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Your data is free to move
Data Act cloud switching becomes free on 12 January 2027. From that day a provider of cloud services in the EU may not charge you for moving to another provider or bringing your data back in-house, data export included.
Until then a provider may still charge for a switch, but since 12 September 2025, the day the regulation started to apply, never more than the switch actually costs it. If you run on a SaaS product or a hosting setup that no longer fits, the bill for leaving changes.
What the Data Act sets for switching
| Part | What applies |
|---|---|
| Switching charges from 12 September 2025 to 12 January 2027 | Allowed, but no more than the costs directly linked to your switch, disclosed before you sign |
| Switching charges from 12 January 2027 | Banned, data egress included |
| A transition that cannot be done in 30 days | The provider says so within 14 working days, explains why and proposes another period of up to seven months; the service keeps running |
| Software built mostly for one customer | The ban on switching charges does not apply, as long as the service is not sold at broad scale; the provider must tell you up front |
| Test and trial versions | The switching rules do not apply |
Why some sources cite 11 January 2024: the regulation entered into force that day, and Article 29 allows reduced switching charges from that date. You could only rely on it from 12 September 2025, when the Data Act began to apply. A company that switched in 2024 or early 2025 was not yet covered.
The rules cover cloud services broadly: hosting, storage, platforms and software as a service. They bind every provider offering its service in the EU, whether it is based in the US, the UK or Switzerland. Separately, the Data Act gives users of connected products, such as machines and vehicles, a right to the data they generate. Where the data sits, and whose law can reach it, is in EU data residency.
Who gains most from free switching
A system holding your customers, invoices or planning is not something you leave lightly. Part of what held you back was the cost of getting out. After 12 January 2027 that goes. What remains is the work: getting your data into a new system and moving your people over.
A SaaS company selling into the EU
If you sell software or hosting to European customers from New York, London or Zurich, you are a provider under the Data Act. Plan exports, notice handling and the end of switching charges before 12 January 2027, and put the switching terms in your contracts.
A company on an off-the-shelf package
Check whether the package still fits how you work. If not, 2027 is a good moment to compare: another package, or software built around your own process. Our comparison of build vs buy software works through the choice, CRM vs ERP helps name what you need, and replacing Excel with software covers the move from spreadsheets.
An online store
Your shop platform is a cloud service. Moving platforms after 12 January 2027 means no switching charges to the old one. You still request and test the export of products, customers and orders yourself. What Shopify costs in euro and the Shopify alternatives made in Europe help when you weigh a move.
A business commissioning custom software
For a service built mostly for you alone, the ban on switching charges does not apply. Write into the contract that the data is yours, in which format it leaves and what that costs.
What an export costs today
Take a company with 5,120 GB of files, images and backups in AWS in Frankfurt that moves everything to another provider within one month. At the list price for data leaving to the internet, that export costs USD 451.80. From 12 January 2027 it may cost nothing when you switch.
- 5,120 GB out at USD 0.09 per GBUSD 460.80
- The first 100 GB a month are freeUSD 9.00
- List price of the exportUSD 451.80
Until 12 January 2027 a provider may charge no more than the costs directly linked to the switch. AWS already lets EU customers request a lower rate for it.
For the large clouds that sum is small next to the rest of a move: the subscription during the notice period, and the work to load the data into your new system. With smaller SaaS products the cost often sits elsewhere, in a paid export or a fee to get your records in a usable format. From 12 January that falls under the ban as well, as long as it is charged for the switch itself.
What the Data Act does not settle
- Your subscription priceNormal service fees during the notice period still apply.
- A fixed termA penalty for ending a fixed-term contract early is not a switching charge.
- Converting your dataThe provider must hand over your data, not rewrite it for your new system.
- Your own workWhat you or your developer must do to get the data into the new system.
What to check in your contract
Read your notice period, whether the contract has a fixed term, and which export formats the provider promises. A three-year contract still runs three years; the Data Act bans switching charges, not the normal cost of a term you agreed to. In a new contract, put down how data leaves, in which format and within what time; our software requirements template is a place to start. If the provider processes personal data of your customers, check your data processing agreement too: it says what happens to that data when you leave.
A website on a hosting plan is a cloud service as well. Moving a site is covered in can you move a website to a new host.
Planning a switch after 12 January
- Request your dataWhich formats, which fields, with what history. Test an export before you give notice.
- Give notice on timeThe Data Act allows a notice period of at most two months; your contract may set a shorter one.
- Plan the transitionUp to 30 calendar days in which the old service keeps running while you move. You may extend it once.
- Retrieve everythingAfter the transition you have at least 30 calendar days to retrieve your data; then the provider must erase it.