Vendor lock-in: how to spot it before you sign, not after

Vendor lock-in almost never shows up when you sign — it shows up when you try to leave. Here are the questions that let you detect it upfront, before committing.

1. "Can I export 100% of my data, in a standard format?"

A partial CSV export isn't a sufficient answer. Ask for a real test export, with relationships between records (a customer linked to their invoices, for example) preserved, not just isolated tables.

2. "Is the API publicly documented and free of blocking quotas?"

An API reserved for higher-tier paying customers, or limited to a few hundred calls a day, effectively prevents any serious integration — and therefore any automation on your side.

3. "What happens in case of a price increase?"

Check the price revision clause. An increase "at the vendor's discretion" with no cap, tied to an annual contract that locks you in meanwhile, is a strong signal.

4. "Who actually hosts my data, and where?"

A SaaS vendor may itself depend on a third-party proprietary cloud. Lock-in can exist at two levels: yours towards the vendor, and the vendor's towards its own supplier — a continuity risk that affects you indirectly.

5. "How much time and money to migrate if I leave in 2 years?"

Get this scenario quoted before you sign, not after. If the vendor can't answer clearly, that's already an answer.

The open source difference

On an open source infrastructure, these five questions have structurally favorable answers: the code and data format belong to you, hosting can change provider without rewriting the application, and there is no "pricing tier" to negotiate with a single vendor.