How much does a website migration cost?

Website migration costs swing wildly depending on who you ask. Some hosting providers like BigCloudy include migration at $0 as a standard feature across all plans, while enterprise-level Shopify Plus migrations can exceed $150,000 when complex data, ERP integrations, and custom features enter the picture. Most small businesses fall somewhere in between, but the gap between a bare-bones transfer and a migration that actually protects your business is wider than most quotes suggest.

According to industry pricing breakdowns, DIY migrations run $300–$1,000 but skip SEO preservation entirely. Freelancers and small agencies charge $2,000–$7,500 for redirects and light SEO work. Specialist agencies command $10,000–$50,000 for full SEO audits, custom design, and integrations. The hidden variable? Ignoring SEO during migration can cost businesses 30–50% of organic traffic, making comprehensive SEO work — typically $5,000–$20,000 on its own — the highest-ROI investment in the entire process.

The problem isn't just price variation. It's what gets left off the invoice. Professional quoting standards specify that a complete quote should itemize discovery and planning, design, development, content migration, testing and QA, launch, and post-launch support. Yet many providers bundle these into a single number or omit critical line items entirely. Content migration alone — moving, formatting, and optimizing hundreds of pages — represents days of specialized work that DIY tools and low-cost providers simply don't handle.

• Technical migration: server setup, DNS, database transfer, zero-downtime cutover
• Content migration: every page, image, and document moved, reformatted, and QA'd
• SEO preservation: 301 redirects, schema markup, internal linking, search console configuration
• Business systems: CRM setup, lead capture, booking flows, Google Business Profile
• Post-launch monitoring: traffic verification, error tracking, performance baselines

AI Business Sites structures its $1,497 setup fee to cover the full stack — not just the technical move. The fee includes 85+ pages at launch (25–30 hand-crafted core pages plus 60 AI-generated SEO pages), complete Google presence configuration, knowledgebase and FAQ bot setup, CRM and leads inbox configuration, and a working lead-capture flow. Unlike providers who treat migration as a one-time file transfer, this approach builds the business operating system on top of the new site — so the migration delivers a functioning revenue engine, not just a relocated website.

The most expensive part of a website migration isn't the technical move — it's what happens to your search rankings afterward. When businesses ignore SEO during a migration, they can lose 30-50% of their organic traffic, a drop that often takes months or years to recover from, according to migration pricing research.

That's why SEO preservation is one of the most critical — and most underestimated — line items in any migration budget. Comprehensive SEO work during a migration typically costs $5,000 to $20,000 when handled by a specialist agency, yet experts describe it as the highest-ROI investment in the entire migration process. Skipping it to save money upfront often means paying far more in lost leads and lost revenue down the road.

The problem is that many quotes bury or omit this work entirely. Cost-estimation guidance notes that a complete quote should itemize discovery, design, development, content migration, testing, and launch — and that a single number with no breakdown is a reason to ask for one (ProjectCostEstimator). Without that transparency, a fair quote and a padded one look identical.

So what should proper SEO preservation actually include? At minimum, look for:

• A full audit of existing pages and rankings before anything moves
• Redirect mapping so every old URL points to the right new page
• Schema markup and optimized page structure rebuilt on the new site
• Internal linking that rebuilds the topical clusters search engines reward
• Search Console setup and sitemap submission so the new site gets indexed fast

This is where pricing models differ sharply. Some hosting providers, like BigCloudy, offer migration free with hosting — but that typically covers moving files, not rebuilding your search presence. Specialist agencies charge $10,000 to $50,000 for migrations that include full SEO work, per the same pricing breakdown.

For small business owners, the math gets interesting. AI Business Sites builds SEO preservation into its $1,497 setup fee as standard — every launch includes 85+ pages with schema markup on individual service pages, Search Console and sitemap setup, and internal linking designed for local search performance. That's work that would sit in the five-figure range on a typical agency invoice.

The takeaway: when comparing migration quotes, don't just look at the price of moving your site. Ask what's being done to protect the traffic your site already earns — because that's the cost that quietly makes or breaks the whole project.

Most migration quotes give you a single number and a shrug. Industry guidance is blunt about this: a quote without an itemized breakdown is "a reason to ask for one," because pricing research shows three agencies can quote $4,000, $11,000, and $18,000 for the exact same brief.

That's why it's worth pulling apart what AI Business Sites' $1,497 setup fee actually contains. It's not a migration quote in the traditional sense — it's a complete business system, built and configured before your balance is even due. You pay a $500 deposit to start, and the remaining $997 only when the site is live and you've seen the work.

Here's the itemized reality of what launches within 7 days:

• 85+ pages at launch — 25–30 hand-crafted core pages (homepage, services, booking, FAQ) plus 60 AI-generated SEO pages covering services, locations, and comparison guides, each with its own schema markup and featured image
• Content migration and full Google setup — Business Profile, Search Console for Google and Bing, and sitemaps, so search engines can index the new site from day one
• CRM, leads inbox, and lead-capture flow configured — every form, chat, and booking feeds one pipeline with instant branded responses
• Knowledgebase setup and FAQ bot — the AI answers customer questions from your own documents, 24/7, and captures leads mid-conversation
• Chat and voice built into the site, a booking calendar, blog editor, and three user seats

The SEO configuration deserves special attention. Comprehensive SEO work during a migration typically runs $5,000–$20,000 as a standalone line item, and migration research warns that skipping it can cost a business 30–50% of its organic traffic. Here it's folded into the setup fee, not billed separately.

Compare that to the broader market, where specialist agency migrations run $10,000–$50,000, and even freelancer-level projects with light SEO start at $2,000–$7,500. Some hosts offer free migration with hosting, but that covers moving files — not building pages, configuring a CRM, or wiring up lead capture.

The ownership terms matter too. Clients keep the code, content, data, and domain — standard React/Next.js technology any developer can pick up. The fee buys a working business system, not a rental.