Let's talk about your project
Tell us what you're running, what's causing problems, and what you need it to look like after. We'll assess the system and scope the right migration approach.
Legacy software doesn't fail all at once. It accumulates: a framework version that stopped receiving security patches, a database version that can't scale to current load, a codebase that takes two days to onboard a new engineer, a vendor dependency that charges by the seat for thousands of seats you no longer need. Software modernization is the systematic process of replacing what's holding your business back -- updating the architecture, re-platforming to current infrastructure, replacing proprietary dependencies -- without the disruption of a full rebuild from scratch.
Recent outcomes
Voice AI · Research
Text-based interviews converted to automated phone calls
6× deeper insightsAI Automation · Ops
Manual invoice OCR across 40+ gas stations
20k+ txns day oneLoyalty · Retail
SuperValu & Centra loyalty platform with receipt validation
1,062 users in 4 weeksSaaS · Logistics
Multi-carrier shipping hub for Indonesian eCommerce
2,000+ shipments yr 1RaftLabs provides software modernization services -- migrating legacy applications to modern frameworks, re-platforming to cloud infrastructure, replacing proprietary vendor dependencies, upgrading databases, and improving codebases that have accumulated technical debt. Software modernization uses a phased approach to reduce risk: the existing system stays operational while the modernized version is built and validated in parallel. Most software modernization projects deliver in 3--9 months depending on scope, at a fixed cost per phase.
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Every week your team spends working around the legacy system is a week they're not building new features. Every security patch that can't be applied because the dependency is four versions behind is a compliance risk. Every new engineer who takes three weeks to understand the codebase is a recruiting cost.
Software modernization is the business decision to stop paying the ongoing tax of the legacy system.
Capabilities
Migration from outdated framework versions to current, actively maintained versions: Rails 4 to Rails 7 (intermediate upgrade path through 5 and 6, with dual-boot configuration using bootsnap to validate the upgrade before cutover), Node.js LTS upgrades (running ncu and depcheck to identify deprecated dependencies, Node 14 to 20 with CommonJS to ESM migration where applicable), Angular 8 to 17 (Nx migration executor with per-module upgrade validation), React class components to hooks (automated codemods via react-codemod for straightforward cases, manual migration for complex lifecycle patterns), PHP 7 to PHP 8 (Rector automated refactoring for deprecated constructs, strict type analysis with PHPStan), and Python 2 to Python 3 (2to3 automated conversion with manual review of encoding, integer division, and print function changes).
Security vulnerability remediation: OWASP Dependency-Check and Snyk run on the existing codebase to catalogue all dependencies with known CVEs before migration starts. The upgrade roadmap is prioritised by security severity -- dependencies with critical CVEs are upgraded first, regardless of refactoring complexity. After migration, Dependabot or Renovate Bot is configured to propose automated dependency updates for future security patches so the codebase doesn't re-accumulate unsupported dependency debt.
Migration from on-premise infrastructure or end-of-life hosting to AWS, GCP, or Azure. Containerisation with Docker and Kubernetes, serverless architecture for appropriate workloads, and managed database services that eliminate server administration overhead. Infrastructure-as-code with Terraform so your cloud setup is reproducible and auditable.
Database engine upgrades (MySQL 5.7 to 8.0, PostgreSQL 12 to 16), NoSQL to relational migration where the data model warrants it, sharding strategies for databases that have outgrown single-instance capacity, and read replica configuration for reporting workloads. Zero-downtime migration strategies that keep the production system live during migration.
Incremental decomposition of monolithic applications into independently deployable services using the strangler-fig pattern -- the monolith continues serving all traffic while new services are built alongside it, one domain at a time. Domain prioritisation: we map the monolith's bounded contexts using static analysis (call graph mapping, module coupling analysis with tools like Understand or CodeScene) and business impact assessment (which domains have the highest release frequency, the most team contention, or the most independent scaling requirements). The highest-value domains -- the ones causing the most deployment coupling or the most scaling pain -- are extracted first.
Service extraction mechanics: the API facade pattern routes specific URL paths to the new service while the monolith handles everything else. Feature flags control the percentage of traffic sent to the new service during validation (1% → 10% → 50% → 100% with automated rollback if error rates increase). The new service owns its data: dual-write migration (monolith and service both write during transition, service reads from its own database, monolith reads from its database) ensures zero downtime data migration. AWS App Mesh, Istio, or simple nginx routing handles traffic splitting without application code changes. The monolith's corresponding code is deprecated and removed after the new service passes 30-day production validation -- the codebase shrinks measurably at the end of each migration phase.
Replacing proprietary SaaS dependencies that have become cost-prohibitive or are limiting your architecture -- custom-built replacements for Salesforce functions you're using a fraction of, open-source alternatives to expensive analytics platforms, self-hosted replacements for third-party services that require data sovereignty. Vendor replacement is often the fastest path to reducing operating costs.
Refactoring accumulated technical debt that's slowing your team -- removing dead code, standardising patterns, adding test coverage to untested legacy code, updating documentation, and restructuring the module boundaries so the codebase is navigable by someone who didn't write it. The codebase rehabilitation that takes new engineer onboarding from two weeks to two days.
Phased migration, no big-bang rewrite, fixed cost per phase. We modernize what's holding you back.
Process
Before recommending an approach, we assess the existing system -- codebase structure, dependency audit, infrastructure inventory, and performance bottleneck identification. We tell you what needs modernizing, what can stay as-is, and which approach (modernize vs. rebuild) makes more sense. Honest assessment before any development commitment.
We scope modernization in phases, each delivering a defined outcome. The existing system stays operational throughout. Phase 1 might be framework upgrade and test suite update. Phase 2 might be cloud re-platforming. Phase 3 might be database migration. Each phase has a defined scope and fixed cost so you can approve and fund each phase independently.
Every modernization phase is validated against real production data before traffic cutover. We don't validate against synthetic test data that doesn't reflect your actual usage patterns. If the modernized system can't handle your production load, we catch it before your users do.
After modernization, your team needs to understand and maintain the new system. We document the architecture decisions, write runbooks for operational procedures, and conduct handoff sessions with your engineering team. Modernization that creates new dependency on us to maintain it has failed to solve the original problem.
Phased modernization that keeps your production system running. Fixed cost per phase.
Legacy Modernization -- full legacy system migration and replacement
Custom Software Development -- bespoke software for specific requirements
Product Engineering -- ongoing product development post-modernization
API Development -- API layer design and development
Business Systems Integration -- connecting modernized systems to your business stack
Tell us what you're running, what's causing problems, and what you need it to look like after. We'll assess the system and scope the right migration approach.
Frequently asked questions
Software modernization is the process of updating, re-platforming, or re-architecting legacy software to meet current requirements -- without rebuilding from scratch. It's the right approach when: (1) Your codebase uses an unsupported framework or runtime version with known security vulnerabilities. (2) Your database can't handle current load or doesn't support the features your product needs. (3) Your application runs on on-premise infrastructure that can't scale and is approaching end-of-life. (4) Developers take 2+ days to onboard because the codebase is undocumented and structurally complex. (5) Your proprietary SaaS dependency has increased pricing to unsustainable levels and needs replacing with a custom or open-source alternative. Modernization is preferable to a full rebuild when the business logic is sound and the core data model is worth preserving -- which is most cases.
Software modernization preserves the working business logic, data model, and integrations while updating the components that are causing problems -- the framework, the infrastructure, the database, or the architecture pattern. A full rebuild starts from scratch and reimplements everything. Modernization is lower risk because the existing system can stay running while the modernized version is built and validated in parallel. A full rebuild is appropriate when the existing system is so structurally broken that it's cheaper to start over than to migrate -- which is less common than teams assume when they're frustrated with a legacy system. We assess your system during scoping and give you an honest recommendation on which approach is right.
We use a strangler-fig approach for most modernization projects: the existing system continues running, while we build the modernized version in parallel, migrating one module or service at a time. Users are shifted to the modernized components only after they've been validated against real traffic patterns. The existing system is the fallback at each stage. This means you never have a cutover moment where everything changes at once -- the risk is distributed across the migration timeline, and any issue affects one component, not the entire system. We document the migration plan before starting and get your sign-off on the phase boundaries.
A focused modernization project -- one major component migrated (e.g., framework upgrade from Rails 4 to Rails 7, or monolith to microservices for one service domain) -- typically runs $20,000--$60,000. A full platform modernization covering re-platforming to cloud, framework upgrade, database migration, and performance optimization runs $60,000--$200,000+ depending on system complexity. We scope in phases and price each phase separately, so you can proceed one phase at a time as budget allows.
Work with us
We scope Software Modernization Services in 30 minutes. You walk away with a clear cost, timeline, and approach. No commitment required.