Editing Vendor lock-in (section)

{{Short description|Switching costs inhibiting a change of vendor}}
{{Marketing}}
{{Competition law}}
In [[economics]], '''vendor lock-in''', also known as '''proprietary lock-in''' or '''customer lock-in''', makes a customer dependent on a [[vendor]] for [[Product (business)|product]]s, unable to use another vendor without substantial [[switching barriers|switching costs]].

The use of [[open standard]]s and alternative options makes systems tolerant of change, so that decisions can be postponed until more information is available or unforeseen events are addressed. Vendor lock-in does the opposite: it makes it difficult to move from one solution to another.

Lock-in costs that create [[barriers to entry|barriers to market entry]] may result in [[competition law|antitrust]] action against a [[monopoly]].