Cloud Migration & DevOps for Canadian SaaS and Regulated Teams
MicroPyramid is an experienced engineering team that migrates Canadian startups and SMBs to AWS and runs the DevOps that keeps them there. We handle the full move (assessment, low-downtime cutover, Infrastructure as Code, and CI/CD).
Why Canadian Teams Migrate With Us
Three reasons Canadian founders and engineering leads choose MicroPyramid for cloud migration and DevOps over a local agency or a generic offshore team
Compliance-Minded Architecture & Data Residency
Migration architecture, storage, and third-party choices are made with compliance in mind, and AWS ca-central-1 (Montréal), with ca-west-1 (Calgary) where a second in-country region helps, keeps Canadian data in-country during and after the move.
CAD Billing & AWS Spend Control
Our invoices are in Canadian dollars, collected via Stripe: no currency-conversion friction or international wire fees. We also help you read and control your AWS bill in CAD terms, so cloud cost stays predictable rather than creeping up quietly.
Clear Ownership, Zero-Drama Cutovers
The engineers who scope your assessment are the ones who plan and run your zero or low-downtime move to AWS. You will not be handed to a junior delivery layer mid-cutover.
Cloud & DevOps Services for Canadian Teams
Six services covering the full journey, from AWS migration and data moves to Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, and ongoing cost control
Cloud Migration to AWS
Move workloads off ageing on-premise servers or a costly current provider onto AWS: lift-and-shift, re-platform, or re-architect, scoped to your risk appetite. Canadian data stays in ca-central-1 (Montréal) where residency matters.
- Lift-and-shift or re-platform
- AWS ca-central-1 (Montréal) residency
- Dependency and TCO mapping
Database & Data Migration
Migrate PostgreSQL, MySQL, and managed databases with low-downtime cutovers and full validation. We use change-data-capture replication so Canadian production data moves without data loss or extended outages.
- CDC replication for low downtime
- RDS and Aurora managed migration
- Validation and rollback plans
Containerization & Re-architecture
Repackage applications into Docker containers and run them on ECS or EKS, or move targeted workloads to serverless. Cloud-native architecture that auto-scales for Canadian SaaS and e-commerce traffic patterns.
- Docker and ECS/EKS
- Serverless where it fits
- Auto-scaling and high availability
CI/CD Pipelines
Replace manual deploys with automated GitHub Actions pipelines: build, test, and ship on every merge. Your Canadian team gets repeatable releases, faster cycles, and far fewer late-night deployment incidents.
- GitHub Actions pipelines
- Automated testing and rollbacks
- Staging and production parity
Infrastructure as Code
Define your whole cloud estate in Terraform so it is versioned, reviewable, and reproducible. No more snowflake servers nobody dares touch: every change goes through code review, the way your Canadian team already works.
- Terraform-managed infrastructure
- Reproducible environments
- Reviewable, audited changes
Cost Optimization & Managed Cloud
Get your AWS spend under control in CAD terms: right-sizing, reserved capacity, and ongoing monitoring. We keep the lights on after go-live with the same engineers, not a faceless queue.
- AWS spend control in CAD terms
- Right-sizing and reserved capacity
- Ongoing monitoring and support
AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud? How to Choose for a Canadian Workload
The question most Canadian buyers actually ask, and the one most providers dodge. Here is the straight version, mapped to data residency, compliance, and the stack you already run.
Amazon Web Services
Recommended for most CA teams
AWS runs two Canadian regions, ca-central-1 (Montréal) and ca-west-1 (Calgary), with the widest catalogue of managed services and the largest local hiring pool. It is the safe default for most Canadian startups and regulated teams that want data kept in-country.
Choose it when
You want the widest Canadian data-residency coverage, the deepest managed-service catalogue, and the biggest local talent market.
Microsoft Azure
Azure runs Canada Central (Toronto) and Canada East (Québec City) and is common across Canadian public sector and federal workloads. It is the natural fit if you already live in Microsoft 365, Entra ID, and the Microsoft enterprise stack.
Choose it when
You are a Microsoft-centric or public-sector-adjacent team, or you are standardising on the Microsoft 365 and Entra ID estate.
Google Cloud
Google Cloud runs Montréal and Toronto regions and is strongest for data-analytics and Kubernetes-first workloads: BigQuery, Dataflow, and GKE. A good fit when analytics or ML is the centre of gravity, not an afterthought.
Choose it when
Your workload is data-analytics-heavy or Kubernetes-first, or you are building around BigQuery and ML.
Our take: AWS is where most of our work runs and where our depth is, and we run Canadian production on ca-central-1 (Montréal). We also migrate to Azure and Google Cloud when your stack or contracts point there. Most Canadian teams land on AWS for its residency breadth and talent pool; Microsoft-stack and public-sector-adjacent teams often land on Azure. Either way, you get our recommendation in writing, with the trade-offs spelled out, before any migration begins.
Best Fit For
- Canadian healthtech, govtech, and SaaS teams moving to AWS with data residency in mind
- startups and SMBs that need a low-downtime migration owned end-to-end by the engineers who scope it
- teams that want CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, and repeatable deploys instead of manual releases
- companies that need their AWS spend brought under control and kept there in CAD terms
Not the Right Fit When
- one-off server tweaks with no migration, automation, or architecture work behind them
- engagements looking only for hands to run an existing pipeline without ownership
- multi-cloud strategies where AWS is explicitly off the table from the start
- teams wanting a cloud badge rather than measurable cost, reliability, or residency outcomes
How a Canadian Cloud Migration Runs
A structured process that minimizes downtime and risk: assessment and architecture before anything moves to AWS
Discovery & Assessment
We audit your current infrastructure, map dependencies, and calculate total cost of ownership and realistic AWS savings before anything moves.
Architecture & Residency Design
We design the target AWS architecture with high availability, disaster recovery, and Canadian data residency in ca-central-1 (Montréal) baked in from the start.
Migrate With IaC & Low Downtime
We provision with Terraform, migrate data with CDC replication, wire up CI/CD, and run a controlled cutover that keeps downtime to a minimum.
Optimize & Support
After go-live we monitor, right-size for cost, tune performance, and support your Canadian team directly, not through a ticket queue.
The Stack Behind Canadian Cloud Delivery
AWS-native compute and data, with Terraform and GitHub Actions for repeatable delivery, deployed to ca-central-1 (Montréal) for Canadian data residency, or ca-west-1 (Calgary) where it fits
Compute & Containers
Data & Storage
IaC & CI/CD
How to Get Started as a Canadian Team
Every engagement starts with a fixed-scope Cloud Assessment: an audit, migration roadmap, and AWS cost projection before any move. All engagements billed in CAD via Stripe.
Cloud Assessment
Every engagement starts here
A fixed-scope audit of your current infrastructure with a migration roadmap, AWS cost projection in CAD, and a clear residency plan, before you commit to a full move.
- Infrastructure and dependency audit
- Migration strategy and roadmap
- AWS cost projection in CAD
- Canadian data residency plan
Full Migration
End-to-end migration to AWS with Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, low-downtime cutover, and a defined post-go-live support window for your Canadian team.
- End-to-end AWS migration
- IaC and CI/CD set up
- Low-downtime cutover and post-go-live support
Managed Cloud & DevOps
Ongoing management of your AWS estate (monitoring, cost optimization, security, and pipeline maintenance), run by the engineers who know it.
- Monitoring and incident response
- Cost optimization in CAD terms
- Retainer or time-and-material
Platforms We Build and Run on AWS
Production platforms we built and operate on AWS. They are product builds rather than migration projects; each links to the full case study.
RunCode
Our cloud-based coding platform with multiple language support, collaboration workflows, and AI-assisted coding, running on Django, Docker, and Kubernetes on AWS.
Read the case studyOnlineCompiler.io
Sandboxed code execution for 12 languages with a REST API, WebSocket support, an embeddable widget, and containerized execution on Docker and Kubernetes on AWS.
Read the case studyRefactored.ai
Multi-tenant upskilling, assessment, and interview practice platform with AI-driven audio and video feedback, running on Kubernetes on AWS.
Read the case studyCanadian Cloud Migration FAQs
Straight answers to what Canadian founders and CTOs ask us most about moving to the cloud.
What is cloud migration, and what does it involve?
Cloud migration is the process of moving applications, databases, and infrastructure off on-premise servers or a costly current provider onto a cloud platform like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. A typical migration involves assessing your current stack, designing the target architecture, migrating data with a low-downtime cutover, defining the environment as Infrastructure as Code so it is reproducible, and wiring up CI/CD so future deploys are automatic. Done well, it cuts capital cost, improves reliability, and makes scaling on demand routine.
Where does our data live if we migrate, and does it stay in Canada?
Yes, for Canadian workloads we deploy to AWS ca-central-1 (Montréal), with ca-west-1 (Calgary) available where a second in-country region helps. Your data, backups, and processing stay on Canadian soil. Where your most sensitive data must never leave your own environment, we design hybrid or on-premise-adjacent setups that keep it there.
Can you migrate with zero or low downtime?
For most workloads, yes. We use change-data-capture (CDC) replication to keep your old and new databases in sync, rehearse the cutover end to end, and keep a tested rollback plan, so the switch happens in a short, controlled window, often with no user-facing downtime at all. High-risk or regulated systems get a staged, phased cutover rather than a big-bang move.
How do you handle security and compliance during a migration?
We design migrations with compliance in mind from day one: data residency in ca-central-1 (Montréal), encryption in transit and at rest, least-privilege IAM, and audit trails. For enterprise and public-sector teams we document third-party, technology, and cyber-risk controls so your risk and compliance teams can review them. We sign NDAs before work begins.
You are offshore. How does that work for a Canadian cloud migration?
The engineers who scope your assessment are the ones who plan and run your move to AWS. You talk to the engineers doing the work on Slack, not an account manager and a delivery pyramid. We bill in Canadian dollars via Stripe.
What drives the cost of a cloud migration?
The main cost drivers are how many applications you move, how much you re-architect versus lift-and-shift, your data volume, and your compliance and uptime requirements. Rather than quote blind, we start with a fixed-scope cloud assessment that gives you a concrete estimate in CAD and a migration roadmap before any migration begins. Ongoing savings come from right-sizing over-provisioned servers, reserved capacity, and shutting down idle resources; how much you save depends on how over-provisioned you are today, and we model it in the assessment.
Do we own our infrastructure, and do you stay on after go-live?
You own everything: all Terraform and Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD pipelines, application code, and data are yours, and we hand over full documentation. Staying on is your choice: every migration includes a post-go-live support window, and if you want ongoing help, our Managed Cloud engagement covers monitoring, incident response, cost optimization in CAD terms, and security on a continuing basis.
Move Your Canadian Workloads to the Cloud, Without the Chaos
If you need a team with CAD billing and data residency in ca-central-1 (Montréal), we are ready to talk. We start with a clear assessment and a migration plan built around low downtime, not a leap of faith.