Published on: November 06, 2026

6 min read

8 AWS Cloud Migration Assessment Tools in 2026

Summary: AWS lost four assessment tools in a year. Here are the 8 still worth running in 2026, what each one counts, and the question each one cannot answer.

Author:

Anna Polovnikova

Content Writer

Reviewed by:

Alex Mihutski

Head of Database Migration Department

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If you planned an AWS migration in 2024, half the tools you used are gone.

AWS DMS Fleet Advisor reached end of support on May 20, 2026. AWS Application Discovery Service and AWS Migration Hub both closed to new customers on November 7, 2025. Migration Hub Strategy Recommendations went with them.

So the list below is not the one you will find in most 2024 roundups. Here is what actually works now, what each tool measures, and where each one stops.

1. Ispirer InsightWays

What it does: Counts the database layer — the part AWS discovery tools do not read in conversion terms.

Connects over ODBC with read-only privileges, or reads SQL script files straight off disk
Returns object counts by type, lines of code inside each object type, and data volume
Works offline, modifies nothing, needs no registration

Best for: Sizing a heterogeneous migration before anyone quotes. Oracle, Sybase ASE, Db2, Informix, Teradata and SQL Server sources that AWS tooling will inventory but not measure for conversion effort.

Limitation: Database layer only. You still need AWS discovery for servers, networks and utilization.

Price: Free.

Download InsightWays →

2. AWS Transform

What it does: AWS's stated successor to Application Discovery Service, described by AWS as an "agentic AI experience" for infrastructure, applications and code.

Collects on-premises server inventory from multiple sources
Maps application dependencies and builds prioritized migration waves
Covers VMware, Hyper-V, mainframe (IBM z/OS, Fujitsu GS21), .NET modernization and source code containerization

Best for: New discovery projects, since this is where AWS now points everyone.

Limitation: Database schema conversion is not on the published capability list. It inventories your databases; it does not tell you how much SQL has to be rewritten.

Price: No additional charge.

3. AWS Migration Evaluator

What it does: Builds the business case. AWS now recommends it for database assessment projects after retiring Fleet Advisor.

Projects the cost of running on-premises workloads on AWS
Produces a one-page summary of estimated re-hosting savings for business stakeholders
Exports per-server and per-SQL-server data combining hardware provisioning, SQL configurations and utilization

Best for: Getting a number in front of a CFO.

Limitation: It models what the workload will cost once it lands, not what it costs to get there. Run cost and migration cost are different questions.

4. AWS DMS Schema Conversion

What it does: Converts database schema and code between engines, and has moved faster than anything else on this list.

GenAI-based conversion expanded to nine more regions in March 2026
AI agent automation through the AWS MCP Server arrived in July 2026, at no extra charge
Runs in the DMS console, removing the need to maintain separate desktop clients

Best for: Teams already committed to an AWS target and ready to convert.

Limitation: It is a conversion tool you reach for after the decision, not an assessment you run to make the decision.

5. AWS Migration Hub

What it does: The console that aggregates discovery and migration status into one view in your home Region.

Shows discovered servers, groups them into applications, tracks migration status per application
Acts as the entry point to Strategy Recommendations
Stores all discovery data in a single home Region you set first

Best for: Existing customers finishing in-flight projects.

Limitation: Closed to new customers as of November 7, 2025. AWS points new users to AWS Transform.

6. AWS Application Discovery Service

What it does: Collected usage and configuration data about on-premises servers and databases. Still the clearest published explanation of agent-based versus agentless discovery.

Agentless Collector deploys as an OVA through VMware vCenter and collects hostnames, IP and MAC addresses, disk allocations, database engine versions, database schemas and CPU, RAM and disk I/O utilization
Discovery Agent installs per server and adds time-series performance data, inbound and outbound network connections and running processes
The agentless collector "cannot 'look inside' each of the VMs," so it cannot see processes or network connections

Best for: Existing customers only.

Limitation: Closed to new customers as of November 7, 2025.

7. AWS Migration Hub Strategy Recommendations

What it does: Recommended a migration strategy per application — rehost, replatform or refactor — with the tools to use.

Analyzed server inventory, runtime environment and application binaries for Microsoft IIS, Java Tomcat and JBoss
Generated anti-pattern reports and flagged application incompatibilities
Could be configured for source code and database analysis

Best for: Mapping applications onto the 7 Rs, which we covered in 8 ways to modernize legacy systems.

Limitation: Reached through the Migration Hub console, so it closed to new customers on the same date.

8. AWS DMS Fleet Advisor

What it does: Discovered OS and database servers and generated target recommendations. Included here because it still appears on most 2024 and 2025 roundups.

Stopped accepting new customers on May 20, 2025
Ended support on May 20, 2026
Console and resources are no longer accessible

Best for: Nothing, as of this year.

Limitation: AWS recommends moving database assessment projects to Migration Evaluator.

How to combine them in 2026

No single tool on this list answers all three assessment questions, so the practical sequence is short:

AWS Transform for server inventory, dependencies and migration waves
Migration Evaluator for the projected AWS run cost and the business case
InsightWays for object counts, code volume and conversion complexity
Only then assign a 7 Rs disposition per workload

Step three is the one teams skip, and it is the one that moves dates. A rehost onto EC2 and an Oracle to Aurora PostgreSQL migration look identical in a discovery report and nothing alike on a project plan.

For the argument against the AWS framework itself, see what the AWS MRA checklist doesn't tell you. For options beyond AWS, we ranked twenty in the 2026 cloud assessment tools roundup — the AWS entries there predate the closures above.

Stop estimating. Start knowing.

Download InsightWays and point it at your source, or book a 30-minute demo and we will walk through what your numbers mean for an AWS target. If you would rather hand the whole project over, our database migration services run it from assessment through cutover.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the primary purpose of a cloud migration assessment tool?

To replace estimates with measurements before budget is committed. A complete assessment establishes what you have, what it will cost to run on AWS, and how much work the move involves.

How do AWS tools simplify the initial discovery phase?

They automate inventory. Migration Hub aggregates discovered servers into one console, groups them into applications and tracks migration status, so nobody maintains the spreadsheet by hand.

Can assessment tools estimate the time and labor the migration will take?

Infrastructure tools cannot, because effort comes from code volume rather than server count. You need object counts and lines of code per object type, then a known conversion rate per developer per day. We broke the arithmetic down in how long a database migration takes.

What deliverables should a complete assessment report contain?

Server and database inventory, utilization and right-sizing data, a dependency map, projected AWS run cost, object and code counts by type, a complexity classification, and an effort estimate per stage with named owners. You can get all of these with Ispirer’s pre-migration database audit.