Movebot and ShareGate are both data migration tools but emphasize very different things. ShareGate wants to do the best possible job of getting your data ready and into O365, while Movebot aims to give you maximum flexibility to move your data wherever you want.
Of course, we’re a bit biased and think Movebot is the best data migration tool there is. But it’s not the best in every single scenario. And we’re fine with that. Depending on the situation, ShareGate might be the better fit.
ShareGate has a few different products under the ShareGate umbrella. ShareGate Protect helps you secure your data and harness Copilot in your M365 tenant. You can manage permissions and data lifecycle and get a scan to know what’s in the tenant and what should be looked at to get the best experience out of Copilot. A Copilot readiness assessment can help organizations that aren’t yet using Copilot make sure they’re following best practices.
ShareGate Migrate is a data migration tool designed to get data from where it is and move it into Microsoft. It copies data from a cloud storage platform or Microsoft 365 tenant into (another) Microsoft 365 tenant, with support for most kinds of M365 data. For the rest of this comparison, we’ll be comparing Movebot to ShareGate Migrate.
The word “Migration” might invoke nightmarish late weekends of file failures, unknown errors, and mixed-up data, but at Movebot we’re aiming to change it to sweet dreams made of ease. Users don’t disagree when they try it for themselves and see what a different experience it is. Instead of going all-in on one destination, Movebot goes for versatility instead, supporting over 30 platforms and leaving you in control of what you move, where you move, and when you move your data.
No matter how well a data migration tool works, it’s useless if it doesn’t support your platform on either the source or the destination.
ShareGate supports one destination: Microsoft. They break this down across M365, SharePoint, Teams, and Exchange, basically saying if you need to get data into Microsoft they can handle it. For sources besides other Microsoft tenants, they support local file shares, Box, and Google Drive.
While Microsoft is a good option for a lot of organizations, Movebot takes the opposite approach to give users full control of their data, including where they migrate to and from. Sure, we can migrate to OneDrive, SharePoint, and Exchange, but also out of these and over two dozen other platforms. Need to move data from S3 to Google Workspace? Can do. On-prem to Dropbox? Yep. Movebot is platform-agnostic, so you can migrate into whatever platform you want without one provider being pushed on you.
Move from cloud to cloud, on-prem to cloud (or vice-versa), or migrate mailboxes including contacts and calendars. You can even move emails to storage for backup or archival. If you want to migrate data somewhere, chances are Movebot can handle it.
Movebot easily wins when it comes to the number of platform integrations, even if every separate Microsoft endpoint in ShareGate is counted separately. With over 30 platforms supported and more added regularly, Movebot has the widest support of any data migration tool, and that schism is only going to grow.
When it comes purely to Microsoft support though, ShareGate can migrate more types of data into the Microsoft ecosystem. You can move files, mailboxes, lists, Teams, sites, alerts, SharePoint Workflows, and more. Many of these supported objects are really only relevant for tenant-to-tenant migrations for organizations already in Microsoft and making use of these features. However, if those are actively being used and are all needed in the new destination tenant, ShareGate is a solid choice.
Choose Movebot when you aren’t going to Microsoft 365 or only use cloud storage and mailboxes. Consider ShareGate if you need comprehensive support for M365 and need to move a lot of different data types into it.
The cost of data migration tools is more than the price of using the tool itself, especially when you need to spin up and manage your own infrastructure.
ShareGate takes an interesting approach to pricing by charging a flat rate with three pricing tiers, with the main difference being the number of machines that can run the ShareGate Migrate application.
The Migrate Essentials tier starts at $5995/yr and includes one machine activation. Migrate Pro increases the limit to 5 machines and adds Mailbox support and ShareGate Protect and starts at $9995 per year. The only difference on the Enterprise tier is 25 activations, and it starts at $17,995/year. Since more machine activations tend to increase performance (up to a point), ShareGate recommends their Pro tier for better results, which you’ll also need if you plan on moving mailboxes.
Pricing for Movebot is simple and straightforward: pay for what you at $0.75 per GB with lower rates when you move more. It doesn’t matter what type of data it is either; it’s all the same price. This structure is a massive advantage for MSPs and regular data movers, as you can run a bunch of smaller projects without paying thousands upfront, and you’re only ever charged for the amount you use.
Mailboxes are also price-capped at 10GB, meaning the maximum you’ll pay to move one user is $7.50, no matter how much data they have.
Since the pricing structures are different, it’s hard to make a direct comparison. Movebot is definitely less expensive for smaller migrations, and you’d need to move 10.5TB in a year with ShareGate to start saving. However, that’s for the basic tier. On Migrate Pro (their recommended option), that amount jumps to 18.5 TB, and for Enterprises, you’d need to migrate over 40TB before ShareGate’s flat rate starts to get ahead.
Even then you might need more machines or services beyond standard that will increase the price, making pricing pretty comparable for larger projects. The above costs are purely for the tool too, and with ShareGate you’ll have to pay for the infrastructure used to run the migration. Movebot, on the other hand, scales automatically at no cost, meaning you get top performance for any size migration.
In most cases, Movebot comes out more affordable.
Being good on paper is one thing, but it’s important to have a good experience getting started, using the tool, and testing it out.
ShareGate has a free trial that doesn’t require a credit card, but you can’t just sign up and start. First, you’ll need to use a business email as free email domains are automatically rejected, and then you’ll need to verify that email.
Once you’ve done that you can log in from the email link and start your 15-day free trial. The trial version includes all features so you can fully evaluate the product. Once you have the trial, you’ll need to log in and download the ShareGate Migrate product to try it out.
At Movebot, we think the best way to experience the tool is to use it yourself, so we don’t put up any barriers to signing up. Anyone (including free mail domains) can sign up without a credit card, going through a sales call, or anything like that. Just click to start a trial, sign up with our quick registration form, and you’ll get an account with 50GB. There aren’t any feature limitations either.
To run migrations larger than 50GB, simply add a credit card, which will only be charged after the 50GB is used.
Signing up is pretty simple for either product, but Movebot has the advantage because anyone can sign up and start using it immediately. And having no downloads etc means you could connect and start moving data much faster.
Setting up, starting, and running a data migration can be a massively different experience depending on how you have to configure and scale the tool.
Since ShareGate’s pricing is all about machine activations, you might’ve realized that their migration tool isn’t a SaaS product. While they do have a web interface, it’s designed for ShareGate Protect and to download the Migrate product.
For scaling, you’ll need to run the MSI file on each machine and have/purchase a license for each instance. Scaling is done manually; you’ll need to set up and run the application on each machine you want to use for your migration.
Movebot is cloud-native with no downloads and zero infrastructure to worry about. Connecting platforms is just as easy. Most require a simple connection via OAuth, and even the most complex ones take just a few minutes to set up. One of the biggest advantages of this method is that Movebot scales automatically to handle projects in the petabytes, and you don’t even have to think about it.
Being cloud-native is a huge advantage for Movebot. Setup is as easy as registering and choosing your platform with a quick connection, and Movebot scales automatically to meet demand. Patches and updates are also sent out immediately with no manual actions required.
With faster setup, better scaling, and no maintenance, Movebot wins easily here.
Speed and data compatibility are useful for migrations, but they don’t mean as much if the data doesn’t transfer as expected or you can’t tell if it arrived.
ShareGate lets you run a source scan to try and catch any issues before running migrations, broken down by potential severity to help you decide what needs to be looked at. You’ll also get a migration report when the job finishes, and you can export more specific reports if needed. If there are any failures, you can run incremental migrations to move only new and modified files.
Movebot has similar reporting capabilities. The difference is that because Movebot supports so many more destinations, the scan will analyze both the source and destination to determine if there are any incompatibilities. When a transfer is in progress, you’ll have access to the Performance Tracker that gives live stats about your migration, and a post-migration report lets you know if anything failed to move and why. From there you can rerun failures or run delta migrations to move only new and modified files.
Since both tools have scans, detailed reports at all stages, and delta migrations, it’s pretty even here.
While a good migration tool will work in most cases, if an issue comes up you’ll want to know how you can get help or ask questions.
ShareGate has several methods to get in touch, including a technical support form where you can request to book a meeting or get an email response. Around the web, user experience with Support is positive except for the occasional mention of response time. Expectations are given upfront when requesting support though, where the page mentions that response is typically in 24-48 hours on business days (9-5 M-F). There isn’t a priority support queue, but if you make it clear your issue is urgent or time-sensitive you can get a faster response.
Beyond getting in touch with the team, ShareGate holds weekly Ask the Expert sessions, one for beginners and one for advanced users. These are saved in the knowledge base, which holds past recordings and other tips along with product documentation.
At Movebot, we take a proactive approach to support by monitoring migrations in progress. If we can tell something is off–which is bound to happen occasionally when different systems communicate–we’ll make adjustments if possible and take care of the issue ourselves instead of waiting for you to find it. Of course, we can’t see everything, so if you do end up needing to contact us for support, you can get in touch with our team of in-house human experts in multiple ways.
Standard support is free to everyone and you can get in touch by chat, email, or on our Discord server. Response time is typically within 6 hours (7 days a week), and your issue will be reviewed by a Movebot expert who will come back with a response or solution. For trickier situations, you can request a call to go over your issue. Premium Support is available to Movebot partners, which is the same except for a typical 1-hour response time. With either method, let us know if you have an emergency or if something is urgent so we can look into escalating it.
Overall, users are very happy with the support for both products and mention that responses are helpful and of higher quality compared to most other products. The main difference is response time. ShareGate’s support is limited to standard business hours, which as a result slows responses, especially on weekends and holidays.
Support is good in both but you’re more likely to get a faster response with Movebot while ShareGate has a larger knowledge base.
What do real users have to say about using Movebot and ShareGate?
On G2, ShareGate has 106 reviews and is sitting at 4.8 out of 5 stars. Reviews mention that ShareGate is easy to use, the support team is solid, and migrations went well with data arriving as expected.
On G2, Movebot has 19 reviews with 4.9 out of 5 stars. Customers love the simple setup, platform support, migration speed, and experience with the support team.
Users are happy with both products, and neither has a review under 4 stars on G2. If the tool fits your needs and budget, you’re likely to have a good experience using either.
ShareGate and Movebot are both highly-reviewed products that can migrate data, but only one supports over 30 platforms, requires no infrastructure, and has you covered over weekends and holidays.
And even with Microsoft 365 migrations, do you really need a record of old Teams chats from before COVID entered the lexicon? If so, then go with ShareGate. But if you want an autoscaling cloud-native migration tool that’s fast, simple, reliable, and performant, then give Movebot a try.
And that’s just the thing; you can try Movebot first with no lock-in or feature locks. Make an account, connect your platforms, and run a migration and you’ll see how easy it is. Try moving data into SharePoint and directly compare the experience with ShareGate, or choose one of the dozens of other platforms only Movebot supports. See for yourself how simple migrations can be and register for your 50GB trial now.