What is Vendor Lock-In?

Vendor lock-in, which is sometimes also called customer lock-in, occurs when a customer is dependent upon a particular vendor or agency for a product or service and is unable to switch or use another vendor. The inability to use another vendor is usually caused by exorbitant costs or other issues associated with switching. When it comes to your website, vendor lock-in could be caused by the agency or vendor owning your domain, owning or data, owning your website’s code, etc. Generally, they “own” it to the point where switching to another vendor for a similar product or service would incur a ton of extra fees, result in data loss, or something else that would inhibit or hinder your ability to transfer or switch to someone else for the service. Transferring websites, hosting, etc. always requires some time and effort because there are usually a lot of moving pieces and coordination that needs to happen. However, there should not be prohibitive costs or issues on top of it that would make that switch or transfer unrealistic or impossible.