Blog
AWS
Cloud
Business
8
minutes

AWS Migration Checklist for Startups: 10 Actionable Best Practices

AWS Migration Success: Use this 10-point checklist to build a scalable and secure AWS foundation. Mandate IaC, implement Auto Scaling, enforce strict IAM security, and optimize costs from day one.
Morgan Perry
Co-founder
Summary
Twitter icon
linkedin icon

Key Points:

  • Mandate Automation and Visibility: The foundation requires implementing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) immediately to ensure all infrastructure is reproducible and version-controlled. This must be complemented by setting up comprehensive monitoring from Day One to proactively track application and infrastructure health.
  • Optimize for Scalability and Cost: To prevent wasted spending and ensure growth, mandates include adopting Auto Scaling Groups (ASG) for all EC2 instances, leveraging AWS Managed Services, and enforcing a strict Tagging Policy for all resources for clear cost attribution.
  • Enforce Security and Development Discipline: Security requires strict adherence to the Principle of Least Privilege using IAM roles, and never using the root account for daily tasks. Development cycles must include a minimum viable CI/CD pipeline and prioritize reliable product delivery over premature optimization.

Launch Right: Your Blueprint for a Scalable, Secure AWS Foundation

You're ready to migrate to AWS, the industry leader, but shifting to the cloud requires more than just provisioning servers - it demands a flawless blueprint. The path to a scalable, cost-effective infrastructure is often undermined by ten common pitfalls that lead to wasted budgets and security gaps.

This article cuts through the noise and provides ten actionable, non-negotiable best practices for your team. Use this checklist to build a resilient foundation from day one, ensuring your AWS setup facilitates growth rather than crippling it later.

Pillar 1: Infrastructure & Cost Optimization

1. Mandate Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

  • Description & Why: Create all infrastructure using code (e.g., text files) from the start. This ensures the environment is reproducible and easily version-controlled, preventing undocumented, manual changes.
  • Key Tools: AWS CloudFormation, Terraform

2. Adopt Auto Scaling Groups (ASG) for all EC2 Instances

  • Description & Why: Use ASGs immediately for health checks and automated instance replacement/healing, even if you don't need immediate scaling out. This is a fundamental step for resilience and automatic recovery.
  • Key Tools: Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling

3. Implement a Mandatory Tagging Policy for all Resources

  • Description & Why: Clearly tag every resource (EC2, Lambda, databases, S3, etc.) with ownership, environment, and purpose. This is essential for clean cost attribution and resource management.
  • Key Tools: AWS Resource Tags

4. Automate Resource Provisioning and Decommissioning

  • Description & Why: Leverage AWS's on-demand model. Automate the scaling up and down of resources, and ensure non-essential resources (like dev/staging servers) are automatically stopped when idle to prevent unnecessary billing.
  • Key Tools: AWS Auto Scaling Features

5. Prioritize Reliable Product Delivery over Micro-Optimization

  • Description & Why: Focus on building a reliable product and satisfying customers first. Defer premature micro-optimizations or engineering solutions for edge cases until scaling actually demands them.
  • Key Concept: Lean Development

Pillar 2: Deployment, Delivery & Visibility

6. Leverage AWS Managed Services where possible

  • Description & Why: Choose AWS-managed services (like RDS, Elastic Load Balancer, EKS) over self-managed solutions to save time, reduce maintenance overhead, and ensure built-in reliability. Use Spot Instances for non-mission-critical tasks to save costs.
  • Key Tools: AWS RDS, EKS, EC2 Spot Instances

7. Implement a minimum viable CI/CD pipeline immediately

  • Description & Why: Start small but establish Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) processes to enable frequent, error-free code integrations and multiple daily deployments.
  • Key Tools: Qovery, GitHub Actions, AWS CodeBuild

8. Automate high-priority, repeatable tasks first

  • Description & Why: Go beyond IaC. Identify and automate any business or operational task (backups, reporting, log analysis) that is time-consuming or prone to human error, using serverless functions.
  • Key Tools: AWS Lambda, CI/CD Tools

9. Set up comprehensive monitoring and custom alarms from Day One

  • Description & Why: Track critical application metrics (latency, throughput) and infrastructure health (CPU, memory). Create custom dashboards and set automated notification alerts to proactively catch and fix issues.
  • Key Tools: AWS CloudWatch, Datadog

Pillar 3: Security & Access Discipline

10. Enforce Strict IAM and Root Account Security Policies

  • Description & Why: Never use the root account for daily tasks. Create dedicated IAM Users with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled. Crucially, adhere strictly to the principle of Least Privilege when granting permissions to users and roles.
  • Key Concept: AWS IAM Roles, MFA, Least Privilege

Conclusion

The path to a successful AWS migration is not achieved by avoiding complexity, but by mastering the foundational practices outlined above. By systematically implementing these 10 actionable best practices - from mandating IaC to enforcing strict security policies - your startup ensures that your cloud environment is scalable, cost-effective, and secure.

This discipline allows your engineering team to focus on building world-class products and delivering business value, rather than struggling with infrastructure management.

Deliver Business Value: Stop Learning AWS the Hard Way

    Don't make these costly mistakes. Let Qovery automate your manual tasks and simplify your DevOps needs.

  • 📅 Book a demo today
Share on :
Twitter icon
linkedin icon
Tired of fighting your Kubernetes platform?
Qovery provides a unified Kubernetes control plane for cluster provisioning, security, and deployments - giving you an enterprise-grade platform without the DIY overhead.
See it in action

Suggested articles

DevOps
 minutes
10 Best Octopus Deploy Alternatives: Trade Manual Deployment for Full Pipeline Automation

Modernize your pipeline. Explore the top Octopus Deploy alternatives for cloud-native Kubernetes delivery and full GitOps integration.

Mélanie Dallé
Senior Marketing Manager
DevOps
Platform Engineering
Kubernetes
5
 minutes
10 Best Container Management Tools for the Kubernetes Era

Move beyond basic Docker commands. We review the top container management platforms, including Qovery, Rancher, and OpenShift, that tame Kubernetes complexity and streamline your deployment workflows.

Morgan Perry
Co-founder
DevOps
16
 minutes
Enterprise DevOps Automation: Moving from Scripts to Platform Engineering

Stop writing fragile scripts. Discover how top enterprises use Kubernetes Management Platforms to automate governance (Policy-as-Code), scale ephemeral environments, and enforce FinOps with Spot Instances.

Mélanie Dallé
Senior Marketing Manager
DevOps
Kubernetes
 minutes
Top 10 Platform9 Alternatives: Best managed Kubernetes solutions for scale

Need a better way to manage on-prem Kubernetes? Review 10 alternatives to Platform9, categorized by "Infrastructure Ops" (Rancher) vs. "Developer Experience" (Qovery).

Mélanie Dallé
Senior Marketing Manager
DevOps
Kubernetes
 minutes
Top 10 Rafay alternatives for enterprise Kubernetes operations

Is Rafay's complexity slowing you down? Compare the top 10 Rafay alternatives for 2026. From fleet managers like Rancher to developer platforms like Qovery, find the balance between control and velocity.

Mélanie Dallé
Senior Marketing Manager
DevOps
Kubernetes
 minutes
Top 10 Spectro Cloud alternatives for multi-cluster fleet management

Don't just manage clusters. Modernize your stack. Compare Spectro Cloud vs. Qovery vs. Rancher to decide between "Fleet Operations" and "Developer Self-Service.

Mélanie Dallé
Senior Marketing Manager
DevOps
Kubernetes
 minutes
Top 10 VMware alternatives after the Broadcom acquisition

Hit by Broadcom's VMware price hikes? Compare the top 10 alternatives for 2026, from direct replacements like Proxmox and Nutanix to modernization platforms like Qovery.

Mélanie Dallé
Senior Marketing Manager
DevOps
Kubernetes
Platform Engineering
6
 minutes
10 Red Hat OpenShift alternatives to reduce licensing costs

Is OpenShift too expensive? Discover the best alternatives for 2026. Whether you need Developer Self-Service (Qovery) or Hybrid Cluster Ops (Rancher), find the right fit for your team.

Morgan Perry
Co-founder

It’s time to change
the way you manage K8s

Turn Kubernetes into your strategic advantage with Qovery, automating the heavy lifting while you stay in control.