Vendor Lock-In
Summary
What it is
Dependence on a single S3 provider's proprietary features, pricing, or integrations that makes migration difficult.
Where it fits
Vendor lock-in is the strategic risk of the S3 ecosystem. The S3 API enables portability in theory, but provider-specific features, pricing models, and egress costs create practical lock-in.
Misconceptions / Traps
- S3 API compatibility does not mean zero switching cost. Different providers have different performance characteristics, consistency guarantees, and feature sets.
- Open table formats (Iceberg, Delta, Hudi) reduce data format lock-in but do not eliminate infrastructure lock-in (IAM, networking, monitoring).
Key Connections
- MinIO, Ceph
solvesVendor Lock-In — self-hosted S3-compatible alternatives - S3 API
solvesVendor Lock-In — de-facto interoperability standard - Separation of Storage and Compute
solvesVendor Lock-In — swap engines without moving data - Delta Lake, Tiered Storage
constrained_byVendor Lock-In scoped_toS3, Object Storage
Definition
What it is
Dependence on a single S3 provider's proprietary features, APIs, pricing, or integrations that makes migration to another provider or self-hosted storage difficult.
Relationships
Outbound Relationships
scoped_toInbound Relationships
constrained_byResources
Cloudflare's clear, vendor-neutral explanation of cloud vendor lock-in causes and consequences, including egress fees and proprietary API dependencies.
Onehouse (founded by Apache Hudi creators) analysis of how open table formats and the open data lakehouse eliminate vendor lock-in by ensuring data portability across engines.
Analysis of how open table formats (Iceberg, Delta Lake) and S3-compatible storage together form a vendor-lock-in-resistant data architecture strategy.