RS Glossary
Vendor Lock-In
Vendor lock-in is a condition in which switching from a provider becomes costly, risky, slow, or impractical because important technology, data, skills, contracts, or workflows depend on that provider.
- Review state
- Reviewed in POC
- Freshness
- Current
- Version
- 2
- Vendor Lock-In
- Vendor Lock In
Remember it this wayAdoption cost gets you in; switching cost determines how easily you get out.
In plain language
A service may be easy to adopt but hard to leave. Custom interfaces, proprietary formats, model behavior, accumulated data, employee habits, and contract terms can all raise exit costs.
Why it matters
Lock-in changes negotiating power, resilience, future design choices, and the consequences of price, policy, service, or ownership changes.
Example
A company cannot move its AI workflow without rewriting integrations, rebuilding evaluations, converting stored data, and retraining staff around different model behavior.
Common misconception
Vendor lock-in is not automatically bad or avoidable. The decision is whether the dependency is understood, proportionate, and supported by practical exit options.
Related terms
Sources
- NIST SP 800-146, *Cloud Computing Synopsis and Recommendations*official guidance discussing interoperability, portability, migration, and dependency considerations when selecting cloud services.
- NIST SP 800-145, *The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing*official baseline for the cloud service and deployment models in which portability and provider dependence must be evaluated.
Learn more
- Assess the dependency by layer with [[layered-sovereignty|Layered Sovereignty]].
Public history
45 recorded events · 45 public summaries
A potential shared concept was discussed and selected for initial glossary drafting.
The captured candidate received a complete initial draft and entered section-level human review.
Radar reviewed the initial definition draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial plain-language-explanation draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial why-it-matters draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial example draft for human consideration.
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A proposal was opened for section-level human review while preserving the current version.
A human reviewer opened a proposed revision while preserving the current approved or captured version.
definition approved by a human reviewer.
plain-language-explanation approved by a human reviewer.
why-it-matters approved by a human reviewer.
example approved by a human reviewer.
common-misconception approved by a human reviewer.
remember-it-this-way approved by a human reviewer.
related-terms approved by a human reviewer.
sources returned for revision.
learn-more approved by a human reviewer.
Requested wording was prepared without changing approved or existing sections.
Radar reviewed the pending sources section for human consideration.
Radar must rereview the complete vendor-lock-in term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete vendor-lock-in term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete vendor-lock-in term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete vendor-lock-in term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete vendor-lock-in term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete vendor-lock-in term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete vendor-lock-in term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete vendor-lock-in term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete vendor-lock-in term after an accepted text change.
sources approved by a human reviewer.
sources approved wording became the current section text.
All section gates are approved; content version 2 is now a fully approved term.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved definition wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved plain-language-explanation wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved why-it-matters wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved example wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved common-misconception wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved remember-it-this-way wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved related-terms wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved sources wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved learn-more wording for this exact version.
Source: vault/Glossary/terms/vendor-lock-in/term.md · sha256:86b66e7d5766c22aa9962ae74e7005ae8a3577b750e5ae93d80925ab1fe6cff8 · Release: rs-glossary-glossary-team-poc-0.5.5-2026-09-02