ShareGate Migration Tool: Top Pros and Cons in 2024

Technology is evolving at a lightning pace and profoundly impacting the business environment and practices. Failure to adapt usually spells the end of your business. Therefore, adopting new technologies lies at the heart of business competitiveness. Collaboration tools like Microsoft SharePoint enable you to achieve operational excellence through improved workforce productivity. A good migration tool is vital for making the most of your SharePoint and Office 365. ShareGate migration tool is one such. ShareGate tends to make collaborative tasks easier. 

ShareGate makes your SharePoint data migration a walk in the park. This article explains the ShareGate migration tool, its core features, and its benefits and disadvantages. Let’s start with what is ShareGate and then ShareGate basics!    

What is the ShareGate Migration Tool?

ShareGate is a vital SharePoint data migration tool for Office 365 data migration projects. It makes the entire migration process very simple and fast. The best part about using the ShareGate migration tool is that ShareGate lets you migrate data to the latest Office 365 or SharePoint version without any downtime.   

Thus, ShareGate is a widely used tool in Microsoft SharePoint and the broader Microsoft community. ShareGate is most commonly used for shifting to Office 365 or for upgrading to the latest SharePoint version quickly and directly. Moreover, it is used to migrate file shares to Office 365 or SharePoint. This conclusively answers what is ShareGate migration tool.  

Why Your Organization Needs ShareGate

The adoption of modern technology for business purposes is called digital transformation. Companies are increasingly coming to rely on new technologies to achieve business goals. This entails developing proper business strategies and establishing robust processes that help the company transition to new tools and tech stacks. The goal is to fuel business growth with tools like ShareGate.  

ShareGate helps you achieve this goal. It is a cost-effective and easy-to-use tool that lets you migrate crucial business data from one platform to another – and that too without any downtime or hiccups. Consequently, it facilitates the transition process of your data migration and digital transformation in a big way.  

But keeping your costs at a manageable level is an essential part of digital transformation. You cannot afford to spend limited resources on buying new tools that are expensive and of limited usefulness. It is imperative that you cut IT costs and keep up with the latest technology to avoid making bad financial decisions.  

Many companies use SharePoint to enable collaboration. But there are also those who plan to move to SharePoint and those who already use it but wish to move to Office 365. So, whether you want to move from a legacy file-sharing platform to SharePoint or from SharePoint to Office 365, it is one of the best migration tools you can opt for.  

That’s not it; you can also use the ShareGate migration tool to migrate your data to the latest SharePoint version or between the same versions. And since migrations can be challenging, you must ensure you have the best tool to perform it. Additionally, for more complex data needs or integrations, Microsoft Fabric consulting can be a valuable resource to streamline and optimize the process. I hope these facts address your initial question: what is ShareGate.    

Data Migrations Can Be Challenging

Migrations also require IT support. Therefore, you need to have a strong in-house IT team for it. Or, you can outsource the content migration to industry experts like Xavor, who have world-class expertise in SharePoint services.  

Nevertheless, there are other SharePoint migration approaches too. However, these are time-consuming and costly to implement. For example, using the SharePoint migration paths or out-of-the-box upgrade approach for content migration is often complicated and challenging.   

The out-of-the-box upgrade approach lets you migrate your content in phases, as opposed to doing it in one go. But the ShareGate migration tool enables you to do it in one shot. Thus, ShareGate migration saves you both time and money compared to other approaches.  

Why Should You Choose ShareGate?

It is an excellent migration tool since it offers an easy-to-use interface and unlimited data migration capabilities. ShareGate migration also provides the feature to train users so that they can efficiently perform the SharePoint migration. ShareGate enables seamless content migration between different or the same versions of SharePoint.  

You can use ShareGate to migrate data from the following sources:  

• SharePoint to SharePoint.  
• Google Drive to Office 365 or SharePoint.  
• File Shares to Office 365 or SharePoint.  
• SharePoint to Office 365.   

The most fundamental reason for choosing ShareGate as your data migration tool is its ease of use. Another equally important reason is its unlimited data migration capability. It is undoubtedly one of the leading SharePoint migration tools today. Let’s look at its main features.   

Main Features of ShareGate

• Limitless data migration.  
• Insane vs. normal modes of migration speed.  
• Use PowerShell scripting to automate your SharePoint migration.  
• Easy file migration to Office 365 or SharePoint.  
• Offers a direct Upgrade Path to the latest SharePoint version.  
• Use File Share content and Inventory SharePoint to gauge the effort needed to migrate.  
• Allows easy and fast data migration between different SharePoint versions.  
• Enables you to map folder names to metadata easily.  
• Lets you use Microsoft Excel to enhance your SharePoint metadata.  
• Forms migration and Nintex workflows.  
• Migrate all types of SharePoint content, including user alerts, web parts, and permissions.  
• Unbounded email and phone support.  
• Preservation of file dates and authorship.  
• Reassign or retain unique permissions.  
• Easily replace illegal characters.   
• Pre- and post-migration reporting.   

Benefits of ShareGate 

Your company can reap many benefits by using the ShareGate migration tool. Here are some of the key user benefits you can expect from ShareGate.  

• You can run multiple migration sessions simultaneously using ShareGate. It offers two migration modes – the normal mode and the insane mode. These modes refer to the speed at which ShareGate migrates your content from one platform to another. The normal mode offers a normal transfer speed, whereas the insane mode uses Azure to provide a breakneck transfer speed.  
• It gives you multiple reports that help you plan your migration correctly. These reports also help you identify and rectify issues or errors.  
• It is designed for long-term use. ShareGate allows you to perform SharePoint maintenance tasks, like restructuring sites within the same environment or moving files.  
• You can use pre-migration reports to see the list of identified issues and suggestions for their rectification. As a result, it enables you to resolve problems before carrying out the migration.  
• ShareGate does not need server-side access to execute the migration. You can install it on a desktop connected to the migration destination and source locations. This feature is very useful for companies that do not allow the installation of third-party tools on their servers.  
• ShareGate gives you an audit trail to help you keep an eye on essential migration metrics. These include log files and other data related to the success of your migration project and the errors faced therein. You can easily access the log files from the main menu.  
• It preserves List and Library dependencies. Can choose to create Content Types and Site Columns in a parent site or the same site while copying lists and libraries.  
• You can use the drag-and-drop option to conveniently transfer lists and libraries with their content during the migration journey.   
• You can migrate SharePoint libraries, lists, site columns, users, groups, content types, and permission levels.   
• ShareGate allows you to preserve settings in libraries and lists, site and reusable workflows, workflows, library and list views, etc.   
• ShareGate offers seamless mailbox migration between tenants, simplifying the transition to Microsoft 365. Whether you’re moving from SharePoint on-premises or cloud environments, our user-friendly tool ensures a smooth migration process.  
• It also has dynamic templates to expedite adoption. IT administrators can establish guardrails while empowering users with tailor-made workspaces. With the ability to instantly create purpose-fit environments, approval workflows ensure alignment with organizational goals.  

Disadvantages of Using ShareGate

As with any other migration tool, ShareGate also has its limitations. It comes with ShareGate trial limitations too. Let’s explore SharePoint migration challenges briefly.  

• ShareGate does not allow you to save session settings beyond ten sessions, thus preventing you from using them again as templates. However, it does maintain the last ten migration sessions in its user interface for you to use again as migration templates. But if you wanted an older session setting, you will need to reconfigure it in the new migration session.  
• Although SharePoint 2016 and Office 365 have a file size limit of 10 GB, ShareGate only lets you migrate files up to 2 GB in size. As a result, users executing the migration have to upload large files to SharePoint manually.  
• You cannot rerun faulty items directly from the migration report. You have to execute the migration for those items again. ShareGate is unable to detect obsolete or missing features in the destination version of SharePoint during the migration.  
• Some normal mode ShareGate functions are not available in the insane mode. However, these limitations are only on the content; everything else that is related to item structure uses the normal mode.  
• You cannot migrate web apps using ShareGate, as each app needs to be managed differently. The solution is to manually deploy the app to the destination after the migration is completed.  

ShareGate Pricing and Downloading

ShareGate offers three subscription plans: 

• A 1-year plan with 1 license activation for $5,995 per year. It goes up to $8,995/year for activating up to 5 licenses, and up to $13,995 for activating up to 25 licenses. 
• A 2-year plan with 1 license activation for $8,492, 5 license activations for $15,292, and $23,792 for up to 25 license activations. 
• A 3-year plan with 1 license activation for $11,988, 5 license activations for $21,588, and 25 license activations at the cost of $33,588. 

Each ShareGate subscription includes the following benefits: 

• Free automatic software updates 
• Free unlimited support Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM (ET). 
• A lot more features such as workspace provisioning. 

ShareGate lets you run a 15-day free trial without requiring any credit card details. It gives you a license key that you can use once you create an account. Once you get the ShareGate license, you will be good to use it without ShareGate trial limitations. 

Wrap-Up

Microsoft 365 solutions become the mainstay of organizations today, and the use of SharePoint and other collaborative tools will increase manifold. Companies require migration tools to manage their data and modernize their enterprise systems. ShareGate is one of those tools.   

It offers many vital benefits to SharePoint and Office 365 users.  

If you want ShareGate services, contact us at [email protected]. We are experts in providing innovative end-to-end digital solutions to our clients.  

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