How hard would it be to leave your platform?
Lock-in is not pass or fail; it is a spectrum. Score your app against six criteria to see how portable it really is.
Get started: Read: vendor lock-in, explained
In plain English
Six questions reveal how tied your app is to a single tool. The lower your score, the freer you are to move, negotiate, or keep running if a tool changes.
When to use this
- Before you commit more of your business to one tool
- When a tool raises prices or changes terms
- When you are choosing between platforms and want the day-2 view
Score each item from 0 (fully portable) to 2 (fully locked in)
- Data export — Can you export all of your app's data in a usable format, on your own, whenever you want?
- Code export — Can you get the underlying code (or a working equivalent) out of the tool?
- Domain control — Do you own your domain and control its DNS, independent of the tool?
- Accounts and billing — Are the accounts and billing in your name, not a contractor's or agency's?
- Standards and portability — Do integrations use standard, portable methods rather than tool-only features?
- Tool-specific features — How much of your app depends on features that exist only in this one tool?
What your total means
0–3: Portable
You could move or self-host with modest effort. Keep exports current and you are in a strong position.
4–7: Somewhat locked in
Leaving would take real work. Reduce lock-in on the highest-scoring items first.
8–12: Heavily locked in
You depend on one tool. That can be fine, but know your exit path before you need it.
Lock-in is a trade-off, not a failure — Convenient tools often create lock-in on purpose, and that can be a fair trade. The goal is to choose it on purpose and keep an exit within reach.
Go deeper on ownership
The Own Your Stack hub covers export, backups, and exits.
Go to Own Your Stack · Run the ownership audit
Scorecard FAQ
Is a high score bad?
Not necessarily. It means you are dependent on one tool. That can be worth it, as long as you know your exit path.
How do I lower my score?
Start with the highest-scoring items. Usually that means getting current data exports and moving off tool-only features where practical.
Do you rank specific tools here?
This is a self-scoring rubric with public criteria. Our tool write-ups discuss portability per tool from documentation.
Why does domain control matter?
If you do not control your domain, moving providers can mean downtime or losing your address. It is one of the cheapest forms of lock-in to fix.
Kodbe is an independent publication about maintaining and owning software you built with AI or no-code tools. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Kodbe Inc (the Albany, GA educational nonprofit), Kodobe, Kodable, or Kodu.