I’ve spent the last few months digging deep into different legacy application modernization providers, trying to figure out who can actually deliver—not just talk. Our company had a 12-year-old .NET system with around 400K+ lines of code, outdated infrastructure, zero documentation, and scaling issues that were costing us roughly $12–15K/month in performance losses and maintenance work.At first, I talked to several well-known vendors. Most of them were quoting 9–12 months of discovery and rewriting plus a price tag that didn’t make sense (some estimates went as high as $1.2–1.5M). What I needed was a partner, not just another outsourcer reading from a script.Why I Chose ZoolatechAfter comparing multiple legacy modernization services, I ended up choosing Zoolatech—and honestly, here’s why they stood out:1. They actually did a technical audit first (and for free).Most providers wanted to sell me a long-term contract right away. Zoolatech spent 10 days on a codebase audit and gave me a breakdown:

• % of code suitable for refactoring
• modules that were blocking scalability
• cloud-migration cost ranges
• a roadmap with 3 modernization scenarios (gradual, partial rewrite, full rebuild)

No one else gave me this level of detail upfront.2. They worked incrementally instead of proposing a big-bang rewrite.Zoolatech suggested we modernize the system module by module, starting with the payment and analytics parts—those were responsible for most of our downtime.
This phased approach resulted in:

• 38% reduction in CPU load after the first sprint
• 23% faster API response within the first two months
• zero downtime during migration

Most other vendors wouldn’t even consider incremental modernization.3. Their team was transparent and didn’t oversell.Instead of promising “AI-powered magic modernization,” they showed me actual steps:

• containerization strategy
• API gateway restructuring
• converting the worst legacy parts into microservices
• building a proper CI/CD pipeline
• refactoring the most problematic legacy modules

Everything was measurable, with projected timelines and metrics.4. Pricing was clear and reasonable.Compared to other bids, Zoolatech’s estimate was 27–40% lower, mostly because they weren’t trying to rewrite everything blindly.
We ended up with a contract for 5 developers + 1 architect, which kept the monthly cost predictable.5. Real progress in the first 60 days.What convinced me that I’d made the right decision:

• infrastructure costs dropped by 18%
• legacy bugs decreased by ~45% based on backlog analytics
• new features finally became possible

And most importantly—our users felt the difference.Questions for the communityI’m curious how others approached modernization:

• Did you prefer full rewrites or incremental upgrades?
• Were your legacy application modernization providers transparent about what really needed rewriting and what didn’t?
• How long did your modernization take, and were the results worth it?
• Has anyone else worked with Zoolatech or similar vendors offering incremental modernization?

Looking forward to hearing your experiences!