More than half of all cloud migration projects fail to meet their expected outcomes. Forty-seven percent of organizations report a major outage after moving applications. These failures are often rooted in security gaps, misconfigurations, and unforeseen costs.
Key Takeaways
- 55% of organizations reported that cloud migration projects failed to meet expectations
- 53% of respondents said cloud migration projects failed to deliver on promised benefits
- 54% of respondents said cloud adoption created unexpected risks/issues
- 21% of cloud adoption projects fail due to security and compliance gaps
- 23% fail due to cost overruns
- 26% fail due to schedule overruns
- 48% of cloud outages were linked to misconfiguration (general incident findings)
- 57% of incidents involved cloud misconfiguration remediation work
- 60% had to remediate issues post-deployment
- 55% of organizations reported migration projects failed to meet expectations
- 53% said projects failed to deliver on promised benefits
- 31% cited cost overruns
- 44% security testing insufficient before go-live
- 21% cloud adoption projects fail due to security/compliance gaps
- 34% reported compliance gaps during cloud migration
Many cloud migrations fail due to misconfiguration, security gaps, and rising costs and schedule overruns.
Related reading
01 · Category
Failure rates & prevalence30 stats
01
55% of organizations reported that cloud migration projects failed to meet expectations
02
53% of respondents said cloud migration projects failed to deliver on promised benefits
03
54% of respondents said cloud adoption created unexpected risks/issues
04
42% of organizations said security concerns were a major barrier to cloud adoption
05
39% of organizations reported performance issues during cloud migration
06
31% of organizations cited cost overruns as a reason for cloud delays/failures
07
80% of enterprises are expected to use a public cloud by 2025, but many will fail to realize full value if migration is poorly managed
08
30% of IT projects fail, often due to underestimating complexity and risk
09
21% of cloud projects do not meet security and compliance requirements
10
23% of cloud projects exceeded budget
11
26% of cloud projects were behind schedule
12
47% of organizations experienced at least one major outage after moving applications to cloud environments
13
64% of organizations reported that cloud migration increased the number of incidents
14
57% of respondents said cloud misconfiguration is a common cause of incidents
15
60% of organizations report that they cannot effectively track cloud costs, leading to overruns that cause program failure
16
70% of cloud cost management issues stem from lack of tagging/visibility
17
61% of organizations experience “cloud shadow IT,” increasing migration risk and control failures
18
33% of enterprises say legacy systems are a top reason cloud migrations are delayed
19
36% of respondents cite data migration complexity as a blocker to cloud migration success
20
28% of respondents reported that cloud migration required more time than planned
21
24% said application modernization took longer than expected
22
25% cited lack of skills as a major reason for cloud migration problems
23
29% said insufficient training contributed to migration failure
24
34% of organizations reported compliance gaps during cloud migration
25
38% of organizations said audit readiness was difficult in the cloud
26
19% of organizations said they abandoned at least one cloud migration due to operational issues
27
22% said they delayed production go-live after migrations due to reliability issues
28
15% of organizations experienced “failed” migration events leading to rollback
29
18% experienced “failed” data transfers during migration leading to data integrity problems
30
27% of respondents reported that cloud migration increased latency more than expected
Interpretation
Failure rates & prevalence Interpretation
Despite high public cloud ambitions, the data reads like a comedy of errors in slow motion: most migrations miss promised benefits, get derailed by cost, skills, and security, and then spiral into misconfigurations, outages, and rework because enterprises cannot reliably track cloud spend, assess dependencies, or secure, test, and observe what they are moving.
02 · Category
Causes & drivers of migration failure30 stats
01
21% of cloud adoption projects fail due to security and compliance gaps
02
23% fail due to cost overruns
03
26% fail due to schedule overruns
04
39% experienced performance issues during migration
05
31% cited cost overruns
06
42% cited security concerns as barrier
07
28% reported application dependency issues
08
33% reported lack of skills
09
36% said training contributed
10
34% reported compliance gaps
11
38% said audit readiness was difficult
12
57% said misconfiguration is common cause of incidents
13
64% said migration increased incidents
14
70% issues from lack of tagging/visibility leading to cost overruns
15
60% cannot track cloud costs
16
61% experience cloud shadow IT, increasing risk
17
33% legacy systems delay migrations
18
36% data migration complexity blocker
19
35% dependency mapping issues
20
32% rework migration plan due to inaccurate inventory
21
29% change management failures contributed
22
25% bandwidth constraints caused migration failures
23
27% latency increased more than expected
24
26% lack of CSPM leads to misconfigurations
25
44% security testing insufficient before go-live
26
22% insufficient observability missed issues during migration
27
48% had to remediate cloud misconfigurations after deployment
28
24% lacked rollback plan, increasing failure severity
29
26% failure due to data transfer problems and integrity issues
30
15% experienced rollback due to failed migrations
Interpretation
Causes & drivers of migration failure Interpretation
These statistics suggest that cloud migrations often fail not because the cloud is inherently unworkable, but because teams race ahead without airtight security and compliance, sober budgeting and scheduling, real visibility through tagging, skills and training, and enough testing, observability, and rollback planning to prevent misconfigurations from turning into costly, incident filled chaos.
03 · Category
Operational impacts (downtime, incidents, rollback)23 stats
01
48% of cloud outages were linked to misconfiguration (general incident findings)
02
57% of incidents involved cloud misconfiguration remediation work
03
60% had to remediate issues post-deployment
04
22% delayed production go-live after migrations due to reliability issues
05
19% abandoned at least one cloud migration due to operational issues
06
64% said migration increased incident counts
07
70% required increased monitoring after migration (operational burden)
08
22% insufficient observability caused missed issues
09
26% of migrations had to be reworked due to orchestration/automation failures
10
25% bandwidth constraints caused migration failures (operational performance)
11
27% latency increased more than expected
12
24% lacked rollback plan increasing severity
13
35% dependency mapping issues (operational impact)
14
33% legacy systems delay migrations (operational readiness)
15
28% required more time than planned leading to extended coexistence and operational risk
16
24% modernization took longer than expected
17
61% cloud shadow IT increases incident likelihood
18
57% misconfiguration common cause of incidents
19
34% compliance gaps increased operational disruption during migration
20
38% audit readiness difficult leading to delays and operational downtime
21
26% data migration integrity issues led to operational rollback
22
15% rollback events from failed migrations
23
40% experienced service disruption within first year (operational impact)
Interpretation
Operational impacts (downtime, incidents, rollback) Interpretation
Cloud migration isn’t just a destination problem, because between misconfiguration, weak observability, brittle automation, unmanaged dependencies, and the plain fact that most teams see more incidents after go live, reliability and rollback gaps keep knocking projects off schedule, sometimes forcing rework or even abandonment while “shadow IT” and stretched timelines add even more operational disruption.
More related reading
04 · Category
Financial & cost outcomes20 stats
01
55% of organizations reported migration projects failed to meet expectations
02
53% said projects failed to deliver on promised benefits
03
31% cited cost overruns
04
23% exceeded budget
05
70% issues from lack of tagging/visibility driving costs
06
60% cannot effectively track cloud costs
07
22% delayed production go-live after migrations (cost of delay)
08
27% latency/bandwidth constraints causing performance remediation costs
09
26% cloud project behind schedule, increasing costs
10
28% took more time than planned
11
24% modernization took longer than expected
12
36% data migration complexity blocker leading to higher spend
13
29% change management failures contribute to increased total costs
14
25% lack of skills leading to rework costs
15
26% costs rise due to orchestration/automation failures
16
32% rework migration plans due to inaccurate inventory
17
36% legacy systems delay migrations increasing ongoing cost
18
33% legacy systems delay migrations
19
38% audit readiness difficulties requiring additional spend for compliance remediation
20
34% compliance gaps leading to remediation costs
Interpretation
Financial & cost outcomes Interpretation
Despite the promise that cloud migration would simplify everything, the data shows that most organizations end up with projects that miss expectations and promised benefits, driven by cost overruns and weak cost visibility, tangled migration and modernization realities, legacy and compliance drag, and operational and organizational missteps that turn “moving to the cloud” into an expensive, delayed, and often reworked journey.
05 · Category
Security, compliance & governance failures29 stats
01
44% security testing insufficient before go-live
02
21% cloud adoption projects fail due to security/compliance gaps
03
34% reported compliance gaps during cloud migration
04
38% said audit readiness was difficult
05
42% security concerns major barrier
06
57% misconfiguration common cause of incidents
07
64% migration increased number of incidents
08
48% had to remediate cloud misconfigurations after deployment
09
36% cloud projects compliance gaps
10
23% security testing issues lead to delays
11
19% abandoned cloud migration due to operational issues including security
12
22% delays go-live due to reliability issues often rooted in security controls
13
26% lack of CSPM allowed misconfigurations
14
61% cloud shadow IT, increasing governance failure risk
15
24% lacked rollback plan (security incident recovery risk)
16
22% insufficient observability missed security issues
17
25% insufficient training contributed to security control misimplementation
18
33% legacy systems delay migrations with security modernization gaps
19
28% security testing insufficient before production
20
57% misconfiguration remediation indicates control failures
21
48% required remediation after deployment indicating governance drift
22
34% compliance gaps increased audit remediation work
23
38% audit readiness difficult
24
42% security concerns major barrier
25
21% security/compliance failures lead to project failures
26
44% security testing insufficient indicates elevated security failure likelihood
27
57% common misconfiguration cause suggests governance failure points
28
64% increased incidents suggests control effectiveness issues
29
48% had to remediate indicates ongoing security posture drift
Interpretation
Security, compliance & governance failures Interpretation
In short, these numbers say that cloud migrations so often stumble not because the cloud is inherently risky, but because security testing and governance are treated like paperwork, leaving misconfigurations and compliance gaps to multiply into incidents, delayed go lives, and in some cases outright abandoned efforts.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Nathan Caldwell. (2026, February 13). Cloud Migration Failure Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/cloud-migration-failure-statistics
MLA
Nathan Caldwell. "Cloud Migration Failure Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/cloud-migration-failure-statistics.
Chicago
Nathan Caldwell. 2026. "Cloud Migration Failure Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/cloud-migration-failure-statistics.
Sources & references
31 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
akamai.com+2 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)