Definition. A situation in which switching from one provider to another becomes so expensive due to technical, contractual or operational hurdles that it practically does not happen, even when it would make strategic sense. Lock-in rarely comes from bad intent. It comes from proprietary data formats, exclusive APIs, missing export paths or integrations that have grown over years.

Why it matters. At mid-sized companies, lock-in often only becomes visible when a provider raises prices, discontinues features or the legal framework changes. Knowing the risk early is cheaper than resolving it later.

Related. Digital Sovereignty, Open Source, European Cloud, Sovereign Infrastructure