How Much Does Data Migration Cost in the UK? (2025 Pricing Guide)

The Real Cost of Data Migration in the UK

"How much does data migration cost?" is one of the most common questions we hear from UK businesses — and one of the most difficult to answer without context, because the range is genuinely enormous.

A simple CRM migration between two modern cloud platforms with 5,000 clean records might take a skilled contractor two days. A legacy ERP-to-ERP migration for a mid-market manufacturer with 15 years of transactional history and custom integrations could run for six months.

This guide breaks down the data migration cost UK businesses should expect across different project types, the factors that drive cost up (and down), and the hidden costs that catch most first-timers off guard.

Cost Factors: What Drives Data Migration Pricing

1. Data Volume

Volume is the most obvious driver, but it's rarely the most important one. Modern tools handle millions of records efficiently. What matters more is complexity per record — a 5,000-record dataset with custom objects and relationship chains can be harder to migrate than a 500,000-record dataset of simple flat records.

That said, volume does matter for:

• Extraction time (large datasets need chunked or overnight extraction windows)
• Testing time (validation against 1 million records takes longer than 10,000)
• Performance testing in the destination system

2. Data Quality

This is often the largest hidden cost driver. If your source data is clean — consistent formats, no duplicates, complete mandatory fields — migration is relatively straightforward. If it's not, you face a choice:

• Cleanse before migration (recommended): invest in data quality work upfront, migrate clean data
• Cleanse during migration: add transformation logic to the migration pipeline — adds complexity and risk
• Migrate dirty data: fastest short-term, highest long-term cost (corrupted destination, ongoing data quality issues)

Poor data quality can double the cost of a migration project.

3. Source and Destination Systems

Migrating between two modern SaaS platforms with documented APIs (e.g., HubSpot to Salesforce) is far cheaper than migrating from a legacy on-premise system with undocumented schema and no API. Legacy source systems often require:

• Reverse engineering of database schema
• Direct database extraction (requiring DBA involvement)
• Custom ETL tooling rather than off-the-shelf connectors

4. Scope

What's in scope significantly affects data migration cost UK businesses pay:

• CRM only: contacts, companies, opportunities, activities → typically 4–8 weeks
• ERP core: finance, procurement, stock → typically 10–16 weeks
• ERP + HR + integrations: the full estate → typically 16–24 weeks

5. GDPR Documentation Requirements

Professional data migration for UK businesses requires proper GDPR documentation: lawful basis assessment, DPA, ROPA update, DPIA if applicable. This adds scope — plan for it rather than discovering it mid-project.

DIY vs Professional Data Migration: Real Cost Comparison

Many UK businesses attempt to self-serve data migration to save cost. Here's an honest comparison:

DIY Migration

Apparent cost: Staff time only (typically 1–3 people for 4–8 weeks)

Real cost:

• Staff hours: 160–480 hours × internal rate (typically £40–100/hr fully loaded) = £6,400–£48,000
• Lost productivity during migration: teams running dual systems, dealing with data quality issues
• Error remediation: data quality issues discovered post-go-live often cost more to fix than the migration itself
• No GDPR documentation: potential ICO exposure
• IT contractor time if internal skills insufficient: add £500–1,500/day

DIY migration appears to save money but routinely costs more than professional delivery — and takes longer.

Professional Migration

2-IC DATA SYSTEMS Starter Package — £997

Best for: Small CRM migrations (under 25,000 records), straightforward field mapping, single source/destination system pair.

Includes: Data audit, field mapping, test migration, full production migration, reconciliation report, GDPR DPA. Delivered in 4 weeks.

2-IC DATA SYSTEMS Growth Package — £3,997

Best for: Mid-size CRM or ERP migrations (up to 250,000 records), multiple objects, custom field mapping, integration support.

Includes: Everything in Starter, plus: data quality assessment and cleansing recommendations, multi-object migration, parallel run support, 2 weeks hypercare, full GDPR documentation pack. Delivered in 8 weeks.

Enterprise Migrations — custom pricing

For complex ERP migrations, multi-system estates, or high data volumes, we scope and price individually following a paid discovery phase. Typical range: £8,000–£40,000+ depending on complexity.

Hidden Costs of Data Migration

Internal Project Management Time

Even with a professional migration partner handling execution, your team needs to be involved. Expect to allocate:

• Project sponsor: 2–4 hours/week
• Technical lead: 4–8 hours/week
• Business SMEs (finance, ops): 2–4 hours/week per stakeholder

Under-resourcing internal involvement is one of the top causes of migration project delays.

Source System Licensing Extension

If your migration runs long (a common occurrence), you may need to extend licensing on your legacy system during the parallel run period. Budget for 1–3 months of overlap licensing.

User Training on Destination System

Not strictly a migration cost, but almost always underestimated. Users need to be trained on the new system before go-live — and training on real, migrated data is far more effective than training on dummy data. Plan the training programme around the migration timeline.

Post-Go-Live Data Corrections

Even well-executed migrations reveal data issues post-go-live — usually within the first 2–4 weeks. Budget for remediation effort: 5–10% of the original migration cost is a reasonable contingency.

ROI: What Does a Professional Migration Actually Save?

Professional migration typically delivers positive ROI through:

• Faster delivery: professional teams deliver in weeks; internal teams often take months
• Fewer errors: systematic validation catches issues before go-live, not after
• GDPR protection: documented compliance protects against ICO fines (up to 4% of global turnover or £17.5m, whichever is greater)
• Business continuity: minimal disruption to ongoing operations
• Clean destination data: the new system starts with quality data, not accumulated technical debt

For the Growth package at £3,997, the ROI calculation is straightforward: if professional migration saves 2–4 weeks of internal staff time versus DIY, the saving typically exceeds the cost.

Get a Fixed Price for Your Migration

Unsure what your migration will cost? The fastest way to find out is a free audit call.

Book your free data migration audit — we'll review your source system, scope the project, and give you a fixed-price proposal within 48 hours. No obligation, transparent pricing, no day-rate surprises.