SharePoint Migration Benchmarks and Performance¶

Status: Authored 2026-04-30 Audience: Migration leads, infrastructure architects, and project managers estimating migration timelines and resource requirements. Methodology: Benchmarks use publicly documented Microsoft guidance, community-reported metrics, and representative workload patterns. Actual throughput varies by network bandwidth, source farm performance, SPO throttling, and content characteristics.

How to read this document¶

Every benchmark section includes the metric measured, typical values, and factors that influence performance. Use these numbers for planning estimates, not guarantees. Run a pilot migration to establish baseline throughput for your specific environment.

1. Migration throughput: SPMT vs Migration Manager¶

Single-agent throughput¶

Multi-agent throughput (Migration Manager)¶

SPO applies adaptive throttling that reduces per-agent throughput as total tenant migration volume increases. Adding agents beyond 10 provides diminishing returns unless migrations run during off-hours (evenings and weekends).

Throughput by content type¶

2. Migration timeline estimates¶

By environment size¶

Migration window calculation¶

Migration time (hours) = Total content (GB) / Throughput (GB/hour)

Example:
- Total content: 10 TB (10,240 GB)
- Current content (no versions): 6 TB
- Versions: 4 TB
- Agents: 5
- Throughput per agent: 3 GB/hour (mixed content)
- Total throughput: 15 GB/hour
- Migration time: 10,240 / 15 = 683 hours = ~28.5 days continuous

With weekend-only migration windows (48 hours/week):
- 683 / 48 = ~14 weekends = ~14 weeks

3. SharePoint Online performance benchmarks¶

Search performance¶

Page performance¶

4. Storage limits and quotas¶

Tenant storage¶

Storage calculation for migration planning¶

Required SPO storage = Current content + Versions to migrate + Growth buffer

Example:
- Current content: 10 TB
- Versions (10 per file, avg 20% of current): 2 TB
- 12-month growth buffer (10%): 1.2 TB
- Total required: 13.2 TB

Tenant storage calculation:
- Base: 1 TB
- Per-user (5,000 users x 10 GB): 50 TB
- Total available: 51 TB
- Headroom: 51 - 13.2 = 37.8 TB (sufficient)

5. API throttling thresholds¶

SharePoint Online REST API limits¶

Migration-specific throttling¶

Throttling mitigation strategies¶

# Best practices for avoiding throttling during migration:

# 1. Run migrations during off-hours (6 PM - 6 AM, weekends)
# 2. Reduce concurrent agents if 429 errors increase
# 3. Use SPMT/Migration Manager (they handle throttling automatically)
# 4. For custom scripts, implement retry with exponential backoff:

function Invoke-SPOWithRetry {
    param(
        [scriptblock]$ScriptBlock,
        [int]$MaxRetries = 5
    )

    $retryCount = 0
    $delay = 1  # seconds

    while ($retryCount -lt $MaxRetries) {
        try {
            return & $ScriptBlock
        }
        catch {
            if ($_.Exception.Response.StatusCode -eq 429) {
                $retryAfter = $_.Exception.Response.Headers["Retry-After"]
                $waitTime = if ($retryAfter) { [int]$retryAfter } else { $delay }
                Write-Warning "Throttled. Waiting $waitTime seconds (attempt $($retryCount + 1)/$MaxRetries)"
                Start-Sleep -Seconds $waitTime
                $delay = $delay * 2  # Exponential backoff
                $retryCount++
            }
            else {
                throw
            }
        }
    }
    throw "Max retries exceeded"
}

6. Network bandwidth requirements¶

Bandwidth planning¶

Network optimization¶

• Express Route: Dedicated Azure connectivity bypasses internet congestion (recommended for > 10 TB migrations)
• Agent placement: Co-locate agents near source SharePoint servers to minimize source-side latency
• WAN optimization: Disable WAN optimization/proxy inspection for migration traffic to avoid interference
• DNS resolution: Ensure agent machines resolve SPO endpoints to nearest Azure data center

7. Third-party tool benchmarks¶

Sharegate¶

AvePoint¶

Throughput numbers for third-party tools are based on vendor documentation and community reports. Actual performance depends on environment, licensing, and configuration.

8. Performance optimization checklist¶

• Run pilot migration to establish baseline throughput
• Deploy agents near source SharePoint servers
• Schedule migrations during off-hours (6 PM - 6 AM, weekends)
• Reduce version count to minimize data volume
• Exclude large media files (migrate separately)
• Ensure 100+ Mbps bandwidth per agent
• Disable WAN optimization for migration traffic
• Monitor SPO throttling (429 errors) and adjust agent count
• Use incremental migration for final sync (minimize cutover window)
• Plan for 24-48 hour search indexing delay after migration

References¶

• SPMT performance guidance
• Migration Manager performance
• SharePoint Online limits
• SharePoint Online throttling
• SharePoint Online API limits

Maintainers: csa-inabox core team Last updated: 2026-04-30