Per-TB subscription or perpetual

Licence model

Front-end capacity licensing, often bundled with PowerProtect appliances.

How to license it

Quote via Dell or a partner.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Agentless discovery with application dependency mapping and move-group generation - the answer to "what talks to what, and what must move together".

Limitations. Assessment and planning only.

Cost

Paid — Annual subscription by device count

Licence model

Annual subscription sized on managed devices.

How to license it

Quote from Device42/Freshworks or a partner; free trial available.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Tiny single executable that snapshots a live Windows machine to VHD/VHDX using VSS. The pragmatic answer for a handful of stragglers, and the VHDX converts on to almost any platform.

Limitations. Windows only, no incremental sync, no orchestration, and the resulting VHDX has to be moved and fixed up by hand. Do not use it for domain controllers.

Cost

Free — No licence cost

Licence model

Free Sysinternals utility under the Sysinternals licence terms.

How to license it

Download from Microsoft Learn or run it straight from \\live.sysinternals.com\tools. No key, no registration.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Zero-cost route for estates under roughly 150 mailboxes. Cutover migration moves everything in one pass over a weekend.

Limitations. Cutover is practically capped around 150 mailboxes and forces one big-bang weekend. IMAP migration brings mail only - no calendar, contacts or tasks.

Cost

Included — Included with Microsoft 365

Licence model

Included with the Microsoft 365 subscription.

How to license it

Use the migration section of the Exchange admin centre. No cost. Target mailboxes need M365 licences.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

The only method Microsoft fully supports for a phased Exchange-to-Exchange Online move. Full free/busy, mail routing and a single GAL during coexistence, and mailboxes move online with only a brief Outlook restart.

Limitations. Requires an on-prem Exchange server, Entra Connect, certificates and published autodiscover. Throttling makes very large estates slow, and there is no reporting dashboard worth the name.

Cost

Included — No extra cost beyond Exchange / Microsoft 365 licences

Licence model

Included with Exchange Server and Microsoft 365. A free Hybrid Edition Exchange Server key is available for the hybrid management server so you do not pay for that instance.

How to license it

Run the Hybrid Configuration Wizard from the Microsoft 365 admin centre. Request the free Hybrid Edition product key from the Microsoft hybrid key portal for the on-prem hybrid server. Target mailboxes need an Exchange Online Plan 1/2 or M365 licence.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Fully agentless dependency mapping that stands up in about an hour - good when you cannot get agents approved.

Limitations. Mapping only.

Cost

Paid — Subscription by server count; free tier for small estates

Licence model

Subscription by number of servers; a free tier covers small environments.

How to license it

Self-service sign-up with a free tier, then upgrade by server count.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Ties discovery to software licence entitlement - critical when moving Oracle, SQL Server or SAP where the target platform changes the licence position.

Limitations. Expensive; overkill unless licence risk is the driver.

Cost

Paid — Enterprise subscription, quote based

Licence model

Enterprise SaaS subscription.

How to license it

Quote from Flexera.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Very cost-effective way to re-domain thousands of Windows endpoints and keep the user profile, mapped drives, Outlook profile and desktop intact. Also handles domain-to-Entra-join.

Limitations. Endpoints only - it does nothing for the directory itself. Pair with ADMT or Quest.

Cost

Freemium — Personal edition free; Corporate/Professional editions per seat

Licence model

Free Personal edition for single machines. Corporate and Professional editions are licensed per workstation (volume pricing) and add scripted, unattended and Entra-join migration.

How to license it

Buy a per-seat Corporate licence from ForensiT sized on workstation count; licences are perpetual for the version purchased.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Inventory, right-sizing, TCO modelling and group planning before you touch a workload.

Limitations. Assessment only - hand off to M2VM for the move.

Cost

Free — No charge

Licence model

Free Google Cloud service.

How to license it

Enable the API in your project. No cost.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Agentless from vSphere, wave-based groups, and test clones you can boot in an isolated VPC before cutover. Free.

Limitations. Google Cloud target only; AWS/Azure sources use an agent.

Cost

Free — No charge for the migration service itself

Licence model

Migrate to Virtual Machines is offered at no cost for migrations into Google Cloud. You pay only for the target Compute Engine resources, Persistent Disk and network egress.

How to license it

Enable the vmmigration.googleapis.com API in your project and deploy the Migrate Connector OVA on-prem. Nothing to purchase. Ask your Google account team about the Rapid Migration Program (RaMP) for funding.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Free path into Google Workspace from Exchange, Microsoft 365 or IMAP.

Limitations. One-way into Google, mail/calendar/contacts only, limited throughput and error reporting.

Cost

Included — Included with Google Workspace

Licence model

Included with a Google Workspace subscription.

How to license it

Run it from the Google Admin console. No extra charge.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Low-cost per-socket KVM platform aimed squarely at VMware exits, with conversion built in.

Limitations. Newer product - validate the guest OS matrix.

Cost

Included — Included with the HPE VM Essentials socket subscription

Licence model

Included with the per-socket HPE VM Essentials software subscription.

How to license it

Purchase HPE VM Essentials per CPU socket (1/3/5 year) from HPE or a partner; migration tooling is part of the platform.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Block-level incremental replication into Huawei Cloud with a straightforward agent.

Limitations. Huawei target only.

Cost

Free — Free service; pay for target ECS/EVS

Licence model

SMS is a free Huawei Cloud service; Rainbow adds assessment and application migration.

How to license it

Enable in the Huawei Cloud console and install the SMS agent. No fee.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Assessment plus replication into Huawei platforms, with strong regional support.

Limitations. Huawei targets only.

Cost

Included — Provided with Huawei platform engagements

Licence model

Supplied with Huawei FusionCompute / Huawei Cloud engagements.

How to license it

Obtain through Huawei or a certified partner as part of the platform project.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Shared-nothing Live Migration moves running VMs between standalone hosts with zero downtime and no extra product.

Limitations. Hyper-V family only. Cross-version moves are forward-only - you cannot import a VM into an older Hyper-V build.

Cost

Included — Included with Windows Server / Azure Local

Licence model

Part of the Windows Server (Standard or Datacenter) or Azure Local licence you already own.

How to license it

No extra licence. Note Azure Local bills per physical core per month through an Azure subscription; Windows Server is per-core with CALs.

Cutover profile

Live - no guest downtime

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Consistent multi-VM replication groups with automated test runs; strong in OpenStack and sovereign-cloud scenarios.

Limitations. Less well known; validate support coverage in your region.

Cost

Paid — Per-VM subscription, quote based

Licence model

Per-workload subscription; often sold through cloud providers as a white-labelled migration service.

How to license it

Quote from Hystax or via a partner cloud provider.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Continuous right-sizing and placement analysis - strong for building the target sizing model and proving post-migration savings.

Limitations. Analytics and automation, not a data mover.

Cost

Paid — Subscription per managed workload/VM per month

Licence model

Per-workload subscription (annual term), sold by IBM or partners.

How to license it

Quote via IBM or the AWS/Azure marketplace listing. Sized on the number of managed entities.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Low-cost mailbox and public folder migration with agentless operation.

Limitations. Less proven at enterprise scale than Quest or BitTitan.

Cost

Paid — Per-mailbox or per-technician licence

Licence model

Perpetual or annual licences by mailbox count or technician.

How to license it

Buy online from Kernel/Lepide.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Performance profiling over a 7-day window (IOPS, throughput, latency, CPU) - the data you need to size the target platform rather than just copy the current allocation.

Limitations. Data is uploaded to Dell's cloud; check this against your data-handling policy.

Cost

Free — No licence cost

Licence model

Free SaaS assessment service.

How to license it

Register a free account and run the collector. No cost - Dell uses it as a pre-sales sizing tool.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

ReDeploy fixes the boot-critical drivers when restoring a Windows image onto different (virtual) hardware. Fast and dependable for small numbers.

Limitations. Windows only, no orchestration, no free tier any more.

Cost

Paid — Per-machine perpetual or subscription; the old Free edition was retired

Licence model

Per-machine licence (Home / Workstation / Server editions). Macrium Reflect Free was discontinued in January 2024.

How to license it

Buy per-machine licences from Macrium; a 30-day trial covers a one-off migration.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Bulk object creation, CSV-driven provisioning and strong reporting - useful for the "rebuild rather than migrate" pattern in small consolidations.

Limitations. No SID history, no trust-based migration. It is an administration tool doing migration work.

Cost

Paid — Annual subscription by domain/helpdesk technician count; free edition for small use

Licence model

Annual subscription (Standard / Professional) sized on domains and technicians. A free edition covers up to 100 objects.

How to license it

Buy online or via a partner; licence applied in the web console.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Moves the mailbox itself rather than copying items, so nothing is re-ingested and no per-mailbox fee is paid. Best fidelity available for tenant-to-tenant.

Limitations. PowerShell only - no GUI, no scheduling, no progress dashboard. Does not move OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams chat or Power Platform. Target addresses must be pre-staged as MailUsers.

Cost

Included — No per-mailbox fee; both tenants need appropriate M365 licences

Licence model

Native Exchange Online feature. No migration SKU; source and target users must hold Exchange Online / Microsoft 365 licences.

How to license it

Configure a cross-tenant migration Entra application and mailbox migration endpoint with the ExchangeOnlineManagement PowerShell module. Nothing to buy. Note Microsoft has signalled licence requirements around some cross-tenant capabilities - confirm current terms for your tenants.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Cloud Sync supports multiple disconnected forests to one tenant, which is exactly the shape of an M&A estate that has not been consolidated yet.

Limitations. Synchronisation, not migration - it does not move SID history or re-ACL resources.

Cost

Free — No licence cost; needs Entra ID (free tier works for basic sync)

Licence model

Free tooling. Password hash sync and pass-through auth work on the Entra ID Free tier; group writeback, password writeback and Entra ID Protection need Entra ID P1/P2.

How to license it

Download Entra Connect from Microsoft. Cloud Sync is agent-based and configured in the Entra portal. Buy Entra ID P1 only if you need writeback or conditional access.

Cutover profile

Live - no guest downtime

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Provisions B2B member accounts into the target tenant automatically, giving day-one access to Teams and SharePoint during a long merger.

Limitations. Creates guest/member objects, it does not migrate mailboxes or data. Pair it with a mailbox tool.

Cost

Included — Requires Entra ID P1 or higher for synchronised users

Licence model

Feature of Entra ID; each synchronised user must be covered by an Entra ID P1 (or higher) licence in the source tenant.

How to license it

Included with Microsoft 365 E3/E5 or Entra ID P1 bought standalone per user per month.

Cutover profile

Live - no guest downtime

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Generates a checklist tailored to your exact source version and target topology - the fastest way to a defensible plan.

Limitations. Planning only.

Cost

Free — No licence cost

Licence model

Free Microsoft web tool and support diagnostic.

How to license it

Use the web-based Deployment Assistant and download the Support and Recovery Assistant. Free.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Rules-based multi-forest GALSync and account provisioning where the coexistence period runs for years rather than months.

Limitations. Heavy to build and operate; no SID history. The strategic direction from Microsoft is Entra, so treat MIM as a bridge.

Cost

Paid — Server licence plus MIM CAL per managed user

Licence model

MIM server licence (or a Windows Server licence covering it) plus a MIM CAL for each managed user, commonly obtained via Microsoft 365 E3/E5 or Entra ID P1 which include MIM CAL rights.

How to license it

Check your EA - if you hold Entra ID P1/P2 or M365 E3/E5 you very likely already have MIM CAL rights and only need the server licence.

Cutover profile

Live - no guest downtime

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Historically the official VMware-to-Hyper-V converter with VMware Tools removal and Hyper-V IC injection.

Limitations. Retired, unsupported, and blocked by modern vSphere API/TLS versions. Do not design new work around it.

Cost

Free — No licence cost (retired product)

Licence model

Was a free Microsoft download; retired in 2017 and no longer distributed or supported.

How to license it

Not available from Microsoft any more. Use Azure Migrate, StarWind V2V Converter or Veeam instead. Listed here only because it is still widely referenced in older runbooks.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Plan-and-wave migration into OpenShift Virtualization, warm migration with CBT from vSphere, automatic virt-v2v driver conversion, all declarative via CRDs.

Limitations. Target must be OpenShift/KubeVirt. Storage class mapping and guest boot mode (BIOS vs UEFI) need care.

Cost

Included — Included with OpenShift Virtualization; upstream Forklift is free

Licence model

Shipped as a supported Operator with the OpenShift Virtualization Engine / OpenShift subscription. The upstream Forklift project is Apache-licensed and free.

How to license it

Buy OpenShift Virtualization Engine (per-core subscription, sold in core pairs) from Red Hat or a partner, then install the MTV Operator from OperatorHub. For labs, run upstream Forklift on OKD at no cost.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Notably cheaper than the tier-one backup vendors, with cross-platform recovery that covers Proxmox and AHV - handy for mid-market VMware exits.

Limitations. Restore-based migration; smaller ecosystem.

Cost

Paid — Per-socket or per-workload perpetual/subscription; free trial and a free edition for small use

Licence model

Perpetual per-socket (hypervisor hosts) or per-workload subscription. NAKIVO also offers a limited free edition.

How to license it

Buy from NAKIVO or a reseller and apply the licence in the Director web console. Sizing is per CPU socket on the source hosts or per protected workload.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Identity lifecycle and group cleanup - most valuable in the pre-migration hygiene phase where you decide what not to bring across.

Limitations. Not a SID-history migration engine.

Cost

Paid — Per-user annual subscription

Licence model

Per-managed-user subscription.

How to license it

Quote from Netwrix or a partner.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Same AHV stack on-prem and in cloud, so lift-and-shift needs no guest conversion and you can move back later.

Limitations. Bare-metal instance minimums make small footprints expensive.

Cost

Paid — Nutanix Cloud Platform subscription plus bare-metal cloud instance cost

Licence model

Nutanix software subscription (per core / per node) layered on Azure or AWS bare-metal instances which you pay for separately.

How to license it

Buy NC2 capacity-based licences from Nutanix or via the Azure/AWS marketplace (which lets you draw down a committed cloud spend agreement).

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

The default path off VMware onto AHV. Seeds data while the source VM is running, injects VirtIO drivers automatically, maps networks, and cuts over in a short window per wave.

Limitations. The target must be Nutanix AHV or NC2. Reverse flows exist (AHV back to ESXi, and AHV to AWS) but they are secondary use cases, not the product's purpose. Guest OS support is narrower than generic block replication - check old Linux kernels and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Cost

Included — No charge to Nutanix customers

Licence model

Free downloadable appliance for any customer with a Nutanix cluster under support.

How to license it

Sign in to the Nutanix Support Portal with your cluster entitlement and download the Move appliance (OVA/QCOW2). No licence key. Support is covered by your existing AOS contract.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Free end-to-end tooling into OCI, and ZDM is the sanctioned route for Oracle Database estates with minimal downtime.

Limitations. OCI target only; the VMware source path is less mature than Azure/AWS equivalents.

Cost

Free — Service is free; pay for target OCI resources

Licence model

OCI Cloud Migrations (discovery, assessment, replication) and Zero Downtime Migration for databases are free OCI services.

How to license it

Enable in your OCI tenancy. Oracle BYOL and Support Rewards can offset target licensing. No migration SKU to buy.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Upload a converted QCOW2/RAW as a Glance image and boot it - fully scriptable and the standard landing path for private cloud.

Limitations. You supply the conversion (virt-v2v/qemu-img) and the orchestration.

Cost

Open source — No licence cost; distro support is paid

Licence model

Apache 2.0. Commercial distributions (Red Hat OpenStack Services on OpenShift, Canonical, Mirantis) are subscription-based per node or per core.

How to license it

Upstream OpenStack is free. For supported builds, buy a per-socket/per-core subscription from Red Hat, Canonical or Mirantis.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Continuous byte-level replication at the OS layer, so the source stays fully online right up to a cutover measured in minutes. Hardware- and hypervisor-independent.

Limitations. Agent on every source, and per-workload cost adds up on big estates.

Cost

Paid — Per-workload licence, perpetual or term

Licence model

Licensed per migrated workload (source server). Perpetual and subscription options; often sold in 10/25-workload bundles.

How to license it

Purchase per-workload licences from OpenText or a partner; activate the console with the supplied serial. Cloud marketplace listings exist for AWS and Azure.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

The most direction-agnostic mover on the market: any-to-any including V2P and cloud-back-to-on-prem. Server Sync, test cutover and scheduled waves are mature.

Limitations. Licence cost, and a Windows-based control server to stand up. Check the supported-platform matrix for newer hypervisors such as AHV and Proxmox.

Cost

Paid — Perpetual per-workload licences, commonly bought in blocks

Licence model

Licensed per workload, not per server or per host. Perpetual licences let you move the same workload as often as you need; there are also term/subscription options. The PlateSpin servers themselves are not separately licensed.

How to license it

Buy workload licence blocks from OpenText or a partner and activate them in the PlateSpin Migrate licence manager (online or offline activation code). Size the block on the number of distinct workloads in the programme, not concurrency.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Handy lab and developer-workstation path in and out of OVF/OVA.

Limitations. Not a server migration tool. Watch the Extension Pack licensing trap.

Cost

Freemium — Base package free (GPLv3); the Extension Pack needs a licence for commercial use

Licence model

VirtualBox base is GPLv3 and free. The Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack is free for personal/evaluation use only - commercial use requires a per-socket Oracle licence (Oracle VM VirtualBox Enterprise).

How to license it

Download the base package freely. If you deploy the Extension Pack in a business, buy VirtualBox Enterprise per socket from Oracle - this is a common and expensive audit finding.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Import VMs straight from a vCenter into the oVirt engine from the admin portal.

Limitations. RHV is end-of-life; plan a path to OpenShift Virtualization or another KVM platform.

Cost

Open source — No licence cost

Licence model

Apache 2.0 open source; RHV itself reached end of maintenance, oVirt continues as a community project.

How to license it

Free. If you need vendor support, the supported path is now OpenShift Virtualization or Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

P2V Copy and P2V Adjust OS handle awkward legacy Windows builds.

Limitations. Small-scale, Windows-centric.

Cost

Paid — Per-machine licence

Licence model

Per-machine perpetual licence (Business / Technician editions).

How to license it

Buy online from Paragon; Technician licence covers servicing multiple machines.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Its bare-metal agent lets you back up a physical Windows/Linux server and restore it as a Proxmox VM - a workable free P2V route.

Limitations. Restore-based, so expect a cutover window.

Cost

Open source — Free; support subscription per CPU socket

Licence model

AGPLv3, free. Optional paid subscription for the enterprise repo and support.

How to license it

Same model as Proxmox VE - download free, buy a socket-based subscription for support.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Since PVE 8.2 you can add an ESXi host as a storage source and import VMs straight from the web UI, with disk conversion handled for you. qm importovf / importdisk cover everything else.

Limitations. Cold migration - the guest is off during the copy. No changed-block tracking, so a large VM means a long window. Windows guests need VirtIO drivers staged before the move.

Cost

Open source — Free; optional support subscription from ~EUR 115 per CPU socket per year

Licence model

Proxmox VE is AGPLv3 and free to use, including the import wizard. Subscriptions buy the enterprise repository and support, not features.

How to license it

Download the ISO and run it with no key. For production, buy a per-socket annual subscription (Community, Basic, Standard, Premium tiers) from Proxmox or a reseller and paste the key into the web UI.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Converts between VMDK, VHD/VHDX, QCOW2, RAW and VDI. The lowest common denominator when nothing else will read the disk.

Limitations. Disk format conversion only - it does nothing about guest drivers, boot config or VM metadata.

Cost

Open source — No licence cost (GPL)

Licence model

GPLv2 open source, part of QEMU.

How to license it

Install the qemu-utils / qemu-img package. Free.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Two-way directory synchronisation means source and target coexist for months while you migrate in waves. Resource updating re-ACLs servers and workstations automatically, and you can roll a user back.

Limitations. Needs agents on domain controllers and a trust; licence cost is the main objection versus ADMT.

Cost

Paid — Per-user perpetual or term licence, quote based

Licence model

Licensed per migrated user/account, perpetual or term, with separate maintenance.

How to license it

Quote from Quest or a Quest partner, sized on the number of enabled user accounts to migrate. Licence keys are applied in the Quest console. Ask about short-term project licences - AD migrations are finite and Quest will price a 12-month term.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Built for on-prem-to-on-prem consolidation across untrusted forests, with calendar and free/busy synchronisation during a long coexistence.

Limitations. On-prem oriented; for cloud targets use On Demand Migration instead.

Cost

Paid — Per-mailbox perpetual or term licence

Licence model

Per-mailbox licensing with maintenance.

How to license it

Quote from Quest or a partner sized on mailbox count.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Its real differentiator is zero-touch workstation domain moves - the endpoint agent re-joins the device, remaps the profile and handles BitLocker, with self-service scheduling for the user.

Limitations. Endpoint agent deployment is a project in itself.

Cost

Paid — Per-user / per-device licence, quote based

Licence model

Per-user and per-device licensing, term or perpetual.

How to license it

Quote from Quest or a partner. Sized on accounts plus the number of workstations to be re-domained.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

The reference tool for HCL Notes/Domino and GroupWise estates, including mail-in databases, doclinks and application data.

Limitations. Niche and expensive - but there is little competition for Notes.

Cost

Paid — Per-mailbox licence, quote based

Licence model

Per-mailbox licensing.

How to license it

Quote from Quest or a partner.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

No trust and no on-prem migration servers required. Handles AD-to-AD, AD-to-Entra ID and tenant-to-tenant, with device (Entra join) migration in the same workflow - the modern M&A answer.

Limitations. SaaS, so your directory metadata transits a Quest-hosted service. Per-user cost.

Cost

Paid — SaaS, per-user subscription, quote based

Licence model

SaaS subscription licensed per migrated user/device, term based.

How to license it

Purchased as a term subscription through Quest or a partner; entitlements appear in the On Demand tenant. Sized per user and per device.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

The strongest option for complex M&A: mailbox, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams and identity in one console, with cross-tenant free/busy and GAL coexistence while the move runs for months.

Limitations. No public pricing and enterprise-level cost. Overkill for a straightforward sub-500-seat move.

Cost

Paid — Quote-based per-user subscription, typically above BitTitan for equivalent scope

Licence model

Per-user term subscription covering mailbox, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams and Entra objects depending on the modules purchased.

How to license it

Quote through Quest or a partner, sized per user and per module. Entitlements land in your On Demand tenant. Negotiate module bundles - buying mailbox, OneDrive and Teams separately is much more expensive.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Agentless (SSH/WMI based) any-to-any mover with strong Linux support and genuine cloud-to-on-prem repatriation.

Limitations. Needs credentialed access to every source; niche vendor.

Cost

Paid — Per-workload subscription; also sold via cloud marketplaces

Licence model

Subscription per migrated workload, term based. Available on the AWS, Azure, OCI and IBM Cloud marketplaces so it can draw down committed cloud spend.

How to license it

Buy directly or through the cloud marketplace listing (which often counts against an existing cloud commitment). Licence applies to the RMM appliance.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Fast instant recovery and CloudOn conversion of on-prem backups into cloud instances.

Limitations. Positioned for cyber-resilience; migration is a side benefit.

Cost

Paid — Per-TB subscription

Licence model

Capacity-based subscription.

How to license it

Quote through Rubrik or a partner.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

One click gives you a complete vSphere inventory in Excel - VMs, disks, snapshots, tools versions, hosts, networks. The standard first step of any VMware exit.

Limitations. vSphere only, read-only, point-in-time snapshot of inventory.

Cost

Free — No licence cost

Licence model

Free tool, now distributed by Dell after acquiring Robware.

How to license it

Download from robware.net (Dell account sign-in). Free for any use.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Native converter for organisations standardising on Sangfor HCI, common across APAC and the Middle East.

Limitations. Sangfor target only.

Cost

Included — Included with Sangfor HCI licensing

Licence model

Included with the Sangfor HCI platform licence.

How to license it

Provided with the platform through Sangfor or a regional partner.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Purpose-built for edge and retail estates moving off VMware onto HyperCore, with a simple import wizard.

Limitations. Scale Computing target only.

Cost

Included — Included with SC//HyperCore licensing

Licence model

Included for customers with a Scale Computing cluster under support.

How to license it

Download from the Scale Computing portal against your cluster entitlement; no separate purchase.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Not a migration tool, but the safety net around one: object-level rollback and full forest recovery if a migration wave corrupts the directory. Also surfaces the security debt you should fix before consolidating.

Limitations. Adds cost without moving anything. Justify it on risk.

Cost

Paid — Per-user annual subscription

Licence model

Annual subscription sized on AD user accounts.

How to license it

Quote from Semperis or a partner.

Cutover profile

Live - no guest downtime

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

The practitioner favourite for SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams content - use it alongside a mailbox tool rather than instead of one.

Limitations. Not a mailbox migration tool.

Cost

Paid — Annual per-user or flat licence depending on plan

Licence model

Annual subscription.

How to license it

Buy online or via a partner; licence keyed to the desktop/server client.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Automates the whole SMB move including Outlook profile reconfiguration and DNS cutover planning - built for partners doing many small migrations.

Limitations. SMB-oriented; partner-only purchase.

Cost

Paid — Per-mailbox licence sold through MSP partners

Licence model

Per-mailbox licence, sold almost entirely through the MSP/partner channel.

How to license it

Purchase through a SkyKick partner or a distributor such as Pax8/Ingram.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Converts between VMDK, VHD/VHDX, QCOW2, RAW and StarWind IMG, with a CLI for scripting, multi-VM batches and a hot-migration mode. The most capable genuinely free converter for VMware-to-Proxmox and VMware-to-Hyper-V work.

Limitations. No central orchestration console or wave reporting; you drive it per batch.

Cost

Free — Completely free, including commercial use

Licence model

Free product. No paid tier, no feature gating, no per-VM limit.

How to license it

Fill in the download form on the StarWind site and you get the installer. No key to manage.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Extracts mailboxes straight out of an offline or damaged EDB into PST or Microsoft 365 - the rescue path when the source Exchange server will not start.

Limitations. A recovery utility, not a migration platform.

Cost

Paid — Per-technician annual licence

Licence model

Annual technician licence.

How to license it

Buy online from Stellar.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Purpose-built for file servers: inventories shares, copies data and ACLs, then cuts over by taking the old server name and IP. Handles Samba sources too.

Limitations. File and print workloads only - it is not a general-purpose server converter.

Cost

Included — Included with Windows Server / Windows Admin Center

Licence model

Windows Server role plus the free Windows Admin Center console.

How to license it

Included with Windows Server 2019 and later. Windows Admin Center is a free download.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Built specifically for the open-source and alternative hypervisor world - restore a VMware backup directly into AHV, Proxmox, OpenStack or KubeVirt.

Limitations. Smaller vendor; confirm your exact platform versions.

Cost

Paid — Per-VM or per-socket subscription

Licence model

Subscription licensed per protected VM or per CPU socket.

How to license it

Quote from Storware or a partner; licence file applied in the Storware console.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Fabric management plus, in older builds, a bulk VMware-to-Hyper-V V2V wizard driven by PowerShell.

Limitations. The built-in VMware V2V conversion was removed in SCVMM 2019 and later. On current builds treat SCVMM as the landing-zone manager, not the converter.

Cost

Paid — Licensed with System Center per 16-core pack

Licence model

System Center Standard or Datacenter, licensed per physical core (packs of 2/16) on managed hosts. Often already owned under an Enterprise Agreement.

How to license it

Buy System Center through an EA, CSP or MPSA. Datacenter edition is required for high VM density. SCVMM is one component of the suite.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

The specialist for legacy archives - Veritas Enterprise Vault, EMC SourceOne, Metalogix, Zantaz - into Microsoft 365, with chain-of-custody reporting for legal hold.

Limitations. Archive-specific and expensive; you still need a mailbox tool for live data.

Cost

Paid — Per-mailbox or per-TB licence, quote based

Licence model

Per-mailbox or capacity-based licensing, project oriented.

How to license it

Quote from TransVault or a partner; frequently delivered as a managed service.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Back up the physical server, boot the recovery media inside an empty VM, restore. A reliable, genuinely free P2V for a handful of machines.

Limitations. Manual, one machine at a time, and the restore window is a full outage.

Cost

Free — No licence cost for the FREE edition

Licence model

Veeam Agent FREE edition - no licence key, no expiry, full bare-metal recovery.

How to license it

Download from Veeam with a free account. The FREE edition covers volume-level backup and bare-metal restore, which is all a manual P2V needs. Paid editions add central management through the Veeam console.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

If you already own Veeam you already own a cross-platform mover. Instant Recovery restores a backup of anything as a VM on vSphere, Hyper-V, AHV or Proxmox, and Direct Restore to Azure/EC2/GCP covers V2C. One backup, many possible targets.

Limitations. Restore-based, so cutover means a full or seeded restore plus a final incremental - plan the window. Not a continuous-replication tool for zero-downtime moves.

Cost

Paid — Veeam Universal Licence (VUL), typically sold in 10-instance packs

Licence model

Veeam Universal Licence - portable instances that can be applied to VMs, physical servers, cloud instances or workstations. Per-socket perpetual licences still exist for legacy estates but VUL is the current model.

How to license it

Buy VUL instance packs (annual subscription, 1/3/5 year) from Veeam or a ProPartner, or via the AWS/Azure marketplace. A licence file is uploaded to the Veeam console. Veeam Community Edition is free for up to 10 instances and can do cross-platform Instant Recovery - enough for a small migration.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

Built-in importer that pulls VMs from vCenter into VergeOS tenants.

Limitations. VergeOS target only; smaller vendor.

Cost

Included — Included with the VergeOS subscription

Licence model

Included with the VergeOS per-node subscription.

How to license it

Comes with the platform; no separate migration SKU.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Supports an unusually wide list of hypervisors including Chinese platforms (Huawei FusionCompute, H3C CAS, Sangfor HCI, oVirt, OLVM) that the big vendors ignore. Explicit V2V migration workflow.

Limitations. Restore/replica based; support presence varies outside APAC and EMEA.

Cost

Paid — Per-socket / per-host perpetual or subscription; 60-day full-feature trial

Licence model

Perpetual or subscription, licensed per CPU socket or per host depending on edition (Essential / Standard / Enterprise).

How to license it

Request a quote and a 60-day trial key from Vinchin or a regional reseller; the trial is fully featured and is often long enough to complete a small migration outright.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Both

Full detail Vendor page

The engine underneath most KVM-family migration tools. Rewrites the guest properly - installs VirtIO drivers, fixes bootloaders and fstab, removes VMware Tools.

Limitations. CLI only, cold conversion, one VM per invocation. Wrap it in scripts (or use MTV / Proxmox import) for scale.

Cost

Open source — No licence cost (GPL)

Licence model

GPLv2 open source. Commercially supported when consumed through RHEL / OpenShift Virtualization subscriptions.

How to license it

Install the libguestfs-tools / virt-v2v package from your distro repo. Free. For supported use, run it on a subscribed RHEL host.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

The reference tool for large vSphere estates. Layer-2 network extension means IP addresses survive the move, bulk migration handles hundreds of VMs per wave, and vMotion-class cutover gives zero downtime.

Limitations. Heavy appliance footprint on both ends, vSphere-to-vSphere only, and the on-prem-to-on-prem use case now depends on a VCF subscription.

Cost

Included — Included with VCF / cloud SDDC; Enterprise tier is an add-on

Licence model

HCX Advanced is entitled through VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and is included at no extra charge with AVS, VMware Cloud on AWS, GCVE and OCVS. HCX Enterprise (Replication Assisted vMotion, OS Assisted Migration, mobility groups) is a paid add-on.

How to license it

If you are migrating INTO a cloud SDDC, HCX Advanced comes with the SDDC subscription - activate it from the cloud console and it issues the on-prem activation key. For on-prem to on-prem, you need VCF entitlement from Broadcom; HCX Enterprise is ordered per CPU/core through Broadcom or a partner.

Cutover profile

Live - no guest downtime

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Recovery-plan orchestration with non-disruptive test failover - ideal when migration must be rehearsed and signed off before cutover.

Limitations. Priced for DR, not one-off migration; vSphere-centric.

Cost

Paid — Subscription, licensed per protected VM

Licence model

Subscription per protected virtual machine (formerly SRM per-VM packs of 25).

How to license it

Order through Broadcom or a Broadcom Advantage partner as a term subscription sized on protected VM count. Existing perpetual SRM keys carry over until renewal.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Scriptable CLI export/import in the open OVF/OVA format - the universal escape hatch that almost every hypervisor can read.

Limitations. Cold only, one VM at a time, and large OVAs are slow. Guest drivers still have to be fixed after import.

Cost

Free — No licence cost

Licence model

Free developer tool download.

How to license it

Download from the Broadcom developer portal with a free account. No key.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

The classic hot-clone P2V tool. Simple wizard, converts a running Windows server into a vSphere VM with no extra infrastructure.

Limitations. Windows guests only in 6.x (Linux conversion was dropped), no changed-block tracking, single-job focus, slow over WAN, and long gaps between releases. Not suitable for large waves.

Cost

Free — No licence cost

Licence model

Free-of-charge standalone download; no licence key required.

How to license it

Create a free Broadcom Support Portal account, then download Converter Standalone (6.6.x) from the VMware free-downloads section. No entitlement or contract needed. Support is community-only.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agent

Full detail Vendor page

Free with vSphere, per-VM RPO from 5 minutes, good for moving a few dozen VMs between clusters or sites.

Limitations. No orchestration or network mapping without SRM; manual power-on at the target.

Cost

Included — Included from vSphere Essentials Plus upwards

Licence model

Bundled entitlement with vSphere Essentials Plus and above (and with VMware Live Recovery / SRM).

How to license it

Download the vSphere Replication appliance under your existing vSphere entitlement in Broadcom Support Portal. No separate key.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Built-in VMware import that reads from vCenter over the API and converts to XCP-ng, including a warm migration mode.

Limitations. XCP-ng target only. Very large VMDKs and snapshots chains can be slow.

Cost

Freemium — Free from source; Vates VMS subscription from roughly EUR 1,000 per host per year

Licence model

Xen Orchestra is AGPLv3 - build from source for free with all features. Vates sells the prebuilt appliance plus support as a per-host annual subscription (Starter / Essential / Premium).

How to license it

Either compile XO from GitHub at no cost, or buy a Vates Virtualization Management Stack subscription per host and get the signed appliance, updates and support.

Cutover profile

Warm - seeded online, short cutover window

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Batch-converts VMware VMs into a XenServer pool with network mapping and guest tools handling.

Limitations. Cold conversion, VMware source only.

Cost

Included — Included with XenServer Premium / Citrix entitlement

Licence model

Free appliance for customers with XenServer Premium Edition or a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops entitlement.

How to license it

Download the XCM virtual appliance from the XenServer downloads page against your Citrix account, then point it at vCenter. Requires a licensed XenServer pool.

Cutover profile

Cold - full outage for the whole copy

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page

Continuous journal-based replication with seconds-level RPO and application-consistent multi-VM protection groups. Move a whole multi-tier application as one unit, test it, then commit or roll back.

Limitations. Priced as a DR product. Hypervisor-level replication means source must be vSphere or Hyper-V.

Cost

Paid — Subscription per protected VM per month/year

Licence model

Subscription licensed per protected VM (Enterprise Cloud Edition covers DR plus migration and long-term retention). Also available through HPE GreenLake.

How to license it

Quote from HPE/Zerto or a partner, sized on protected VM count; keys applied in the Zerto Virtual Manager. Short-term migration licences are available for one-off programmes - ask specifically for them.

Cutover profile

Near-zero - continuous sync, minutes to cut over

Deployment

Agentless

Full detail Vendor page