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Commonly confused · Cloud Computing

Rehost vs Replatform vs Refactor: What's the Difference?

These cloud migration strategies differ in how much the application changes. Rehosting moves it as-is to cloud VMs, replatforming makes a few optimizations such as switching to a managed database, and refactoring redesigns it to be cloud native.

Rehost (Lift and Shift)

Full definition
vs

Replatform (Lift and Reshape)

Full definition
vs

Refactor (Re-architect)

Full definition
RehostReplatformRefactor
Code changesNoneMinimalSignificant
SpeedFastestModerateSlowest
Cloud benefitLowestModerateHighest (scalability, resilience, cost)
Effort and riskLowMediumHigh
ExampleMove a VM to EC2 or Azure VMsMove the database to RDS or Azure SQL DatabaseBreak a monolith into containers or serverless functions
Remember it

Rehost moves it, replatform tweaks it, refactor rebuilds it.

Exam tip

Scenario questions describe a deadline or desired outcome: 'migrate quickly with no code changes' means rehost, 'use a managed database with minimal changes' means replatform, 'adopt microservices' means refactor. Retain, retire, and repurchase are the other common R's.

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