Key takeaways
- **Website Migration Cost:** Use this guide to decide what to fix first, what can wait, and how the work should support a cleaner move with less traffic and ranking risk.
A website migration in 2026 runs from about 2,500 dollars for a small brochure site to 75,000 dollars or more for a large ecommerce or enterprise move. The number tracks page count, URL complexity, and how much of the redirect and SEO work is done by hand. Platform change and design rebuild each add to the total, so scope drives price more than the software you land on.
Below is what each tier covers, what pushes the number up, and how to budget without buying work you do not need. If you want a fixed quote, our website migration service scope projects against these same factors.
Before you compare quotes, understand what you are buying. A migration price is mostly labor, and the labor is concentrated in two places: mapping every URL to its new home, and testing that the redirects and content survived the move. Software licenses, hosting, and design are separate line items that vary independently. Two quotes that look far apart often differ because one includes a redesign and the other does not, or because one prices manual redirect QA and the other assumes a bulk redirect. Read what each quote covers before you judge it on price.
Pricing by project size
| Project size | Typical pages | URL mapping | Price range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small brochure | Under 50 | Manual, one to one | 2,500 to 6,000 dollars |
| Mid-size business | 50 to 500 | Manual plus scripted checks | 6,000 to 20,000 dollars |
| Large content or blog | 500 to 5,000 | Scripted mapping, manual QA | 15,000 to 40,000 dollars |
| Ecommerce | 500 to 10,000 products | Automated plus manual for top sellers | 20,000 to 60,000 dollars |
| Enterprise | 5,000 plus | Full automation, staged rollout | 40,000 to 75,000 dollars plus |
These cover strategy, URL mapping, redirect implementation, and post-launch monitoring. They exclude design, content rewrites, and platform license fees unless stated.
What drives the number
Five factors move a quote more than anything else. Rank them when you scope:
- URL count. Every URL needs a mapping decision and a tested redirect. A 5,000-page site is not ten times the work of a 500-page site, but the mapping and QA hours scale close to linearly.
- Platform change. Moving WordPress to WordPress is cheaper than WordPress to Shopify or a headless build. Cross-platform moves mean rebuilding templates, re-implementing structured data, and re-checking every content type.
- URL structure change. If the new URLs match the old ones, redirects are trivial. If the structure changes (for example /blog/post to /articles/post), every URL needs a redirect and a QA pass.
- Design rebuild. A migration bundled with a redesign costs more because templates, internal linking, and page speed all change at once, which also raises the risk that needs testing.
- Content volume and type. Product pages, filtered category pages, and faceted navigation each add mapping edge cases that thin brochure pages do not.
Of the five, URL count sets the tier and the other four decide where you land inside it. A 400-page site sounds like the mid-size band, but if it changes platform, restructures URLs, and adds a redesign, all three of the remaining factors push it toward the top of the range or into the next band. When you gather quotes, tell every vendor the same four scope decisions so the numbers compare cleanly. A vendor who quotes low usually assumed away one of these factors, and the gap reappears as a change order once the work starts.
What each tier of work includes
Basic migration (2,500 to 6,000 dollars)
For small sites keeping the same platform and similar URLs. Includes a URL inventory, a one-to-one redirect map built by hand, launch-day deployment, and a two-week post-launch check. Suitable when page count is under 50 and few pages hold backlinks.
Standard migration (6,000 to 20,000 dollars)
For mid-size sites, often with a platform or structure change. Adds scripted redirect verification, structured data migration, Core Web Vitals testing on staging, and 30 days of monitoring against a traffic baseline. This is the most common tier for established business sites.
Complex migration (20,000 to 75,000 dollars plus)
For ecommerce and enterprise. Adds automated URL mapping with manual QA on top revenue pages, staged or phased rollout, faceted navigation handling, and 60 to 90 days of monitoring. Enterprise projects often add a dedicated project lead and stakeholder reporting.
Where budgets get wasted
- Paying for a redesign you did not need. If rankings are healthy, migrate the structure first and redesign later. Bundling both raises cost and risk at the same time.
- Skipping the baseline to save hours. A skipped benchmark means you cannot prove what the migration did, and you pay more later diagnosing a drop blind.
- Cheap redirects. A bulk redirect-everything-to-homepage job is cheap and destroys rankings. One-to-one mapping is the line item worth protecting.
- No post-launch monitoring. The first 30 days catch the errors that cost the most traffic. Cutting monitoring saves a little and risks a lot.
How to budget
- Crawl your site and get an exact URL count; this sets the tier.
- Decide whether platform and URL structure change. Same platform and same URLs keep you at the low end.
- Separate the redesign decision from the migration decision so you can price them independently.
- Ring-fence the redirect and QA budget; it is the work that protects revenue.
- Add 15 to 20 percent contingency for edge cases a crawl does not reveal until staging.
A mid-size business moving platforms with a structure change should plan for the 10,000 to 20,000 dollar band and treat anything far below it with caution, because the gap usually shows up as skipped redirect QA.
How to compare quotes on equal terms
Two quotes for the same move can differ by a factor of three, and the difference is almost always in what the cheaper one leaves out. Compare on scope, not just the number.
- Confirm the redirect map is one-to-one and QA is included, not a bulk redirect to the homepage.
- Check that a pre-move benchmark and 30-day post-launch monitoring are in the price.
- Ask whether structured data migration and Core Web Vitals testing are included or extra.
- Confirm whether design and content rewrites are in scope or billed separately.
A quote that is far below the others usually wins on price by cutting the redirect QA and the monitoring, which are exactly the line items that protect revenue. Put the two quotes side by side against the same scope, and the real gap often narrows or reverses once the missing work is added back.
Fixed price versus time and materials
Migrations are quoted two ways, and each suits a different situation.
- Fixed price works when the URL count and scope are known, because the crawl defines the work. It gives you budget certainty and pushes the estimating risk onto the vendor.
- Time and materials suits a move with unknowns, such as a large store with faceted navigation, where the edge cases only surface on staging.
For most small and mid-size sites, a fixed price against an exact URL count is the safer choice, since the scope is knowable up front. For a complex enterprise move, a hybrid, a fixed price for the known work plus a contingency for discovered edge cases, keeps both sides honest without either padding the estimate or running open-ended.
Related terms
You may see this topic described with related searches like how much does it cost to migrate a website, how much does website migration cost, website migration service cost, website replatforming, and what is the cost of website migration. Those phrases are useful when they clarify what the reader needs next, but they should still point back to one clear plan.
Frequently asked questions
Why is ecommerce migration more expensive?
Product catalogs, category pages, and faceted navigation create thousands of URLs and many mapping edge cases. Out-of-stock and discontinued products need redirect decisions, and top revenue pages need manual QA. The volume and the revenue at stake both push ecommerce into the 20,000 to 60,000 dollar range.
Can I migrate my site myself to save money?
For a small site under 50 pages on the same platform, a careful owner can. The risk rises fast with URL count and platform change, because a missed redirect map or a botched structured data migration can cost more in lost traffic than the project would have. Above a few hundred pages, the QA work is the value.
Does a platform change always cost more?
Almost always, because you rebuild templates, re-implement structured data, and re-test every content type on the new system. A same-platform move (WordPress to WordPress) is the cheapest scenario; a cross-platform move (WordPress to Shopify) adds meaningful hours.
What ongoing costs come after migration?
Plan for 30 to 90 days of monitoring, then normal hosting and platform license fees. If you moved to a platform with transaction fees or app subscriptions, factor those in separately from the one-time migration cost.
How do I compare quotes that are far apart?
Line them up against the same scope: URL count, platform change, URL structure change, redesign, and monitoring length. A low quote usually assumed one of these away, most often manual redirect QA or the post-launch monitoring window. Ask each vendor what happens to the price if the URL count comes in higher than estimated, and the answer tells you how carefully they scoped.
Should I pay for monitoring after launch?
Yes, and treat it as part of the core cost rather than an add-on. The first 30 days catch the errors that cost the most traffic, and a 404 with backlinks fixed on day two is a non-event, while the same 404 found on day 40 has already lost a month of rankings. Thirty days of monitoring is standard for mid-size sites; ecommerce and enterprise justify 60 to 90.
How do I migrate a website to another?
Migrate the site by inventorying every current URL, mapping redirects, preserving important content and metadata, testing the new templates, launching in a controlled window, and monitoring crawl, indexation, rankings, and conversions after the switch.
How much does it cost to migrate a website?
Website migration cost is driven by URL count, platform complexity, redirect mapping, content movement, analytics setup, launch QA, and monitoring after go-live. The cheapest quote is rarely the best value if it skips the checks that protect traffic.
What is a website migration?
In this guide, what is a website migration points back to the practical work behind website migration cost: what matters, what changes first, and how the result should be measured.
How do I migrate a website?
Migrate the site by inventorying every current URL, mapping redirects, preserving important content and metadata, testing the new templates, launching in a controlled window, and monitoring crawl, indexation, rankings, and conversions after the switch.
Get help with your migration
For a scoped quote against your exact URL count, our website migration service team prices projects using the factors above. To run the move cleanly, follow the website migration checklist, and if you are still deciding what a migration involves, start with what is website migration.