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Selecting the right SharePoint migration tool is one of the key parameters in your migration project. In my professional career, I have had the opportunity to work on many SharePoint migration projects and have worked with a couple of well-known migration tools.
One thing I can say while planning for the SharePoint migration project, selecting the right migration tool will play a vital role in the successful migration, so we can say selecting the right SharePoint migration tool for your business will be one of the key factors. In my career, I have worked on ShareGate, Metalogix (Content Matrix), and FME migration-center. In the following section, I will compare the migration tools Metalogix, ShareGate, and FME Migration Center based on my experience when deciding which tool to use over the others.
With various tools available in the market these days, choosing the right one can be overwhelming. This is why identifying the top 5 SharePoint migration tools is important to make an informed decision. These tools offer unique features and functionalities to make the migration process seamless, efficient, and cost-effective. A careful evaluation of each tool’s strengths and weaknesses can help organizations select the most suitable tool for their specific needs.
Key-Highlights: Migration tool in SharePoint (Top 5 SharePoint Migration Tool)
- Comparison between ShareGate, Metalogix, FME migration-center, Content DB Migration, and the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) tool
- Pros and cons of the ShareGate migration tool
- Pros and cons of Metalogix – content migration tool.
- Pros and cons of the FME migration-center migration tool
- When to use ShareGate, Metalogix, FME migration-center, Content DB Migration, or the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) tool.
- Kernel SharePoint Migrator: an easy way to migrate your content to the cloud
Top 5 SharePoint Migration Tools
Below are the top 5 SharePoint migration tools we can use for our content migration:
- ShareGate
- Metalogix
- FME migration-center
- SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT)
- Kernel migrator for SharePoint
ShareGate vs Metalogix (Content Matrix): Pros & Cons
The choice between ShareGate and Metalogix for your migration project will be largely determined by the type of migration you require; each tool has different requirements and scope than the other. Below, we will discuss the pros and cons of each tool and what type of migration is best for each tool.
Pros and Cons of ShareGate Migration Tool
If what you are looking for is content migration from one environment to another without major changes in the content or site structure, then the ShareGate migration tool could be the right choice for you to select. It is an easy-to-use migration tool with a simple, user-friendly, straightforward user interface.
Pros of ShareGate:
We might consider the below pros from the ShareGate tool:
- In the ShareGate migration tool, the licensing cost is based on the number of users and not the amount of content you want to copy or move; this is how it becomes a budget-friendly option for those moving large amounts of content to migrate, which gives it an additional plus in terms of cost over the other migration tools available in the market.
- Another major advantage is that it has very good customer support. If you run into problems during the migration, simply go to their user-friendly website to search for a solution, or you can email ShareGate support staff, who typically respond within 24 hours, and a dedicated technician will be associated with you until the issue gets resolved.
- The ShareGate helps us generate various reports like site collection, sites, permission, workflow, etc.; these reports are really helpful while analyzing the source site data.
- Recently, ShareGate has launched an additional plug-in to get connected with Microsoft Teams; this plug-in comes along with the existing Sharegate license.
Cons of ShareGate:
From my experience, I would consider the below cons:
- The migration job (configuration) is not exportable into a PowerShell file for re-use or further customization.
- If your newly migrated site needs major changes in the content or structure during the migration, then ShareGate will not fit there.
Pros of Metalogix Migration Tool (Metalogix Migration Manager):
Though ShareGate is a fantastic tool for any type of user (IT, business end users, power users, and SharePoint administrators), it only works well for content migration; however, if you intend to transform your source data to the target environment with a new structure, ShareGate may not be the best option; in this case, Metalogix may be the better option.
- The migration job (configuration) is exportable into a PowerShell file for re-use and further customization. Personally, I like this feature very much in MetaLogix; this keeps MetaLogix ahead of ShareGate.
- The custom XML-based job can be created using the C# code, so if you know C# easily, you can develop a custom job that can be fed into the Metalogix.
- The global log file can be configured for the migration job in a central location where all logs will be available for all jobs.
Cons of Metalogix Migration Tool (Content Matrix):
- It is not easy to use; one should be well trained for the user interface, especially if you plan to configure some sort of transformation during the migration. It is not easy until you know the tool well.
- License is slightly more expensive than ShareGate; however, it has more features.
FME migration-center:
Apart from ShareGate and Metalogix (Content Matrix), we do have one more migration tool named FME migration-center, which might not be known to many SharePoint folk as it is not only focused on SharePoint migration. The FME migration center is a content migration platform that carries out highly automated, large-volume migrations without system downtime. Also, no coding or scripting is necessary because there is a migration-center client to set up the migration and transformation.
This is a great tool that can be used if you plan to migrate non-Microsoft products or content from or to Microsoft SharePoint. For example, if you want to migrate from OpenText Documentum to SharePoint, this tool works well. For example, eRoom applications (a Documentum-based EMC2 product) migration to SharePoint
The FME migration-center tool works based on the various adaptors (jar files). Those adaptors (jar files) can be hooked into the FME migration-center tool. When it comes to using the adaptor, we can use the out-of-the-box adaptor or even develop a custom adaptor for which the developer should be an expert in Java coding.
As we can see, the migration-center employs a java-based framework that is highly scalable due to the ability to run the framework and adapters concurrently on different nodes (job servers).
Notes:
- The FME migration center is a very powerful tool; it has lots of features, meaning we can connect to lots of different types of legacy applications (both Microsoft and non-Microsoft-based) using the various connectors provided by the tool, whereas SharePoint is just one of the small connectors.
- While you are forming the migration team, the team should consist of both SharePoint and Java resources.
Pros of migration-center:
- If you have data in various legacy source applications, both Microsoft and non-Microsoft based, and want to migrate that data to SharePoint, the Migration Center may be the right tool for you.
- It supports various non-Microsoft-based applications as well.
- For a Java developer, customizing the adaptor will be easy; even we can develop our own custom adaptor.
- This could be considered a metadata transformation engine.
- Migration-center creates a full snapshot of all source system information (metadata, folder structure, relations, object types, access rights, etc.) into a central migration database.
- efficiently handles delta migration—the delta scanning of source systems permits migration activities on live data without affecting the daily business operations. Migration-Center automatically picks up any changes to source data repositories and integrates them into the migration process.
- There are no restrictions on the amount of data that can be migrated.
- Strong troubleshooting or error handling
Cons of migration-center:
- Although it uses an admin client, it could seem quite complicated to use; one must go through the learning process before starting it. Here, we cannot directly migrate the data to the target application; it has to go through the various life cycles of migration like configuration, transformation, and validation, then the actual migration. Each step in the migration process should be error-free before going to the next step; otherwise, we cannot do the migration.
- Migration troubleshooting is complicated.
- The migration server should be highly configured.
- The license is expensive as it supports lots of different types of legacy applications (both Microsoft and non-Microsoft-based applications).
Final Conclusion: Top 5 SharePoint Migration Tools
The analysis of the above tools was done based on my personal experience, which is completely unbiased. I am not saying one tool is better than the other; all three tools mentioned above (ShareGate, Metalogix, and FME) have their own needs and scope with regard to the migration; it all depends on the type of source application and data you are planning to migrate.
To summarize, we can say as follows:
Use ShareGate when
- If you want to migrate as-is content without making bigger changes to the content and structure of the site during the migration, we can tag this simple “as-is” migration.
Use Metalogix when
- If you want to handle lots of transformations and changes in the content and site structure during the runtime of the migration, for example, mapping a new content type to a target document library during the runtime of the migration, we can tag this as a complex migration.
Use the FME migration-center when
- If your source legacy data is hosted in both Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications, and you want to migrate those data into SharePoint, then FME Migration Center might be your choice. We can tag this as a complex migration that can be fit for both Microsoft and non-Microsoft application migration to SharePoint.
We can also consider content database migration when,
- If you want to do the as-is SharePoint on-premises to on-premises migration (SharePoint’s previous version to the next version without any changes in the content or site structure), then the content database migration approach might be your choice.
We can also consider SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) when,
- If you want to migrate your SharePoint on-premise content as is to Office 365 SharePoint online with minimal changes in the target site,
- The tool runs in the background without impacting your production environment.
Notes:
SPMT lets you migrate content to SharePoint and OneDrive from the following locations:
- SharePoint Server 2016
- SharePoint Server 2013
- SharePoint Foundation 2013
- SharePoint Server 2010
- SharePoint Foundation 2010
- Network and local file shares
Kernel SharePoint Migrator:
Apart from the above 4 SharePoint migration tool, Kernel SharePoint migrator is also one of the simplest and recommended SharePoint migration tools available from Kernel Apps these days; a detailed walkthrough of this migration tool can be found here: A quick complete Review – Kernel Migrator for SharePoint.
Summary: Migration tool in SharePoint (Top 5 SharePoint Migration Tools)
Thus, in this article, we have learned the following with respect to choosing the SharePoint migration tools:
- Comparison between ShareGate, Metalogix, FME Migration Center, Content DB Migration, and SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) tool
- Pros and cons of the ShareGate migration tool
- The benefits and drawbacks of Metalogix, a content migration tool.
- Pros and cons of the FME migration center migration tool
- when to use ShareGate, Metalogix, FME Migration Center, Content DB Migration, and the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) tool.
- SharePoint migration tool comparison: selecting the right migration tool for your business
See Also: Top 5 SharePoint Migration Tool
You may also like the below SharePoint Migration articles:
25+ effective quick checklists for SharePoint migration (speed up SharePoint migration)
Top 28 Keys in SharePoint Migration: Basic tips and tricks in migration project
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