SharePoint Performance Expectations

File Density and Performance

File density (number of files per terabyte) significantly impacts performance.

File Density	Impact
<50,000 files / TB	Low density – Better performance
~500,000 files / TB	Medium density - Typical performance
>1,000,000 files / TB	High density – Slower performance

Lower file counts with higher data volume generally yield faster migrations and lower API consumption.

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What Are Resource Units?

Resource Units (RUs) are how Microsoft measures the cost of API operations. Each action your migration tool performs consumes a specific number of RUs.

Resource Unit Costs for Movebot Migrations

Operation	Resource Units (per file or folder)
Scan Directory (Excluding Permissions and Version History)	2
Create Folder (Non-Delta)	3
File Upload	2
File Download	1

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Real-World Example

The following tables provide estimated resource unit (RU) consumption when using one Movebot transfer job to copy a single folder comprising of:

• 1 TB data

• 500,000 files

• 50,000 folders

Each table illustrates how RU usage varies depending on the type of migration — whether migrating into SharePoint, between tenants, within the same tenant, or out of SharePoint.

Review SharePoint API Limits to understand how usage in this example compare to your tenant’s daily quota.

Migration Into SharePoint (External ➝ SharePoint)

Operation	Count	RU per Item	Total RUs
Create Folder	50,000	3	150,000
Transfer Files (Upload)	500,000	2	1,000,000
Total	—	—	1,150,000

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Migration Between SharePoint Tenants (Tenant-to-Tenant)

Source Tenant (Scan + Transfer Files)

Operation	Count	RU per Item	Total RUs
Scan (Folders)	50,000	2	100,000
Transfer Files (Download)	500,000	1	500,000
Subtotal	—	—	650,000

Destination Tenant (Create Folders + Transfer Files)

Operation	Count	RU per Item	Total RUs
Create Folder	50,000	3	150,000
Transfer Files (Upload)	500,000	2	1,000,000
Subtotal	—	—	1,150,000

Total (source + destination): 1,700,000 (RUs)

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Migration within a single SharePoint Tenant (Separate App Registrations)

Source App (Scan + Transfer)

Operation	Count	RU per Item	Total RUs
Scan (Folders)	50,000	2	100,000
Transfer Files (Download)	500,000	1	500,000
Subtotal	—	—	600,000

Destination App (Create + Transfer)

Operation	Count	RU per Item	Total RUs
Create Folder	50,000	3	150,000
Transfer Files (Upload)	500,000	2	1,000,000
Subtotal	—	—	1,150,000

Total (source + destination): 1,700,000 (RUs)

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Migration out of SharePoint (SharePoint ➝ External Platform)

Operation	Count	RU per Item	Total RUs
Scan (Folders)	50,000	2	100,000
Transfer Files (Download)	500,000	1	500,000
Total	—	—	600,000

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Summary

Scenario	Source RUs	Destination RUs	Total RUs
Into SharePoint (External ➝ SharePoint)	—	1,150,000	1,150,000
Tenant-to-Tenant SharePoint	600,000	1,150,000	1,750,000
Same-Tenant (Separate Apps)	600,000	1,150,000	1,750,000
Out of SharePoint (SharePoint ➝ External)	600,000	—	600,000

Tips and Tricks

• These are first-pass estimates. Delta passes will vary based on change volume.

• API usage is measured in resource units (RUs), not raw call counts.

• For tenant-specific daily limits, refer to the SharePoint API Limits page.

• Consider Ludicrous Mode when migrating large numbers of small files.