Zapier survey warns of AI vendor lock-in in enterprises

Zapier has released survey findings on AI vendor lock-in among US enterprise executives, suggesting many companies would struggle to replace their main AI supplier.

Among 542 executives surveyed, 74% said losing their primary AI vendor would disrupt day-to-day operations or leave their organisation unable to function. Just 6% said they could stop using their main AI vendor without disruption.

The research also highlights a gap between expectations and experience when companies try to change providers. While 89% of leaders believed they could switch AI vendors within a month, 58% of those that had attempted a migration said the process either failed or required far more effort than expected.

Two-thirds of respondents said they had already tried moving between AI platforms. Of that group, 42% described the transition as smooth, indicating that most encountered some difficulty.

Operational Dependence

The findings suggest AI tools are now deeply embedded in core business processes across many large organisations. For 47% of respondents, losing access to their primary AI vendor would break at least one key business function, while 27% said they rely on AI for most or all of their operations.

That dependence has heightened concern about concentration risk. Overall, 81% of enterprise leaders said they were concerned about relying on specific AI vendors, with 29% saying they were very concerned.

Data migration challenges and overdependence on a single vendor were each cited by 46% of respondents as the leading risks. This suggests concern extends beyond software performance to a practical question: whether companies can move systems, data and workflows elsewhere if a commercial or technical problem arises.

Switching Difficulty

The survey shows many executives remain optimistic about how quickly a move could happen. Some 41% estimated that a switch would take between two and five business days, while 13% believed it could be done in a single day.

But the experience of companies that have already tried to migrate appears more complex. According to the survey, the difficulty reflects how deeply AI systems have been integrated into workflows, connected to internal systems and tailored to specific operating processes.

In practice, changing supplier can mean reworking those links rather than simply replacing one contracted service with another. That helps explain why confidence before a migration may not match the outcome.

Risk Planning

Many enterprises are already taking steps to reduce reliance on a single provider. Among respondents, 47% said they now have dedicated internal teams to evaluate and manage AI vendors.

At the same time, 44% said they use multiple AI vendors, 42% maintain contingency plans and 35% include open-source alternatives in their approach. Another 34% said they are designing systems around data portability and standard application programming interfaces, while 33% use third-party integration or orchestration tools to manage workflows across systems.

Some organisations are taking more direct control. The survey found that 31% are building proprietary AI tools, and 29% are negotiating shorter, more flexible contracts.

The findings also show what customers say they want from suppliers. When asked what would reduce lock-in concerns, 30% pointed to clearer pricing, features and contract terms, making transparency the most common response.

Another 26% said easier data transfers between vendors would help, while 24% called for more flexible pricing models. Together, those responses suggest buyers want the freedom to change providers without major technical or financial penalties.

Emily Mabie, Senior AI Automation Engineer at Zapier, said companies often moved quickly to adopt AI without fully considering the long-term implications of tying processes to one supplier.

"Companies adopted AI to move faster, and it worked. But that speed created a new kind of dependency that most teams didn't plan for," Mabie said. "The organizations in the best position right now aren't the ones avoiding vendor commitments. They're the ones that built flexibility into their stack from the start, so switching a model or a provider doesn't mean rebuilding everything around it."

The survey was conducted through Centiment and covered C-level executives and decision-makers at organisations with active paid contracts for one or more AI-related vendors. Only respondents with paid AI vendor agreements were included, so the results reflect companies with direct operational and financial exposure.

Mabie added that firms which separate workflow logic from a single AI model are better placed to respond when supplier relationships or technical requirements change.

"The best time to plan for flexibility is before you go all-in on a single vendor. The second-best time is now," she said. "The companies seeing the strongest results are the ones that separate their workflow logic from any one AI model. That way, when something changes, they can adapt without starting from scratch."