The original title is: "The Four Layers of Cloud Lock-In (and How Terraform Cuts Your Exit Cost)"

Short summary

Cloud vendor lock-in is not binary but four stacked layers: data (formats + egress fees), platform (managed services like serverless and IAM), contract (renewal terms and committed spend), and operations (team tooling and muscle memory). The highest-risk areas are managed databases, serverless, IAM, and observability. Terraform makes exit auditable and cheaper by codifying dependencies, but it does not make proprietary services portable — selective portability beats total avoidance or full multi-cloud.

• •Lock-in has four layers: data, platform, contract, operations — each with different exit costs
• •Terraform codifies infra dependencies making exit auditable but not portable
• •Audit each layer, price the exit, and decide on purpose per high-lock-in service

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.