Choose a migration path
You can move VM instances, custom images, or disks that are available inan existing environment, such as on-premises or on other cloud providers, toCompute Engine.
A variety of migration paths are available that support different formats.Choosing a migration path depends on whether you are moving aVM instance, disk, or image.
The following table summarizes the migration paths available onCompute Engine.
| What you want to migrate | Tool or procedure | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| VM instances | Migrate to Virtual Machines |
With Migrate to Virtual Machines, you have a suite of features that helpyou automate, simplify, and accelerate the migration process. Migrate to VMs is free to use for customers migratingto Google Cloud. Standard billing rates apply for all otherGoogle Cloud products(such asCompute Engine orStorage) used or consumed during or after themigration. For example, if you use Compute Engine VMs to deployMigrate to VMs, you'll need to pay for thoseinstance hours. For more detailed pricing information, seeMigrate to VMs pricing. Pro Tip: This method is ideal formoving a large number of workloads. |
| VM instances (in OVA or OVF format) | Importing virtual appliances | Importing virtual appliances. A virtual appliance isa prepackaged virtual machine. Pro Tip: This method is best suited forimporting a small number of virtual machines. |
| Virtual disks or images | Import virtual disks | Importing virtual disks or template disks from an on-premises or other cloud environment. These methods use theimages importcommand. If you need to make advanced customizations or have source disks in a formatthat is not supported by the import command, you canmanually import and configure disks. The image import feature on Compute Engine is being moved to Migrate to Virtual Machines. We recommend that you use the newimage import feature on Migrate to Virtual Machines to import your virtual disks to Google Cloud. |
| Machine images | Importing a machine image from a virtual appliance | Importing machine images. A machine image is Compute Engine resourcethat stores all the configuration, metadata, permissions, and data from one ormore disks required to create a VM instance. This method is best suited for creating machine images from virtual appliances. |
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Last updated 2025-12-15 UTC.